Headliner Mindset

BIG GIGANTIC - Grinding, Growth & Gratitude: The Strategy For Long Term Success

• Nik Cherwink

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In this episode, Big Gigantic’s Dominic Lalli shares how he went from broke jazz gigs in New York to headlining festivals around the world. We talk about building Big Gigantic from the ground up, the mindset behind 15+ years of success, and how to stay creative, relevant, and inspired in an industry that’s always changing.

Whether you’re a DJ, producer, or artist chasing long-term growth, this conversation is packed with lessons on teamwork, consistency, and trusting the process.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to build a music career that actually lasts.

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https://www.instagram.com/biggigantic

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https://www.instagram.com/nikcherwink

Dominic:

I'm just a grinder. I'm grinding, and you know, I love that. How can I be better? How can I make something better? How can I be more creative? How can I tweak my process keep developing our sound just wanting that to be able to keep, um, to keep relevant and keep it going, you know, and how can we do it?

Nik Cherwink:

What's up everybody? Welcome to the Headliner Mindset podcast. Today's guest is a true legend in the bass music scene. They've been one of the biggest acts to merge electronic music with live instruments and have been touring nonstop since dropping their first album in 2009. In this episode we talk about what it takes to have a long career and stay relevant as an artist. As trends continue to change, we talk about the mindset and the determination that's really required to make it. In the music industry, we talk about how to get through creative blocks and really master your workflow and much, much more. This is big, gigantic. All right, Dominic, welcome to the show, man. Happy to have you here.

Dominic:

Thanks, Nick. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

Nik Cherwink:

and we're missing, we're missing another half here,

Dominic:

Right?

Nik Cherwink:

Who

Dominic:

Jeremy Salkin. Yep. And he is, uh, the drummer and kind of the, you know, does a lot of our business and, and, uh, other things, uh, you know, lot, just all the other kind of stuff as

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

yeah.

Nik Cherwink:

And what's your favorite thing about Jeremy? Let's shout him out real quick.

Dominic:

My favorite thing about Jeremy is that, um, well, you know, Jeremy is just a great person. He's a great guy, great person. He just has such a unique skillset and is just a very, I would say, like thorough which in, you know, in a, in a business, working with someone in a business together, it's great to have somebody like that who, can just check all the boxes and go through and think of things that you haven't thought about and, and just really like, kind of dig into some of the nitty gritty stuff, I think in a business aspect. That's been such a blessing to have him. But also just one of the best guys out there and that's just super solid and super fun to have a friend. Um, like that, you know, in the game.

Nik Cherwink:

Hell yeah. Well, shout out Jeremy. Sorry he can't be with us today, but,

Dominic:

Yeah.

Nik Cherwink:

uh, I love that you bring that up. You know, when we're thinking about, I don't know, just being in a duo, collaborating with other people, especially when you're gonna actually start a project with somebody. Yeah. Yeah. They should be a good hang. You should get along. Obviously the, the creative energy should be there, but that you bring up another good point of like, yeah. Are they, are they gonna be like a good business partner? You know, ultimately, like you're stepping into like, we're literally starting a business together. So that's another, uh, uh, you know, some other things to be kind of paying attention to is like, yeah, is this person gonna be good to really get into business with?

Dominic:

Definitely, and, and just to clarify like our roles and stuff like that. So it's always sort of been like, I do all the music, so I make all the music, uh, you know, get everything ready for our shows. And then, you know, he kind of comes in when it's time to do the live show, you know, in terms of like playing drums. And then just do, he really is his, like, probably one of his main things is just really, uh, doing the business side of things. And it was, as we were coming up, he was more prevalent in that role because we didn't have. You know, things that we now have, because we're a bigger organization, you need like a business manager and different things. But he was doing a lot of those things for us as we were first coming up and didn't like technically need all that stuff,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

but needed someone to handle it. So we've always, between our manager and the three of us have always sort of had, um, especially on the come up, just a unique. Role. Our manager who manages a bunch of bands now, but we were the first band he ever managed and he was just booking, you know, he was just booking, uh, venues around Colorado and stuff like that. So

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah,

Dominic:

all of us were coming up together and like had no idea what we were doing, but

Nik Cherwink:

totally.

Dominic:

great success back in the day. So,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah, I love that. It's so cool to hear that I, I just recently had a conversation with this, uh, this duo called Riot and um, you know, we were talking about just the different roles, like when you're working, there's so many artists. And producers that are just working by themselves, right? And it's like, it's me and a laptop. I'm doing everything, and then I'm doing all the business. I'm doing all the stuff. And then,

Dominic:

Right.

Nik Cherwink:

know, when you step into a, a duo or a trio or more, I'm finding, you know, the trend with successful artists is that people oftentimes have kind of like their zone of genius and they're really splitting up the work, right? Um, so they were talking about, you know, how they have their different strengths and how it compliments each other, and that's what's really led to their success. And it's funny, I do coaching, life coaching slash business coaching, working specifically with artists. And I had a conversation with somebody this weekend where they're a trio

Dominic:

Mm-hmm.

Nik Cherwink:

The other downside of it is like, if you're not really in alignment, is it's kind of like everybody's kind of trying to do everything and then it's like they're all pulling in sort of in different directions. And so we had this really great conversation. It was like, all right, let's get really clear. What are your roles? You're gonna handle this, you're gonna handle this. Let's create some systems. Let's get some clarity.'cause they were kind of running in circles. I'm like, you guys technically should be going three times as fast as everybody. If there's three of you,

Dominic:

right.

Nik Cherwink:

but you're not. So what's going on here? Right?

Dominic:

is that? Right?

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah you just mentioned a word that jumped out at me, which was, uh, being an organization and I, I'm curious about at this stage, at this level in your career, uh, what does the organization look like? Like what's the whole, the whole team at this point? You know, what are all the different kind of players of what it takes to have, an organization as you say? Yeah.

