The Craig Veltri Interview: Orphan Prodigy 2

Ian Keller, the mind behind Orphan Prodigy, returns to The Interview to talk about his debut album Medication For the Modern World and to take The No-Kiddin Questionnaire 2.0.

https://moonshinevagabonds.bandcamp.com/track/inside-the-cabin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...

Follow Craig on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craig.veltr...

Follow Moonshine Vagabonds:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?

linktr.ee/moonshinevagabonds

Listen to Craig's Music:  @craigveltrimusic
  / craig-veltri
   / craig veltri - topic  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Well, it's that time again. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the interview with Greg Velchery.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Thank you, Megan Pennington. And welcome to the interview. About a year ago last week, we met Ian Keller, a native of Queens, New York, and the mind behind Orphan Prodigy. We featured the lead single Getaway, which I compared to U2's Actung Baby era with more electronica beats. I said then that he made quite the amalgamation. And then I heard the full debut album, Medication for the Modern World. What an everything of a record this is, especially for a sucker for a synth like myself. Ian's been touring and promoting this record, including music videos for Deep Bass and Traitor, the latter of which we will play at the end of the episode. But last year he said the next Orphan Prodigy album is already written. We'll find out later on if it's ready. Recording in Pittsburgh and calling in from Brantford, Connecticut. I didn't uh and he's nodding yes. Here he is, the mind behind Orphan Prodigy, Ian Keller. Ian, welcome back to the interview.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Thank you. Thanks, Craig, for having me back again, man. It's good, it's it's good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Good to see you too, and good to hear the rat hear the record in full. I listened to it shortly after and uh listened to it again in review. And when we spoke last, you were actually at for the first time getting ready to perform this stuff live. Um, how's it been going? And has it been uh like live? Has it been reaching the levels of what it what it is in your mind and what it is on the record?

SPEAKER_04 1:51

Yeah, yeah. I mean, uh, you know, so so I don't know. I I don't know. I've been kind of telling the story lately because it was so daunting at the time, but when I was writing and recording the record, um, we were also simultaneously rehearsing a band for the tour, the subsequent tour that happened, that's happening now. And um it was it was really challenging, man. Like we, you know, I was I was finishing up I the Trader was one of the last songs that I uh I think it was the last song that I recorded. And um, you know, so finishing up those takes, you know, it's like one of the songs that I kind of like take my voice into another place and stuff. So it was really kind of daunting in that way. And then on top of that, I was rehearsing a band and we were having a lot of trouble trying to translate the live, you know, translate it to a live show.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Um what people might not know about you is that this entire record, I mean, you do all the instruments on it, you do you do pretty much everything already. So uh so getting so getting everybody uh up to speed with what you were doing. Was that the challenge, or was it just the familiarity? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:55

I think I I I think that's the right thing, the right way to say it. Um uh it was definitely um the parts are very I mean, you've listened to the record, you've heard how kind of precise and almost anal it is. Um I wouldn't go that far, but well, well, I mean, you know, like when I when I build a when I'm writing a part, like I'm you know, I'm living and breathing that part. I I start with what's most exciting, and usually that's the drums, and then it's like a synth, and then it's like the guitar the bass or the guitarist. It's like I kind of go with with what excites me, and then I land last the vocals, and that's why the words are kind of sometimes abstract, and you know, it's really just what I'm feeling in that first scratch take. So the parts in you know, instrumentally, um getting them to getting the you know, my bass player Ray and Alan the drummer, um, and Danielle uh, you know, who's doing the uh sampling stuff, to get to get all of that right, um, because there are so many parts, and to really recreate the entire thing, we'd have to have like a you know like an eight-piece band or something.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Uh so you are doing the sampling live. I mean, none of this is like uh is like done to tape, there's no backing tracks, none of that kind of no, no, there are there are backing tracks.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

