Chords On Fire Episode 3: Shrinestone

Host Tyson Allison has shoegaze band Shrinestone's lead singer Jason Zbichorski as guest for the third episode of Chords on Fire.  Shrinestone have been together for a year and a half but are already making a splash on the Milwaukee music scene with their unique blend of abstract lyrics, lush sound and catchy guitar hooks all manifesting on 2 EPs quickly released and available now.  Jason also has a long history of other bands with differing genres and he talks about his current songwriting philosophy while touching on how Shrinestone works as a band from musical idea to construction and fruition.  "It's not the "me" show...the focal point changes and everyone has an important part to play to complete the puzzle."  Tyson and Jason have a discussion about REM-like lyrics and how the meanings can vary from person to person, inspiration from different bands (many of which are from the 4AD label era) and where Jason's view lands on the current state of the music industry.  Of course the EQ questions have returned, where Jason talks about some of his favorite Milwaukee haunts and personal musical wishlists.  A lively, interesting discussion ranging from jazz to ambient to hiphop projects and Cocteau Twins, The Cure, Joy Division, David Foster Wallace, Chuck Klosterman and a surprising tie to Portishead round out this episode and an excellent performance of Shrinestone's song "Starboxing" complete this episode that you don't want to miss!  As always, you can also watch the filmed interview on the Chords on Fire Youtube channel!  Thank you for your support!

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:58

Hey, welcome back to Chords on Fire. This is episode three. And uh today, our guest is Jason. Spiforsky. That's close, that's good. Say it, say the real way.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Spihorsky.

SPEAKER_04 1:15

Spihorsky. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Yeah. I go by Jason Todd a lot for that reason, but as you've probably noticed, I put my real last name on the last record. So Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

Yep. Yep. As you should.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Yeah, well, you know, I'm trying to keep it sincere these days. So that's kind of the intention. Yeah. Beyond that. It's good. Yeah. For better or for worse. You know. No one can say the shit, but it's all good.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Uh Jason is the lead singer of the Milwaukee band Shrine Stone. And um happy to have you here. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here and doing this show.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah, me slash us.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:57

I'm Tyson Allison, your host, and we're here in uh Bayview again, Red Niggloo Black. And uh I do want to take a second to thank anyone and everyone that has watched or listened to the first two episodes. Um It was just a video cast on YouTube, and now it's a podcast as well. So thank you to the new listeners and uh the couple international listeners that have checked it out as well. Uh really appreciate it. Thank you. So uh Shrine Stone. Um just a quick history from my end. Uh somehow we wound up together on a bill at Bremen Cafe.

SPEAKER_07 2:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:50

And uh, you know, we didn't know you guys at all. I don't think you knew us. And uh but we had like a really cool show at Bremen.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah, it's great. I don't know how that happened, but yeah. It must have been through you, right? Had to have been.

SPEAKER_04 3:06

I think I think for that one you asked us to play somehow. Oh really? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

That makes sense too.

SPEAKER_04 3:13

I'm not sure how, but I'm glad it happened.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:17

Uh ever since then, uh my band Cassini Echoes has played with Shinestone, I don't know, four times now. Something like that, yeah. Yeah. And we've kind of become band friends.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Yeah, it feels good. It feels like uh like it it seems to make sense. Yeah, you know, like in a in a just feels natural.

SPEAKER_04 3:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

I think we we complimentary. Yeah, complimentary. We go well together on a bill. So uh and you guys are all great people and really really enjoyed getting to know you guys and and playing all those shows. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

May it continue.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

Yes. So how long have you guys been a band?

SPEAKER_01 4:00

Uh just for the viewers and the listeners, I'm gonna sometimes probably like ask this person who's off camera and off mic questions, but um that's Liz, the keyboard player and the piano player for Tron Stone, and it might defer my memory a little bit. So Liz, is it is it two years?

SPEAKER_03 4:20

So we remember 2024.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

2024, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

First rehearsal.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Right. So yeah, we're about a year and a half into it, something like that.

SPEAKER_07 4:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

We rehearsed a bunch, obviously, before we played any shows, and then tried to figure out who we needed to add to the band, and that's where we got branded from, and but it's it's uh it's pretty new in the scheme of things.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

That is really new.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Feels like a long time though. I don't know why. I don't know why. We've recorded a lot and played a bunch of shows and gotten to know each other, so yeah, it's been a year and a half, but it's been a really probably a a good way to say it is a rich year and a half.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

Yeah. You know I I would agree with that. It seems like a lot's happened in a year and a half for you guys.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

Some pretty cool shows.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

And you guys have put out one vinyl, two EPs, but but only one uh has been pressed. Yeah, the second one wasn't hasn't been. Uh it and it's of course uh just a shortage of money, you know. Yeah, yeah. No, I get that. Because you know, it's independently done and stuff. I I really want to and hopefully will. Um, but uh we gotta sell some more of the first one.

