Episode 83: Days of the New: A Footnote in time

This week on Mandatory Music, we dive deep into the fascinating and often tragic story of Days of the New—one of the most eccentric and misunderstood bands to emerge from the ’90s alternative scene. From their explosive debut and unique acoustic-driven sound to internal turmoil, creative brilliance, and a heartbreaking unraveling, we trace the band’s journey from promising beginnings to a bitter end. It’s a story of talent, tension, and what happens when success collides with instability. If you remember the music—or want to understand what really happened—this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Mandatory Music is proudly hosted and produced by Michael Heide and Sebastian Kwapich

Contact Mandatory Music:
email us at mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com
find us on Facebook search mandatory music
Instagram: mandatory_music1
Twitter(X) @mandatory_music

Thanks for listening and keep on rocking

Transcript

@0:09 - Sebastian

Nah. I like surprises.

@0:11 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay. So yeah, so good evening. surprises. This is the show. The old Mandatory Music. I'm like always here with Seb.

@0:19 - Sebastian

Hello, drinking a ghost energy drink.

@0:21 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

He's having a ghost energy drink at 7.40pm Pacific Standard Time.

@0:24 - Sebastian

I have a high tolerance for caffeine.

@0:26 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

You must, because if I did that now, I'd be up till 4 o'clock in the morning.

@0:31 - Sebastian

I mean, I've had these before and they're not really like, it's not like drinking like a NOS or like, you know, a five hour, like I can go to bed in a couple hours.

Watch me text you at 3 in the morning. I'm still up.

@0:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Good thing my phone's on sleep mode. But I do have to play this really quick.

@0:46 - Sebastian

Go for it.

@0:47 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Oops. That is not what I want.

@0:48 - Sebastian

Professional. No, that would be the most fun.

@0:51 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

No, I got, we've got to do the intro. That's true. Give it 10 seconds. And then we'll, uh.

@0:56 - Sebastian

Ooh. What? What?

@1:01 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, so we had the thought, actually a few weeks ago, more than a few weeks ago now, before we took our little Christmas break, that we could talk about some bands, like bands that kind of came and went, I'm not talking like Nirvana or Jimi Hendrix, or they just came in, flashed in the pan, and they left, you know, put out a couple records, and then they just kind of fade away into absolute nothingness, kind of like what, where did they go, right, where did they go, and in the days of the news story is, they were a band, so, they were a band, they put out three records, yes, and they kind of fell off the face of the earth, off of obscurity, for sure, obscurity, so, we'll give a little history of Days of the New, just so we, we know what we're talking about here, they were formed in 1995, 31 years ago, right at the tail end of the grunge era, yes, because you can definitely hear it in their style of music, it's very, fabulous.

Like, that sort of post-grunge, like, we're playing acoustic heavy metal just to be different kind of thing, but they were, so they were formed in 1995, they were originally in Charlestown, Indiana, they relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, they consisted of vocalist, guitarist, Travis Meeks, and a variety of supporting members, that's not a good sign when you're going into your, making of your first record.

@2:25 - Sebastian

Okay, I have a comment about that, but I'll let you finish.

@2:28 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay, so it's Travis Meeks on vocals, who else was in the band, let's see here, Jesse Vest, Todd Wittner, and Matt Towle were also- That's the original lineup.

The original foursome, that was the, was Days of the New from the first Yellow, or if you want, depending on what cover you saw, Yellow or Orange album, because they never named any of their albums, it was as colors.

@2:51 - Sebastian

The, well, was Days of the New.

@2:53 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes.

@2:54 - Sebastian

And then, and there's no album names, they're just different shades and different, like, it was, there was a tree-

They in their album cover, always a big oak tree or something that you'd see in like a Game of Thrones or the Lord of the Rings tree on a hill that marks the grave of a great wizard or something, you know.

So, okay, so they had three albums that spanned a total of four years.

@3:21 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

That's crazy.