Dominic:

Right. I mean, no doubt.'cause it's, it's, um, you know, it, it started out as just the three of us, me, Jeremy, and our manager Ben. So now, um, we, so kind of I guess from the top down, uh, we've added a second manager because, um, and we just added that this year because we had, uh, you know, Ben has, um. Had a lot of success as a manager and, um, he manages a band called Goose. He manages a lot of jam bands and

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

And so he's, uh, this band Goose is like doing stadiums MSG and stuff like that. So he's become real, super busy managing them along with all his

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

acts. And so we had a super solid day to day with us for a long time and she. You know, just ended up doing some, um, you know, moving on in her life and doing, you know, having, having a family and different things like that. So we needed a new day to day, come last year. And so it was kind of like we were looking for that. And at the same time, the idea of having a second manager came up. And so, we had, uh, this guy who's been super great. He's with Red Light Management. His name's Brandon Ginsburg.

Nik Cherwink:

Mm. Yeah.

Dominic:

been wonderful having him on the team. You know, it's nice to have,'cause uh, Ben, our manager, is a little more of a, his management company's a little more grassroots, whereas Red Light is obviously, you know, a

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah. Talk. Talk about an organization. That's one of the most Yeah. Power powerhouse management companies in the industry right there. Yeah.

Dominic:

So, um, so we've had both of them and it's been really great. It's been super great. So we got, we have that, we have our booking agent, uh, Jason Cooperman, and then we have, um. Let's see. We have a business manager, we have, uh, a

Nik Cherwink:

And.

Dominic:

team who does our taxes then like crew on the ground. We have like a a tour manager who's sort of like tour managers remotely. And then we bring people, another tour manager out on the road. You know, we have, uh, front of house. Guy who does our sound, uh, stage, you know, monitor guy who does our sound in our in ears.

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

we have a stage manager who deals with all the, getting all that, know, all the things that we need for the stage, whether it's video, audio, all that stuff. We have two people on our lighting team. And I think that might be it, but you know,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Big, big crew though. Yeah.

Dominic:

when we go on a tour bus, you know, we fill up 12 bunks in a tour bus. 12 of us can go around and do and do that. So, you know, it's, it's stacked for

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's super cool. And it's, it's taken a while to get there'cause you guys have been in the game for a minute. How long, how long ago was it that you started this project?

Dominic:

so, it was like basically kicked off in like, I would say

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

So, you know, it's been a long time. Just a little backstory on all of it because it's interesting the way it all came together too, because, you know, 2009 was a totally different time.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah,

Dominic:

know, everything was totally fucking different back then

Nik Cherwink:

totally.

Dominic:

different ways. Um, but, uh, you know, I was like in a different band, like in a funk band. in Colorado, like doing, doing jam band stuff with the

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

I'm a

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

player. Got my master's degree, saxophone doing jazz. A lot of stuff, jazz stuff around Denver. So anyways, playing with this funk band, touring with this funk band. And, met a guy who was like super on the, like, J Dilla, like making beats MPC thing. And

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

I was like, this guy's sick. he was like, I was practicing my saxophone eight hours a day, you know, trying to become a better saxophonist. He was like making beats eight hours a day. And I was like, this is cool.'cause this is a guy who's like in my world, but like, not in my world. And I loved, um, I'm a big like songwriter guy, like love writing songs and always have, even when I'm doing jazz stuff and everything. So, met this guy linked up and I was like, this is cool. Like I can make. Songs like on my own. Like,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

any, I don't need a band. You know, I was writing songs on the piano, manuscript paper, taking it to a band. What does it sound like? Okay, let me make some revisions. I didn't like the way this came across, blah, blah, blah.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

I'm like, okay, I can do this all in house. So I got a computer, started making beats, kind of more in the hip Hop J Dilla world, with some electronic twist to it. And, um, and I had some like local gigs here in Denver where it was like a guy who was playing drums, a bass player, and me, and I'd play like keys and we would all make beats and then we would just like bring our beats to our weekly gig. And there'd be like a line down the, out, out the door of like local singers and rappers who would just come and rap and sing over all of our beats. And we

Nik Cherwink:

Oh, sick.

Dominic:

yeah, I was just making beats for that.

Nik Cherwink:

That's fun.

Dominic:

In fact some of those beats were, some of the first, you know, our very first album fired up, you know, many, many years ago. Just all instrumental beats,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

like a handful of those were those beats that I had made for those singers and rappers who, you know, and we were doing the thing. So anyways, you know, that was all going on At the same time, I'm still playing with this funk band and I'm playing this funk band, and kids were like coming up to me like, Hey, like you should start your own project. Just like start something like,

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

I had no music. So anyways, Jeremy's my roommate and we start this thing and it's just all really like buzz word of mouth, like going out, telling people that we're gonna start this thing.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

we're playing gigs for probably half a year, maybe even more. No music out. We're like selling out 250 cap rooms, going on tour with bands,

Nik Cherwink:

Wow.

Dominic:

hiring us. No music,

Nik Cherwink:

Hmm.

Dominic:

like word of mouth stuff.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. What was it then? What was like. The sort of secret sauce that you guys had that was having, there was obviously some, some buzz about you. Like, what was it?

Dominic:

I don't know, because it was like, kind of like MySpace was kind of like in the mix. Then a little bit of Facebook where, you know, um, I think it was just. You know, I was out playing with another band, so I was out playing, you know, so I had that sort of like, you know, and I was kind of like the lead guy in the band, although I was just playing saxophone. That's it. But,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

you know, but Colorado had a. You know, Colorado was big in the like two, you know, touring and jam bands and that stuff was like kind of hitting, I

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah,

Dominic:

uh, bands like STS nine, uh, pretty Lights was starting to come up around that time.

