Clint Carney, in full

0:02from the lest is it okay to be happy I hope to hell that you don't know so if you want the blood to flow you must bear your throat so please will tell are you the now and we will cry and play along and pray and I can heal a WR feel the consequences consciences might bring about those higher forms of conscious the L knows about he's not telling anyone hi friends this is is TSH I am with Unwritten rules of the road and today we have a very special guest and dear friend the amazing Clint Carney hello Clint hey show thanks for joining us also there's a uh un unannounced

1:19special guest which is William uh so he'll be joining us throughout if anyone has any questions for William yes William has much wisdoms yes um so for those of you who are um new to uh Clint Clint is the singer of system sin um and um I am also the keybordist for system sin so um it is uh it's it's amazing to have um the perspective of of of you Clint I know that um you know you've you've toured in many many projects but I wanted to ask you um what it was like when you first started um playing live with system sin well I started at uh just playing

2:08like House parties for friends you know so I started the band right out of high school and uh yeah initially yeah the first handful of shows were just at House parties for friends I played a community center out in Green Valley California I played like a local Access TV station uh out in Lancaster I believe and um yeah that's just kind of how we started and then from there just started uh playing like every single Club on the Sunset Strip and Beyond in in Hollywood so uh did did a lot of those shows and from there I went and tried to just get as many gigs as I could opening up for

2:51bigger bands as they came through town so the first seven years of the band was just doing that stuff kind of you know paying my dues playing shows where I could self-releasing albums and uh trying to get the interest of a record label which yeah again took seven years seven years of hustling but it it worked out that's amazing so did you did you book the shows yourself in the first seven years yeah yeah yeah yeah for sure I mean it got to the point where there were some bands that we would play with regularly along the way so we would get asked to do shows with them and we would

3:30bring them on to shows sorry William is picky he wants to be let out one second sorry he'll be back um so yeah yeah basically did did everything myself um uh and still do for the most part that's awesome well um so after seven years um you said that's how long it took was Metropolis your first label no first I got signed to um uh Sector 9 studios in the US and out ofline records in Europe so the signing was directly to Sector 9 and then they already had a deal uh with out of line to release their bands so uh that's how I found my

4:21way on to out of line and um for those of you who aren't familiar with Sector 9 Studios that was a band started by um Alex from negative format and Jason from God module and um I had uh known Jason just from him coming to LA and meeting him and hanging out with him after shows and stuff and I had written an album and um it was finally starting to get some traction for the record those seven years I wrote an album every year and sent it out to every label I could find an address for big and small it took a very long time to even get

5:03replies from labels but on that particular album which was called premeditated um I got uh I got an offer from a record label uh early on it was a um startup label in Los Angeles called bra tune records and at that time they had one artist on the label which was aesthetic Perfection and we would and they wanted us to be the second artist um but it was the only label up to that point that showed interest I was right about to to do it and I had told um I had told Jason that we were about to sign and he said hey before you sign

5:41that deal let me let me hear the record so I sent it to him and uh he made a better offer and um that's what I went with and that's and that's how that work that's how that went and it it ended up working out really well because eventually uh Metropolis would buy us out of our contract with them out of line brought us out to Europe to uh do a series of festivals out there with God module and um icon of coil and hoso and spit nuts so uh yeah it was it worked out really well so I went from uh seven years of uh toiling away in obscurity

6:20and then all of a sudden in 2004 things kind of uh took off for the band I mean as much as they can in this uh in this genre of ours I think that's really inspiring though also just the fact like ttim it to your hustling like you mentioned like putting out an album every year sending it out to you know all these different labels and um I mean I don't know if you got ignored or rejected but just the fact that you just kept on doing it it mostly I got ignored and then the album that I put out a year before you know just the self-released Stu so the

7:00album that I did before the one that finally got signed I finally started getting feedback from labels and partially I think it was me just annoying the living [ __ ] out of them until they just said you know we better just write this kid back um but I got some good feedback from labels and I don't know what it is about people that run record labels in this genre but they are very blunt with their advice in a way that I absolutely love uh in particular I would say uh you know the late great Dave Heckman from Metropolis uh uh Andre from out of line Stefan from

7:43dependent um they all uh you know over the course of early on and over the course of my career would give me some very blunt hardto hear advice but that's I I love it I don't need things sugarcoated for me um and in particular um Stefan from dependent Records who did not sign that album but I later ended up on dependent records several albums later uh Stefan told me of that demo uh that I needed to pay as much to the music as I was paying to my vocals production wise that is the the vocals were crisp and easy to hear uh the music uh kind of amateurish you know

8:31uh I'm paraphrasing what what he said um but I appreciated the advice and when I hear advice from someone whose opinion I respect and who has been out there in the world doing things that I want to do especially I take it you know or I try I try to take it it's uh it's easy enough to be offended at good advice and to not take it but sometimes if it's coming from the right Source you got to recognize it when it's good and he was absolutely right and he was dead on and then yeah I you know took his advice as well as other people's advice and just

9:04really worked on it um my friend uh my friend Ted produced that album for me and got it in a shape that I couldn't have got it into by myself um and that was another thing too working with an outside producer realizing that I was not a good producer at the time and uh I needed a long way to go and I needed help to get there and that was a hard for me too because I'm inclined to want to do everything myself it's just my nature to be a control freak uh but uh letting go of the fact that I I couldn't control everything and just uh bringing