SPEAKER_04 5:40

I know. So do we.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

Well still, yeah. One vinyl in a year and a half is impressive.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Yeah, I wanted to start with the bang, you know. Yeah. Have a thing.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

So and yeah, and it sounds really good. Where did you guys record that?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Uh I just recorded it at the at our space. Um at uh the Ladybug Club downtown Milwaukee. It's all pieced together. It's super um uh lo-fi DIY style. Um just setting up a mic here and there and and capturing things and going from there. So it's but it's a process that I'm comfortable with and it costs no money, and uh I can spend as much time as I want, you know, on it. And the musicians are really great, everybody in the band, you know, we we kind of like learn a song and record it. That's kind of like our process is to like I'll like I'll post demos, everyone will hear the demos or not, if you're the drummer, uh Ted. And then and then uh we'll learn the song and then record it that night. So it's kind of unorthodox, I guess. Yeah, but like we just rehearse it to the point where everyone kinda knows it and is comfortable, and then record like multi-track it all right then.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

Yeah. So do you guys do it live altogether, or is it overdubs?

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, it's it's overdubs, and uh generally it's Ted plays to the demo with the click with the drums muted, and then we just build out everything from there.

SPEAKER_07 7:18

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

And uh and then it just ends up being whatever it turns out to be. Yeah. So yeah. But it's uh it's all clicked, you know.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

Okay. And you're like the mastermind behind it, do you handle the recordings?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

I do all the dirty work, yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mix it and and track it and everything.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Yeah. Cool.

SPEAKER_04 7:39

So I think it sounds really good. So we're doing a good job, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Kind of sit in a camp of like somewhere between lo-fi and and then doing things properly on the back end. But um I I kinda like I said, I just I'm comfortable with the way that I've been working, and it seems to work out to everyone's advantage.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

And it is tough and it's hard.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Yeah. And yeah, no, but but it it yeah, that's you do you you gotta find it one way or the other. And and I think the reason that I like doing it the way that we're doing it is just because it like it's almost like a it's almost like a jazz method in a way, where you're kind of just learning the song in the studio and then recording your impression of it.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

Yeah, you know. It's very fresh.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

But having the ability to like then overdub after the fact.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

Um so year and a half, who I assume you started the band? Like, how did how did all these people come together?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Liz started the band. Uh, she we were at the wiggle room one night and uh she was like, uh, I I don't know, maybe I should be in a band. And I was like, okay, I'll start a band. Um and then so yeah, we should we started Shrine still. That was it.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

And everyone else, did were they already friends of you guys?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Or yeah, well, uh it started off with four of us. Um and Sam is a close friend and and colleague of mine in my day job and stuff. Um, and we've done tons of recording and projects together, and he's usually a guitar player and a vocalist, and I like asked him if he wanted to play bass in a band, and he's like, of course, sure, yeah, totally. And so, like, yeah, we got it. We got him rolling on bass. Ted is a person I've been in multiple bands with over the years, the drummer. Um, and uh I felt like Ted has a lot going on. He he works for the art museum, he has two kids, um, he's like a full-time family dude, um, art museum gig dude. And I was like, hey Ted, uh can you come and like record drums on this one song? And and so we had him in and did the thing and and recorded him, and I was like, I gotta find a way to trick Ted into being in this band. So I just kept coming back to asking him to record on this next song, and then like he he you know enjoyed it and and kind of co-signed it to the point where like he wanted to do it and he was feeling good about it and like what we were doing, so yeah, you know, and Brandon's also a person I've worked with like a lot over the years, but it's been in like electronic music world, and uh so my top of mind with Brandon is that he's a producer, uh beat producer. Okay, and but he's a great guitar player, and Sam one day was like, Oh, we should just get Brandon. I was like, Brandon? Oh yeah, of course. So like asked him to do the thing and and he said yes, and he's been super into it. As you know, he's just buying guitars left and right now, and yeah. He's but he's the he's the piece of the puzzle that we really needed to like make it cool.

SPEAKER_04 11:03

It's it's all working. I mean you guys are you know, kind of a a big band, or if you don't think it's a big band, it's a pretty big sound. And yeah, that's the idea.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

Like how does what's the writing process like? Like how does how does it begin from somebody's nugget and then go to how big it ends up being?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

I mean I write all the the demos, so the song structures and the ideas for the songs are kind of there. And I feel like I have a I I I tend to think like a producer just because I've been probably spending most of my time over the last 30 years doing that aspect of things. So I kind of am thinking about the sound of the song and what uh what are we gonna need to accomplish that. So the band's kind of like structured around like a s like a con a conceptual sound idea of sounding large, how do we make it sound that way, how do we sort of are uh become able to do that live. Um but uh yeah, everything is kind of already tracked with a lot of reverb and a lot of layers and um just ideas of like putting things in places in the stereo field and stuff like that. Um so it I think like I kind of write from a sound rather than like um I don't know how you'd say it, not like a traditional like singer-songwriter, like songwriter type person, you know. It's more of like kinda hear the song already, and then it needs to be like performed by people who can like execute the actual shit that needs to be going down. Yeah, you know, from like Liz playing piano, Ted playing drums, Brandon actually playing the melodies that I kind of clunkily put on the demo, like and like fleshing them out into really organic things with lots of ornamentation and stuff like that. Like so it becomes more um more human and and more detailed because everyone is adding those details in, you know. Yeah. So I kind of have a big sounding demo that becomes bigger with the execution of all the parts and okay. Things that gets added, you know.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:25

