Episode 52: Nash Overstreet: Then, Now & What's Next

From selling millions of records with Hot Chelle Rae to writing and producing songs for artists around the world, Nash Overstreet has spent most of his life chasing music. But what happens after the dream comes true?

This week on Milk & Honeys, our longtime friend joins us to talk about the highs of hit records, the realities of life on tour, growing up in one of Nashville's most talented musical families, and how he's continued to reinvent himself as an artist, songwriter, producer, and DJ. We also dive into balancing ambition with happiness, relationships while building a career, songwriting in the age of AI, and why success doesn't always look the way you imagined.

Plus, Nash gives us the latest on Hot Chelle Rae's new music, their return to the stage with Warped Tour, and the exciting projects he's releasing this summer.

Whether you grew up blasting "Tonight Tonight" or you're simply navigating your own next chapter, this conversation is full of honesty, nostalgia, laughs, and a reminder that life doesn't stop after your biggest success—it just evolves.

Transcript

Welcome And The Hot Chelle Rae Era

SPEAKER_04 0:04

All right, welcome back everybody to Milk and Honeys. Now, today's guest is someone I've known for quite some time. But I was actually a fan of his before we even met. Creep, not you, me. Now, if you're in college in the early 2010s, there's a very good chance Hashell Ray was a soundtrack to at least one questionable decision that you made. He's a founding member of Hashell Ray, a multi-platinum songwriter, producer, DJ, American music award winner. Collectively, his music has been streamed more than a billion times. Please welcome my friend Nash Overstreet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

What an intro. Oh my gosh. I love that.

SPEAKER_04 0:34

Did I get anything wrong?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

No, but if you can come with me a couple places and just to do that as I walk in the room, that'd be good.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Kayla is the best person to hype anybody. She has she knows all the stats for everyone. I mean, it's amazing. She's the best. She really is the best.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

I'm I'm more questioning the uh decision that I caused you to make, and I need to know the answer by the end of this.

SPEAKER_04 0:55

Which decision?

SPEAKER_00 0:56

You said it's caused you to make a questionable decision, right?

SPEAKER_04 0:59

Oh no, no, no. I don't think we have to discuss that.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Oh, we for sure do.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah, maybe afterwards we have a little cocktail of the but before we start that I'm gonna rewind.

When A Hit Becomes A Throwback

SPEAKER_03 1:11

But before we start, uh, can we all agree the fact that Tonight Tonight came out over a decade ago? And is that offensive? Because like, how old were we when you realized people now call your music a throwback music?

SPEAKER_04 1:26

I just realized the other day I started calling 17 years ago, and I feel like that was around the crazy 17 years ago. Wow. That's offensive.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

I mean, I moved here 19 years ago, so yeah, I was I don't think it's offensive as long as it doesn't look like it's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah. When somebody's like, well, yeah, obviously I can't believe it's only 17 years.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

Right. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

That's a problem. But I I don't find it offensive at all because as musicians, so much stuff that we make is like just the fly in, fly out, it's over. A career is really quick more often than not. So for us to still be out here like touring, having fans, we just made a new album.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Hell yeah, we'll talk about the fire.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Being able to like live off of this continued love for music is crazy. No, it faded too. Like when we were in the midst of touring, there was a time where it like got less popular. You know, like the song's five years old. People are just like, all right, whatever.

SPEAKER_05 2:24

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

But now that nostalgia's happening and people are showing it to like their friends and their kids in a younger generation, yeah, it's popping off just as hard as it was.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Yep. Hell yeah. I mean, look at Backstreet Boys, they're at the freaking spear. You know, they hit they have a whole.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

There's just a new uh music video called The Spear.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

I got my Sphinx cat.

First Kisses And Party Memories

SPEAKER_04 2:48

Have there been any like recent fan interactions uh that kind of like made you realize or reminded you how long you actually have been doing this? But people ever say, Oh my god, my mom loves you.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

When I meet somebody that's younger than the song.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

Caleb. You know, question. Wait, wait, what was the year exactly that came out?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

2011.

SPEAKER_04 3:09

And what we're now we're in, yeah, that's a fair thing. Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean it is.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

They would be teenagers listening to your music. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, no, like it's weird when you have like a 15-year-old or something that's like, oh, like, I love this song because like my parent loved it. Exactly. And then I'm like, well, you're the same age as the song. How?

SPEAKER_04 3:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

That's cool. The fans still tell you they had like their first kiss, their first breakup, or first like drunk, drunk night to your songs. I did. I had some of those. What did you have? We all did. What did you have? I don't know. I was actually, I mean, like, if I sit and marinate on it, I could probably I remember exactly where I was, I think, when I heard the song for the first time. I was in my, I was in a having a party I wasn't supposed to be having at my private Christian school, and the the Belmont police started banging on the door, and we said, fuck the popo. Or fuck the beepo. We called the beepo. We were blastering your song.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

In Nashville?

SPEAKER_04 4:01

In Nashville.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

See, I I was in the Barry.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

We were right down the road.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

Drinking there together. We didn't know each other.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

I was living in Green Hills.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

He's the one that played.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

I lived like probably five minutes away from you in Green Hills by the McDonald's.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Yeah, Green Hills, yeah. That's literally. Yeah, I was definitely drinking uh goldschlager. Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

You're a movie role.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

That was my that was my like go-to when we did the goldschlager.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

But I think I think throwing parties and drinking goldschlager is all perfect things to do to the song. Yes. I don't know about a first kiss, and if that was your first kiss, I think we need to like show you Usher or something.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

It's not the most romantic song.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Well, you know, she's like first kiss, first uh arrest. I don't know. One or the other.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

There are other tonight songs that are better. Like tonight I'm fucking you. Like that's different.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

That's true. That's a good one.

Deep Cuts Fans Demand Live

SPEAKER_03 4:59

Oh my gosh. What song are people most excited to hear when uh they see when they see you guys live?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Um, it's weirdly different. It's always strange to me when somebody has like an odd favorite song. We went years without playing Hung Up. Okay, which is it was a single of ours after the album with Tonight's Tonight came out. And I honestly feel like we got robbed of that single's potential because it was about having a big dick.

SPEAKER_04 5:26

Ah, hung.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

And they made us change the title to Hung Up. And I'm like, if the song's romantic, it's over. Like there's no point to the song.

SPEAKER_05 5:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

I was like, everybody knows I'm hung. Up on you.

SPEAKER_05 5:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

And we started getting these DMs about like, hey, can you play that song? Can you play that song? It's like, man, we haven't played it in like six, seven years at least. We brought it back, like that song's going off. Um, Don't Say Goodnight kind of starts a whole little anthemic moment live. Um, we've got a couple of new songs that came out in the past two or three years. Okay. Um, one's called Good Vibes Only. That one's been going off great. Uh the best thing ever is us playing a brand new song that nobody's heard called Girls Are Dressed Like Boys. And that one is such a party live.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

And it's like, it's one of the most impossible things to make a new song go over well. Okay. Because nobody knows it, whatever. Um, but that one's working.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

So we're having

A Wedding Flight That Sparked Friendship

SPEAKER_04 6:28

fun with it. I love it. Well, let's go back. I don't know, I don't know how many years, like three or four years now.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

I've probably known you maybe a little longer, but uh we met at the wedding in Orlando.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Yes, at Micro Austin Ramiro and Vanessa's wedding.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

And then I lied to Delta and said, Oh yes, this is our. I don't know if I called you like a girlfriend or a fiance or what. I was like, hey, like um, just realized we're not sitting together because we found out we were on the same flight.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

Yeah. Stop.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Or like you might have been like one flight later, even.