Nik Cherwink:

yeah.

Dominic:

all that stuff was starting to buzz and there was people just looking for something new and fresh, I think. It started with a house party, you know what I mean? And, and I think it kind of, you know, Colorado was a place where people traveled to and had a lot of friends who had friends of friends in Colorado. So like Word was sort of spreading about it

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

you know, had some lucky breaks and some, some,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

so it's, at one point I was like, okay, well we need to put some music out because we've been, we gotta do something here,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah, that's, I get it. That's, that's, that's cool. Like kinda like the demand and the excitement and the buzz was there before you were even like, like really intentionally, like pushing yourselves and marketing yourselves. Right. That's, that's really cool. What, what would you say was the, the North Star at that time? What was pulling you, what was driving you?

Dominic:

Just the, the want to see where this thing could go, you know what I mean?

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

can this go? This is really exciting, and again. haven't even like started scratching the surface of this thing. I just like started dabbling in it and we've had all this success. So like what would it be like if I fully immersed myself in it? Right? So then I like quit the funk band and then I like quit my job because I was like, okay, now it's like, you know, I was like, slanging coffee. I was

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

jazz gigs. I was like doing whatever I could do to make some money.'cause I was definitely in the broke jazz musician guy,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

era of my life, you know, looking for gigs and all that. And I was like, well at this point everything that I put in here to this new project is gonna like, I'm gonna see results like tenfold. You know? And then by three, four years later, I mean, it was like, you know, we were, we were like. you know, we were like the hot thing

Nik Cherwink:

Y Yeah, it, it sounds like you had a lot of faith and confidence though, in that like you

Dominic:

well,

Nik Cherwink:

are.

Dominic:

I didn't know. I didn't know, but I said, you know what, I'm gonna like, I'm just gonna do it. You know,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

gonna try it out, you

Nik Cherwink:

You, you were willing to take that risk and put everything into it.

Dominic:

Yeah, there's a certain point where I had to jump ship, you know, and that was sort of a little like scary part then. But then, you know, gigs came in and, you know, we ended up getting a booking agent and

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

shifted where it was like, okay, I didn't have to worry for like too long. But,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

a guy, like when I was in New York, I mean, I almost, I moved to Colorado because. I was so in debt and like so broke that I had to do something because it was like it was getting bad, you know, where it was like,

Nik Cherwink:

Hmm.

Dominic:

I can't, can't there, you know, this is not good. You

Nik Cherwink:

Living in new living in New York?

Dominic:

living in New York trying to play jazz gigs and my credit card bills were getting up. I

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

out, you know, I wasn't, I can't go ask my parents for money

Nik Cherwink:

Hmm.

Dominic:

any money to give me. So it

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah.

Dominic:

you know, I don't, I don't know what, but

Nik Cherwink:

Mm.

Dominic:

get outta here. So I

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

you know, started this other band. And got, um, got outta New York and into Colorado and,

Nik Cherwink:

Mm.

Dominic:

of had some help there. Get

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

feet.

Nik Cherwink:

That was always your vision though, it sounds like, was just to, to be a full-time musician. Like you said, you went and you got your master's degree. You were doing the jazz circuit, but there obviously was something inside of you that was like, that know, this is what I want to do.

Dominic:

Definitely, definitely. And I, I got the master's degree for several reasons because I wanted to go to Manhattan School of Music.'cause that was like a goal of mine at the time. Um, so it was cool to, you know, do that and, and accomplish that goal. But I also was like, okay, worst case I can teach, you know, I can

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

with my master's degree

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

I'll, I'll be straight, you

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Dominic:

another thing in my pocket.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Um, I, I, I, and I, I just love hearing. Your story and you know, that just that drive and that determination to, you know, pursue the hero's journey, right. To take a path in life that's not the, you know, the stereotypical safe route. Um,, I imagine that there, there must have been some times where you really like, probably like reconsidered and, you know, weren't sure if you wanted to keep going, right.

Dominic:

Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. I

Nik Cherwink:

What, what kept you going in those moments?

Dominic:

Uh, you know, just faith, you know, just like. Uh, I just have this, you know, I've been not, you know, I, I've, I've had a very, very good life, you know, the, you know, especially with big gigantic and, and the way things have, have panned out for me and, you know, just, I've had a, a, a great upbringing and stuff like that too. I don't know, I've just always had this, um. Determination, you know, something that, just like a fire that even when I got knocked down, it like made me like double double up on it, you

Nik Cherwink:

Mm.

Dominic:

And maybe it was from, uh, you know, a lot of, a lot of sports in high school, a lot of great coaches

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm. my butt and stuff like that. And I think that

Dominic:

that

Nik Cherwink:

probably developed some sort of like initial, just like base for me Yeah.

Dominic:

to push through, keep going. Work harder. You know, you get knocked down, you get up again, you just, you go harder, you know, that kind of a thing.

Nik Cherwink:

totally.

Dominic:

you know, when you become an adult, it gets, it's a little bit different. It can get a little scarier when you're sort of like really in debt and really broke and stuff like that, and you don't have anywhere to turn to.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

mean, things got super dicey there for a little while.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

it was a little tricky. Um, but just. You know, I was like, literally like praying, like, I was like, do anything I can do to, you know, help get, help me get th through this,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

you know, whatever. Like, just get me to the next step and

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

work harder and I'll like do, you know,

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

a couple moments where things just turned the right way for me, you know.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah. I, I love that you bring up having that sports background because it, it took me a while to realize this, and I feel like I just kind of ended up being like a life coach for DJs, and I'm like, how, how did I get here? Like, how this was not part of the plan,

Dominic:

right.