9:43in uh some outside influence into the album helped push it over the top and um and I got signed so hey it worked out yeah no that's that's really amazing I mean I I love what you're saying too about um being willing to listen to um I don't know I I I guess like for if you were to give it like share advice for somebody starting out now because we we we we have I feel like it like a lot of different um avenues for for sharing on our music these days so there are labels but there's a lot you can do independently um like what what advice

10:20would you give to an artist just starting out well so right now anybody can write anything and get it on all of the platforms forms it's an era unlike any other in the history of music so if you write something you can get it out there and people can hear it if it's good enough and you do the right promotion for it so my advice is don't release the first thing you write you know because yes you can get it out there uh but live with it for a while a be it as it listen to that listen to other bands that you like that are maybe

11:00in a similar genre or using similar instrumentation and just really try to be objective about is the quality of what I'm doing up to par with what these other bands are doing I'm not saying you know you have to have I don't know uh pop star level production quality in the genre I make music in especially in other genres you know Punk things like that there's a lot of genres that don't require pre you know uh pristine production uh um but just make sure it sounds good and that you're happy with um I personally um I wrote at least this is an understatement but at least 500 songs before I got

11:49um and most of them if not all of them were awful and and I am great grateful that I did not get signed early on because there I even my early albums that did get released uh they're mildly embarrassing to me because uh yeah I was a kid I was younger when I wrote them I I my production wasn't there my voice wasn't there I was off key through quite quite a bit of them but it was okay but it was still more mature than everything I had done before then so you know give yourself time to grow and you know one of the beautiful things about being a

12:29musician or an artist in general is you it's okay to make art make music just for yourself and you don't have to put it out into the world ever or certainly not until you think it's ready to go out there because what you put out into the world is going to represent you as a person and as an artist and if you don't feel right about it yet there is absolutely no shame and waiting and just allowing yourself to grow and mature as an artist before you you put that out into the world and then people will say oh where' this guy come from he came out

13:02out of the blue and this this you know if you've allowed yourself that time to mature and grow but during that time yeah certainly play as many shows as you can get good on stage you know do whatever you can to um to better yourself and just uh you know be good at your craft just F focus on the craft you know um some people come out the gate being amazing songwriters and live artists and musicians or whatever I think that's very rare most of us certainly myself included have to work at it every day and I'm being literal every day I still work at it every day um I'm doing

13:46something creative I do not let a single day go by uh not Christmas not my birthday nothing I'm making art in some form every day in the pursuit of being better today than I was yesterday and I think that's uh crucial if you want to um not just succeed in a financial business sense but just to be uh fulfilled as an artist absolutely that's super solid advice um wanted to actually take a take a quick moment to say hi to everybody um thank y'all so much for for joining in and um sharing your time with us this Sunday um I I uh at xrl 7 um our friend

14:29Mike umy Mike mentioning yeah he uh loves your awesome backdrop um for those of you that are new to Clint um those are real that's actually some of those you've made if not all of those am I am I correct many of those you you've made most of the ones behind me right now are just ones I collect I don't think there's anything in camera view I mean some of them I painted but most of these are are other artists work uh that I've just collected over the years um there's other stuff I've made off camera and certainly there's a whole Workshop full of stuff in my garage of things I've

15:05made but mostly um I like to work around other artists work to inspire me as opposed to just flooding my my vision with things that I've done you know so it's to avoid the echo chamber you know I like to put thr around myself with things that that I that I aspire to uh to do so but yeah I do make masks and I do uh spill uh props and do visual effects for the film and television industry um so and I just love horror that has been a lifelong Obsession so yes yes yeah when Clint talks about um the the the creative aspect and the

15:48prolific creative aspect it's not just with music it's with visual art it's with writing um you've done um like multiple writings including a film uh Drive blood um and that's amazing um just incredibly prolific so um I I I see a comment here from uh Pete um who's talked about um existing on a sliding scale of everything I've written more than 10 years ago is cringe Wy yeah I feel that I I I'm constantly in a state of everything I wrote more than two or three years ago it's cringeworthy uh but I think that's good right because that means you're evolving as a human being and uh if you're

16:32embarrassed by the your creative output just in the recent past that means at least in your mind you've gotten that much better right so I think that's a good thing that means you're growing Pete yes uh we're getting a high from Adam Moore yay Adam is our friend in in year um I also play keyboards for Adam which is awesome oh I really yes very very much so um Willie Rosado is saying uh being a DJ or a mixer is part of musics and art as well absolutely um yeah there's just so many wonderful Expressions um and perspectives I think to the to the all

17:13all arts and uh to that point uh I briefly uh djed and it's harder than it looks right to to do it right and to you know beat match and all that stuff there's a you know there's tools nowadays that make it easier but if you're out there just doing it yeah it's uh it's not easy you know it's it's totally a skill set in an art form and I'll also say without DJs both club DJs radio DJs streaming DJs um I would have no career right because no one would know my music you know that's the thank you to every DJ who's ever spun my stuff because that's really um

17:53that's how people hear this style of so much love abely Ely yes absolutely and the mixers um you know we we absolutely love our our people who are able to mix our work um produce our work absolutely yeah do you do um a lot of the production yourself um at this point I have been moving more and more toward that over the years um it is a skill set that uh um again Ted who produced my first album produced most of my other albums for a while and then he really helped me uh grow in that regard by critiquing my stuff and then I I would always try to do something that