SPEAKER_04 6:54

Yeah, I think so. You called.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Can you get like just kind of put us together, like next to each other on whatever rows? And they're like, oh my gosh, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

Yeah, you got me upgraded.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Nice to meet you.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

Anyways, we'll be drinking at the airport. There we did, we sure did that. That's true. Oh, and thank you so much to this day. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Like I also helped um helped her dodge a you know, uh awkward moment.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

Wait, what's the thing?

SPEAKER_00 7:18

With a fan or somebody had bragged about how they were about to hit on you.

SPEAKER_04 7:21

Okay, I forgot.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

And he was like, come over and like, you gotta you gotta meet this girl. She's so great. But like, I'm like, this isn't the bag for me, this wedding, whatever. Came over.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

And I was like, oh, no, it's no, it's not immediately. It was very much like, she does not like you. But great, you're super cool.

SPEAKER_04 7:40

What a pal. This is this is how you start a friendship. You rescued me, like save you anytime. They didn't even know me and rescued

Growing Up On Tour Buses

SPEAKER_04 7:45

me. Well, let's go back uh to 18-year-old Nash. Just, I mean, obviously, we're gonna, you know, you have a very successful family, obviously a legendary family. But did you always know that you wanted to go down the path of music and performing?

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah. Um, I was lucky and got to tour with my dad when I was a kid. So he didn't do the like I'm out on the road.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

Absolute legend.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

He is crazy legendary. I mean, he's written some of the best country songs ever. And instead of you know, going out on the bus and like coming back to us, he would just get an extra bus and take us with him, which probably took all the touring and come down, but he was like worth it. So being at those shows and then seeing Michael Jackson and like I was friends with the guitar player for Prince when I was like six or seven. So seeing Prince from like a really weird angle. Yeah, like the entrance to that was strange, but it was just what I had to do and what I knew I was gonna do. And you know, like 15 telling my dad, like cancel any college plans you're gonna pay for, just help me buy this computer so I can produce stuff. Yeah, yep. It's like, well, you might go to college. I was like, no, I'm 15, I'm already delayed by high school existing. Like, let me get into this thing. So it was just always what I wanted to do. Whether I knew what to do, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Because I was like, I'm gonna play guitar, I'm gonna write, I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna do production stuff, and I still like kind of juggle everything.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

But of course, don't we all? Don't we all?

SPEAKER_00 9:17

You got to. I mean, you have to. Does seven streams in common?

SPEAKER_03 9:20

Did success look exactly like you imagined up until right now?

Why Success Is Hard To Feel

SPEAKER_00 9:25

No, um, not at all. But I think most musicians would probably agree with this. No one's excited to have like a number one in the way you think they would be. A number one is what you try to do every time you make a song.

SPEAKER_05 9:43

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

So when it becomes a number one, you're like, yeah, like I knew it was I knew it could do that. That's what I wanted it to do. It's like the surprise is like when it doesn't do well.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

And then when you get that big peak of success, you're just excited to go afford yourself more time to go make more. Like, all I want to do is just like create.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

And like the bigger a song does, the more I'm less stressed about like how to create and how to, you know, carve out time and prioritize those things. Um but success, I don't think is something we get to feel until it's in the past. Because you're so hustling to get like make sure you don't lose it, make sure you get the next level of it, and you're busy, and you're just like, cool, it it did this over here, but I'm making another album where I'm doing a show, and it's really uh strange to get like so distracted by not being able to focus on your successes, right? And I've learned so much by watching people who are great at gratitude and great at enjoying life, and oh my gosh, like now, like if I do something cool, I'm gonna go celebrate it.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Yeah, yeah. I was gonna I was gonna ask you that. Can you pinpoint now as an adult when you're in that moment of success and make yourself pause for a second and just live in it, enjoy it? Yeah, that moment, or are you still kind of in that hustle and bustle where it's like, oh, it's in the past, like, oh shit, that was actually really successful.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

I try to celebrate too much now.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

Don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

So I think I got my bases covered. I'm like, well, since I've been so distracted throughout my life, I'm like, oh, I got a little something, something. All right, well, I'm gonna buy myself something I wanted because I did this thing that like may have paid me a little more than I expected. Right. Or, oh, there's a release. I'm not gonna wait for it to be a hit. Let's celebrate the release. Let's go to dinner, let's do a thing. And it gives me more like social fun in the process.

SPEAKER_04 11:48

And no, I think it's great, and that's important. Now, what surprised you, you know, again, going back to you know, tonight, tonight, uh, what surprised you the most when that

The Real Story Behind Tonight Tonight

SPEAKER_04 11:56

like freaking exploded? I mean, back then you probably had it a little harder for you to like sit and basket and uh, you know, and enjoy the success because that's when you're like so there's a little lore that like most people don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Okay, we were coming off an album we'd done as like a serious rock band. We were just like making shit up. We weren't writing about real life or like real experiences. We loved pop music, we wrote pop music, but not for us. And I think we thought that's what bands sounded like.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

And we got sent this demo of Tonight Tonight in another form. And I heard it right before a concert we played, and I'm on stage playing some other song, having it in my head. Okay, like the la la la part. And I was like, man, that's really catchy. And it's super corny, and we don't like this at all. Like, there was lyrics in there that we were just not playing with, right? And we were gonna get dropped if the gods didn't do a thing real quick. Because our l our label had spent like a million dollars making an album that sold 10,000 copies.

SPEAKER_05 13:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

They were like, if you put this song out, they won't drop you.

SPEAKER_05 13:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

And we'll have to work it. We're like, all right, let's let's rework this, let's like tweak some lyrics. And my dumbass tried to take the Zach Alphonacus line out. And the AR was like, we gotta have one crazy lyric in here. We want two chains, sold at arenas, you can suck my penis. He's like, that's what I want for you. And he's like, that's the Zach Alphanacus line. Keep that in there or keep Twitter in the first verse. And I was like, well, Twitter's out. Like, I saw MySpace. Yeah. We don't want to do a tech verse. Um and such a genius line and such a genius move to force us to keep it in there. But the song drops, and we're seeing things immediately change. Like we played a festival opening for Trey Songs in front of like 10,000 people. And that, and I like it like that, were the only two songs where the crowd moved.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Everything else we had, they didn't react to at all. We're like, okay, this new album is gonna be like a thing. Cool. And then we saw videos of like three-year-olds on Facebook just going crazy, like, you know, they can sing la la la. Yes. And we're like, man, when the babies start singing, like you know that the thing is there.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Oh, that's so cool. And it was like this eight-month climb, which is not typical. So it like stayed in the culture and like the zeitgeist forever. And I think it made it a bigger song today than like if it had just popped up to number one and left.