It is it is um a little bit unique to me. I mean, that's that's kind of what I was getting at, was like, how does how does this start and then how does it get here? Yeah, because I'm totally like uh like singer-songwriter kind of person where it's like Yeah, I gotta have my I gotta have my part and my lyrics in place, but then I think I transition to where you begin from. Where I can hear, I just start to hear like I need this, this, this, and this.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah, the music comes for it's really like I choose a it's like a uh a tempo and a drum beat, and then maybe a guitar melody and a bass line. And like it starts kind of at that point. Lyrics come kind of last. We've recorded whole things that I didn't have lyrics for yet, like solidified, so like it's kind of um I kind of have a rule with Shrine Stone that I try really hard to only be singing 50% of the time duration of the song, and and I try to like adhere to that as much as I can. Sometimes a song like has to do its own thing, obviously. But yeah, so like that's kind of the concept behind Shrine Stone is that like the the hook is actually the guitar melodies. There's like not vocal hooks in like half the songs, I feel like, you know, it's like these guitar melodies that are hopefully beautiful and and uplifting and inspiring and stuff, and that's kind of where like that's the center of gravity of of the songs is those melodies.

SPEAKER_04 15:05

Okay. Yeah. So so you're okay with like uh showing a song to the band and like you don't even have lyrics yet.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Yeah, I think that's happened once or twice.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah. Like, or the lyrics, yeah. There might be like vocals on the demo that that are just like lame or whatever. But like but it's it's like I'm gonna, you know, I'll finish it or whatever, but like the vibe is there.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

It's so it's like the demos are the vibe.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

And then I'll often, even if I have lyrics or or vocal melodies, like they're usually overwrought or like there's too much singing or or something, and I'll like edit them later and re I'll I'll re-record vocals like three or four times on these songs so that like I'm I'm paring them down to just the essence of what needs to be there. I feel like the editing process is like important to me and important to the sound of the band, you know. Yeah. Just getting myself out of the way.

SPEAKER_04 16:13

Okay. You know, I don't know if that makes sense, but like No, it's it makes sense, and it's actually like while you're talking about this, I'm like thinking about your songs and your music and the live performance of the band. And it's like now I'm like starting to see everything you're saying is true. It's like yeah, you do only kind of have like 50% vocals and and and uh I want to get into the lyric part a little more later.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Um Yeah, I d yeah, it's not to say that I don't that they're not important to me. I just like um want I want it to be like I want it to feel like it's not like the me show. You know, it's it's uh it's it feels really good when there's I love melodies and and I love writing them and that's kind of like the everything about music to me, is like the melodies they really need to be like solid and executed well and and uh doesn't need to be vocals, you know, doing those things. Sometimes like vocals take away from melodies like because it has to be lyrically driven or something like that. So I don't know, that's that's the way I look at it.

SPEAKER_04 17:26

Okay, yeah, that's that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 17:29

That's kind of a fresh perspective. And do you guys ever just jam together and come up with something?

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Not ever. No, never.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

That's kind of me too. Like I'm trying to get into that world, just taking like little baby steps into let's just play something and see what happens. Or like I just have an idea.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Right.

SPEAKER_04 17:57

And like let's mess around with this for yeah ten minutes or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

But for the most part, I usually don't even show a song to the band until like I've got the chord structure, I've got the lyrics, I know what I'm gonna sing.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:16

And then we start from there.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

It's composed already, it sounds like that. I I I feel like um I feel like you can get things out of like the jam method, but then I think you still have to take those things back into okay, well, you know, how are we gonna structure this? How are we gonna use this part? You might get a good part out of it.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

And and actually there's like some sort of virtual jamming that we've done where Brandon like will just put up a bunch of like loops that he made, um, like that he produced drums and all, guitars, drums, like synths, like these these loops, uh, and he'll just shoot me a folder of them on Dropbox or something like that. And and so far one song that's that we've recorded that's coming out is is based on like one of those things. But then I so I take that part and I'll even like ask them just get rid of the drums, just give me the like the the like whatever guitar loop you created with the all of the effects and everything, and then I'll base the whole song on that, and then I'll write choruses and pre-choruses around it, and then it'll become like it it became a band song.

SPEAKER_04 19:31

So you guys I would say often get lumped into the shoe gaze category. Yeah. Are you are you okay with that? Or do you disagree?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I feel like I I self-identified for like the first year that way because I I felt like um I needed to be disciplined about what we were doing and kind of keep it in a zone, you know. Um and and you somehow have to communicate your sound to people, and and I I feel like I do I do sort of pull most of the influences still like sort of from a certain whatever my idea of shoe gaze is, kind of pulling from that template or that sound palette or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

Okay. What are your influences? Like where do you what do you draw from? Like when I listen to you guys, like sometimes I hear a little bit of like Joy Division.

SPEAKER_07 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

Um, sometimes sometimes Gary Newman a little bit. Yeah. And then uh your your song titles and again lyrically, which I do want to hit on while we're talking, is like I think of REM sometimes. Oh wow. Uh not necessarily sound or anything, but this other factor happened.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

I feel like REM was important to me um in the in the in the middle of the 80s when they sort of like the first few records maybe.

SPEAKER_04 21:10

Uh I should say old REM. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Fables of the Reconstruction was a cassette that I like wore out absolutely. Yeah. Um that it it just had a um it just had an abstraction about it um and a and an understatedness about it. Like it's definitely pre uh document.