18:44I'd send it to him and he'd send it back and it would be a million times better than what I did but uh because of that and then just continually studying the craft of it I'm getting more and more to the point where I'm able to um or lately yeah I've just been been producing and mixing my own stuff and um it's uh a lot of it's very technical and but there is still some Artistry to it as well and I I love both the technical and the artistic side of that process so I'm getting better at it but uh you know I feel there I feel you can never like any

19:20art form you can never uh be the best at anything right there's always something new to learn so I'm enjoying uh uh I'm enjoying that learning curve of you know figuring it out yeah so lower forms is your is your latest um song that's out yes um I produ that one see that is awesome um what what is on Deck um let's next forson uh so last year was crazy productive on the writing front so I I only released the one song last year with system sin I ghost writed for another project which as per our agreement I cannot say what it is but I

20:05ghost wrote a bunch of songs for another band and I um but with system sin I was very prolific writing wise so I only released the one track so far but I wrote um yeah over 40 songs uh and uh 25 to 40% of them are pretty good so um I'm in the process of kind of flushing out the ones that I like and flushing the ones that I don't and um and then I'll probably just be slow leaking uh those and you know and then eventually compiling them together and putting out a physical release I did a song last year too that is uh coming out

20:49this year on a compilation uh by Distortion Productions uh it's called um electronic saviors I think it's volume seven and Jim simic who runs that label I'm sorry Jim if you're watching I'm never sure if I'm pronouncing your last name correctly if it's simonic or simonic so whatever it is Jim tell me how to pronounce it next time because I always gimmers we love gimmers yeah he's awesome he's amazing and he puts out this compilation every year or every other year I'm not sure the schedule but uh all the proceeds go to benefit uh cancer research and it's such a great cause and I've been able to be involved

21:27in a few of the compilations in the past and I'm excited for this one coming up so I have a brand new song coming out on that that will be exclusive to that for several years at least um and I'm blanking on the name of the song but it doesn't matter you'll find out when it out um and then I also have another song coming out I don't know the release date but Metropolis records is also doing a charity compilation to benefit um musicians that have uh that are going through substance abuse uh addiction or you know substance addiction and um in as a tribute and a been e out to Dave

22:09Heckman the founder of uh Metropolis Records who passed away um you know in the last several years uh so so I'm coming down on those two compilations and then I'll just be releasing stuff via system s thrill the normal channel so again yeah I'll just be dropping singles periodically and then after a certain an undetermined amount I'll just compile them and put out the uh put out a physical album for those of you who still buy physical albums and we love you to those of you that buy physical albums yes yes dreaming is not very lucrative in case you haven't heard yeah seriously like all the

22:50support for for physical merch is so appreciated um it really makes such a huge difference in making possible what we do um so you know oh hey I just noticed thank you for wearing the system s shirt speaking of merch yes I'm representing I have many of the systems in shirts they are all very comfortable so I highly recommend them sweet yes you um oh I'm we we're getting some love from uh Stephen seols uh we're gonna have Ste uh seols on next week actually what's up buddy oh y good to see you um actually so we got a question from um xrl 7 um a production question I was

23:35curious about Clint's experience making the MK music video for Lucifer song um what was involved in it all coming together oh that is a great question so uh to catch everyone up who doesn't know I also am a director and uh mostly up to this point have just been doing uh music videos and uh for other bands in my own band and do short films and such that kind of thing so I directed a music video called Luci for the song Lucifer's song by m Kio mankind is obsolete tsh's wonderful project and um I think uh correct me if I'm wrong TSH but I believe when you asked me to do it I

24:18think I first thing I did was ask you to send me the lyrics and help tell me about what the song Meant to you and I think that's always a crucial conversation that I want to have have with an artist when I'm get into directing a music video for them and I landed upon this theme I I never like to do a literal interpretation of a song in a music video it's just not that interesting to me so I like to um just play upon the theme a bit and I came up with something that in my mind was kind of a aesthetically what I wanted was a

24:56mashup between uh the brothers Quay and Adam Jones who do those amazing tool videos and um The Twilight Zone and outer limits so it ended up it was this black and white fully animated music video there's a very brief Cameo by the band in there uh if you blink you will you will miss it but they are in there for a split second but for the most part it's animated and um I do visual effects uh as one of my main artistic Outlets again for film and television um but I learned how to do visual effects from doing music videos for uh first for myself and

25:41then for other people and at the time when I started uh I think that particular video was my first fora into 3D animation I had been working primarily just in After Effects doing 2D stuff and then I don't want to get too Technical and bore people here uh but I'll try to make this fast there's a company called video co-pilot they released the program uh called element 3D which then suddenly allowed you to do 3D inside of After Effects so you could do 3D work without having to learn a complex 3D program it was not great but it was a great way to start for me in the world of 3D and

26:23that's how I got into 3D and so my first test of doing 3D animation was doing that music video and I learned it as I went along as I so often do I I never like doing a project where I'm not learning something new that's dumb if I if I don't if I'm not forcing myself to learn something new then it's just boring right so uh I wanted to push myself on that so I learned 3D animation since then I've expanded now I do a lot of 3D work and other more professional programs but um yeah that's how that came together and I just tried to C the

26:58spirit of what that song was about but through a um non-literal interpretation of the lyrics and that's what I have to say that I was really I was well I was blown away because um as Clint was mentioning um you know he had asked about the lyrics and what the song had meant to me and uh well first of all I thought that was awesome because um some some people can come in just being like okay this is just my interpretation but Clint wanted to come in um I mean he's such an amazing collaborator in that sense as well because he was like okay well what