Um, because what we found out, what we realized was that you know it was going to be a lot of work to, you know, full transparency. I've you know, uh, you know, we do use backing tracks live, um, and it's really just to maintain that level of performance. And uh, you know, because we're doing this, you know, like three, four times a week now um on tour. And um, we found that just you know, between because we also have visuals, like you know, when you add visuals, though you you kind of have to run backing tracks, otherwise things get all screwed up. Um so uh, you know, because we're also working with like this animator who does all the did the album work, album artwork, and um so uh, you know, be to be able to do all of that, we needed to use backing tracks. And actually, it what really is nice is that it does lock in everybody in a way that I think that um I don't know, I guess in my I guess in my past hasn't really been there. Um and um we we tried it a couple of different ways. Like we'd have, you know, I'd have in-ear monitors with the tracks and stuff, and I was like, you know, this is really not for me. Like it, you know, it really as great as it sounds and all that stuff, like I just I need to hear the room, I need to be in it. So it's all the tracks and stuff, the the the the metronome, the metronome is all relegated to the just the drummer. So I hear the room. Um we're using an electronic kit to really kind of capture the album sounds for a while for the first year. And this year we switched back to an acoustic drum set, and it's just really you know, you I we played uh New York City a couple of nights ago for uh New York City Mini Fest, and um you could just see it. I mean, I'm just going crazy, I'm just like you know, rolling on the floor and stuff. Like I'm just so into it, and bands really into it, and it was just the right move um to make. And so, but but getting back to your sorry go ahead, sorry, sorry. No, I was just gonna say getting back to your original question, you know, getting them to land the parts um was a process of not just learning the parts for what they were musically, but also kind of dialing in how to how to technically do it, you know. So, you know, elite you know, eliminating the electronic drum set was a huge thing, and going back to an acoustic set was a uh you know a big uh you know uh positive. So it was complicated, but we got there.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah, uh sometimes a little less space in the van is worth it for the live performance, I would guess.

SPEAKER_04 6:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

But uh I want to talk about the music, but uh let's uh I since we're on the subject of the band, you had mentioned that you were were coming out of a band called the Rejex uh pre-pandemic. Uh are are these from the rejects or is this a completely different band?

SPEAKER_04 6:46

No, this is completely new. Actually, um, fun fact uh the drummer that I'm playing, that Alan, our drummer now, um is actually actually taught my brother drums like or attempted to teach my brother drums way back in the day. So he's kind of like this legend in uh Queen's.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Sounds like he wasn't successful.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

Well, it's not it, it wasn't it wasn't his fault. It wasn't the teaching, it wasn't the lack of skill or teaching because he's a phenomenal drummer and a phenomenal player. He's been in the you know, he's like he's a little older than me. Um, and uh as is the bass player. There, there's they're they're a bit like uh underground legendary players in the scene. Um, so I kind of I reached out it was funny because I reached out to him on Facebook before we started rehearsing two years ago, and he was like, I don't know who you are, and like I, you know, like who are you? You like you know all this stuff about me. He was like really kind of freaked out, and um, I was like, No, you taught my brother on you know the road I used to live and all that stuff and in Q Gardens. He's like, Oh, got it, like you know, two weeks later. And um, yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh uh we're here.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Glad he was glad he uh didn't wasn't so freaked out he didn't uh take the gig. Uh so you're currently on currently on tour. You got you got a bunch of dates going on, and we'll talk about that in a minute, but I do want to talk about the record itself, uh medication for a modern world. You had said that there that there was a concept about it, and I heard I've read a couple of reviews that said it was mostly exploring rejection and just try just almost like a long-form analysis of it. And I and I can see that. Uh are the critics on uh on point with what you were trying to make a point of.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's not it's not like only about rejection, I would say. I think that's kind of like the through line in my own personal life, but um, you know, get like the opening track getaways, like I I don't like your face.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

It's like me like making a statement of among the best opening lines I heard all last time.

SPEAKER_04 8:47

So well, I think it, you know, like like I said, uh like I mentioned earlier, I mean, like I don't really write lyrics until I'm doing that initial scratch take, the first take when I hear all the instrumentation together. And it's very rare that I make any edits to my lyrics. Um, I like to kind of that's my way of being pretentious and of you know preserving the initial intention, I think.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Well, it's a it's a common method. I wouldn't say it's at all pretentious, it's it's not a method that I use. I'm a I'm a singer-songwriter through and through. So it begins with the guitar and it begins with the lyric with me. But as far as from a mixing standpoint, what's the first thing you do? You start with the drums. And so so it stands to reason. I wouldn't say it's pretentious, but you were saying about uh about the process.

SPEAKER_04 9:34

Yeah, I mean, I I think you know, like me saying that initially that first line, I don't like your face, is me like really stepping into this project and and being comfortable, you know, now in my my my 30s to be able to say, like, you know, I'm comfortable with who I am. I'm comfortable, I'm comfortable enough to say that on a record as the opening line. And I think there's something really empowering for me personally about that. Um, and then the rest of the record is all over the place in terms of you know, uh themes and ideas and concepts.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Um so you wouldn't a concept record really is something that has like a like a narrative throughout. What would you say brings it together to make it a the story of medication for the modern world?