SPEAKER_07 21:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Document I listen to a lot, but like pre that. I mean my favorite band of all time is Cocteau's Winds. So that's like a big yeah, sort of a big motivator of like guitar melodies being important and like big sounds being important and song titles lyrics being sort of vague or whatever, or not related to the hook or something like that. Um so yeah, that's Huge thing. Dry Division New Order were huge things for me. Um the first five cure albums were big things for me. Uh all of that stuff. Yeah. Slow Dive.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Huge for me. Sure. The big chunky slow songs or slow dive songs, like slow dive influence songs. Um Pixies, Breeders, like if you go into the nineties, it's like stuff like that, you know. Uh always like a 4AD head. Um and Pixies and Breeders were on that. So it was kind of like if 4AD was co-signing it, I was kinda into it. You know, at least in that era.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Um Ride is a huge, huge influence for me. Just in their kind of like it feels like a spiritual uplifting uh sound a lot of the time with ride, like like really great melodies again, and uh not so focused on like vocal sound um or like a like a there's not like an ego in the center of the band so much. Uh which which is a thing that I really like in my old age love is just kind of a like spreading spreading attention out over a band.

SPEAKER_02 23:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

And over the like uh the real-timeness of a song.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Not have it always be driven by like one focal point the whole time, which is like modern pop music is is only that. Right. You know. Oh, you're right, yeah, totally. I like having pillars that you can rely on.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

That really makes sense. Yeah. I mean, thinking about how you guys play live and everything. I mean, it's like everyone's everyone's got important parts. Right. And I think everyone everyone stands out at the same time. You know?

SPEAKER_07 23:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

I mean, you can pinpoint like what Liz is playing on keyboards, and there's a lot of times, like, I feel like the song hasn't truly started until Sam comes in. You know? Yeah. And it's like, you know, he lays down the first bass note and it's like Bass drop. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

We do use that a lot. Or pull it out in the middle in the middle of a song, like suck all the energy out of it, and then he comes back in and it like you know, it rejuvenates the energy. Yeah, that's probably coming from hip hop world, you know.

SPEAKER_04 24:31

Oh, that's that's really cool. I mean, it's like a sign of, you know, I mean, you guys are a band. You know, it's not just like one one person like leading the charge or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

It's yeah, it's like the focal point moves through a song.

SPEAKER_04 24:48

Everybody's important, everybody's got parts to play.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Balance. It's all about balance.

SPEAKER_04 24:54

Yeah. I think there is balance in there in your songs and your music, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Yeah, trying to find it.

SPEAKER_04 25:01

Yeah. In a way, you've kind of answered some of my other thoughts I had, but uh I did want to get into uh the lyrical aspect of Shrine Stone. Um like I said, I'm kind of like singer-songwriter guy. I love I love lyrics. You write great lyrics. Like, oh thank you.

SPEAKER_07 25:24

Huge fan, huge fan, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:27

I really get into lyrics, you know, a lot of my influences and heroes are they're just like really great song crafters, you know. Um so what I what I was really getting into with Shrine Stone and your lyrics are, you know, I feel like there's definitely like a poetry aspect going on, and and you've already said a few minutes ago that um they're vague or don't necessarily have to match up with what you know, whatever's going on sonically. And you know, like I said, that was kind of more more the angle I was taken with the REM thing. Especially old REM. Yeah. Early REM. Where you know, everyone talks about like Michael Stipes lyrics being Can't even understand what they are. Don't know what they are half the time. Yeah, it's all a mystery, yeah. It's very cryptic. Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Um Yeah, I keep it, I keep it low in the mix. Um Right, right. Uh and and that's that's just straight up like Cocteau Twins influence. I mean, yeah. There's just like not a lot to chew on there as far as like knowing what's going on in the first kind of whole half of of her thing. Um and I really like loved it so much uh that that was it it almost was like completely instrumental music for me growing up like with a vocalist somehow. But you there was not like a there was no narrative, you know. And a lot of the lyrics that I write are uh I rely a lot on kind of bibliomancy for inspiration and stuff like that, like keeping certain books around me so that like I can start, like I can go and just like like look at phrases, things that jump out, I will like use that um and write off of those things, or if I'm like becoming too literal or becoming too like narrative-y, um, you know, I'll I'll pull out the James Joyce or or like certain aspects of David Foster Wallace. Um like I keep infinite just all of the time next to me when I'm writing lyrics, just to I know you're I know you're ahead, I don't know as much as you do, but like I it's almost like a lyric Bible for me that I just kind of keep around. Wow for like um especially like song titles. A lot of the song titles come first because I have to save the file, right? So like the song title it becomes the file name, and then and I'll I'll be I'll be pulling from those sources, you know. Yeah. And uh but but like trying to have things in the lyrics that uh I think the whole point of doing that process is like whatever's in your heart or in your mind or your spirit or something like that, like it's jumping off the page for a reason.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

And like everything else on the page is is not jumping out at you. So like, sure, okay, well, your mind wants to like lock into like a phrase or a sentence or something like that, and so yeah, I'll pull that, and then that'll become like a starting point for like a verse or something like that. And that way I'm sort of like externalizing like lyric writing all of the time and and basing it on like things that I like trust, you know. Okay, or like like it's just a a thing to it it's it's kind of an abstract impressionism version of lyricism, I I feel like. Yeah. Not to be too pretentious or something, but no, no, no, that's cool. It's it's more about like um or maybe it's sampling or something like that, like uh just okay, this is this is interesting and it fits how I'm feeling and how this song sounds, and I could probably sing it and it won't sound awkward, so like let's base a thing on that and and that's kind of the process, yeah. Okay, and and trying to keep lyrics to a minimum kind of also. But uh but yeah, like so so I do a lot of that, like trying to like connect with certain books and connect with certain authors through the music.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Um even if in a it's a superficial kind of way, you know. Yeah, it's not like conceptually based on those books, it's just literally like words grabbing stuff there, yeah, that I find interesting.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

Well, it warms my heart that you're a David Foster Wallace fan, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Yeah, I still have a long way to go, but yeah, I know that you did uh um you did a whole instrumental album with Aaron Kerr about about an author.