27:38does this mean to you and then came in with his own interpretation um and so the first time I saw the first edit of the of the music video I was like whoa this is totally in line with because I I love tool videos myself um definitely an inspiration um and um oh also side side note plan also did the love is forever video um as well as um the electrical robots um and the editing of electrical as well for for our Alice um family um so lovely collaborations yes many many collaborations yes um but yeah like I I really thought that was amazing to see

28:20like the interpretation I think that's part of the fun of collaboration um I feel like it's sort of like the idea of like the sum of the parts is greater than the whole like you just I I love that you can just toss the tennis ball over the net and be like okay it's your turn let's see what you come back at me with it so absolutely yeah it's it's such a pleasure when you find other artists that you can collaborate with and just really uh mesh so well with what they're doing and kind of you know but have the freedom to bring your own thing to it as

28:51well which is what I appreciate about uh working on Alice and Mankind's obsolete stuff oh uh we're getting some love from from Jim Jimmer Jimmer signed in so just sending saying hello and oh hey and we love you yay yes um oh and um so cool um Willie is is mentioning that they did uh they took up TV production in in both standard and summer school years um that's awesome um and pet is saying that the visuals are awesome so once the interview is over um they're going to go and watch watch with the sound on so yes oh cool thank you for checking that

29:31out nice yeah um you've done have you done all of the systemsin videos or are you um have you yes I have done all of yeah I guess I did all of them we had I did some videos that were unreleased early on that I did not do myself and I never put them out which is kind of of a dick move on my part but it's also that's just me man like I'm so particular with what I want to represent music that um I felt um yeah I don't know I mean yeah so all the all the videos that you can watch that are out

30:16there I did yes well it's understandable I I imagine especially being a visual artist like you have a very very distinctive voice and if that's not kind of it's not if it's not in line with your vision it would be hard to put out there to represent who you are as an artist so sure sure and even that I mean like I'll go back and look at I think the first official video that I put out was a song called Daydream from a deathbed and that was like not at that was maybe for my seventh album or something like that so it was a long

30:48time before I put out an official album and I go back and look at that now and I see all of the flaws in it um you know still and just like the album I do all the album covers go back and look at the old album covers even not too far back and I I see all the flaws in them but that's you know again just like seeing the flaws in your old music that's the nature of it but um but I have no one to blame but myself I think it's kind of the nature of the Beast like I think you know you

31:19you put out work and then you revisit it and you're like oh okay years later you're like I I feel like I've grown I'm I'm a different person I'm a different artist um but the cool thing about putting it out when you do is like it's a marker in that chapter of your life absolutely yeah it's it's a document of of of your life that a lot of people don't get to have and the other interesting thing about it it's like you know I'm 46 now so when I write an album now it's from the point of view of a 46y old but I can go back and

31:55listen to an album I wrote in my 20s and that's a different person and I think when someone is new to an artist music they might gravitate towards their older catalog if that's closer if they're closer in age to where that artist was at that time so it's interesting when you have S a wide body of work that spans a lifetime um you find that different demographics of your audience is pulled toward certain albums even though you might be incredibly embarrassed by an album but that's the one that resonates with a 20-year-old you know so yeah it is interesting how that works yeah for sure um I want to go back

32:38to like um like the the the live music um discussion um do you have any particularly like memorable live shows or tours um either good or bad that you'd be willing to share with us yeah you know I uh I've had a good time every time I've been out you know uh there's always there's always ups and downs but I try to remember the good and not the bad so uh I had the yeah so i' I've toured with a number of bands over the years as a Live member um and I've had the opportunity to tour with some of the bigger bands in the scene you I've

33:25toured with VMV nation and Covenant um you know just there's so many great bands in this scene and I've just been fortunate enough to get to uh get to know a lot of these people and just become friends with some really uh cool people whose work I respect and who have ended up being really good friends over the years so um I think the first time I got to do it to on a tour bus instead of crammed into a minivan was certainly uh a highlight and that got me spoiled so we went for a while of of just only doing bus tours which is

34:10pretty awesome because then you can just go onto a bus and pass out and wake up in the next city um but um yeah I don't know I I I played it's got to be a thousand shows at this point or more you know uh over the years and um yeah I not one one in particular isn't standing out but I I've had a great uh a great touring life and I feel privileged to have been able to uh share the stage with so many talented folks and people whose work I have listened to over the years and that I admire I think that part definitely is

34:50something that I'm I'm also grateful for it's always kind of I try not to fangirl when I encounter other artists that I've listen to and I'm like oh you're amazing I can't believe we're sharing the same stage yeah it can be a little intimidating yeah sure for sure and um I S I don't know um when you got into the genre at all but I got into it in high school well the first band I ever heard that was I guess genre adjacent was baby land and I heard them in junior high school actually didn't get into them right away cuz it was like it was their

35:29first album and I hadn't seen them live yet and of course over the years they became one of my favorite bands ever but certainly in high school I started getting into bands like Frontline assembly and leather strip and Kim lab sister machine gun um uh and um spawn Ranch and I I there countless I can't even think of them all but over the years of my career I had the Good Fortune to get to meet a lot of the people that influenced me getting into the genre to begin with and that I think has been the coolest part just to be able to meet those people and when