Nik Cherwink:

know, but like, but my background really was. I wanted to be an artist. I was an artist for a very long time. And then when I, basically, after high school, I kind of, I didn't have really, you know, the support and the guidance and know, like, you know, where do you go, how do you navigate that? And, um, I ended up, sports was the thing though, that was really working for me and became a collegiate all American, rugby player. And yeah, I went super far, went super far with rugby, but I still had this passion for music. And I ended up working in the music business and, and then I found myself. Ultimately like coaching these artists. And that's what I realized was basically, in the world of sports, we have coaches, right? We have that discipline, that mindset getting trained to get knocked down and get back up. And the lessons that you learn that, that plants in your mind and,

Dominic:

Yeah.

Nik Cherwink:

in the world of. Being an artist, we don't really have that. It's kind of like, Hey, good luck. Figure it out, man. You know, and, and so

Dominic:

That

Nik Cherwink:

that's where I.

Dominic:

health,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah, so I kind of realized, I'm like, wait a minute. Like, yeah, I have such this, this background of sports psychology and lessons that I've learned on the rugby field. And um, you know, if you're, you're probably familiar with, uh, Icahn Collective Music Production School. That was kind of where I got to like, bring all of those together of like coaching, you know, these young and up and coming artists. So, but I think just like, you know, that mindset piece, that's why this podcast is the headliner mindset of like, you gotta have the mindset of like, yo, you're gonna get knocked down a hundred. Fucking times. And are you willing to ke keep getting back up? Are you willing to be in debt? You know, are you willing to like, you know, take those risks and like, bet on yourself? And it's fucking hard. It's fucking hard. It's hard, especially when you're by yourself and you don't have support. And it's just, you know, especially maybe if it's just you and your laptop by yourself in your room, you know? So,

Dominic:

Yeah.

Nik Cherwink:

um, yeah. Cool to see that, you know, some of those, lessons were implanted. Hey, if you're one of those artists that have been trying to figure it out all on your own, if you've been spinning your wheels, putting out music, but not really seeing your project grow, or maybe things are already taken off for you, but now you're dealing with the pressures of the industry and you're just trying to keep your head screwed on straight, we should talk. I've coached hundreds of artists at this point, from people that are just starting out to full-time touring DJs, helping them dial in their mindset, their brand, and their strategy to not only create epic results, but to also learn how to love the process and not get super stressed out along the way. So if that sounds like you click the link in the show notes to book a free call and let's see if coaching's a good fit. Now back to the show. But now here you are however many years later, right? You guys have put out eight or nine albums, right? You guess just put out your new album. Recently, you guys have had a, an incredibly, you know, successful long career in the music industry.

Dominic:

Mm-hmm.

Nik Cherwink:

What would you say is the secret to having a long career in the music industry?

Dominic:

right. Yeah. Boy, I mean, that's such a great question. And you know, that's gonna vary. Um, you know, I don't think there's, I don't think there's any one, um, you know, or

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

10

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

Bullet points. You know, it's just a, it's just like a willingness to adapt, right. To continue on, you know, to keep grinding.'cause I'm like, you know, a lot of people ask me like, you know, or they haven't seen me in a long time. Like, what have you been, what have you been up to? And I'm like, my answer a lot of times is like the same thing I've been up to. For all these years, you know, I mean, granted, I have a family and stuff now, but I'm just a grinder. I'm grinding, And you know, I love that.

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

but it's like how can I be better? How can I make something better? How can I be more creative? How can I tweak my process to be more efficient, you know? me look and see what's going on in the world. How can I adapt? You know, even our sound, you know, sometimes I get flack for it. Like, oh, like, I loved you when you were in 2000, you know, 12. And

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

dude, I mean, I'm not gonna just keep 2012 in myself all

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

you know,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

12, 12 more years. You know, I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna adapt, I'm gonna, you know, keep developing our sound and, just wanting that to be able to keep, um, to keep relevant and keep it going, you know, and how can we do it? But I think that's one of our, um, successes is that, you know, we've been able to still be relevant even after all these years, you know, and, and I think, know, every. Every band has a trajectory, you know, and the come up, and obviously we had just a huge come up and it was super sweet and we got all the, uh, you know, all those like really awesome moments, um, you know, that are still, that still live fresh in my mind. And, and it was such a fun time. And now, you know, it's just so different because you're just not that anymore and never will be. You know,

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm. um. You know, it's just waves Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

we just wave, you know, we go in these waves and, and a lot of it is determined by what I'm, what I'm doing or what we're doing. You know, how are we gonna be creative? How are we gonna make something new? And I really felt like a real, I felt like us and the team, you know, just did a really good job with this latest release and just like. Sticking to our sound, you know, being ourselves, but like putting out something that's relevant. Putting out music with a lot of upcoming artists and really just keeping ourself in that conversation. Still, you know, even

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

years, and even when, you know, people say like, oh, like you guys are legends and this, and, and that's cool, but like, still being able to like, be in the game and be, you know, I, we still have ourselves in terms of our live show, reinventing ourselves in terms of doing some shows with, uh, grammatic now.

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

got this like big grammatic thing to like do something different. You know, we've done stuff with, um, I'm sure, you know, nightmare Tyler, um,

Nik Cherwink:

boy. Hell yeah.

Dominic:

or

Nik Cherwink:

Yep, yep, yep.

Dominic:

know,

Nik Cherwink:

For sure.

Dominic:

did, did stuff with him in the past. Um, doing stuff with Grammatic now, you know, at the same time doing, some back to backs with levity, you know,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah,

Dominic:

on their big time come up right now, which is awesome for, to see them,

Nik Cherwink:

totally.

Dominic:

had, you know, I've known John forever'cause I've known, Louis the child, guys

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

You know, how can we keep ourselves, you know, in the game and relevant and all that

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

Um, and.