SPEAKER_04 30:30

Like that's that was crazy. Yeah. That was some years of my life working on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

That the Hal and Condenza uh track is is really like appropriate. I I was like, oh yeah, I'm feeling that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_04 30:47

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was interesting. That was a crazy experience that I'm really happy we did. Yeah, you know, yeah. That was totally one of those things where it was um, you know, how they say, like, if you want something in the world that's not there, then make it. Yes. That's what that was.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Right. Right. It's fantastic. Thank you. I listened to the whole thing today before this. Because I found it. I was like, oh man, he did this too. That's that's wild. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, it's a great record.

SPEAKER_04 31:24

Uh thank you. Yeah. Um that's that's funny you mentioned the song titles, uh, because I actually I wrote that down when I was, you know, just thinking about things to talk about with you. Yeah. Was uh the song titles are one of the things that reminded me of of REM. Well, you know, with like Wolves Lower. You know, things like that, stuff in parentheses. Yes. And things that you would you could look at on the back of a CD or a record or whatever, and just be like, Who the fuck knows? Man, what is this? This song can be about anything. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:02

What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:03

I mean it's I guess we better listen to it to find out.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yeah, it's kind of a modern painting way of titling things, I feel like. Um, you know, without just untitled numbering things. Like I, you know, again, it's like a I I feel like it's a pure function of having to name a demo file without having a lyrical idea first, yeah. And and wanting to name it something that'll stick and it'll be the word or the sentence for that song, no matter what I write to it. And I like not having the titles connected to the lyrics anyway. Um, so I feel like that's a very valid reason for doing it that way. Sure. Because you gotta name it something, and I just I'd rather get that part over with, get the title over with first. Work from a title, that's kind of like a thing that some artists do, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 32:59

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

It's sometimes a really valuable thing to do, and and it can sort of almost like direct you in and of itself, like, oh well, this is the title. This is what I'm working it like it already feels done, even if it's not done, because it's titled. Yeah, you know, and so yeah, it's very uh motivating.

SPEAKER_04 33:17

Yeah. I mean, I'm big fan of Tom Waits. Yeah, he's right behind you. Yep. Oh yeah, there you go. And like I remember, you know, seeing the album Bone Machine, and it's just like, what the hell is that? What's a bone machine? Right. I gotta check this out.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Probably New York City at that time.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Yeah. Like, I gotta check that out. Yeah, you know, and then it becomes like one of my favorite Tom Waits albums. Yeah, for sure. Um, so I want to ask you a couple specific things about just a couple lyrics. Um from uh what is it, 20 Points Golden Age?

SPEAKER_01 34:07

Oh yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

What's what's a Malomir?

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Oh Malomir is a fictional place that I made up probably under the inspiration of Infinite Jest again because there's a lot of fictional places that that are sort of like referencing. It's it's it just feels like um like sort of the name of a maybe maybe an English countryside town or something like that. That doesn't exist. Okay. Um but it something that was like just sounded right to sing there at the time in that song. That's cool. And actually half of the lyrics, the ver all the verses of that song are uh lifted from a Beach Fossil song called Golden Age. So the 20 Points part is my chorus and the Golden Age part is his verses, but they're not they don't use the melody or any of the other material, it's only the lyrics that were placeholder lyrics that I never got rid of. So Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

All that you know, all that's really interesting. I mean, you know, like that's what it is for you. Yeah. And then like just me not knowing anything and just seeing it, like the first things that my brain jumps to, first of all, is like the golden age is one of my favorite Beck songs. Oh yeah. You know, so it's like that jumps into my head. Yeah. And then like the Mallomere thing is, you know, I I think of a marshmallow.

SPEAKER_07 35:45

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_04 35:46

Uh or there's like some candy that has mallow in it. I can't think of what it is right now.

SPEAKER_07 35:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:54

But mallow. I don't know, I don't know. Yeah, no, I know it's on the tip of my tongue what it what you're thinking of. There's a there's a candy bar, candy kind of thing that has mallow in it.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 36:05

And those are the things I think of. Yeah. And they're and they're like totally not what you know like what it is, you know, and that's that's that's all like the beauty of all this. Yeah. You're two EPs. Uh just wanted to ask about the titles. What Kismet and Blank. What does that mean? What's that about?