SPEAKER_05 14:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

So it was really cool to watch. We were making the rest of the album while it was happening.

SPEAKER_05 14:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

So every day we're in the studio working on another song and we're seeing like the charge. Which is exciting and torturous. Like I don't know if it's good or bad. I think so. Or or it fueled us. Yeah, I think it did both. Yeah.

unknown 15:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

It was crazy. I mean, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 15:02

What did nobody warn you guys about having, you know, a hit like that?

What Hits Don’t Teach You

SPEAKER_00 15:08

I think we got so lucky by having family that were in the industry.

SPEAKER_05 15:13

Sure, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

We got a lot of warning.

SPEAKER_05 15:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Um we made a lot of good or better than most deals, which I'm happy about. Uh so I don't know. I I don't think you can like correctly warn anybody. Yeah. Um I think if I could give myself any advice, it would just be like go harder on some ideas or beliefs. Like I think we should have gone harder on like a PR person or like branding partnerships or whatever. And we were told it's not time. And I kind of think that's bullshit. And like I would advise almost anybody immediately. Put the team, the whole team in place. If somebody's not doing a good job, find somebody who is.

SPEAKER_05 15:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

And if somebody tells you be quiet, like you feel this way for a reason.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

Yep, that's great advice.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

That's it. But other than that, nothing was too surprising. We were just, you know, on a ride and like grinding hard to keep it going.

SPEAKER_04 16:13

Now, you know, when people finally get a thing they've chased their whole lives, there's like often this moment that you're like, okay, I'm in a different place in my life, maybe a more elevated place, but I'm still me. That like happened to you at the point, like it got so big, we're like, okay, you gotta kind of ground yourself again.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Um yeah, I think I definitely had like the douchiest.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

The douchiest I've ever been is in those. Of course.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

I mean, no one will blame you for that.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yeah, like you think you're hot shit, you're not as much hot shit as you think you are, but I don't know um if it is just gonna happen to everybody for a second, and you gotta re-acclimate and calm down, or if it's people being on.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

Like the NBA draft was yesterday. I'm sitting there thinking, like, God, these guys are 18, 19, 20, came in college, all of a sudden they are now playing for some of the biggest NBA teams in the world, giving millions, getting millions of dollars. Let these guys have a little fun for a little bit. I feel like you have to be able to bask in that a little bit, you know? Yeah, they eventually come back down to earth.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

But I don't think there's anything wrong with yeah, but you also grew up in that too, so it's it probably is a little different for you, you know, in in some in some aspects. Like, do you think fame helped you solve some problems, or do you think it created more problems? And a little bit of a era.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

It's probably honestly just a shuffle game. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:36

It's a roller coaster.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Like, I've made

Fame Whiplash And Money Swings

SPEAKER_00 17:40

you know, the most money I've ever made in a single day by playing like a show or something, and then I've gone broke from things and like realized it before it was really like good to be realizing. I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta like make some moves. Yes, and everything in between. Um so yeah, I don't I don't know if it's like the same world because growing up with my dad, people getting autographs in restaurants and stuff and him having hit songs is different in country music than in the pop world. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

How so?

SPEAKER_00 18:16

There's stuff that I I love some shiny, sparkly, colorful things. And that is not a world that country music was encountering in the 80s and 90s. So the first placement we ever had was with Taylor Swift and T-Pain outside of our band. And like that was the big thing for me because I'm like, all right, we're in a band. Any song that we record, we could record whatever song of hours we like, doesn't mean it's good. When somebody else wants your song, it means you like earned it.

SPEAKER_05 18:47

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

So I start hanging around T-Pain, and I hear about his jeweler, and he's got these like little kid robot diamond pieces on multicolor on a chain.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

I'm like, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

All right, I see you. Like and then he's like, Oh yeah, like I got this jewelry in New York, just go hit him up. So I sign a new publishing deal, and I'm like, I feel like I should buy myself a whole chain with my name, like my publishing name on it. Just like the worst looking idea because the publishing company did was like Nashty.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

Okay, nah, yep. So now you have a diamond encrusted Nashville.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

I was like, look, I want you to design this pendant in like rainbow diamonds.

SPEAKER_03 19:31

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

And let me, you know, like show it to me. Let me see how it kind of like looks and what the price is. And he's like, Yeah, it's like, I don't know, eight, ten grand for that. I was like, man, I think that'd be so sick. But I also just like don't know if I really want to be wearing that.

SPEAKER_05 19:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

And then a month later, I was like, that would have been so stupid.

SPEAKER_05 19:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Like, no, I do not look good with a diamond rainbow Nash Dylan neck. And like that's where my dad never like ran into these sparkly little ideas that come up in the pop space gave me.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Absolutely. I I can totally

Touring Isn’t Glamorous

SPEAKER_03 20:09

see that. I mean, speaking of, you've you've toured with everyone, Taylor Swift, who definitely has a lot of sparkle. Uh Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato. What's what is touring actually like versus what people think it actually is?

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Because it's a lot. What do you think it is? Have you ever been too close to answer this authentically?

SPEAKER_03 20:28

I have because I've I grew up dancing, so I have toured. Yeah, so I know it's not what everyone thinks it is. And the way to sound fun.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

I just wonder what people think it is.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

I I feel like people think touring is like you're taking private planes everywhere, and you're in luxury this, and and it's all like, you know, rainbows and butterflies and da-da-da. And it's not, it's it's really it's vigorous on your body. It's very, very tough on your body. So I'm sure you going around touring having to use your voice, and that's a whole different thing.

SPEAKER_04 21:04

Yeah, every single night having to go out and like that's what I sometimes think about musicians. I'm like, when they're on a tour, I'm like, holy shit. You were every single night just about having to go out there and do a two, three hour show, be in a good mood, and make everybody happy, then get on a bus and do it again.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

I don't think I can, but not even like even that, like afterwards, there's still after parties, there's still like things that you're like, so you watch paying people sitting and autographing stuff for the next four hours at night.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

I'm like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

Yeah, I've I've really come to respect the people who do their extra stuff. Like, I need hand sanitizer. I don't shake hands, I only like the blue only the blue MMs, please.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Um, and yeah, even like JLo's famous like all white dressing rooms. Somebody told me it's just so that she knows if she gets there, if people checked off all the things and like they listened to the writer, so she didn't have to worry about the big stuff if they followed the little details. It's not because she She needs that. She's like, let me see quickly.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

Everything. Okay. I respect that.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Um, but yeah, like touring, it's hard on you. Like your voice, you gotta take care of. You gotta not go out and talk. You gotta not drink. You gotta not be in a loud place afterwards. Um, you kind of just need a rest after the show, which my favorite thing about touring is going out and experiencing a new city.