36:07appropriate tell them you know get to say Hey you had this influence on my life and here we are sharing the stage together and that's that's a cool thing and I've been in the receiving end of that position before I've had bands tell me the same thing and I think that's super cool it's you know come comes full absolutely actually that happened for me with you um John um siren took me to a metropolis showcase um it was a show um here in LA and I I remember sisteron was performing um and so when we got to actually like play together in Arizona I was like wow this is so

36:49cool it was a total full circle moment yeah um oh you're getting um some in the chat from Jessica Davis um they're saying Clint all of your music is amazing I think I have everything on my playlist on Spotify a thank you Jessica I appreciate that that's awesome yay um U Pete Russell is saying that's a good thing I feel like playing over a thousand shows you would really only remember the shows where something went wrong if there isn't a single one that stands out you've had good luck yeah I mean I do remember when things went wrong but it I I think of it more as

37:27like uh um a you know a funny anecdote than anything that ever traumatized me I mean you know you get knock the power knock the mixing board over you know uh you lose power in the middle of the show things like that and you remember funny I think the the one thing I'll say uh that stood out to me uh and this was the first tour I did in this like you know in inter not International but the first national tour I did before I got signed um I was I was an opening band and some and I read this comment I I think this was the first show of the

38:09tour or the second show of the tour and I was very nervous on stage even though I had played a bunch of shows locally but I had not been out and I was very nervous on stage the first time and and I read yeah this back then I would read everything people would write online about about the band now I can't keep up but someone had commented they're all oh yeah that that band wasn't any good the singer looked scared and he had his hands in his pockets through the whole show or whatever I was and then I thought about it I'm all yeah I did like

38:42I did so consciously it was just like um you know uh defense mechanism or something and I read that I'm all yeah I did let's not do that going forward and then I didn't and it was and it was actually great to see that direct feedback and to uh you know at at first I mean it's a little embarrassing at first right to see things like that but if you can be objective about it and say yeah I did do that stupid thing then you can learn from it and not do that going forward and I think um that goes to what we were saying earlier about just taking

39:13feedback when when you hear it you know if if you get constructive feedback or even insulting feedback and you can recognize the truth in it and it's something that you have the power to fix yeah uh that just makes you better moving forward uh um and at some point in time I don't know when it was but I just lost all fear of playing shows now I have like I don't get nervous or anything but it would took you know hundreds of shows just to get to that point and now it's just like just another Tuesday you know yeah I guess there's something um it's like when it feels like it's a

39:51really natural extension of what you do and and who you are like at least the Fear Part goes away I I always feel the like the electricity um I feel the butterflies but I think in terms of like the fear that's it's like you're just like this is just this is what I'm doing so yeah yeah it's um yeah it's the excitement of knowing that you're going to be able to get lost in the music um and it's the same excitement I feel when I'm in the rehearsal with with you uh and Scott and Steve or um or even when I'm at home in rehearsing I just

40:32allow myself to get lost in the music and the early on fear was um the insecurity about being lost in the music in front of other people you know like am I gonna do something that looks stupid the answer is yes of course I'm gonna do something that looks stupid but uh that's the show you know that that's that's what it that's what it is and I just stopped caring if I looked stupid or not and I I think uh embracing that you may look stupid but that it doesn't matter it's going to make a good show is important I love that that is that is

41:07actually very solid advice for sure embrace the stupid I I feel the same way about acting in a bit I've done you know a tiny amount of acting in my life and it's the same way like if you're going to embody a character uh you just have to allow yourself to get lost in that and not worry about uh the guy holding the lights or or running running the camera you know you just allow yourself to get lost in the art and then um um yeah so that's to me that's a very similar sensation to being on stage yeah absolutely I think it's just sort of um sort of it's a it's a letting

41:51go it's just it's a it's just simply a letting go um you know going back to like when people are asking about like starting out for the first time um it is sort of like giving yourself the freedom to to make mistakes and to fail and to know that um you know of course there will be people that are going to offer criticism or or whatnot um but you know just like the point is it's knowing that you're out there and at least you're trying um and that it will get better you just have to keep on doing it I I should also say that I think I have some

42:24kind of a sickness where I love a bad like uh like if someone just like rips into me in a review for some reason I just get a kick out of like it does not bother me in any way because I you know what I do is certainly not for everybody and I fully recognize that but sometimes it's those negative reviews where you find the Nugget of wisdom and it's like yeah you can't take it personally what I'm doing isn't for you I get that in your review but there's one thing you said in there that I can relate to and maybe that's something that I can be

42:56better at you know yeah an opportunity for growth for sure absolutely absolutely yeah yeah so long as it comes from the right place I don't even care it can come from a mean spirited place if it's I I don't like it when it's directed towards my friends or other people but if it's directed towards me I got no problem it fa yeah I think um oh I like what um ke is saying that uh nothing goes wrong just happy little accidents like the Bob Ross approach yeah I love me some Bob Ross yes yeah for sure yeah I um I think that it's interesting that you are able to like

43:43take things in a way that you can actually use it as impetus for growth um and um that definitely takes a a a level of humility that not everyone has so I imagine with that you've been able to grow like quite bit as in all the directions as an artist I certainly try yeah you know I this is a I learned a lesson from a friend in high school um and it's weird where you know you learn so many different lessons in life and some are impactful for you in ways where you can go back to that moment where you learned it and others you just kind of

44:24absorb and and forget but this particular lesson um so although I started systems in right out of high school I did have you know some high school bands going on that were even worse than the old system and stuff but I I did have um I did cut like a five or six song demo uh with some friends and um and in high school I thought it was amazing right like I thought it was the best thing ever and I remember being on the bus for school and playing it for a yeah you know I'll age myself here by saying playing it for a another kid on