@3:22 - Sebastian

Their yellow album was 97, their green album was 99, and the red album was 01. Yeah. in that time, he collaborated or worked with or was in the band with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 band members.

@3:49 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Good God. I saw the list. was long. I did not count it.

@3:51 - Sebastian

That is in four years. To be fair, a lot of them were session musicians, like over half of them were session musicians.

brought in for a specific song, like the girl from the Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger. She did backing vocals for one of the albums, right?

@4:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, that was actually the second record she did backing vocals for.

@4:11 - Sebastian

Very good, yeah. So that was before the Pussycat Dolls became a thing, I believe.

@4:16 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

before she was one of the hosts of The Masked Singer.

@4:21 - Sebastian

Yes.

@4:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Because unfortunately in my house, that show gets put on my TV from time to time, and I am forced to get up and leave the room.

@4:28 - Sebastian

Actually, low key, it's a pretty good idea.

@4:30 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's a great idea, but I think they got the, I don't know, it's just, Ken Jeong is, whatever, it's terrible.

@4:37 - Sebastian

It's such a bad, it's such a bad show. I can only handle so much of him. Exactly. It's like Will Ferrell, I can only handle him as a secondary character.

@4:45 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. Unless he's with Mark Wahlberg and the other guys, because that movie is amazing. He's also good with John C.

Reilly, but other than that, I'm out.

@4:52 - Sebastian

The thing with the other guys is that he plays, he plays the calm one. Hmm. Mark Wahlberg is the one that's.

It's explosive, and it's hilarious to watch because he's like, I'm a peacock! I need to unfurl my feathers! Anyone that's seen it knows, but...

Yeah, go ahead.

@5:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

This is the song you probably might know the most of, is Touch, Peel, and Stand.

@5:18 - Sebastian

That is their...

@5:19 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

yeah. But it's funny, this wasn't their big hit. It's one of them. It's one of them, but Shelf in the Room, which is the opening track for the record, stayed at number one for 17 weeks.

That's insane!

@5:34 - Sebastian

Yeah. I prefer Enemy, I think that's my favorite song of theirs, which is off to... so good.

@5:40 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Second album, yeah. It's so good. But, so... So they toured, they started touring and stuff. First album, released in 1997, sold 1.5 million copies.

@5:55 - Sebastian

That's a lot.

@5:56 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. For a debut record, that's an awful lot. And the three songs in this album were Touch, Peel. Touch, Peel, and Sand was featured in the third Crow, Crow Salvation, on the soundtrack, yeah.

Apparently they were on the soundtrack for Godzilla, the album too. Really?

@6:18 - Sebastian

I did not know.

@6:20 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay, I just wanted to highlight one thing with specifically the band Days of the New and why they were so fascinating and interesting in the grunge era.

@6:30 - Sebastian

Because very early on in the life cycle of the band, Days of the New, Travis Meek decided to go, you know what?

I don't want to use electric guitars. And so the entire first album is all acoustic guitars. So it's basically that grunge sound without electric guitars, it's all acoustic guitars.

And it created a very unique sound in the grunge area, which obviously rose Travis Meeks, which is the main guy that basically runs the whole show.

@6:59 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And And And He is Days of the New.

@7:01 - Sebastian

Yeah, and he has a band. I mean, they had four guys in the band to start, but from my research, and you can tell me if I'm wrong or right, they did not have a lot of input in the design structure of Days of the New.

It was basically Travis Meek's entire project, and that's kind of why they left after the first album or the second album.

can't remember which one it was, but they were like, yeah, they're just like, you know what? It's just this is a one-sided show, man.

We're not contributing at all. Like, we want to be able to be a band, not having you go, this is what you're playing, this is what you're playing, this is what you're playing.

Right. So, but it's interesting because it's got this, like, grunge, distorted feel to it, but it's not distorted at all.

It's all clean acoustic guitar with very production value is amazing on it. Like, you can hear the lows of you know who produced the first record?