SPEAKER_05 22:28

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Like we just did Australia earlier this year, and two weeks over there, Australia is my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

I wish that would be so cool. I've never gone, but I want to go so bad.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

You can drink and meet the best friends ever for at least one night.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

And I'm like, man, that's such a bummer that I need to be responsible, you know, stay like vocally ready. We got a lot of shows. And every day is a flight between them because of the way they tour there. I was like, I can't be doing this. Right. But when there's some days off on tour, you do get to have a lot of fun and you hope you land in a really cool place that you can experience, you know, for the first time, especially and call it work. It's so fun.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

Absolutely. What's I mean, because like I'm sure people when they ask you, like, oh, are you going? I love the question, are you going for work or pleasure? And then you get to say both, you know. What is the funniest thing that's ever happened on like a tour bus that

Bus Driver Stories You Can’t Unhear

SPEAKER_03 23:25

you're obviously allowed to tell publicly?

SPEAKER_04 23:27

Or maybe it's you heard it here first. Or maybe, maybe, yeah, maybe we get the exclusive, you know. Man.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Um, I've heard a lot of crazy stuff happening on other people's tour buses.

SPEAKER_04 23:38

Oh, it's that like the the toilets, someone blowing up a freaking toilet on the bus, and then you have to be stuck on it for the next. That's happened in WWE so many times.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

So you're not supposed to, you're not supposed to do that.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

Well, they did.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

But we got stranded on the side of the road on tour with the scripts back, and I don't know. Oh, that's 12 maybe. So our bus breaks down, we get in their bus, and like somebody has to go bad. And they're like, Well, we have a grinder, which I don't know what that means. That's a grinder, but it's fine. Like, you can shit on their tour bus because there's a grinder.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Because there's a grinder. I don't really want to think that sounds like a badger.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

But they're still like, but we're kind of bummed that you're gonna have to do it because it's gonna smell so bad. And I mean, I don't remember suffering when this all went down, but it was definitely like, you know, the cardinal.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Um my dad's bus drivers, though, when I was like a kid, I would always sit up front with them.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

And middle of the night, I'm always a vampire about my sleep schedule. So I just go up there and like listen to stories. They the bus drivers know everything.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Everything. They I wonder how many NDAs bus drivers have had to sign because I don't think any.

SPEAKER_00 24:58

I swear to you.

SPEAKER_04 24:59

That'd be a great should write a book about being on tour with a celebrity. I'm sure I'm sure they're adding a drivers. I would make someone's on NDA.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Up until like cell phone videos. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

It's different now.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Man, like I think like the word my personal nightmare, it's just this guy's thing. He I think he was driving like somebody like a Dolly Parton type of like really famous female country star. And my dad had asked him, he's like, Man, how do you just drive all night just pounding coffee? Like you're so caeinated and awake, but you're not stopping for the bathroom.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

And he's like, Well, I just keep like Ziploc bags up front. And when I gotta go, I just like peanut Ziploc bag, and when I stop, I'll just empty them all there.

SPEAKER_04 25:48

Oh, is that shitting in it?

SPEAKER_00 25:50

No, no. Coffee does make shit.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

How would he be doing that? Like, that would be that would be a bag attached to us.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

He's just, you know, is like, you know what, I got a diaper on it, I'll just deal with it later. No, he does not shit himself.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

I've heard people peeing in cans. But like never a ziploc.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

I cannot brag about having any confidence that I could pee in a Ziploc bag.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

No.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

And drive and have it go okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

No. And make sure no one knows that you're doing it at that moment, you know? Because it's a full bus behind you.

SPEAKER_04 26:24

I couldn't even take my shoe off. I was wearing your damn big ass the orange shoes from the airport. I was gonna take it off while I was driving. I had to pull over and take the damn shoes off. And I'm gonna whip out when I have to pee. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

But he said that that artist, whatever, whoever it was, popped open like real early in the morning, just like see where they were, like, look at the road. And he was in the middle of doing that and he squeezed it. Oh no! All over him.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

No!

SPEAKER_00 26:50

I'm like, man, I just I would quit. I'd fly home and I would cry for a week. Now and I'll be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 26:55

I would be like, I'm getting you a new tour bus person, driver. I'm going home.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

Um so real quick, I do want to go back talking about you know, very

Family Feedback And Creative Trust

SPEAKER_04 27:03

talented family. We talked about your dad, Pulver Street legend. Um you had a talented sister, obviously your brother. Was there like a lot? I mean, I I'm curious what a family dinner would have been like. Is it terms like a big creative workshop? You know, you're gonna bounce the shit off of each other.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Or is it like you guys don't talk about business at the dinner table? There's two sides, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

There's there's people who are quieter and might silently know that they're great at something.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

People who are loud and very prescriptive with like, you should do this and you should do it this way. Who's that one?

SPEAKER_04 27:29

Who's the loud one?

SPEAKER_00 27:30

It depends on the situation. Like when I was starting the band, I think my mom was very uh well, you sing, so you should do extra. Make sure that you're like having your moments in the front. Yeah, you like swap out.

SPEAKER_04 27:46

That's such a mom thing, though.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

I'm like, I'm I'm fulfilled. I'm you know, kind of I'm writing, producing, I'm arranging, I'm singing backgrounds and like harmonies and altar parts, whatever. I don't need to do that in this space. Now, fast forward till now, like now I'm the lead singer and right.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

If she I mean if she ever gave a shit, she got her wishes.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

I'm like, I think I think it's just moms are always right.

SPEAKER_04 28:11

Well, moms always think the other babies are the most talented, the most beautiful, the most perfect. Of course. We need that sometime, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

But I, you know, I'm over here like collaboration is very important, and having the right always confident roles taken up by the right people is in every creative aspect, I think collaboration is the most important.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

We talk about that just you know, us starting milk and honeys. It's like you have to make sure that you have a partner that or a band or you know, like mates that are going to actually have the same energy and the same work ethic and all of that stuff. But who who do you think gives you the harshest feedback? Is it was it your dad or was it your mom? Your mom's like, you're the best, but she's also like, hey.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Man, I don't know if there's any harsh feedback. What I do is so often very different than everyone's world. My brother might give me the biggest, like, oh, okay, I guess you're gonna do that.

SPEAKER_06 29:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

But like it's just because he's such a different person.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

See, that's that always pisses me off. Like, my ex used to do that to me. He's like, okay, if you think that's what's best, I'm like, what's what's happened? Yeah, what why do we need to go? I need to know.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

I feel like my sister's like that too. My sister's very honest. Like, if you know, if I got an offer for something and I would always talk to my mom and my sister about it first, and and they would always be like so honest, like, I don't know if you should do that. But now sometimes I look back and I'm like, I should have done it. Yeah what I mean.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

Like I start second guessing my like, I think I know best, and then maybe, maybe you know, sometimes it's happening.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

But yeah, like I think it's more like, oh, like I have this great idea for a music video, and it involves me just being like full drag makeup made up, you know, like and then a bunch of people in opposite scenarios. I won't go too much into the plot, but I'm gonna hear so much like really, like you're gonna do that? Yes. But it's more like I can't see me doing it. I guess I'm not surprised you're doing it.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Because I've always been out there, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

It's always comes from a place of support, but just like, let's see, and you've clearly proven yourself right on multiple occasions.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

So yeah, and if I'm if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and like that's fine too. Yeah, but like my dad hit me not too long ago. Um, he heard the new album, and he was like, Do you worry at all about like the song Motherfucker I'm Awesome alienating fans? I was like, if they are offended because of that, they are going to have so much more problems with everything we do. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 30:39

Those are the fans that you're that's how you're reaching. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

I don't need a fan who's afraid to hear a cuss word.