Nik Cherwink:

I, I, as I was kind of going through your catalog, that was something I, I definitely noticed is there's, uh, especially on the new album, I mean, there's so much collaboration happening,

Dominic:

Right?

Nik Cherwink:

Which it seems like that's a big part of the process of. S you know, staying inspired, keeping things fresh is not being like, oh, I'm gonna just isolate myself in my room and like figure it all out on my own. But how can we tap into other creative minds and other styles and, you know, it seems like that's been a big part of your process.

Dominic:

Yeah, I love that. Um, I love it in a lot of ways because, um, I love it. Yeah. In terms of like, um, you know, the relevancy and like keeping it fresh and stuff like that. But also, my like, next thing in my mind that I want to do is like, do a big gigantic, like beat tape, like mix tape type of thing that is just all like my stuff

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

know, to do for fun. So sort of like what a la what we used to do.

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

but at the same time, I love collaborating with people because it just, I feel like it lifts the whole thing up. know, and it could be here, but it like, or it lifts it up in a way that, um, you know, things, you don't think of different techniques. You're always, you know, as someone who loves to learn, like I love getting into the studio with other people because. Everyone always has a different way to approach something and

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

we still want, like, we're still going for this sound, but they're gonna go like this whole other way around, around to get it like than I would.

Nik Cherwink:

Hmm.

Dominic:

like that's such a cool different way to do it, or I didn't even think about that.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

bring a whole different sound to the table. Like, what is that? And how did you do that? And it's just, I love that learning process, which goes back to the fundamental stuff that we talked about

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

sports and all that stuff, and just having that learning, mentality with,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. And I, I love that you mentioned that earlier, just about that constant desire just to get better and to grow and to, and to keep developing. I think that that is, I, I, I think there's oftentimes two different types of producers where it's like, one is, I'm trying to. Find my sound almost as if it's like the destination, right? As opposed to being in the endless process of expansion and creative exploration, which, uh, you know, that's, that's something that I've heard as well. I, I used to host, weekly q and as with artists when I worked at Icon and that was something I oftentimes heard the guests talking about.'cause I'd love to ask like, you know. At this level, it's like, you're already, you're a great artist, you know, like you already know a lot, right? And so how do, how do you keep learning at that level? And, and that was really oftentimes the most common answer is like, just get in the studio with someone else and see how they're doing it. Um, yeah.

Dominic:

way to find your sound really is through, uh, being on

Nik Cherwink:

I.

Dominic:

the path of, a learner, you know, learn, you know, how do I find my sound by working and, and trying to learn every day. And then those, that just one thing lifts up the other, and then eventually you're just like. You know, then your taste comes and you sprinkle that in, and then it's like, then it starts to become very clear about what your sound is. I, I feel like when we made our Brighter Future album in 2016, you know, obviously many years ago, I feel like on my journey to that is where I was really like, okay, this is what I want. Because I love, I love the horns, I love the live instruments. I love all these. that are like, what are me? You know,

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

the get, you know, I've been writing for orchestras and big, big bands and all this stuff all the time. So when we take all these sounds and like, bring them into this electronic thing and. And start to build stuff around that. And that's, you know, that's, yeah. That was the way of just like, how can I put this together in a way that I see fit? And that was, you know, probably our, by far, our, our most successful release to date, you

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool. I'm curious about the creative process for this album, if And how, maybe it was different compared to your creative process for previous albums.

Dominic:

Yeah. Interesting. Um, I don't feel like it was that much different really. Sort of really kind of taking that same thing like how can I get all these elements of, um, of. The live band stuff, the orchestra stuff, the live instrument stuff, and mix it into the, into like a current state of what, um, electronic music or bass music is. would say I went a little bit more like, let's like a little more into the bass. Mm. Leaned a little more into the bass music heavy stuff on this release, although. I do like to not just pinpoint our sound in one thing, you know, that's why we have like, like Sweet of sacrifice and like rain. Were a couple songs, you know, just di I love house music

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

I think it fits so well with the sax and the horns and stuff too, so. Still, um, a wide range of music in the electronic or dance realm.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

not just the bass music, but definitely leaned a little bit more on some of the heavier bass stuff, this album.'cause I, I just, you know, I'm like. Think about our gigs, you know, too, like, where are we playing? Who's in front of us? like, even in past albums, I'm like making edits, for some of these songs so that we can play them live. So they're a little more like for fitting, For some of these more dance festivals and, and things like that. So I think I leaned a little bit more into let's make this. Already ready to go,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

of a thing, you know?

Nik Cherwink:

Super cool. Um, and yeah, man, so many, so many great. Yeah. Guest artists and collaborators on, on this album. Um, so many, you know, artists that I'm, I'm a fan of, I'm curious about how those get set up, right? Are these just like homies and you just shoot them a text in a DM like, yo, let's, let's vibe on some shit. Or is it, is there like a backend publisher, putting people in rooms, you know, like what does that kinda look like on, on the collaborative side?

Dominic:

for the most part, it's like friends

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

people who I'm inspired by who I'm like, Hey, you know, know of each other and then I DM them,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah,

Dominic:

and say, Hey, like, we should work on something. Or I see'em out. at, you know, their Colorado people like Blank

Nik Cherwink:

yeah,

Dominic:

guy.

Nik Cherwink:

yeah. Yeah.