SPEAKER_01 36:31

Um That was that's a song so that's a s that's a second song on it. That's a song title um that is just derived from having to like name a song, naming the song first. Uh it's a very uh Cocteau twins-esque title, I feel like. Um they had a lot of like this and that titles, which I found interesting. And um yeah, no, there was no there's no real I mean I guess if you really wanted to dig into it, like Kismet is is obviously uh uh a chance coming together of good things and and a blank is a blank canvas and but I'd hate to like literalize it too much. It's just uh it just rolls off the tongue and that was the title.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

And the other one is uh Zed and Done, right? Another and Z, yeah, it's Z and D. Or Z E P, which is from the song Z and Done. Um which is just a stupid pun on Zed and Done. With uh zero at the front of it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:47

Okay. Which is another weird, you know, mind jump for me. Uh you don't hear the word or name Zed very often. And the only thing I can attach it to is pulp fiction. Right. And it's like Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Yeah. And I think of it as being how how the English say zero.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

So zero and done was s was like an interesting, interesting concept to me. Like nothing and then we're done. And it's the first DP. I don't know. It just was like accomplishing a thing that either like maybe meant nothing to anybody, you know?

SPEAKER_07 38:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

But uh yeah, just another song title.

SPEAKER_04 38:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

I got a million of 'em.

SPEAKER_04 38:44

I take it. I mean, they keep me intrigued. Yeah, yeah. You know? Thanks. Um, if I may, I want to just kind of present an example of your lyrics here. And so this like whole thing like just popped out to me. This is from the song 13thly.

SPEAKER_07 39:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:12

Which even that, the song title, you know, is like, what does 13thly mean? You know? I mean the the number 13 has a lot of things. My birthday's the thirteen. Okay. So let me read this here.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 39:28

Alright. Thirteenthly. Alright. Here's a drop of water. From the sunset on a grain of gravity. Search out empty years in Milwaukee. Tilting to infinity. Coast to Cobra, Shadow Sound. Scripted, living, lifted, fortifying from the bomb boats of the million boys who drifted. We're just about there. Beam down everywhere. We're just about there. Souls in the stale air.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

That sounds pretty good with you reading it, Ham.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

I mean, what is What's going on there? I mean, this is to me, this is fascinating. There's a lot to unpack in those two paragraphs.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Do you really want to know? That's why I'm asking. You remember that boat that was staring at the beach? I do? Yeah, it's about that. Really? Yeah. Holy shit. It just is an idea of uh. I mean, there's a lot in there that has nothing to do with that, but like the water theme, the boats of millionaires, um, uh The Sunset, Empty Years in Milwaukee. I guess such a I don't know. Like I went down there two or three times. I think Liz was down there for the removal of it. Um it was a huge uh huge event. Uh my friend Max was down there for the removal of it. I was working, otherwise I would have been there. Just the just the stranding of it. Did you go down there?

SPEAKER_04 41:19

I didn't go down there, but I followed Milwaukee Record was doing a lot of you know posts about it. Like every time I looked at it, there was like there was more graffiti. Right. It was, you know.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

It was beautiful. Yeah, it was one of the most beautiful things that ever happened in this town uh was that. And and the it was almost like an art installation that had more meaning than any art installation that I've ever seen, and it wasn't an intentional art installation.

SPEAKER_07 41:47

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

And me and my daughter climbed up in it, and it was like, you know, it was all fucked up on the inside, graffiti, the graffiti changed. There was like taggers that I had been following that like eventually got on there, and and then one day it was gone. Um, but yeah, that whole first part of that song is kind of just like a sort of uh cultural synopsis with I don't know, whatever goes through my brain filter of just kind of like uh you think you have a plan in life, these those people that owned the boat, and it seemed like they really were like psyched or or something and then lost it all, and it just washed up on the shore, and they were getting fined thousands of dollars a day for it, and it became this whole like cultural phenomenon, which was almost better than I mean, I f you know, I don't know. I don't know if I should feel f feel bad for them or not, or anything, but like the thing that happened was so unintentional and so beautiful that like it kind of captured a whole section of my brain for a while, and I think a lot of people's, yeah. Yeah, so yeah, that's kind of just like crystallizing that event um in my mind.

SPEAKER_04 43:05

I mean, I never I never would have thought of that.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

It's like again, it's super vague and abstract, but it's like pulling just pulling ideas, yeah, you know. Um yeah, that's kind of really the main inspiration for that.

SPEAKER_07 43:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:20

I think the second verse is not about that at all. Um I think I wrote that thing in like two parts over different periods of time, but but yeah, um that's kind of what that was.

SPEAKER_04 43:34

So that I mean that's amazing. Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm talking about. I never would have thought of that. Trying to write about what is that about?

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Yeah, just trying to write about different shit, man.

SPEAKER_04 43:46

You know, like I'm always trying to you know crack these codes, you know, and like Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

That's cool that you asked about that.

SPEAKER_04 43:54

I mean that's kinda that's kind of what a lot of this, you know, I was I'm like reading through your lyrics and everything. Thing and uh uh again like cryptic, you know, very open to her interpretation, yeah, and like this song can mean this for me, but right, right, obviously completely different, yeah, you know, something for you, like where it came from and what it's about, yeah. And um, you know, there's always that age-old question of like, do you even want to know that? Like you said, do you really want to know?

SPEAKER_01 44:30

Yeah, because I feel like the ex explanation sometimes It's like not that this is a bad analogy, but getting to know your heroes is a bad idea, and sometimes getting to know the meaning of something that that is vague is also a bad idea, but But sometimes it's good, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

Oh that I mean that's really cool to me.

SPEAKER_01 44:53

I'm glad that you know what it was, like you have a reference point for it, yeah. You paid attention to that thing.