SPEAKER_04 30:44

Yeah, right, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

Like there's there's so many haters in the world, there's so many fans, like they pick and choose.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

We already yelled at the record company for making it be hung up, not about a big one.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

Right, right. Yeah, you can't always just like yeah, bend over and yeah. Um, so one thing that's really cool about you bend over and what? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Why are you telling people what they can't do?

SPEAKER_04 31:08

That's really cool about you, Nash, is a fact that you have not ever gotten

Producing, DJ Life, And Film Songs

SPEAKER_04 31:12

stuck in one chapter again. Hot shell ray, you produce, you write. DJ is Nash up. How many careers do you actually currently have? How many hats are you wearing?

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Um to make it easy, uh I produce, I write. Those might be considered the same thing. I don't know. Um, a DJ. I'm in Hot Shell Ray. My solo side project stuff is kind of into the DJ thing as well. Okay. So um, yeah, I think there's kind of like the three branches.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

That is a lot to do. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

Yeah, but like, you know, I produced things for um I produced the song for a children's movie um with uh Gabby's dollhouse this last year.

SPEAKER_04 31:52

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

And with like Kristen Wig and Yes, it's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

How did how did that all happen?

SPEAKER_00 31:58

So I was working with this management back around the pandemic, kind of those few years. Um and I'd worked on a Timbaland record. And they I hit his manager, I was like, I'm looking for management. You know, do you have any people? He's like, I'll rep you. And through that we did uh Step Up Season 2 High Water. I wrote like most of the top line for that.

SPEAKER_04 32:22

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

And then we did a Beat Saber Pack, like for the video game thing. And then Bear Bricks came in with Apple TV. And then that was kind of, I think, through Beat Club Timblings thing. Um and then the relationships I made with that, um, one of my reps, Brian Berger, he brought me in for this DreamWorks thing. And they're like, we have this other thing, we can't tell you what it is, but like, here's a script, here's the song, you know, produce it out, make it a thing. And it's like, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 32:56

It's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

And it's like nothing's cooler than seeing a song in a movie theater.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Yes, I know. Oh my god. What was your first like when you watched it in a theater? Like, what was do you remember the emotions going through you? I probably would have cried. It was yeah, that's that's something really special.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Cool to see, like, because there was kids there.

SPEAKER_04 33:13

Yeah. Oh, see their reactions.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

So there was like, I don't know, like a five, ten-year-old, whatever over here freaking out. Um, and then some of our friends' kids, they that's even cooler. They came up to me at a party and they were like, You did that song. And like, we told all our friends that like you're our friend, and like you did that song. No, not all. Then they asked me my name. I was like, you, little brat, we are not friends.

SPEAKER_04 33:39

If you have been running around, your name is one guy that my parents know, this old guy that I know he we got 10 years of parties.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

You've been running around, and you just asked my name.

SPEAKER_04 33:49

I can't don't have this new generation, you know.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

But it was it was cool to see like all of my friends' little kids. Oh, for sure. I love that song.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

Oh, I love it. Do you feel like, I mean, obviously you've added on more to your to your resume over the years. Do you feel like you've had to reinvent yourself, or do you think you've kind of stayed the same and just kind of added more stuff onto it?

Reinvention Without Losing The Core

SPEAKER_00 34:09

I think I've tried to reinvent myself enough to like not do it so much.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Um, especially in Hotshell Ray. I think when we got our first success, I was really excited to like upgrade to do like cooler stuff. So like I had some dumb goals. I was like, if I see Jay-Z backstage, I want him to be so excited that like I'm back. Like, yeah, I want him to like be like, oh, I love what you do.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

That's not what Hot Shell Ray is. That's not like the cred cool kid, like hip-hop icons, like new favorite artists.

SPEAKER_03 34:45

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

I'm at the point now where I'm like very much down to embrace what we are, which is like a friend building like a turn up before you go out with the homies. Like you have a lot of relationships that are like strengthened and like given moments by the fun that our music does. It doesn't need to be an art piece. Right. That's for something else. I kind of like had to mentally try to get there and like start going towards that to realize it was just an awkward fit and it wasn't wasn't what the brand is. Um but then with me and my DJ stuff, I can you know do whatever I want. And like I love Ahsoka and dance hall and different music from around the world, and I can explore that. So have more freedom. Yeah, like having all of these outlets lets me kind of get my thing off in different places in different ways.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

Absolutely. What what advice would you give someone whose identity is tied to just one job?

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Find a side project if you're going crazy. But also, like there aren't any rules.

SPEAKER_05 35:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

I think Drake, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, they all they're some of the biggest artists of all time. And what they all do is Rihanna, they don't care what they've done. If they like something, they do it. If it's in their genre or not, their voice is the consistency.

SPEAKER_05 36:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

I think a band is a little different.

SPEAKER_05 36:15

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

But Radiohead's done like this album is this, this album is this, this album is this. You got Blink 182 or Third Eye Blind who like have deviated less. So I think as long as you're happy, if you're cool with it, yeah, then like who cares? Yeah. You might flop, you might shoot way higher.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

You don't know unless you go for it.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

And I mean, as long as I don't know, I always try to tell people too. It's like as long as you're authentic to like who you are, you're always gonna build that authenticity when it comes to your audience and like your fans. Even if some of them grow up and grow out of it, whatever. But there's always good riddance, you know. Yeah, bye.

SPEAKER_04 36:52

I know you obviously you've worked with artists all over the world for forever. What's the coolest collab you've done most recently?

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Um for Hot Shell Ray, we do have a song that we did with Bonnie McKee.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Okay, that's sick.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

And like Bonnie is a friend, but also such an icon and has written some of the best, biggest songs ever. So it was cool to have her come into the studio and just flow on a thing and it naturally turned into this collab.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Um, it's super fun for Nash Up, my DJ stuff. I I met this girl when I was in a co-write with another artist. He brought her in and he was like, Yeah, she's gonna be on my song. And I was like, she's so dope. Like, she's just got a thing. And she had me do like a couple of her songs that had already been written. She liked what I did, and I was like, we gotta do stuff like stuff from scratch. So we just we shot a video last night for this new song coming out. Yes. Called Grilled Cheese with novel, and like she's speaking some French in there, she's Canadian. Oh, I don't know any French, so it can't be on me. Um, and I just got to like do what I wanted with the music, and she's on the back of the couch being like, Yes, like love it. And so it's just a little like I don't know, it's a nod back to the early 2000s. It's my kind of favorite types of noises and sounds happening. Um, but yeah, we're super hyped on it.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

And oh, I love that. I haven't done like a video sound. It's like it is so universal. It doesn't matter what language language it is, but what do you think makes a song that can go viral like that? It doesn't matter what language it is. It's so universal.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Yeah, I mean, and I don't think anybody knows what some people say they're like tiled in and they may be.