@7:52 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Do you know who Scott Lidd is?

@7:56 - Sebastian

I probably should.

@7:58 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

He was R.E.M.'s long-time-time producer. He also produced the Nirvana Unplugged. Ah, makes sense.

@8:08 - Sebastian

They probably heard that and go, we need to get this guy, because the acoustic sounds of that were amazing.

@8:16 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So Scott signed them to his own label, which was sort of an offshoot of Geffen. Yeah. But here's a funny little tidbit.

So in 1998, they were blowing up, and they got on to the Metallica Summer Tour. Days of the New.

Yes, Days of New with Jerry Cantrell and Metallica, and Days of the New were the first opener. Yes. And I think we were late and we kind of missed it.

I think we missed Days the time, I don't think we knew what Days of New was.

@8:47 - Sebastian

cared that much. Yeah. And now looking back on it, like, man, I would have loved to see them. Yeah.

@8:51 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. Yeah. So just before the Summer Tour started, Travis Meeks had already told the interviewers that all of his fellow band members were holding him back.

And. Consequently, we're being released from the group. This is before the tours even started. Okay. Um, and he also said they were disappointed by this decision, but he thought they, they would remain friends.

Well, okay.

@9:14 - Sebastian

Okay.

@9:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Okay.

@9:17 - Sebastian

Yeah. Right.

@9:18 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. And then, um, so I guess the summer tour, nobody was getting along. That's I think. shortly after the tour was done, they were, uh, the other members of the band, the other three that I mentioned before, um, were subsequently let go where they left because there are contradictory explanations of the original days of the new breakup.

It's, it's like, it's like a soap opera for a band that has done absolutely nothing. And they've just like, like, come on, you guys, um, comments by Meeks in 1998 led to reports that he fired the rest of the band.

Meeks has called this telling fall, um, has called this telling false and false. What? This doesn't make any sense.

Oh, says that this was false, and that he claims the other band members were jealous that he was being paid more.

Yeah. So he says they left. It's like, what?

@10:12 - Sebastian

Well, I mean, the original three members without Travis Meeks went on to form the band Tantric. Tantric. Which is very similar to Days of the New, if you actually listen to the record.

@10:22 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I don't think it's as good, honestly. No, but it sold a whole lot more.

@10:26 - Sebastian

Yeah, because of the fame of Days of the New. Because Days of the New opened the door for acoustic rock, I guess, is the best way of saying it.

But Tantric wasn't all acoustic rock. No. their freaking song?

@10:38 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Astounded or Breakdown, actually, was the two. I think that those were the two.

@10:42 - Sebastian

They only did one album, though, I think, didn't they? Or no, they did three albums. Sorry. Oh, no, they did a bunch of albums.

Oh, my goodness. As I'm looking at it now, yeah. But yeah, so I guess he has a vision that felt like he was being, had to.

He's for the sake of the other three band members, and he's like, I'm not going to be able to get to where I want to get to with this vision if I have these guys in.

@11:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So you're either wrong with the ride or you're not. Yeah, so the second record is honestly...

@11:14 - Sebastian

It's better.

@11:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Oh, it's a thousand times better, it's a thousand times deeper, and it's so, like, it's unapologetically, it's going to be a weird thing to say, but unapologetically original.

Like, it's every song has an intro, then the song, then there's an outro at the end of the song that leads into an intro of the next song.

And it's like, it's this, like, hour, it's like this journey of, like, it's bananas. Like, if, you know, anybody out there, listen to Days of the New, the green one, and it's awesome.

Like, the record is, it's intricate, the guitar is nuts. Like, it is absolutely bananas, and there's eight million of them in every song.

@11:56 - Sebastian

Yeah, you are right, though. I do remember that, because I did listen to them a couple weeks

@12:02 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

We were just talking Fathom, Mandatory Music, and we were just Fathom, Mandatory Travis makes the props of what Pink Floyd or Roger Waters could write.