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Uh me, no, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Um, but uh that then every record's a concept record.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

So yeah, no, no. See, like I only write in concept record. Every record I've ever done has been a concept album. So um I I think um with medication, it's really been this kind of like here we are, there's all this technology, and a lot of us are getting lost in kind of like the byproduct of that, like the negative byproducts of that. Um the world's crazy, you know, there's no denying that. Um it's how it, you know, there's a couple of ways to look at it. There's like one, like how how we meet technology halfway. I mean, that's kind of been my like my mantra person in my personal life is like, you know, always meet halfway with anything you do, or if there's another party, always meet that party halfway. Um, so me fully embracing technology technology on this record, and really just you know, everything is is is uh you know, in what way would you say you embrace technology? Well, everything on the record is synthetic. I mean, you know, the parts are all running through patches, and you know, the drums are electronic, and uh, I think everything except for the guitar is really, you know, just electronic. I mean electric guitar is electric in some ways. Um, and there's a lot of you know, plug-ins and things and stuff. But um, yeah, I think the uh which which also lended a lot of space for me to vocally explore and be kind of dangerous, you know. I think it's important for rock to always remain dangerous. I think that's something that's kind of missing right now um for the genre in the mainstream. There's you know, there's tons of bands out there that are doing it, you know, dangerously still, but um for the mainstream, there's this there's just this lack of edge, I think. And I I've tried to what I've tried to do with medication is really um take the instrumentation, push it to its limits, really bring as much life out of the digital as possible, out of the machine as possible.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

We're here with Ian Keller, a orphan prodigy on the Craig Velchy Interview, proud member of the Scarfire Media Podcast Network. For more on Scarfire Media, please visit our website, Scarfiremedia.com. Check out all the great podcasts on the Scarfire Media Podcast Network, the Cool Brother Podcast with Malik Long, the Deep Core Lore Podcast. My apologies, Sammy Sasani, if we're saying it wrong in the past couple of weeks. Mommy Rockstar with Megan Pankton coming any day, and thank you for listening to the Craig Velchy interview. Like, share, and subscribe. So Medication for the Modern World is a 16-song record, so we won't go track by track, but you have put out two uh two really great music videos on the back of this record, Deep Bass and Traitor. They are two of my favorite songs, uh, but uh, and we'll talk about them individually.

SPEAKER_04 13:13

And getaway.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

And getaway, of course, uh, the which we spoke of spoke of earlier. Um, so those three, and uh, you know, getaway is a great lead, great lead track. So obviously that's a common, I would assume that, you know, that you felt that was the strongest introduction to your record. That was why you made it the lead single. Would that be correct?

SPEAKER_04 13:33

Yeah, I think it's the it's the track that I, you know, it's the track we open the the set with um when we play live, and it's the song that I always am most excited to play because I think it just I just I just get really happy when I hear it and when I when I'm playing it because it's like in just in the parts and I'm hearing it, it just like I can hear the excitement. It's the first song I wrote for this project, so it just really takes me back to that initial songwriting phase.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

So and deep bass, I I'm really uh fascinated to talk about this one because this is where it goes full on into hip hop elements, and I can't help but make the comparison to kind of later era Lincoln Park because of the because of the of the rap verse. What at what portion of the writing did you say to yourself, uh, I need another voice on this. In fact, I need somebody to uh put to spit on this.

SPEAKER_04 14:26

You know what? I mean so so I I'm never you know, like you know, Medication for Modern World, the album is a really great example of how much I like to be like closed in, boxed in, and just kind of do everything myself. But um it just happened by accident, really. Um I had this, I had the I had the instrumentation, this the those two chords going. Um and I was one of my best, my best childhood friends, uh Jeff, who who raps on the record. Um I just uh he was he was looking for a song to do, and I don't I don't remember exactly how the conversation came to be, but we were just kind of like riffing and talking, and and he was he's like, I got this, well, I got this rap, and uh and I was like, Well, I got the music, I got this music, and I don't and he's he's like want to try something? So yeah, I guess we just we tried it out and it ended up being you know deep bass.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Yeah, I and just very it's very angsty, uh, as as is as is the entire uh record. So what and and deep bass, I mean what I I I imagine there's the it was the it was kind of the vowel movement pay phase uh of of songwriting, and that's just kind of what came out of you. I mean it is a very bassy kind of song, so what is it?

SPEAKER_04 15:43

Yeah. I mean I the irony is that the bass line is pretty like you know, it's just running the entire time. But um, you know, when I when I title songs, like I'm not, you know, it I I uh I've been told I have what's called synesthesia, and um so I guess you know part of that is is uh part of that process is is kind of like seeing, feeling, hearing and colors and stuff like that. So deep bass um is kind of like a uh a very almost a literal example of that. Um I just you know I just felt like it was a really I I I guess in retrospect it's really kind of a dumb title because it's like just like a really deep song, actually. But deep bass was really, yeah, it's just like that's those are the words that came to me when when I heard the music. And um, yeah, that's that's really how simple it is.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Now now Jeff, Jeff Wise, who uh did the uh verse on that track, um is does he perform regularly with you? Is he playing in and around the New York area?