SPEAKER_05 38:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

I don't know what makes a song go viral. I just make what I like. And as long as like I'm really excited by it, that makes my life better.

SPEAKER_05 38:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

Makes my time in the studio better,

AI, Virality, And Human Taste

SPEAKER_00 38:58

and it's not work.

SPEAKER_04 38:59

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

Like if I hate a song, then like I don't want to write it.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 39:03

Have you noticed like how songwriting has changed in the last decade plus?

SPEAKER_00 39:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:09

Um, is it AI?

SPEAKER_03 39:12

I was like, yeah, I was gonna say, uh, are you worried about AI?

SPEAKER_00 39:16

I I'm not worried about about AI, and I think maybe I'm foolish for that, and maybe I'm spot on. Um I think there are places to be worried about it. Like getting a song in a movie or a TV show is where mid-level songwriters make their money. If you hear a jukebox playing a song you can't really hear, right, that person maybe got paid 500 bucks, maybe they got 5,000 if it's a film, but they got paid. If that song doesn't have to be good or clear, and the producer could just make it with AI and not use a songwriter, that sucks.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

For proper songs and creatives, I don't think anything can replicate the human brain.

SPEAKER_03 40:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

Um, I've tried to use AI to make certain things as an example that are like a blend between this and that. Sure. And they're too far apart and they've never been a song together, and it doesn't know what to do. It doesn't know how to make an 80s country sound and guitar chord progression go with a like trap dance beat.

SPEAKER_05 40:23

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 40:24

I'm like, it has to be human creativity to be fresh.

SPEAKER_05 40:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

People in the AI space that are concerned with like having trained music, like trained AI on their music catalog, I'm still trying to figure that out because like sure, like somebody shouldn't benefit or profit as a company from doing that. But as songwriters, every songwriter has always been like, what if we do like a Smoky Robinson type thing and you know, lean on that and like switch it around so it's not the same, but we're right, borrowing from that. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

We're training on that. Yeah, which which, you know, art, everyone arguably besides art. It is everything is borrowed, everything is uh what's um integrated and then transformed into something else, you know. But essentially it's always borrowed and coming from something else. Yeah. But do you think that AI eventually will learn that and it'll become a tool, or do you think it'll be a little bit more? It's already a tool, but like a still be a tool.

SPEAKER_04 41:29

But think about like where robots started. Remember back in the day we said, Oh, there was no way, like before self-checkout at Walmart, like there's no way there's not gonna be checkout people. And then now we have these little robots running around what's happening in your food. We have that crazy full-size robot with its own robot dog running around what's happening. Like, yeah, it's just like things do, you know, progress. But like the question was like, what can AI never replace? And as you said, the human brain, the human feeling. I don't think hopefully we're a long way away from that being a reality.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

Yeah, and like the greats who are really making the best music ever will always go make it for real because they like going to a studio and grabbing instruments and like coming up with stuff. That's fun.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

It's the collaboration of it all.

SPEAKER_00 42:07

They're not trying to get away from that work, right? That's great work.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

It's like I heard a song the other day that was like an Afrobeat song on somebody's post, and I was like, oh, that's sick. Let me see who that is. And then I listened for a second, I was like, I know that voice. That's the AI voice. Uh-huh. Cool melody, cool lyrics. Like it was probably a song properly written. And then just they put it in and like had it executed that way. But as soon as people hear and identify that a song is AI, it doesn't matter how good it is, right, or how good it sounds, there's a disinterest.

SPEAKER_05 42:42

Yeah. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 42:43

So I think people want raw, they want organic. I'm seeing, as somebody who like vocal produces, I'm seeing people who are asked, like they're asking to be less in tune.

SPEAKER_05 42:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

Like I want to be more ugly sounding, raw or to give people that authentic human. And it's being caused by AI. They're like, let me run this way.

SPEAKER_03 43:05

But there there are there are people who are creating like AI artists right now. What are your AI OnlyFans models?

SPEAKER_04 43:14

Oh, AI.

SPEAKER_03 43:15

Because I've seen some of them and they I don't remember their names, and I wish I could right now. Is it is it polo? Someone someone has like an AI artist right now that they are managing. And it's and it's it's it's crazy because like this person is getting all this traffic and they're they have millions of followers and like all this and that.

SPEAKER_04 43:39

And it's also it's a generational thing, too. I feel like the like the Gen Z generation, like they're kind of hopped up on that. I don't think the millennials are really fucking with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

I don't know though. Like my my nephew's 15. Okay. And what he wanted for Christmas was CDs.

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Oh. I love that. I'm gonna cry. That's like being 15 really wanted records.

SPEAKER_04 43:56

Like a people who actually have like a love for absolutely. Yeah, like.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

I when I DJ clubs in LA, it's all these people like 21 to 25 who are zeroed in on like 2010 to 2016 music. That's cute. Nothing goes harder than like LMFAO and Natasha Bettingfield.

SPEAKER_03 44:14

Yeah, I mean, hello. We had the best music. We had to do that. We we just know that. You guys can fight us all you want, but we always know that the Millens had the best music.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

Look, I had I had my 2000s birthday party and we dressed up and oh that was so fun.

SPEAKER_04 44:29

Like I wore my Vondach and people were so excited to like, yeah, it was like the best fashion era because it was so distinct. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

It was its exact thing. No one else has really had a whole like world do a movement that odd at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

And that's bad. I just bought some Capri pants. I bought some gauchos the other day. I'm like, oh no, fuck it's going on too much. Okay, we got we gotta we gotta we gotta I know we could talk about it forever and ever and everyone's go back to a hot show right now. New hot show your uh new album finished warp tour coming up. Uh what is different about this version of the band than 10, 15, 30 years ago whenever it's I was like wow, sorry, Mark. She's over here breaking your furniture.

The New Album Rules And Sound

SPEAKER_04 45:12

Yeah, what's the biggest difference of this this go-around?

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Um, the biggest difference between the first warp tour we ever played was we have fans now. We did not have fans then. It was before anything had come out and worked.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

So we just played a stage for nobody in like 110 degrees. Um the biggest difference in like the last 15 years is uh our bass player is not in the band, but he left in like 2013. Um so it was me, Jamie, and Ryan since then. Ryan went and did country music in 2015 to 2019. Um we got Hotch Laura back together in 2019. We put out an EP, um, we had I Hate LA as a single on the radio, and then maybe three years ago, I want to say, Ryan moved back to Nashville, got married, had a kid, wants to do country music again, and fast forward now he's in a group called Ryan and Rory. Okay doing that. We're still best friends. I was like, can I take Hot Shore Ray and run with it? Me and Jamie do this thing, make a new album, you know, right? Kind of jump in and just like get to create the first full-length album since 2011. And he was like, Yeah, man, like go kill it. I'm doing country, I love this. Yes, love what you guys are doing. And as that's different, I think this will be the most hot shell thing, like hot shell ray thing we've done since tonight tonight, and I like it like that.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

I love it.