@12:35 - Sebastian

I have a question for you, Mike. Yes. Do you think that Travis Meeks could have been the lead singer of Creed?

You know, funny, I was going to say, like, doesn't his voice sound like so Creed? He's got that 90s Creed voice.

@12:49 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

That kind of thing going on. But that was the sound. Everybody sounded like that, it kind of started with Pearl Jam, and then all these clones came out.

@13:00 - Sebastian

For whatever reason, it just always worked with Eddie Vedder.

@13:03 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yes.

@13:05 - Sebastian

I don't know why, it's just maybe because he was the first one. He's the OG, he's the OG.

@13:10 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And then everyone's like, oh, you're just copying Eddie Vedder. Yeah, basically. Like somehow, you know, Scott Staff is, you know, revered these days as a great vocalist.

like, really?

@13:19 - Sebastian

Is he? But no. I remember in high school, actually, when I was in music composition, 11 and 12, and I cannot remember our teacher's name.

@13:29 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Mr.

@13:29 - Sebastian

Ayers. Yes, thank you. Yes. But Pearl Jam was a thing. And everybody was so high on Pearl Jam. And Mr.

Ayers was like, he's a terrible singer. I'm like, no, he's not. I'm like, no, Technically, he's even using a real voice.

So, don't cancel me, Pearl Jam fans. But let's face it, Eddie Vedder has talent. It's just like, do you need to put on that voice?

Yeah.

@13:57 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So, after that tumultuous... tumultuous... And then the band breaks up and this is like not long. So that tour was, I think from like July till September, something of 1998.

And then the beginning of 1999, he decided to go in the studio and make second record with a whole, with, I think that's where the bulk of the session players come in.

@14:20 - Sebastian

Cause I remember reading the liner notes of the record and it's like, it was like a laundry list of people.

Yeah. Every song had different players on it pretty much.

@14:26 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. and the green album was released August 31st, 1999. Um, Dave Meeks debuted his new band on September 4th, uh, in Louisville, Kentucky.

Critics were fairly enthusiastic about the album, but it sold poorly compared to the previous effort. Cause it is not radio friendly, except for enemy, which kind of is.

@14:46 - Sebastian

That's the radio song off the second album for sure.

@14:49 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. I'm sure they told him you have to make a radio song.

@14:51 - Sebastian

Touch, peel and stand part two, basically.

@14:53 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's got the same vibe to it, but it's way better. It's better. Yeah. It's got the, um, drum machine in it and it's just cool.

@14:59 - Sebastian

Well, That's what I was just going to say. So the first album is essentially acoustic rock.

@15:03 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It's like four band members. And then he starts doing experimentation.

@15:08 - Sebastian

So it's still acoustic. The main basis of the second album is all acoustic guitar. But he uses a lot more synth in it.

Like there's a drum machine. There's like, you know, like a wavy synth thing. Synthesizers going on in the background and stuff like that.

Have listened to the third album? Not in a long time. Okay. So the third album is very choral. There's like brass in it and woodwinds.

Like he definitely expands the instrument landscape in the third album. And it's good too, man. But from what I understand, it only sold 80,000 copies, which is.

@15:42 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So which is crazy. So he records the green album, the second one. Yes. Early 99 comes out in the end of August of 99.

In February of 2000, back in the studio again. Like this is like harkening back to that. In 60s, man.

You're just, you're just pumping music out. Pounding it away. Me. He's returned to the studio with a new band, another one.

Oh boy. Like, it's like making Megadeth look like a stable band with not many lineup changes. Yeah. So the first single, Hang On To This, I do remember that song.

@16:15 - Sebastian

It was pretty good.

@16:15 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Also a good song. Yeah, it peaked at number 18, and it was the most added song added on Rock Ready That Week.

The album released two weeks after September 11th, 2001. That is rough. That's rough. Yeah. Because nobody was giving two about music around the whole world at that point, because we were still reeling, even though we're from Canada, September 11th was a real thing.

everybody, man. It was absolutely bunkers. So yeah, so it did not sell well at all. And then they ended up going on tour with aforementioned Creed and Three Doors Down, which the three of them- That's so fitting.