Dominic:

is a Colorado guy. And so I see them out like, we should work on something, you know, and then we pass some stuff back and forth, that kind of thing. Um, prob cause I've known for a long time, so, and it just. He's like, oh, he's like, you know, he shows his talent every time.'cause he's just got like bars for days and ideas for days and it, and you know, you've seen him since kind of when Griz kind of took his hiatus and then he started jumping in with all these other artists. You see his like talent being able to work with more hip hop stuff, more bass music stuff. So I've known him for a long time. Me and Grant and him have done. think three or four songs prior to even this album where it was like just two, two songs on this al on this album with him, because he's just like, it's so good. So I'm

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Dominic:

there's like more, there's even more like there's more shit in the works too. So,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. That's awesome. You kind of strike me as someone that like doesn't get creatively blocked. Do you ever get like stuck on stuff and are like, you know what I mean? Like. Okay. I wanna,'cause I'm like, I'm like you. I'm like, you got a master's degree in music. You know, like, you, like you're, you're just obviously listening to the music, it's like, holy shit. And you're putting out albums where it's like, bam. There's just like quantity of music coming out all the time. So like, I'm curious, like, you know, was there any, maybe, you know. Song or song that didn't make it on the album, that was like challenging and, and frustrating and like, what do you do when you hit those creative blocks? And ultimately, yeah, the, the inevitable moments of like, you know, kind of being stuck as an artist.

Dominic:

A lot of times what I do, especially, like harmonically when chords and stuff like that and how to, like, how do I make this song different? Like kind of stepping back a little bit, these songs come together in all different ways. Like sometimes I'll get a vocal, you

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

I'll get like a demo and I'm like, I love the vocal,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

but I like wanna make it something totally different,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

So. It. Say I'm at a certain point with something and I'm like, it's cool, but it's like, not it, you know, or it's too much like this, or it's this, or whatever. A lot of times that's when my music school stuff will kick in and I'll be like, okay, we're in this key. There's only, there's like 12 different ways you could cut this right now.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

You know, and I'll just explore all those

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

we can, let's try this. What does that sound like? Mm, no, I'll do it. So I'll go, I'll like explore all the like, mathematical possibilities

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah.

Dominic:

actually be.

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

um, you know, because with, with that. You know, you could have one line, and with all those mathematical possibilities, you will create all these different, emotional things underneath, like say what the melody or the lyrics and everything are. So, you know, the lyrics could be X, y, z with the melody. And it could be like this really. Um. A profound kind of a thing. Like, okay, like this big thing. Or it could be like, oh, now this is kind of, this is more sad,

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

is now, this is actually more happy. And you can, you can do all that just with changing the landscape underneath of what you already have there. So I'll explore all those things and be like, okay, is this, are we, is it this, is this that, do I like this? You know? And then at that point you have to just make a choice, right?

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

You know, one of the things I learned from, working with Skrillex way back in the day, he's very good at just, he just makes choices. You know, he was like, I bounce everything to audio so that the choice is made and then I can move on. And that's how he's writing, you know?

Nik Cherwink:

Mm. Yeah. Just keep moving forward.

Dominic:

yeah,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

move forward. And then, you know, sometimes things happen where you move, you know, maybe I move forward with that and

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

that ends up not being. A song I ever use, you know,

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

but then keeping at it every day and I'm building something, right? Even though maybe I'm not putting these songs out, but I'm just like building a thing because I'm building within myself and

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

knowledge and all this stuff. And then all of a sudden, two weeks later, three weeks later, all of the things that I've been building up. Over that two, three weeks comes like, and I'm like, ah, here it is. And

Nik Cherwink:

Mm. Yeah.

Dominic:

that becomes something that's, that happens really quickly.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

a great, it's perfect. It's great. And then I make a song in like

Nik Cherwink:

Mm.

Dominic:

days, you know,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. I love that. I love that. It's like what I'm hearing here really is that consistency of continuing to show up and making music every day. And I was just having this conversation with, with, with my coaching group where it's. Somebody was, yeah, they were just, they, they were feeling a bit stuck and I was just like, you know, like, you don't have to finish every idea, right? It's like not all of those need to be completed and put out, and sometimes it's worth it to just keep playing and exploring until you have that moment. It's like, Ooh, that one, like, that's the fuck that's got the juice. That's the one right there that's going on the album. That's the one we're gonna put out, but to, to just be in the, in the doll every day or in the instrument every day. Is so, so clutch. Yeah.

Dominic:

because if, I mean, if you can imagine the pressure of, okay, I have two weeks to finish this song. I need to write something like. Now in the next eight hours and the pressure and like what your mind's going through versus just riding a little bit every day, part of the process, you're just in it, and then it just, things come naturally versus, trying to put, you know, pressure on it and things like that, that that's why.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

and all

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

important and just showing up even if it's for, and you see guys talk about this all the time, James Hype. I've been talking about this, uh, this last year. Almost everybody, you know, I, I, for some, I don't know why I've been seeing this lately, or if there's, I'm seeing a lot of like gratitude moments on social media right now.

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

People posting, you know, they get some people their first Lollapalooza maybe. Um, you know, just having some great festival moments and really sitting back and going, you know, 10 years ago or five years ago, I had a dream and I just stuck with it and I stayed in it every day and look what's happening, you know? It's so great to see that just that it's, it's, it's, it's a staple for people who are successful. They're not just like. They didn't just like wake up and had a, you know, it's like they grind, they work at it every day, and when their moment comes, they're prepared. They get to enjoy it and it's like a super sweet thing. And it's just, it's fun to see I love seeing that.

Nik Cherwink:

Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool, man. And, and that, that gratitude piece is so important as well. It's like we gotta enjoy the journey and be grateful for it. It can be so easy to get caught up in looking at what's next, right? What's the, what's, what's the next goal, the next thing to achieve? And it's like, all right, well also, let's look behind you and, and give gratitude for how far we've come, be present with what's in front of us right now as well. I see so many of the artists that I talk to and, and, and that I work with often, uh, that are dealing with, you know, the stress and the pressure of just trying to make it, you know, chasing the dream. Oftentimes feeling like maybe they're running out of time or there's just, you know, back to like when you're. Putting that pressure on yourself in the studio and like, I've gotta finish this in, in two weeks. And, you know, that can create some, some mental blocks. And just ultimately, ultimately, you know, stress and pressure, which makes it hard to operate, makes it hard to create. Um, I imagine that the stress and pressure doesn't. Go away necessarily though, as you get bigger and as you know, you become successful and you hit these goals. So I'm curious, at this stage in your career, like what's some of the stress and pressure that you deal with as a, you know, huge headlining artist?