SPEAKER_04 44:59

I mean, I followed that whole, you know.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

It's heartbreaking and hilarious and interesting, and the the fact that it was such a uh Herculean task to even get it out of there and it took so long.

SPEAKER_04 45:12

I mean, I can't believe it took as long as it did. I can't believe it for so long.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

Yeah, better part of a year, right? Overwinter. It got iced in and everything.

SPEAKER_04 45:22

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

Crazy.

SPEAKER_04 45:24

Yeah, it kind of became I don't know if you follow like Milwaukee records stuff, but I do, I do. But you know, you know, so you know about I know Tyler pretty well. Okay, yeah. Yeah, Tyler Moss. Yeah. So you know about the uh the spot where they have the snow.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Yeah, the PAC.

SPEAKER_04 45:40

The snow mound. That's what that boat became. Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

It was like how long is this gonna be here? It was one of those things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was so happy that they latched onto it and they were like into it. Yeah. Fuck, it was so good.

SPEAKER_04 45:56

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

I wish it was still there.

SPEAKER_04 46:00

I have a couple like weird questions for you.

SPEAKER_07 46:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:04

Um is I've noticed at all the live shows that we've played together, you always use an SM57. Yeah. Um is there a reason for that?

SPEAKER_01 46:24

There is a reason for that. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:26

What is that?

SPEAKER_01 46:27

I feel like I have I always struggle um with a vocal sound. Like always. And I one of one of my biggest struggles is the fact that like I can't find a simple way to give to like whether there's a PA or a sound guy or not, in the case of like Bremen or Last Rights or something like that, um, to to kind of give them a pre-prepped signal. Like I have my effects, you know, reverbs and delays and stuff on a unit, but there's no EQ in that box.

SPEAKER_02 47:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

And um so for me to and and they don't I feel like there isn't really an easy way to have a vocal EQ. So the easiest way for me to do it is to use a mic that at least sort of reflects that sound a little bit. And I used 58s for years. I own a bunch of them, but like singing in this band, I really needed like a low roll-off on my voice because it kind of is muddy, like naturally. Sure. And the 57 kind of takes that out a little bit. So uh, but yeah, it's it's mainly for the EQ of it, it just uh it handles my voice a little better, makes it a little less offensive. Okay. Uh and I'm always trying to make it less offensive, so it's I just feel feel more comfortable um all of the time, 100% of the time, the 57 feels better for me. Okay. Maybe I have a guitar-like voice or something, who knows? But it's like, yeah, it works out, you know.

SPEAKER_04 48:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

Easy solution.

SPEAKER_04 48:11

So an aspect of your band of Shrine Stone that I like, and again, just something I noticed at the shows and whatnot, is you've got uh some pre-recorded snippets that are in between songs or start-off songs or whatever. Yeah. What what is that stuff? Like, where is that from? Why is it there?

SPEAKER_01 48:39

I always like to have intros and outros, uh, just to kind of set the tone. Kind of like gets and we rehearse with the intros and the outros, and it kind of gets everyone in the band's muscle memory, like on board, like, okay, this is about to start, you know. Um and then there's like a few maybe a few things that are just kind of ambient. That I don't even know if we've used yet, but we will be, uh, where it's just like an ambient thing you're at the beginning or an end of a song. The easiest way to like kind of duplicate it is to just have that sampled and and and play it. Right? So like but yeah, there's two songs that start with these drum intros. One is 13thly, one is dust up. Dust Up is actually like Ted drumming from the recording through effects, and then I just put that on the sampler and play it, and it starts it just like the other songs. Um it's uh you know, an alternative to just cutting it off or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:43

But uh yeah, I like those textual things in the set that kind of just breaks it up a little bit. I like the intros and outros. Um the outro is usually just like a dentine commercial or something like that, or you know, the intro is the Heaven's Gate guy. I really gotta like make some new ones. But yeah. And it actually that whole Heaven's Gate intro is is a uh excerpt from an ambient record that I made under the name Soft Surveillance. That that's like a longer piece, but like it's just this excerpt of that that uh I thought it was amusing to start the set with being in a cult or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean not to not to laugh at death or or people's misfortunes or anything, but yeah, we live in the world we live in.

SPEAKER_04 50:31

So yeah. I was looking at the thank yous on on your EP. I'm gonna have to review that. And I was wondering why you thanked Chuck Klosterman.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

Oh, one of my favorite authors. I just like he's probably my like David Foster Wallace is to you, Chuck Klosterman is to me. Uh like definitely read all of his stuff over the years. Yeah. Um yeah, for better or for worse, just captures a certain like uh like uh Gen X kind of soul in the books that like I really identify with kind of in the way of um the sort of multi-level cultural references and stuff like that, where it's you're not kind of tethered to you're not like moored to one thing in your life. Like there's all of these uh kind of uh different forces that kind of philosophically bombard you all the time, and and I kind of f I feel like that. But I like putting I like putting authors in the thank yous because it's important and it's important to me and uh it makes it bigger than just a pop record or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 51:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

In a way, you know. If you catch me on the right day, my favorite movie is Slacker.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:01

Um Slackers, yeah. Dude's first movie.

SPEAKER_04 52:05

Uh Richard Link Later.