SPEAKER_04 16:44

Uh sometimes. We you know it's kind of like a like a gorillas kind of thing where like if he's in town and we're in we're in the same place at once, you know, like he'll he'll pop on the set and do the song with us. But um uh yeah, he's he's he doesn't do it full time like we do. Um so he actually uh just had a child, so he's he's in the family life right now. So yeah, congrats to Jeff on air. So um, but uh yeah, he yeah, he was uh he's great. You know, he's he was one of the best men at my wedding. And um, so yeah, we've uh we've we've had a long, longstanding friendship.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

When we were introduced last year, we talked about orphan the origins of the name orphan prodigy. You are in fact a child who uh as a child you were adopted and yes, rejected at birth. Sorry rejected at birth, really.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Well, I'm trying, I'm I'm alluding to, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

So so maybe I am on the right track. I because I I do I think you are believe it or not, I am not one who likes to be uh be armchair psychologist in this uh in this particular vein. But a song like Traitor, a song like uh that is so angry and just dripping with betrayal and very accusatory. I can't help but I could I couldn't help but wonder if uh that was uh who is this this was being addressed to uh your your biological parents, perhaps. Would I be on the right track with that?

SPEAKER_04 18:11

It's very interesting because up until now, because Trader has been like an idea in my head for a very, very, very long time. I have some you know demos going back to um the rejects era stuff, but um I really felt like it was time to bring the song fully to life. Um and but all that all the time prior, I I had really thought because you know it was written those those those initial lines were written out of a you know a breakup, a really hard breakup that I went through. Um and so I really, really thought it was about that. But now um having it released, I really do think it's about any type of rejection and um especially the the one that's been the through line through my life, you know, the one that's you know prompted me to want to be uh seen and I guess acknowledged and maybe prove something to the world that I wasn't you know worth abandoning, you know, perhaps. And so I've been really kind of thinking about it in the last couple of days, especially um while we have we have all this time on the road. Um so I do think it's I do think that Trader is for me especially about that moment in my in my life for sure, more than anything else.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

I will say that the music video for that song, it's ambiguous enough that it could uh that you could interpret that for people who haven't and the video will air in full at the end of this episode, but spoiler alerts uh for uh for the music video, it depicts you. Uh I believe it's I I can recognize uh at least the top part of your face speaking out of a garbage bag inside of the trunk of a car with a an unnamed couple. Uh there's there's a lot that can be alluded to, but obviously they are responsible for uh for your demise in this video. Where did the concept for this uh this little uh piece of cinema happen?

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Yeah, so that was all the director, Jonathan Oliviera, who actually uh coincidentally grew up on my block, and um uh my my dad was doing one of my one of my dads was doing a uh play of his in Q Gardens and Jonathan happened to be there, and I happened to be there, and we started, you know, I was he was like, you know, how's it going? And you know, like we just started talking about it. I was like, I really, you know, it's coming down to this time where we need the next single to go through. And um thinking about doing this this song Trader, doing doing it for Trader, a video. And uh he's like, Yeah, let's talk. And so like I think two weeks later, we were just in talks and doing he was doing his pitch. And for me, you know, like with the getaway video, it's really just a performance video. And I've never really been thrilled with stories, like it just bores me with music videos, you know. You know, I I know everybody loves that stuff, and it's just not for me. I you know, take me to a movie for a story, but um plug it and play, I I get you. Yeah, yeah. So I'd rather I'd rather just see, you know, any band just just playing their instruments, even if it's miming, it just gives me that energy. It's like oh rock band, yeah. But uh anyway, so Jonathan, I was like, you know what, I don't want to have anything to do with the story or the input, just you you I just want to hear your ideas. And so I gave him total control of of that part of it. And he came back to me with this kind of like horror style Bonnie and Clyde thing, and I was like, Whoa, I was not expecting that. Let's do it, you know, 100%. And uh let's do it. And so, yeah, we showed up on the set and like, you know, there's all these lights. It was like the biggest production, biggest, most professional pr production we've ever done. And it was like the it was just a it was just like a dream just working with him and his team and and doing it. I think we we yeah, we shot it over two days um in Purchase, New York. Uh and um it's actually uh where I it's ironic because it was it was kind of a full circle moment for me because I I attended purchase for studio composition at the time and uh ended up not finishing and then went back later. But um so it was interesting to be back there. But uh yeah, I mean uh the whole Bonnie and Clyde thing, like that's really that's really like what makes that video so cool, I think.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Did you talk further about where the con where he where he kind of was going with the concept and and the idea and and it does, I think I mean just the editing, the lighting, and and some of the the symbolism, the uh the woman holding the apple, the forbidden fruit, uh was a very nice touch. Uh when I mean reading it and and seeing how it goes goes in. I mean, how much uh how much would you say the director and the concept hits the mark as far as the concept of the of the song?