Dominic:

A lot of it is just like trying not to be hard on yourself. Like you have to realize where you're at. You know what I mean? And what and what's happening. You know, you're not. You're not this anymore. you just have to go ease, be easier on yourself and really, stay in the moment and keep working at it every day. And just again, having, being the learning process be the focal point and the, and the growing, you know, the internal growing and stuff like that, be the focal point. Because if you're trying to, how do I stay? You know, how do I, everyone's one-upping each other. So

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah,

Dominic:

that's where the, the um, not real. It's not real pressure, you know, it's like a

Nik Cherwink:

yeah.

Dominic:

you

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

do I, um, stay focused? Um, you know, that that's the challenge. Just staying in the moment and staying focused and just. Keeping all those principles that got you to where you were, where you are now, and just sticking to those because yeah, again, with social media and just, and, and just everything, you know,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

the fact that it's been 15 years and you know, you're not, you know, it's not gonna be the same as it was 12 years ago. It's

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah,

Dominic:

there's no way, like physically in the world it could like be that way. Trying to go easy on yourself, but also trying to, keep growing, keep learning and doing things you haven't done before. You know, um, uh, just how, how can I, you know, or take this to the next level, but, you know, within my, within myself, you

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Back to that. Just learning and growing, right?'cause it's so easy. Whether if like you're on the come up and you're looking into the future of this is where I want to be, or this is where other artists are. Or even then now you're 15, 20 years into your career and you're looking back and you're like, oh damn. That was like that moment that of success that we had back then. You know, how do we get that again? Right? So it's like it really is. It reminds me of the book, the Power of Now,

Dominic:

Hmm.

Nik Cherwink:

such like.

Dominic:

that.

Nik Cherwink:

Required, required reading for, for every artist out there, I think.'cause it's just all about how our brain, basically all of our thoughts either exist in the past or the future and it's also the root of all of our problems, right? Any of the pressure or the anxiety or depression or whatever it is, it's just our brain pulling us out of being present, which is like, yo, life is happening now. Not tomorrow. It's like this is the moment to enjoy it. This is the moment to be grateful, to have fun to, to, you know. And so it's almost like, yeah, 90% of our challenges and our problems are, the brain just not being present? And um, yeah, really, really great book. The power of Now go check it out. Uh, you know, I might. Good buddy Derek from Slander has like, he just like said that he's like that to the book. That con contributed so greatly to his success and he listens to it on audio all the time still, which is that constant reminder of like, hey, like there's, there's nothing to fear.

Dominic:

Yep,

Nik Cherwink:

enjoy the ride, be creative. Let's have some fun along the way. But, you know, easier said than done. I look at it as like. The brain is like a, it's like a, it's like a puppy that we have to train, you know? And if we're not training it, then it's just going to run around and tear the house up. So, easier said than done.

Dominic:

No doubt. No doubt.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Um, so you guys are going on tour now, right? You guys have, or I think you, you guys just played, uh, right.

Dominic:

Cho, which was really great, which was like, you know, it's like another one of those moments that like brings you back to, you know, it's just like, man, what a great festival. Had a killer set. You know, the response from the fans have been, has been like, too good. You know, so

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

one of those where it brings you back to like, those killer awesome moments,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

where it's just like, you know, so satisfying that, you know, all the hard work that you put in and stuff like that

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

translated the

Nik Cherwink:

Hmm.

Dominic:

So.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah, some, something I've talked to a lot of touring artists about is kinda like the come down, you know, I imagine being in Shambala, you're like, I don't know, 20,000 people or something going crazy, you know, jumping up and down and I, I, I'm, I'm so curious for them to do some studies on like the neurochemical process of like. What must happen in your brain when you're getting that much, you know, just dopamine and serotonin release. Um, I've heard one of the big challenges for artists is oftentimes kind of, you know, after that, you know, whether maybe you're back in your hotel by yourself or, you know, you're just on a flight back home the next day. One have, have you experienced that? And two, like how do you handle kind of navigating that, um, that rollercoaster?

Dominic:

You know, honestly, I haven't, I haven't experienced anything negative from it that, let's, let's put it that way. I mean, it's always very, like, satisfying to

Nik Cherwink:

Mm.

Dominic:

Um.

Nik Cherwink:

Cool.

Dominic:

You know, I come home, I have a wife, I have a kid, I come home, I'm like, let's go. I

Nik Cherwink:

Hell yeah. Yeah.

Dominic:

It feels good to get some time in. I will tell you though, the trippiest thing, and this is it the, is it the first time or the only time that's ever happened? I can, I can't think. Maybe it happened like at one point a long, long time ago, but the really fucked up thing for me that happened recently was Bonnaroo. So. You know, Bonnaroo, the first day the Bonnaroo, this summer,

Nik Cherwink:

Oh yeah.

Dominic:

and then the rest of the whole festival got canceled.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. It got like flooded or something.

Dominic:

flooded

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah.

Dominic:

us, you know, and we, at this point, we usually get to do like one big festival play a

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

and that was, there was people at that festival, you know

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

a big play for us. And not only. A big play for us. It was all part of our whole album release plan, because we

Nik Cherwink:

Mm.