SPEAKER_04 46:46

We're definitely coming to stage passes.

SPEAKER_00 46:51

Yeah, well, it's better than the front stage passes where you're just punched and sweating.

SPEAKER_04 46:56

Yeah, we need all access passes. That's pretty good to do the introduction. You know, we'll introduce you like we did the.

SPEAKER_03 47:01

Oh my gosh, we're gonna leave it.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

I'm in.

SPEAKER_03 47:04

I'm I'm in. We're already doing that.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

And then since you're a backup dancer, yeah. Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

We need dancers. I got two, too. Yeah, do it. Maybe I go back on tour with you guys. Who knows? As a dancer, I'll drive.

SPEAKER_04 47:18

Yeah, get it. Forget it by dimensions.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

I'm not comfortable with you up in the front with your ziploc bags, shitting in these bags, seeing how long it takes to get the rest up.

SPEAKER_03 47:29

Uh but what what do fans uh have to look forward to this next round?

SPEAKER_00 47:34

Um, so I wanted this to be the most hot shell ray thing ever while being this new moment for us.

SPEAKER_02 47:41

Of course.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

I'm like, it's fun, it's lighthearted, it's like bonding, but it's sassy and snarky, and it's real life shit. So a lot of my moving to LA adventures that I got into um are in this record. It's very much like diary chapters of experiences and chopped up with traveling. But it's nothing sad, nothing slow. Everything's just like feel good. Very much late 90s, like alternative pop bands inspo. So like sugar ray, third abline.

SPEAKER_03 48:16

Like, I just want to like go on a long drive and like play the whole album. Like I love, yes, that's what I feel with what you're describing.

SPEAKER_00 48:25

It'll go quick. It's like a 30-minute album. Oh, yeah. There's 10 songs. Um, but it's got that like nostalgic era with you know, modern language and like what Hashala Ray is to people. And all of it is acoustic guitars. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 48:40

Like there's no electric guitars, there's no synths, there's no pianos. Obviously, there's like drums and bass, but um, I was like, if it's distorted, it's coming from an acoustic through a distortion pedal. If it's like a long string sound, it's like a slag guitar with a bunch of reverb on the acoustic guitar.

SPEAKER_03 48:56

So cool.

SPEAKER_00 48:56

And so we did this little rule for ourselves just to make a creative piece that's a little different than anything else that's out. And I am so happy with what we got and like obsessed with the songs. So I love it.

Hit, Skip, Or Save Game

SPEAKER_04 49:10

I can't wait to hear it. All right. Well, before we go, we're gonna play a little game. It's called Hit, Skip, or Save.

SPEAKER_00 49:14

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 49:15

Um we're gonna read it.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

These are people's names.

SPEAKER_04 49:17

Yes. We're gonna read, we have a few words. We're gonna read each one. You must answer hit, skip, or save immediately. Hit is something that you're all in on. Loves will do again. Skip is obvious, you skip it. And save is something worth keeping around, but with some maybe some changes.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 49:31

Okay. So we'll kick things off because I don't even know the answer to this. The very first song you ever wrote.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

Skip.

SPEAKER_04 49:38

Wait, what was it?

SPEAKER_00 49:39

That was cool.

SPEAKER_04 49:40

I don't even remember it. I don't want to remember.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

It was like I think I was it was either me copying Dave Matthews band or Lifehouse or Lincoln Park.

SPEAKER_04 49:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

So it was it was either like rappy, like singer-songwriter, or like crazy guitar, like whatever. But I would blatantly copy each one of those things.

SPEAKER_03 50:01

So we're skipping it. Okay, we're skipping that. Tonight, tonight. I mean, hit honestly.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

Save.

SPEAKER_03 50:10

Okay. Frosted tips in your hair.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

Save. I'm about look, I cut it out when it gets long enough to go platinum.

SPEAKER_04 50:18

Does Cabrera still have his frosted tips? Yeah. For sure. For sure. Something Josh does his hair.

SPEAKER_03 50:24

Sometimes I think it's I think that's a save.

SPEAKER_00 50:27

He's the same as me. It's like you don't want to over-bleach it and kill everything. Sure. So you bleach it, let it grow out a little bit, cut it, some tips, grow out a little bit, bleach it again a lot.

SPEAKER_04 50:37

Uh fame.

SPEAKER_00 50:39

Hit.

SPEAKER_04 50:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:40

It enables you to do a lot of cool stuff, and you know, if you want to use the platform to do something great and good for the world, you can't.

SPEAKER_03 50:47

Do it, exactly. Touring.

SPEAKER_00 50:49

Save. Complicatedly expensive, and it's hard to figure out how to do it in very um like the varied ways of like levels of success. It's so odd.

SPEAKER_04 51:04

It's a lot. Uh social media.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

I mean, save and hit, I don't know. Yeah, it's I mean, I think social media is constantly changing and it's it's difficult to keep up with and it's its own job.

SPEAKER_04 51:17

Are you a TikToker? I can't do the tick. I'm can't I'm not a heart.

SPEAKER_00 51:19

I'm exhausted, but yeah, like you have to as a musician, but it's true. To be good at it, I've seen people who are great at it and they have all quit everything in their life to just to do that, yes.

SPEAKER_03 51:30

Um, dating apps.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

Hit. I think. Do you want to go to a bar and get bothered by a stranger in the wild and then have to back background check them later on?

SPEAKER_04 51:43

I know that's true. It is it is a lot. Turning 40.

SPEAKER_00 51:48

Hit.

SPEAKER_04 51:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

It was way worse about to turn 40 than it was turning 40.

SPEAKER_04 51:52

Yeah, that's what I heard what people say. That it's like the anticipation, and then because we sat the other day, we had a whole conversation on our show about we heard turning 40 is supposed to be like the best decade for all of us. It's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

Yeah, I think when you're 39, you're dreading it.

SPEAKER_04 52:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

When you turn 40, you're like, eh. It's a year. Yeah. And plus you get like if you look good for your age, you get more compliments for being 40 than you did 39.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

Exactly. Very good point. Um, AI.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

Um I think it's hugely useful. I think tech is always a strange thing to navigate for humans. I think it can be great. I think it has to be done carefully.

SPEAKER_03 52:32

I agree.

SPEAKER_04 52:33

Your younger self.

SPEAKER_00 52:35

Tripping. Tripping. Save. I I think I did not have the taste that I've gotten to have as I've grown up, but I had some great tendencies.

SPEAKER_03 52:49

Um, your future self.

SPEAKER_00 52:51

Oh, well hit.

SPEAKER_03 52:52

I know.

SPEAKER_00 52:52

I'm only expecting the case.

SPEAKER_03 52:53

I was gonna say if you're gonna say something else, I'd like to. I'm hitting that. Yeah, I'd like to hitting that Rio.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

Lock the door and take care of him.

SPEAKER_04 53:02

Oh gosh. Okay, let's put a

Rapid Fire Favorites And Advice

SPEAKER_04 53:04

few more questions. Uh, these are not, it's a different game, but what's your favorite city to perform in?