45:00the bus on a Walkman you on a cassette tape and the kid was like oh this is really cool and I was like yeah I know and then my other and then my other friend who played guitar on it he's all don't do that you you don't say yeah I know he liked it and and he and you have to appreciate that someone liked it and that means something that's that's cool it's not just yeah you deserve that compliment I'm paraphrasing here horribly but I learned in that moment to be gracious and to appreciate when people like things and it's weird to me looking back on it that I ever had that

45:36time in my life where I didn't appreciate that but that was like a turning point just like in in high school just like realizing that no one owes me uh their gratitude for what I put out in in the world just because I make something that does not mean anyone has to like it or even listen to it or enjoy it and it's really something special when someone does enjoy what you do even if it's just to casually say oh that was cool you know like that's that's something that's really cool and if you get that even once or twice in your career it's cool man so

46:12yeah yeah absolutely it's it's it's a real gift when something that you've created an expression or extension of of whatever your imagination is um connects with a person um and that's I think is very very meaningful that that in of itself is a gift for sure yeah absolutely yeah yeah I think um it's it's it it's interesting because your work spans so many different uh mediums like you talk about um being kind of genre specific and yet you're a very um and you do surprise me too like with some of the things that you like when I asked you about which music you wanted to uh direct for Alice and you picked

46:59love is forever I was like really which I absolutely love what you did but I mean I think it's really interesting that you have like different mediums and genres that you do explore so what is what is next on deck in terms of um your next big project besides system then uh I mean right now I'm working on a visual effects gig for a indie horror film just doing the digital stuff so lots of magic and um so many fireflies things like that you know adding digital stuff so that that but that's like you know um that's just paying the bills stuff right uh creatively though yeah working on new

47:42music constantly I have been uh just in the last few months I Put A Renewed Focus toward my YouTube channel so if anyone is interested I have a YouTube channel it's called Clint Carney creates if it's where I put all the systems in music videos but I also do like these tutorials of uh just showing people how to make props and Fun Stuff how to repaint Halloween masks and it's just real uh focus is on kind of like a uh an entry point I'm not doing things that are overly complex that like you know I want people to be able to see this and then be able to follow along you know so

48:21real kind of basic tutorial type stuff and I've just been having like so much fun doing that stuff because um again you know part of what I do is I build props and things for movies so I've just amassed this you know a decade or more of knowledge of how to do this stuff but I also just like doing that stuff for fun so it's I just started documenting it and I've been just really getting into H documenting it and kind of making these many documentaries on on how to do some you know whatever Halloween arts and crafts thing that I'm doing and I've just been kind of going into that and

49:01having a lot of fun with it um I just launched a patreon uh to kind of help support that channel like I haven't even I launched it and then the launch of the patreon coincided with just these horrible fires Happening Here in La so I did zero advertisement for it um yet because I didn't feel right about promoting like hey I got a patreon well everyone just lost their house and stuff so uh so I do have one if anyone really wants to they can check it out it's on patreon Clint Carney uh but um but I I kind of see that as I'm excited about

49:38the future growth of that channel and what it can become and not just doing these tutorials and but also making these little documentaries and giving people like an insight into um these different creative worlds that I am so lucky to have access to like I have so many friends that are talented musicians and artists in all different mediums you know painters sculptors uh special effects people filmmakers and uh the channel is going to be branching out and like kind of uh going out and visiting uh a lot of just these cool people that I know and kind of opening up my YouTube audience into that world

50:19of just uh you know my uh my rad friends and hopefully uh yeah just giving some people insight into what I do uh and then that's the other thing with the patreon is um and I swear I don't mean this as a commercial for the patreon so please do do not take it that way but I I'm forcing myself to do these weekly Vlogs that are for the most part unedited where I just like once a week every Friday I just film myself and I just tell you what I did that week uh and it forces me one to be better on which is always a constant pursuit of

50:59mine I I tend to have a lot of us and ums and you know things like that and doing these weekly Vlogs is helping me get slightly better at that um and then too it helps me take stock of like um what of my productivity and you know it's very easy for me to feel like I'm not getting anything done like I'm not doing anything with my life you know but if I go back and I just look at my calendar for the week every week and I say oh crap I did like 50 things this week that and I say it out loud and then

51:34it makes me it reinforces uh that yeah no okay I'm not wasting time I am moving forward day by day and and doing things and that's uh so yeah I that was a longwinded answer that's what I've been up to lately I love it I love it I love it's like you know first of all um I I I'm going back to your YouTube channel um I think it's really cool that you're making it accessible for people to follow along like you were saying um I I I did my first pumpkin carving with Clint um and you were so you were so patient with me but I was like I was at

52:13first I was like oh my gosh I don't even know what I'm doing um but you made it so easy it was a very easy follow along process um and so I think it's really cool for people that like want to dip their foot into like the visual world and um creating like you know actual like tangible art art um in the way that you do I can I say too just in favor of the platform of YouTube I just find myself I mean I I know the younger kids have been hip to this for years and I have had my channel for 10 years I just

52:48haven't done a lot with it right but I am just really enjoying the platform and if for nothing else just to give me motivation to do a personal project now and again because so much of I mean 100% of my income is just doing creative things but I'm often doing creative things for other people's projects right but this gives me an excuse to do something just for myself right and knowing that um you know building my YouTube audience and knowing that they're waiting for a new video to come out for me gives me an excuse to just do something that I find fun right and it