SPEAKER_04 23:12

100 uh 110. I mean, you know, he's he was hitting visual elements that I didn't even think about. You know, obviously I was I was going to like like just surprise me, just blow me away. And he did. He really, really came through and blew me away. Um, it also helped that we were both kind of like obsessed with Renee Magritte, um, the surrealist artist. Um, and so that's kind of where um I think that's where the there's another uh Easter egg um from one of his works. Uh I'll just tell you it's right before the uh first verse hits. There's like this I'm wearing a mask and the girls wearing this this cloth thing.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yeah, I was wondering if that was like uh two uh two people getting ready to be hanged or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

No, it's actually uh it's a it's a it's a reference to um one of his work, Renee Marguerite's works called The Lovers. And uh if you look that up, it's the exact scene. That's what we're going for. And the Apple is another work, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Well, the thing of uh of a of a record this length, uh, and I I would assume that getting I'm uh let me ask you this. Do you enjoy doing music videos?

SPEAKER_04 24:23

I enjoy doing yeah, I mean uh I think so. You know, I think for me it's the toughest part is you know, watching them back in retrospect and realizing, oh, you know, like you know, because back then I was like dressing in a much more clean aesthetic and and um now I've kind of returned to my comfortable state of you know, just like white tee, black, black jeans, and you know, boots, and like that's who I really am. Is I'm not like soup super perfect. I'm more like the guy who doesn't get sleep and just kind of you know throws on a t-shirt and uh shows up on no sleep. So yeah, well that's that's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Well, a as you're settling into uh into your true form, the uh so that is to say, you know, you got you know, usually albums even this length, you know, the the standard is about three singles. Um and me personally, and just to if I can just dive into you know one song off the record that I really enjoyed, like another planet for granted was what would have been my would be my pick if you were to do another single, because it I mean it is probably the it I mean it's so funky, right? It is just such it is just such such a such a bouncy bass line, and it really is just kind of uh you know, kind of gives you I wouldn't say it it's too much of a departure from the sound, but it is just you know, very it's all of it's danceable, but this one it bounces, it bounces. So I mean, uh, what were you feeling when you were writing this?

SPEAKER_04 26:01

Yeah, that that song is the the entire the the whole foundation of the song is that bass line. And I wrote that bass line uh with my friend Sam in mind um from the bass player in the rejects. And uh every time I see him, I just you know, that's the that's the feeling I get, that bass line. Um he's just kind of like this, like, you know, he smokes a lot of weed and he just he just I don't know. It's just that's just that's just the uh it's hard to describe, but that's the color I see and feel when I I see him. So that's it's kind of born out of that. And then um the working title for that song was actually Crazy Messed Up Kid, and then Another Planet for Granted. We need uh you know, I was more like, let's do this for real now. Um, but uh yeah. So um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

It's it the album is called Medic Medication for a Modern World. Would you say that this is the diagnosis deep in the record?

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Yeah, I think so. Um I I I I do think so I do think so. Um you're definitely on something there. Um but more to the song, I think um it's definitely about you know taking things for granted, obviously, and also it's about how humanity kind of tends to destroy things. Um you know, tends to tends to take things that could be used for good and potentially use them for not, you know. Um, so there's that in there too. Um and then there's me saying, I live two lives, I live, I I knit two lives, you know, um reaping the rewards for, you know, you know, I don't know, I guess being a performer and then also being like this totally, you know, insecure person at times, because I can be. Um, but I've gotten a lot of I've conquered a lot of those demons too. So there's a lot of dichotomy in that song for sure.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Uh so is that to say that you have uh you are we done hearing uh and seeing uh promotion for uh for medication for the modern world?

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Not at all. We're gonna drain and suck the life out of this record and drip feed it, drip feed it like a bad DLC release. So, what will be the next single? Uh the next single. Well, right now we're doing medication for the modern world. Um, I don't know if we're doing a video. We might just do like a lyric video or something, but um I don't know. I honestly don't know. Um Another Planet for Grand has been a crowd favorite at the shows, and um so it's not impossible. Um there's there's there's like three that we're considering. Uh that's that's one of them. The other is Vodka build and totally left field is like Living in the Act, like the last track. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Interesting. Well, on this uh program last year, you already said that the next album is already written. Uh have you gone back into the studio and started tracking it?