Dominic:

single, single, single, then it was like we were gonna play Bonnaroo, and then our album comes out the following Friday. So it was like setting the whole thing up. Right.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

to fly to Nashville, fly out to site, you know,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

I'm sitting in my hotel room like. Close to like bedtime kind of thing. And literally getting texts from my managers, like, it's canceled. Like everything's canceled

Nik Cherwink:

Oh damn.

Dominic:

of the weekend. for me, and I'm sitting in this like shitty hotel room in the middle of Tennessee, you know, And I'm like, I've never experienced something like that.'cause it was kind of like shock. It was like I was shocked at first and I was like, whoa, this is crazy. And it wasn't like I was depressed or anything like that at

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

just kinda like, whoa, I can't even believe this is crazy.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

it was like, okay. Into, then that turned into, I don't know, probably a couple weeks at least of like. Sort of this weird depression that I'm not,

Nik Cherwink:

It.

Dominic:

not a very depressed guy, but I was like,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

like, I was so sad and like this was all part of this thing that I've been working on since, you know, I've been working on this album, like grinding hard since

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

October,

Nik Cherwink:

Damn. Yeah.

Dominic:

this was such a crucial part of the whole puzzle.

Nik Cherwink:

Mm-hmm.

Dominic:

um, that was something that definitely fucked me up for a little while. And once the album came out, I mean, it felt better. But it was, it was also a, you know, what, what could it have been if it all went down kind of a thing.

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah, for

Dominic:

my mind,

Nik Cherwink:

for sure.

Dominic:

you know, I

Nik Cherwink:

Hmm.

Dominic:

on. Move

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Back to that, you know, the kind of lessons of sports, right? Of like, yo, we're gonna, we're gonna lose some games. We're gonna get our ass kicked sometimes, and, and to get back up. But, but also, you know, to, to actually feel the feelings and like, rightfully so, like, that's something to be fucking bummed out about and, and to not necessarily, you know, as. Positive as I am, and as much as I'm a, you know, life coach, I also don't believe in like toxic positivity. It's like, yeah, that's, we're allowed to cry too. It's like, fuck, man, we can be gutted for a little bit. And, and though it's like at some point, all right, we got to, you know, get back in and, and get back after it. So, I'm sorry that happened, man, that's a, that is a, that's a bummer.

Dominic:

It's life,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

Like nothing, you know, literally nothing could have been

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

about. So,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. You know? Yeah,

Dominic:

and, and I, it, I guess it also helped knowing that there was, you know, a hundred other, or what, I don't know,

Nik Cherwink:

yeah,

Dominic:

that were really in the same boat, um, you know, missing out on that.

Nik Cherwink:

Were you with Jeremy at the time? Were you guys together? Did you at least have like

Dominic:

yeah,

Nik Cherwink:

to kind of lean on in that moment? Yeah.

Dominic:

were, but it was just, it really, it, it, it took a few days for me to be like, sad about it.'cause I was just like totally shocked

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Yeah,

Dominic:

but

Nik Cherwink:

yeah. Well, you know, there's, I, I, there's this, like, I kind of call it like the lost generation. There were a lot of artists that I knew that in, you know, at the end of 2019, they were just like. Had just gotten their agent, they were just quitting their job at Starbucks and they were just, you know, that same moment of like, I'm going all in, and then like fucking three months later, you know, have their tours canceled and like that there, there's a handful of artists that I know, and I know there's probably some listening right now that just like got that gut punch of just, you know, that dream. Being, you know, kind of pulled away from them. And, and so, um, saw a lot of, uh, yeah, people really, really struggle with that. A a lot of people that also just didn't even try after that. And, and shout out to all of those though, that did keep going.'cause a lot of'em then were like, all right, well let's just get back in the studio and make more music. Uh, but there's a lot too that were just like, kind of wrecked by that and we're like, man, fuck. You know, they just didn't even try. So, yeah, it.

Dominic:

us too, like in terms of just, we were already 10, you know, plus years, you know, we were 10 years in our career, and, and that could have, that could have. You know, been the nail in the coffin for us in terms of we could have just, you know, this is it,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah. Had a good ride throwing the towel. Yeah.

Dominic:

exactly. You know, but since then, just persevering, you know, even through all of the COVID stuff, doing the, uh, the live streams and all that kind of stuff,

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

put out two albums since then. So, I

Nik Cherwink:

Yeah.

Dominic:

you

Nik Cherwink:

Hell yeah. Hmm. Super cool. Well let, let's, let's wrap it up with this. There's a lot of rising artists, listening right now. A lot of artists that are, you know, wanting to. Go full time and, and, and quit that job and have that exciting moment of, of getting to do this, you know, a hundred percent professionally. There's a lot of artists that are, they are touring, they are playing shows, and they're just looking to, you know, get to that next level. They're ready for their first shambala set or that Red Rock set, you know, what just general words of advice and wisdom would you have for everybody listening?

Dominic:

Yeah, I think just, um, you know, trust the process, keep it going, work on stuff every day. Trust your gut, your taste, you know, because that's the other thing that got you to where you are. Now and, um, and just keep, keep going. You know, keep meeting people, keep working on music, all those little meetings, and all the work in between. All kind of link will link up eventually to a point and just be ready for when your time, you know, eventually your time will come and just. You want to be as ready as possible for that when that time comes. And then you can just get in there, have confidence, and just be yourself. Have fun and enjoy the moment and like watch the whole thing rise up.

Nik Cherwink:

Hmm. Hell yeah, man. Amazing advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to come on and, uh, you know, sharing your, your story and all these great words of wisdom with us. And, um, yeah, man. Really excited for this album. All the upcoming shows. You guys check the tour dates. They're gonna be out there rocking out, so go catch them if you can.

Dominic:

Thanks Nick.

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Nik Cherwink

Host