@16:52 - Sebastian

That's so fitting, man. That's just like a vocal buffet of weird noises.

@16:58 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I vocal buffet. I love it.

@16:59 - Sebastian

Thank

@17:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

So then now it gets, if you thought his life kind of went off the rails when he was in Days of the New, post the Red Album, which is the third one, that's when things kind of get really ugly, which drug addiction is a thing, and he just couldn't get out of it and can't get out of it.

I don't even, I'm assuming he's still alive. Well, he just put out a song on Christmas Eve, which is arguably not his song, but it's because it's a lady singing.

So I don't think it's, I don't know.

@17:35 - Sebastian

Did you listen to it? Yeah, I don't.

@17:37 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, I don't understand. It's not the real Days of New.

@17:40 - Sebastian

I don't think. A bad word several times in that song.

@17:45 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I haven't listened. I didn't get that far. So after the Red Album, the band parted ways with their record label.

December 2002, Meeks auditioned for Velvet Revolver.

@17:59 - Sebastian

Hmm.

@18:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Interesting. Yes. He also performed with The Doors on the tribute record, what's it called, Stone Immaculate, and he did a version of The End.

And I remember buying it specifically for his version of The End because, you know me, I love The Doors.

Yeah. So it the original three surviving members of The Doors and Travis Meeks and each, and they told him, you can do The End, but don't change it.

And he just said, well, too bad.

@18:31 - Sebastian

I'm changing.

@18:32 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

changing. And he like changed the time signature from like 4-4 to 3-4 and he did, but it was good.

It was different. Like it was very Days of the New. But what a thrill for him to be able to play like a song with The Doors anyways.

Um, and then let's see here in March 4th of 2000. Oh, September 2005. Meeks announced he had achieved sobriety and he was writing a fourth Days of the New record.

And we are still waiting for the fourth days of the new record.

@19:04 - Sebastian

Yeah.

@19:05 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

2008, they released the greatest hits, blah, blah, blah. Mike Starr of Alice in Chains started jamming with Travis Meeks in 2010, which, if anyone knows the history of Alice in Chains, Mike Starr died of a drug overdose.

So I'm assuming that probably wasn't the greatest combination. Let's see. In 2014, the original four guys reunited and were planning a summer tour called Full Circle, and they announced plans to make an EP with some new material on it.

And then following a canceled date in Columbia, Missouri, the band abruptly ended their set in St. Louis on September 6th due to Meeks being too drunk to perform.

The bassist took the microphone to inform the crowd that this was the band's last show together, and then the next several days, they decided they it's over.

@19:57 - Sebastian

Yeah, it's unfortunate. I mean, he's been documented or alleged, I don't know where I read this, but to have Asperger's, which is like, you know, autistic syndrome or whatnot.

I'm not too familiar with the specifics of it. But I mean, he has social deficiencies.

@20:16 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And I think that music was his therapy.

@20:19 - Sebastian

I know from researching him that he was very connected to his father at an early age, who I believe was also a musician.

So he learned a lot from his father, right? And it's unfortunate, because I feel like he was really on to a unique sound in the grunge era, when everyone was doing like, you know, distortion, you know, you have sound guard.

@20:48 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Even the pumpkins going kind of electronic, right?

@20:52 - Sebastian

When they zigged, he zagged, right? He carved out a niche in the grunge world that was... was very specific just to Days of the New.

So when we first listened to Days of the New in the 90s, it was so unique in that scape that it was engaging, was interesting, right?

And he's a very good songwriter. His songs are very catchy, good choruses, they definitely play on that drop-D acoustic sound.

So it gives that heaviness to the acoustic sound space, which was great.

@21:27 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

The third album obviously has so many different orchestral instruments as well, which is, you know, it just shows how he was trying to evolve his sound, right?