SPEAKER_04 29:02

Yeah, that's um that's mostly finished. Um tracking. It's a very, very different album, and um it's much more well, it's it's much that well, there's double bass in it. Oh yeah, so it's much more like if you took it's much more if you took like metal and you took Orphan Prodigy and they had a baby, then you'd get something kind of kind of weird.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

I I mean it almost you make it sound almost like industrial, almost kind of like a nine-inch nails kind of vibe.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

Yeah. If an if maybe if maybe if nine-inch nails like went like punk, you know, punk and metal, and you know, whatever. I uh everybody people have been calling our genre like gamer rock and and like duh drab rock and stuff. I don't know what the where these comes, where these terms come from.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Drab's a little bit uh I I wouldn't say uh say accurate at all because you think drab is just something that's so you know like dusty and musty and it and well that does describe a lot of gamers, doesn't it? But I uh not anymore.

SPEAKER_04 30:08

I mean there's there's there are there are some uh very very attractive people um very true that that are streaming and making a good living at it right now.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

So well in in all in all fairness, but uh the the other um uh uh word for the gamer uh kind of stuff. Yeah, I could I could hear this on in a in a in a soundtrack to uh to a triple A game. But so the way the the way you're going with the this next one, uh is are there lyrics to it? There is there a concept to it, is there a name to this album?

SPEAKER_04 30:40

Uh yeah, the name well, I can I I can't say the name because it's a working title. Um but um yeah, uh all I can really say is that it's much more it's like kind of it's this record, but much more in a dark, it's it's it's like it's the real hint, the real indication I think for the next record is the last track on medication for modern world. Um so uh it's much darker, it's much more dark, it's much more uh so you're digging deeper into the in into the trauma. Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah. It's very I mean, you know, this yeah, absolutely. Without giving away any uh song titles.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Yeah. Do you have a time frame of release?

SPEAKER_04 31:27

Uh so I think we're gonna do this for another year, um, 2026, it's 2027, and um probably release the next one, hopefully, uh in 2027.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

That's a healthy schedule, I would say. Uh well, we have a nice way of closing here on the Craig Veltry interview, as you know, Ian. It is called the No Kitten Questionnaire. But since you are a return guest, it's time for the No Kitten Questionnaire 2.0. Ian, what sound or noise do you love?

SPEAKER_04 31:55

Hmm. What sound or noise do I love? Uh ASMR, soft soft spoken, or just like uh just like white noise, like uh we have like a little noise fan, like one of those like heater noise like fan things. And uh I can't sleep without it. So I would say something like that.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Yeah, I I I know some people that uh that you know n need the need the tapes and stuff like that, but you know, a fan or any kind of worrying noise is uh it is essential for me to getting getting any amount of uh sleep whatsoever. Um are you the kind of person also that uh you know temperature has to be right and uh the has to be the right kind of mattress?

SPEAKER_04 32:36

Uh not the mattress so much as the temperature. I think I need cool. If I if I if it's too hot, I start to like that's not right. You know, like I start to like, uh, you know. Uh so yeah, cool for sure.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Yeah, I my my ex-wife used to call me the call me the vampire because of how how cold I used to have to keep the room sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 32:54

So I put the AC on in the in the winter, do you?

SPEAKER_01 32:58

Uh yes. Yes. I I've I I've I put the windows open on on a uh on a on a 40-degree night.

SPEAKER_04 33:05

So Yeah, yeah. Right there with you.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

On the other side of the coin, what sound or noise do you hate?

SPEAKER_04 33:13

Uh ironically, chewing in person. Um, because I like I can I can do deal with it in the ASMR uh realm, but not uh not not in real life.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Uh which uh which uh meditation tapes are you l are you listening to where somebody used to check.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

You know, just like youtubers who like do like those eating videos, like or making sandwiches and things. Just like that's a real I I like watching people make make food and stuff, and sometimes they'll take a bite, and that's fine, like it's relaxing. It's all kind of part of see concept, it's all a part of a larger concept, and that works. Exactly. The puzzle pieces start to fit, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

Um, but when it's by itself, it's like uh we'll talk about food later in the questionnaire, but what is the one song that you are not yet tired of playing, singing, or listening to, and it can't be one of yours.

SPEAKER_04 34:07

So that's big cover?