53:24can and because it's my channel if I treat it like I'm just producing my own TV show I can do whatever the hell I want um and there's no rules with it but it is the motivation to just do stuff so if you're looking for a way to motivate yourself to just be productive try starting a YouTube channel and then you start getting an audience and then you come become somewhat accountable to that audience for producing the content and that keeps you just working on stuff so yeah absolutely um this is a question actually from Steven seols um Can Clint give us advice on how to stay motivated

54:01and relevant in the world of AI and mass streaming platforms like Spotify sure uh I will Circle back to that in a second but let me also say that seabold is one of those artists that I was listening to from a young age and felt so lucky just to get to meet him and know him as a person and connect with him and that's just an example of what I was talking about before just that's one of the coolest things about being a musician is meeting people like like him that I whose work I just loved uh for so many years so thank you Stephen for doing all you do um so the

54:46motivation sorry that can you recap the question for me oh yeah yeah um to give advice on how to stay motivated and relevant in the world of AI and math streaming platforms like Spotify oh yeah I mean that's a good question right because it really depends on what your motivation is if your motivation is to make money doing music I have no advice because it's so hard right you I mean I I do have a portion of my income comes from music but not a big portion of it right it's just not a big I've never relied on it to I that's not true I had a couple years where that all I

55:26did is I just made music for a living uh but in order to do that it required that I was on the road for most of the year at least half of the year and I just hit a point in my life where I wasn't willing to do that anymore I didn't want to be away from my wife and my cats for for for half a year or or more it's just uh so um when I decided to not tour so much um it was a positive decision do not regret that at all but it also meant that my music income took a dip because

56:00now I'm just relying on sales online sales or you I'll play a handful I'll play five shows a year try to do festivals and things like that um and then streaming revenue is you know not much it's a fraction of a penny per listen um and uh I'm sorry my cat I have to let him in real quick one moment so will he was just gonna yell at me the whole time so the motivation for me is not in whether something I do succeeds or fails the motivation for me is just that I love doing it um and if I didn't love doing it I just simply wouldn't do

56:46it because there's no other reason to do it right I do I mean I I love that I have an audience and I really appreciate them and I love that yeah buddy I hear you uh and I love that uh that there are people that want to hear or see what I do next like that means the world to me but ultimately it's just I just love it so that's where the motivation lies is in the love because if if you don't love it why the hell are you doing it you know so I guess that's a a non-answer answer but that's that's it absolutely absolutely I feel like

57:24knowing your why is so important and and the love is really like that's foundational for sure I I'll say I I guess to beyond the love of it um I feel music is something that I have to do uh and I I just mean that like uh in my core like as who I am as a person I can't not do it because it um you know writing writing music is my therapy I guess in a lot of ways right so I get um I get more I get a lot out of it and I'll if I especially if I get into a dark place in my head I know a lot of

58:06times if that happens I go it's time to write an album and it's not just because like I'm trying to appeal to my audience who likes dark music or whatever that's just a byproduct but it's because I know it's time to get to vent this information vent vent the these feelings and get them out of me and I I feel that writing music um expels those demons or exercises those demons in a way that nothing else does so yeah absolutely um we're getting another question actually from xrl 7 um has Clint's creative Inspirations changed much through throughout the years or is the art that touched him early on still

58:52a strong influence oh good question uh no I I continue to be uh influenced and take inspiration by uh new art and new music that I discover all the time I don't as far as like genre bands um again I keep coming back to this thing of genre but I most of the bands that I listen to in the genre are the bands that I listened to when I was younger um but I listen to a lot of music that is not genre specific and I think um and whether or not that's apparent in the music that has certainly had an influence on me I listen to a lot

59:30of like Baroque music classical music uh folk music um you know rock from the 60s and 70s uh hip-hop rap um I just listen to like a ton of different kinds of music and uh I find it it all Finds Its way into my work somehow even if you can't draw a straight line to it I can I can generally connect the dots by oh I was I I can go and listen to an album that I released and I can tell you who I was listening to when I wrote that album you're not going to hear it in the album but I know it because that album is tied

1:00:12into my memories of that time period when I wrote it uh so yeah I I continue to I I love discovering new bands and I um and I think that's I think if you're open to changing your tastes or letting them evolve and discovering new things that will keep your own output fresh hopefully yeah absolutely um uh speaking of workflow um actually a question is what is a day in the life or like what is your routine like um as a creative oh um so I have a calendar a paper calendar that I keep because uh I have not embraced technology yet uh no that's not true I do Embrace technology

1:00:57but I keep a paper calendar and it every day is a solid block of things that I'm going to get done that day and I get them all done and if for some reason I can't get something done there has to be a [ __ ] good reason for it and I and I write the word push next to it and then I write it on the next day so I push it out to the next day and it's just uh and that's every day now I have no schedule I'll start when I wake up and I'll work until the list is done and usually beyond that but

1:01:31um but if I don't it's easy enough to let yourself be lazy and to not get anything done uh but I want to do something amazing with my life and I find that that's the best way for me to do it is to just stay motivated no realize what needs to get done in order to uh further my goals and just do it every day no exceptions so um uh does that answer the question or oh so the routine is oh also um I'm very fortunate I have not had a day job had a need for a day job in 19 years I've been 19 years