But I guess maybe because of trying to grow and evolve, but his album sales were declining.

@21:46 - Sebastian

So he never, his first album sold the most, and then it was like, what was like over $1 million for the first album, $300,000 for the second, and only $80,000 for the third album in sales, which shows you that people just didn't care about him or didn't...

Weren't interested, which is unfortunate, because I think that he had a trajectory that could have been great, but for whatever reason, it didn't work.

@22:07 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Well, I think he's one of those sort of tortured artists, right? Like he's like with having an Asperger's and stuff, he gets so focused on one thing and you don't see anything else.

So then you have bandmates that are like, hey, I want input. And he's got like the unintentional blinders on because he can't help it.

@22:28 - Sebastian

And he doesn't have the social ability to properly communicate his vision to other people and people just get rubbed the wrong way and go, you know what?

@22:36 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

You're a dick. I'm not going to be. you add in crystal meth and booze. Yeah. And that's, you know, it's just, but I just found this thing here interesting.

He, because we were just talking about the fourth record and it says, in 2008, Meeks maintained sobriety and promoted his forthcoming comeback album.

Days of the new presents tree colors produced under his independent label, which I have a vague record.

@23:00 - Sebastian

Well, did release an album in 2008 as well, but it's called the Definified Collection, so it was like a greatest hit.

so this is separate from that.

@23:09 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

This is all new material. And then it says, however, lack of distribution and finances as a result of the IRS seizing his royalties, continually delaying the album's release.

So, yeah, that's, oh, so he found, oh my God. So apparently, according to the internet, he found the body of Alice in Chains based by Mike Starr.

ACTION ITEM: Watch Intervention episode re: Travis Meeks (Days of the New) - WATCH

That can't be. Yikes. That can't be good. And so then he was obviously, and then his father passed away in 2013.

So, and then with the drugs and all that, because he was on the show Intervention. Actually? Yeah.

@23:48 - Sebastian

Oh, when you said that in the pre-show, I didn't realize that was the show you're talking about. I thought that there was just an intervention with him because- he was on the show Intervention.

@23:57 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Wow. And- I'm going to have to watch that episode. Yeah. It's, oh man, it's so sad because just, you know, like, of course, everybody on that show, it's so sad because they just can't help it.

But just seeing a guy that was, you know, this guy that had.

@24:12 - Sebastian

It's sad because I love Days of the New. Like when I would listen to them all the time in the 90s.

And it was just like, I wanted more. I wanted to see where he could grow. And then he was just going backwards.

Right. So it was very frustrating. Right. Yeah. You know, you just want people artists. I just want artists to do well and be healthy and explore that space to see what else they can create.

@24:33 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

But yeah, it's just a lot, a lot get into it. And they can't get out of that sort of cycle of the drugs.

You try and you try and he just, for whatever reason, that was. Yeah, that was that. And now, like, who knows, and says in 2020, he was arrested for disorderly conduct.

@24:50 - Sebastian

Yeah, he got into.

@24:51 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. You know, like, it's just and now I think he's like that. The intervention show was pretty telling. Like, he was.

He was a. And his family was trying to save him. And he just basically, well, there was no intervention, really.

Spoiler alert. It didn't work.

@25:10 - Sebastian

It did not work.

@25:11 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

It did not work, which is sad because, you know, you want to see these, see anybody that's either in that situation or on a TV show like Intervention, be able to, you know, to get through it and move and get past it and start a new life and just be and have music as his therapy, not a bottle or a needle or, or whatever.

So, days of the new, they're, you know, they're definitely a, like musically, like you said, they're like that sort of end of the grunge thing.

Like their, their music style is like stamped in the late nineties.

@25:43 - Sebastian

Like it's got that near the end of the grunge era. Yeah.

@25:45 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

That's when the end of the century sound of music with the creeds, three doors down, Nickelback, even you name it.

@25:53 - Sebastian

It's kind of like a transitional period from moving to grunge into the, the Nick, you were like, you're right.