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

Okay. Like not like not physic, not actually playing, right? Like like like just all right, days go by by men I trust. That's like uh that's a whole vibe. Emma Prue is just is just you know just her voice is ethereal in that track.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

I'll have to listen to it, I'm not familiar.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Um yeah, check it out.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

Uh if reincarnation is real, uh what an animal or organism do you hope to come back at?

SPEAKER_04 34:44

A microorganism. That doesn't microorganism. That doesn't feel or think, it just kind of you know exists.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

That's the deepest answer I've gotten uh off of that one. Uh and just think of the potential, right? It could become anything. So uh not not at all. It's great, it's great. Uh so back to uh back to from foreshadowing to current question. What is your favorite food to make at home?

SPEAKER_04 35:10

Oh god, uh pizza without without hesitation.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Uh do you make your own dough, your own uh oh yeah, fermenting, you know, just uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:19

Um uh just just just the whole process of bread in general um is fascinating to me. And I'm a really big foodie. I I love I love uh especially Italian food, but um I really love to cook. So uh that's what I think that's what I'd be doing if I wasn't a musician. I'd be cooking the orphan project pie. What's on it? I'm not a big sweets person. Uh you know, it might be like a savory British kind of, you know, uh British pie or something.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Oh, I meant I meant pizza pie, excuse me.

SPEAKER_04 35:51

Oh, I'm silly.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

Um Brian Regan had uh uh the comedian, he said uh when the first time he heard somebody say, Hey, you want to go halves on a pie, he said uh I ordered pumpkin.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

So there you go. There you go. Um for me, it would be uh I think uh sausage and Italian sausage and um black olives.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

That that'd be like like half of the toppings that I would have would have on mine.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

But uh well, I would I was gonna say supreme, just go all out, but you know, it's it's a lot. It's like one or two slices, you know.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

But do you have a preference on cheese or just uh mozzarella and uh marinara, and and that's it?

SPEAKER_04 36:34

Gotta be mozzarella, gotta be marinara. Um in Connecticut, it's been very difficult. It's very it's a very different pizza scene in Connecticut. Uh I'm from being from Queens, being a New Yorker, um it's very it was it's it was very difficult to adjust. And there's a there's there's a very unique way they slice their pies as if it's like kind of finger food. It's like the there's it's not like eight slices, it's like 17 slices, some odd number of slices.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Kind of like Donato's does, you know, no uh no crust. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 37:05

Like Donato's, yeah. So it's like that. It's just kind of crisscrossed and who cares, and we're not it looks like effortless, but um so but there's been like one uh really great place called Sally's, uh, which Dave Portnoy um I was about to ask you about him, uh being the communicate connection. So I I don't agree with him at all. I I think uh I I love him. I love him to death. I think he you know he's just like a fun watch, really great person, huge personality.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

Um but not my kind of hang, but uh no, not my kind of hang at all, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

But um I think uh I think he fairly scored uh the place that I love, which is Sally's a pizza. Um I think that's the closest thing as a New Yorker you get to New York pizza. Um but um there's there there's a lot of uh like sauce things that I don't really go for here.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Uh yeah, so yeah, I I'm all for he's very much a guy who rep who reps his own town as far as pizza is concerned, saying that uh spot in New Haven has the greatest pizza in the world, and he's been going around the country and uh doing that. You shake your head, uh no. And I'll say this he you know, a couple of the places that I love in Pittsburgh, and I say Pittsburgh is up there with New York City, not just merely as a pizza hub, but a but a food hub in general. And I I think he was spot on with a couple of the places that uh that I tend to frequent. So, you know, as a as a personality, I don't like listening to him as a critic. He's pretty fair as far as that that's concerned, I think.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

I have to look now because I um we're we're going to Pittsburgh uh at some point this year, and uh I'd be curious because I I I'm really curious to try everywhere pizza now, everywhere everybody's pizza, and um, so I'm curious to look at it.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

I'll give you a list. In fact, uh let me know the dates you're coming. Uh we'll uh we'll do a couple together. Hell, we can make that'll be fun as hell.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

That'll be fun as hell.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Yeah, do something for uh for your social media scarfires as well. That'd be really cool. We'll talk talk more about that off the air. Uh Ian, what is your favorite curse word?

SPEAKER_04 39:08

Fuck. Uh it's not a it's not a curse word because it's it's really just punctuation. I you know, like I can curse logic. It's no, it's verbal, no, honestly, it's verbal, it's verbal punctuation, and I think a lot of people mistake it for, you know, like you know, old world people, you know, older people mistake it for disrespect, and it's really not. It's really just like, you know, I have a really hard time not cursing, and I'm doing my very best. My my yes, my manager is over there trying to tell me it's okay, like stop freaking out. And I'm not freaking out. I'm just I'm just kind of like sometimes when I you know, sometimes an interviewer will be like, Are you stumbling? or like they'll give me a look like just get to the point, you're meandering. And it's because I'm I'm really trying not to curse, because if I don't curse, like it's just my my uh my idea does just does not trans, you know, translate. So if there is any of that, that's what that is.

unknown 39:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Well, I'm I I I I applaud your restraint throughout the interview. I didn't know of this.