SPEAKER_00 53:08

Tokyo. Okay. Hands down.

SPEAKER_03 53:09

Is that your favorite? Love the game. I mean, hello. My my man and I, we've gone, we've been dating for three years and we've gone three times. We love Tokyo so much.

SPEAKER_00 53:17

That's my favorite. I think Rio, I've only been to once. Okay. That was definitely up there also. But I've just been to Tokyo like 11 times. God, I want to go so bad. My next person.

SPEAKER_03 53:27

I've been saying that for years. Um most underrated artist right now.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Most underrated artist right now. Um Big Sis and Naomi Scott are the last two sold-out shows at The Roxy that I've seen that I love what they make. I saw Big Sis in front of like, I don't know, 10 people a few years ago, and then like the next thing I saw at The Roxy sold out.

SPEAKER_06 53:57

Wow, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

They're like quirky, irreverent dance music. It's just vibey. Naomi Scott just made her first like full-length album. I'm so floored. It's so good. Her show was so good. I'm such a fan.

SPEAKER_04 54:10

I love that. Uh one celebrity contact, you'd never delete.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

Does it have to still work?

SPEAKER_04 54:19

No. It's still in your phone.

SPEAKER_03 54:25

I'm sure you have a lot.

SPEAKER_00 54:27

I mean, I don't know. I think Taylor Swift was like a fun one.

SPEAKER_04 54:31

Her number's probably changed a thousand times.

SPEAKER_03 54:32

Yeah, I'm sure her phone number changes once a month. Oh, call her, call her, call her.

SPEAKER_04 54:39

Yeah, when it goes green, you're like, oh, something's off.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

Um there was a while though, like we would like randomly hit each other and we have we would have just swapped towns or something.

SPEAKER_02 54:47

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 54:48

Um, but originally when she was in Nashville, yeah, and we had like worked together in the past, we kick it and stuff, and then there's a certain point where like there is no more number.

SPEAKER_03 54:58

Yeah. Absolutely. The fact that we just had the same never mind, same. Um the best advice your dad ever gave you.

SPEAKER_00 55:08

Protect your publishing.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

She mentioned really smart.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

Um yeah, I you know, I kind of put a really hard stance when we were doing our record deal and our management deals and attorney deals and whatever. And I was like, look, if you're not a publisher, you're definitely not getting it. Like, if you can't even do the job to use my publishing, you just want to own it for nothing. Like no.

SPEAKER_05 55:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:33

And as a little brat 24-year-old, 22-year-old, whatever it was, saying that I'm glad I did. Because they would have had it and I wouldn't have been able to do anything with it. But I said no, and then I got a publishing deal with like, you know, a great situation a year later.

SPEAKER_02 55:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

And they put me in rooms that I wrote other people's great songs, and like it was a big piece of my career that now I have can get back. I have half of, you know.

SPEAKER_04 56:01

I love that. Very good advice. Um, worst fashion trend from your era. And that I feel like has it changed much?

SPEAKER_00 56:11

Yeah, it's it's no. No, I feel like it's stayed the same since I was like four, but there's been like deviations.

SPEAKER_04 56:18

So like I mean, I always wore studded belts and and those and the bracelets. Oh, the belly. You know, where you like pop them and different color means different things. You either had sex or you made out with somebody.

SPEAKER_00 56:30

Like the rubber ones?

SPEAKER_03 56:31

The rubber ones? I would always wear those in my school. Oh, okay. So yeah, mine, mine would be like the big chunky belt in the middle of my rib cage. Oh, yeah, with my waist. Yeah, like over the shirt. Over like the baby doll shirts and literally just like wearing a very chunky belt right here. Yeah, and I'd be. I don't know. It's like we weren't cinching anything either. We were cinching my rib cage, not my waist. Way up here. I don't know what that was, but I hope it never comes back.

SPEAKER_00 56:59

No, like I think my cringiest was like there was some long, iced out era stuff with bad hair. Okay. I hadn't moved to LA yet and got my great hairstylist.

SPEAKER_03 57:12

Was it rosaries? Did you wear like rosaries? Yeah, because I did that like long-chained rosaries.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

It was like black diamond, covered like balls of a rosary.

SPEAKER_03 57:21

Yes, yes. I had that too. Well, not probably yours, but I had a knockoff of yours.

SPEAKER_00 57:25

And then, like, I think I was just like straight up always just in G stars, which G stars are great jeans, but you get the right ones and they could air out you.

SPEAKER_03 57:35

Yes, absolutely. All right, one more. Um was is yeah, okay. One thing fans would be shocked to learn about you.

SPEAKER_00 57:46

Man, I wish I was more mysterious. Um yeah, what would they be shocked to like I have no idea. No idea.

SPEAKER_03 57:56

Do a lot of does everyone know that like you're that you were friends with Prince's guitarist? Or is that windows open? I mean, I know everyone knows, like obviously your dad is stuff, but maybe I don't know. Maybe they don't know that story because that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 58:08

They don't know that story. Yeah. Uh I don't know. Maybe maybe like I was homeschooled the whole time, but like Oh see, homeschool kids can't be cool.

SPEAKER_04 58:18

Most of the time not, but sometimes the reason was a valid reason.

SPEAKER_00 58:21

Like I was going on a tour.

SPEAKER_04 58:22

You're touring exactly doing the coolest thing anybody could possibly do as a kid.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

If you lock your kids up to homeschool them, that is not good.

SPEAKER_04 58:29

Yeah, you were actually seeing the world in ways that adults haven't gotten to see the world.

SPEAKER_00 58:33

Right. Yeah, but um, maybe people don't know that.

unknown 58:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:36

Oh well, that's a great answer. Yeah. Um we are homeschooled jungle free. Homeschooled jungle freaking. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

You know?

SPEAKER_04 58:42

That'd be the name of your next album, Homeschool Jungle Freak.

SPEAKER_00 58:45

That is such a good album name. I'm not even joking.

SPEAKER_03 58:48

As long as you take us on tour to open for you guys, that's fine.

SPEAKER_00 58:52

When you hear my song You Make my Weenie Dance on Homeschool Jungle Freak, don't be surprised.

Where To Follow And Final Goodbye

SPEAKER_04 58:58

Nash, it's just so much fun. I'm so glad we finally got uh to catch up. Remind everybody where they can find you all the information about Hall Shell Ray and the tour coming up.

SPEAKER_00 59:05

Yeah, um, all over social media at Hot Shell Ray at Nash Overstreet. Um, Nash Up is my DJ name. We're doing the rest of Warp Tour. There's two more days left this year. We're on tour in a bunch of other places throughout the States and in Europe later this year. The album is coming very soon. We're about to know the drop date, so stay tuned in with socials for that.

SPEAKER_03 59:27

And if you're listening and suddenly have the urge to go listen to tonight tonight tonight for the first time in 10 years, you're welcome. You're so welcome. We're blasting away home. Yep, we sure are. And remember, you guys, the two ingredients that make the best tasting tea is milk and honeys. Thanks for watching. And we'll see you next week. Bye.