The creed Nickelback era in like the late.

@26:00 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah, then they just sort of, all of them took over the world. I was like, really? Nickelback? Yeah. I understand they're from Vancouver, but we don't have to be happy about that.

@26:09 - Sebastian

I mean, low-key, they write great songs. You know, low-key, they have a couple of real good bangers, man. Apparently, I've never seen them, but everyone that's ever seen them live say they are incredible live.

@26:21 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

I would probably agree with that because they have that rock edge to it.

@26:28 - Sebastian

And I honestly think that, like, their songs, it's like when we saw the Tea Party live. There's a lot of songs that I don't really care for on their albums, but when they play them live, I'm like, what is going on?

Why am I having an emotional reaction to the song? Like, this is so different than, because you get the full scape of the sound coming through.

Like, when they did Painted Black live, I'm like, this is one of the most, the best performance of Painted Black I've ever heard in my life.

It was so slow and so haunting and so moody. I'm just like, I... I am trans, like, I am just transfixed with this band.

Yeah, man. Travis Meeks, Days of the New.

@27:08 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Days of the New.

@27:10 - Sebastian

Please figure it out in life.

@27:12 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

you're in our age bracket, or if you're not. Like, I played something for my son, and he's like, okay, they're all right.

But I put it on the second album. I'm like, well, listen, I might get in the song. It turns into something else, and it, like, morphs into the next song.

I'm like, it's just, like, it's this cool journey. takes you up and down and sort of like you're just...

@27:26 - Sebastian

I wonder what his response would be to Tantric.

ACTION ITEM: Re-listen to Tantric albums - WATCH

@27:30 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Oh, I don't think you like Tantric. Tantric is very great.

@27:34 - Sebastian

Yeah, they're commercial and very great.

@27:36 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. I should put Tantric on again. It's been a long time. It's not just any Tantric, to be perfectly honest.

@27:42 - Sebastian

Well, the only two songs I remember is Breakdown.

@27:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

And that was, like, their major hit.

@27:48 - Sebastian

And then Astounded, which I really like. And I've only listened to the one album. And I know they got, like, six albums.

I should freaking actually go listen to it.

@27:56 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. Yeah, no. Just, you know, even just the guitar. Like, this is just good. It's just, I don't know.

It's just, it's a moment in time. It's like listening, again, I'm not going to compare Days of the New to Jimi Hendrix, but it's like, okay, Jimi Hendrix puts you in the late 60s.

@28:17 - Sebastian

Yeah, this puts you in the mid-90s, man. Acoustic rock in the mid-90s.

@28:20 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

This is 1997. What were we doing in 1997?

@28:24 - Sebastian

And the funny thing is that most people probably have never heard of Days of the New or Tantric at all.

@28:30 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Yeah. That's why, nowadays, why...

@28:32 - Sebastian

It's such a specific timeframe, and it was only for a couple of years.

@28:36 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

that's the word I've been looking for.

@28:37 - Sebastian

Yeah.

@28:39 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

But yeah, very Creed. Creed-ish. But yeah.

@28:44 - Sebastian

Anyways, that's our episode.

@28:46 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

That's our episode. That's it. Days of the New. Go listen. Give them some love, because, you know, we're Travis.

@28:53 - Sebastian

Let us know what you think.

@28:54 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

Let us know what you think. Anyways, yeah, you can email us at Mandatory Music Show at gmail.com. in'clock. We're Thank

Facebook and all that, we're not the most active, but, you know, maybe we'll change that.

@29:05 - Sebastian

We're working on it.

@29:05 - Mandatory Music (mandatorymusicshow@gmail.com)

We're working on takes a lot of effort and, you know, try to create content on those platforms. So, yeah, anyways, you can email us.

We will definitely respond to emails. So, yeah, Mandatory Music show at gmail.com.

@29:20 - Sebastian

Thank you and good night. Bye. Bye.