SPEAKER_04 40:06

I've been trying. I've been fucking trying.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

I love it. I love it, man. Well, last question of the questionnaire. Uh, if you were given the choice between starting life with your current knowledge again at the age of six or ten million dollars, what would you take?

SPEAKER_04 40:23

Current knowledge at the age of six.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Without hesitation, why?

SPEAKER_04 40:27

Uh just the the confidence I have now versus the confidence I had at six or in my twenties, which was just awful. Um, but I wouldn't trade that for anything. Man, as long as you believe in yourself. I mean, like, you know, you that's the sky, the sky's the limit, really.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Well, listening to your music, you can tell, I can tell anyway, that it's a very it's a very well-earned confidence. So bravo uh for every single time. And we have one last bit of business here on the Craig Velcher interview. You know what to do. It is your favorite part of the show. It should be. It's time for shameless self-promotion, medication for the modern world not going anywhere, and Orphan Prodigy going everywhere. Where can we find you? On the internet and around the world. Fire away, plug your pluggables.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

Uh www.orphanprodigy.com for everything orphanprodigy, uh, socials at orphanprodigy, uh, YouTube at Orphan Prodigy. Um, I'm active on all of those platforms, uh, so you know you're getting it for real, especially Facebook and Instagram. So that's all me. That's all me. So if you want to like feel like you're talking to the artist, that's where to reach. That's where to reach me.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

And one of the easier artists to speak to. I uh you're I hope so. I hope so. You're so you're so open about about everything, and you're so kind, and uh you're just a really uh uh Dave Portnoy is not my kind of hang. Uh Ian Keller, on the other hand, my kind of guy for sure. And uh and thank you so much once again for coming on the Craig Veltry interview.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Oh, bless you, bless you. My confidence has risen.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

The Craig Veltry interview, where Craig Veltry interviews wonderful people is a production of Scarfire Media, the voice of the independent artist, written and edited by Craig Veltry. Your announcer is Megan Pennington. The opening theme, Shut Up I Love You, written by Trenton Chandler and Craig Veltry, performed by Craig Veltry, produced by Jack Gavin. Inside the cabin is available now on all streaming. Support Moonshine Vagabonds by downloading direct from Bandcamp. Time now to update the event calendar because you must know where I am at all times. Speaking of inside the cabin, Megan Pennington and I are heading out to Nashville, Tennessee on April 17th for an inside the cabin album release party at Drifters. It will be a full band affair, no cover charge. Me, Megan Pennington, and some of the best hired guns Nashville has to offer will be rocking drifters from 6 to 9 p.m. Tell your friends, tell a neighbor, tell the milkman, as Megan Pennington suggests. When's the last time she saw a milkman? I have some questions. Anyway, uh Megan and I will then be heading west from Nashville, Tennessee on April the 18th to Tin Roof, Memphis from 3 to 6:30. It'll be a solo gig for me, but Megan Pennington will be making a couple of special appearances throughout that afternoon. And then this is a big one, ladies and gentlemen. Moonshine Vagabonds take Manhattan. That's right, on April 23rd, Thursday, April 23rd, Patty Riley's in the lower east side of Manhattan, just right by Gramercy Park, from 1030 to 1.30 a.m. For full dates, including Pittsburgh, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and just added in the greater Atlanta area. Visit my website, craigvelchry.bandzoogle.com. For booking info, including full band and this podcast, email me at craigvelchreeofficial at gmail.com. You can find the interview on Facebook by searching the Craig Veltry interview, YouTube at Craig Velchy Music, and you can find me on Instagram or as my old roommate, the Tommy Thomas, used to call it. For Ian Keller, I'm Craig Veltry, and this has been the Craig Veltry interview with that album. Off the album Medications for the Modern World, here's Trader, the latest reporting project on the Craig Beltry, proud member of the Starfire Media Podcast?

SPEAKER_03 44:54

Who are you to take? For you put faith in someone who are you to fucking judge? Who are you to fucking take? You put faith in someone new and you can trick the word for all its episode. Well, you can run away.

unknown 46:31

I'll never be the same.

SPEAKER_03 47:30

What was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to say? How was I supposed to feel? And you can trick the way for all she's at the day. Well, you can run away. I'll never be the same.