1:02:13just working for myself doing freelance uh art art and all different mediums or whatever uh and so I have no routine sleeping schedule every day is my own and I and I can I can wake up when I want I can go to sleep when I want and I can work as much or as little as I want and which I know is a huge uh privilege that that most people don't have but I've I promise you I've worked to get to that point in my life uh and so yeah I I wake up and then I usually uh if if my wife's home I'll

1:02:49have a cup of coffee with with her if she's at if she's at work she's often at work by the time I wake up uh then I just to have my coffee and and start work and I just uh yeah just hustle all day every day yeah I mean that's there's no doubt that you have absolutely earned that um you were talking about wanting to live an amazing life um you are absolutely doing it without a doubt so um it's always it's always so inspiring to see what what you put out next so um yeah thank you we're getting um uh DC Stevens was uh was um speaking to what you were

1:03:28talking about exercising the demons to music um creating the music takes the color out of the dark emotions sure sure yeah I dig that I dig that for sure yeah there's something and I think this goes toward um the same reason why therapy can be effective for people or even just talking in general or writing there there's something um I used to do this all the time when I was younger and more angsty I guess or I had um if I felt a certain way about um sorry my cat it's just very loud he's a um if I had something negative that I that I felt I needed to express to

1:04:19someone um I would write them a letter and then I would burn the letter and just the Act of writing the letter uh got out that emotion and then allowed me um to have a little insight into my own emotions and to determine whether or not it was worth having the conversation with them or if really I just wanted to get that off my chest but some I I think a lot of times some people at the expense of just wanting to say their truth or get something off their chest just do that at the expense of being cruel to other people uh or being mean or dragging other people down

1:05:03and um I find that uh through writing a letter you do not send or writing a song uh that can encapsulate those emotions without targeting it towards someone specific or or whatever that gets those things off your chest and gives you a little more U perspective on on your own emotions and how you know valid they were or how you know how how much it needs to go out into the world and that being said some I'll I've written just a large number of songs that I think were really good that no one has ever heard or will ever hear except for me because I'll go oh that's that did the thing for

1:05:48me that I needed it to do but I don't want that person to hear it because it's [ __ ] mean or or like it would be really upsetting you know like for them to hear it and think oh is this about me or or whatever but I just I you know so um that's the only self-censorship I do is if it's going if what I'm putting out is going to be hurtful to someone I don't ever want to do that um but um so I try to limit that as best as to the best of my ability I I love that you are conscious in that way um I I know that a a

1:06:28refreshing uh quality um that more people in the world I think could benefit from um that being said I have put out some songs that are pretty mean but I think they're vague enough to wear no one will ever know who it's about well sometimes we need those songs to to to feel like oh this is a song I really need to hear right now because they're saying something that I really relate to that I wasn't able to say myself yeah those always seem to be the ones people connect with and a lot of times when I put out a song that sounds really mean a lot of times those songs

1:07:02are about me like directed towards myself you know and so that's so then no problem putting it out there right because I'm just you know singing about me from someone else's perspective that kind of thing you know so um you know anyway yeah no for sure it's it's interesting because um there's that lyric I bet you think the song is about you I'm not sure what song that's from but I just I'm thinking about that lyric it's uh is it uh Nancy Sinatra I'm not I'm not sure and and then n snails CRI the lyric for uh star [ __ ] Incorporated right right right yeah yeah

1:07:45I was just thinking it's like people I guess in General on the flip side would probably not truly know what that song is about um you know um yeah songs can definitely be translated in many many ways for sure I don't know if you I I've had just often people will ask me you know friends and loved ones if if a song is about them and not once has anyone asked that when it was actually about them not a single time sure ain't but it's it's an interesting Insight that you think it could be about you like what does that say about your perception of my perception of you

1:08:28yes and then we go into the infinite Loop well um if anybody does anybody have any more questions um oh you're so oh we're hearing a Carly Simon Carly Simon that's it yes Carly Simon You're So Vain okay good call who who piped in with that uh studeny bu and DC Stevens thanks thank you guys absolutely yes um well if there aren't any more questions um next week we're going to actually have SE bold on here which I'm super excited about yay um yes thank you all so much for um tuning in for your awesome questions for your time um for supporting um we we dropped some links

1:09:16um for um ways to follow and support Clint um and uh to keep up with his amazing projects because there are multiple projects to to keep your eye on um and um I just absolutely admire I'm so inspired by you Clint thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us and um sharing your incredible wisdom and inspiration well thank you TSH for you are an inspiration to me as well and thank you everybody who who tuned in to watch I appreciate uh you taking the time and for given a crap about what I have to say so thank you so much yes any any partying was s or

1:09:56Inspirations uh if you don't yet have one get yourself a cat from your local resue they will change your life for the better and it is uh yeah I've got two I got William and his sister Sally and uh yeah I cannot recommend it enough so get a cat or dog save an animal make their lives better and make your lives better turn yes um oh this is so cool um some some parting words um uh thank you Amia uh so much for the love um dark E55 says thank you so much for the advice uh for the YouTube channel accountability I've been listening to your music from 2009

1:10:4020110 it helped me through a lot of depression times and self-destruction tries oh um thank you that's really me a lot thank you um Travis Carney awesome interview and much love oh thank you that's my brother my brother oh yeah love it oh um and Vic is saying really enjoyed the interview and spending time um Sean is saying thanks for coming and DC St says cats are excellent for teaching humility yes indeed indeed awesome well everyone yall have an amazing uh rest of your Sunday and rest of your week and