SPEAKER_01 52:07

Yeah, Link Later, yeah. Yeah, um, and I I watch it at least once a month, and it just kind of uh it's kind of like a kind of like a Chuck Clostroom book in a movie or something like that. Like in the way that it's it's uh it's culture references come from everywhere, there's no phones, it's like of the time. It was a life that I was living in like that period of time, like where one of the one of the funniest things about it is um some dude's leaving the apartment and and some his roommate asks him what he's gonna do, and he's like, Oh, I got band rehearsal in four or five hours, so I figured I'd just like walk down there now and and uh you know whatever he says, but it's like like that kind of whole like life of like you're not really distracted by anything, like, and you don't have anything going on, so you're just gonna make your way to the next thing you have going on, and whatever happens in that four or five hours is just gonna happen. Yeah, yeah. Um it's kind of beautiful. I definitely like spent a lot of years living like that, you know. And uh I love that movie. It's beautiful, yeah. Yeah, it's yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:24

Are you are you from Wisconsin?

SPEAKER_01 53:26

Yeah, for the most part. I am I I did all my schooling here. So yeah. Okay. Yeah. I was born in Los Angeles, but my family moved back when I was five or six.

SPEAKER_02 53:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:36

So I did all my shit here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

Yeah, Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

West Dallas, Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_02 53:44

Sure. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:47

So so you've kind of referenced here and there like things you were doing before Shrine Stone. Like what fill me in on that. Like what what did what did you have going on? Like other bands? Solo things, electronica.

SPEAKER_01 54:06

There's a lot of there's a lot of stuff. Um probably like too much to talk about. But the big I guess the big ones are like Def Harmonic. Def Harmonic was a hip hop band that I had with uh friend of mine, Leah, and we were operational for probably like 1999 until maybe 2000. We s we still do reunion shows every five years for the record label that we used to be on. But like 99 to maybe 2015, 16, 17, so probably 2015. So a long time. Okay. Um that was a huge huge part of life was uh was doing that. And uh that started after I moved back from San Francisco. I lived in San Francisco from 96 to like 99, 8, 9, 99. I was there for three years during the Enron era. Okay, and the Barry Bonds era. Yeah. Um and and I was playing jazz before that. In the 90s, I was just playing jazz. Um I was a saxophone player. I went to s music school at UWM um for three years.

SPEAKER_02 55:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:24

And I had a development deal from Domino Records, and that fell apart, but I went to the UK a few times and like supported that a little bit and tried to see what was going on.

SPEAKER_02 55:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

They weren't really into me over there, so that was fine, you know.

SPEAKER_04 55:40

I mean, that's it really interesting to me that you know you're doing jazz and you play saxophone, and then you've got this like hip-hop bent to you. Um I remember the whole, you know, not long ago you did the Wu-Tang Portis Head.

SPEAKER_01 55:57

Oh, right, yeah thing.

SPEAKER_04 55:58

Exactly. It's like, oh shit. Yeah. Like I I fucking love Portis Head.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:04

And uh and my wife loves Wu Tang.

SPEAKER_01 56:08

Yeah, you know, and it was just like it's yeah, it's one of those things.

SPEAKER_04 56:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Like it's something that I like it was conceptually in the back of my mind for a long time and finally like kind of had the technology to actually execute it. So um so did it. Yeah. And actually Porta said, like, it's it's weird because um one of the sort of in the hip hop days, like 2004, 5, 6, um I became friends and collaborators with a guy in Bristol in the UK, and we made some like a few like 12 inches and 45s and stuff like that. We ended up going over there um to play a festival with them, and our rehearsal space was the Portisette studio.

SPEAKER_04 56:59

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

Because he was friends with Jeff Barrett.

SPEAKER_04 57:02

With Jeff, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:03

Yeah. And uh so that from Portiside kind of a couple weeks was like us rehearsing in the port, and it was while they were recording three.

SPEAKER_02 57:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 57:14

Um, so their like setups were in there, like, don't touch anything on these instruments because like they like had all their shit going on uh in process. And we were just yeah, we were in like a side room rehearsing this shit, and then um uh played shows and toured England a little bit and and played the festival, and one of those nights um was just because we were there and they had to like uh our friend Ben had to do this function, um brought us to like a birthday party for one of the creators of Wallace and Gromit. And Jeff Barrow was one of the people at the dinner, and I was like, so it was like 20 people at this restaurant celebrating this person's birthday, and like and then us like us people for a couple people from Milwaukee, three of us from Milwaukee. Milwaukee, just like not that I ever knew any of them, or I I got them s shake Jeff's hand, that was it. Yeah, but like being in their creative space, and that's wild. Like there's some dudes in a band too, yeah. Kind of like this, right?

SPEAKER_04 58:23

Oh man, on that note, I think it's it's time to go to the EQ.

SPEAKER_01 58:29

Yeah, let's go to the EQ.

SPEAKER_03 58:30

Let's go to the EQ. Can't wait. Hopefully, I remember all my answers. The everybody questions. Alright. Alright. Uh so you've you've seen the other episodes, so you know what this is about.

SPEAKER_01 58:49

I remember some of them, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:50

Okay, yeah. The ten questions for everybody, all the same questions. Yeah. Uh and we'll see we'll see where it goes.

SPEAKER_03 59:00

Uh what's your favorite Milwaukee venue to play? Right.

SPEAKER_01 59:07

Yeah. I I I guess I'm gonna say MKE Ultra. My favorite though, like my favorites are the smallest, grungiest. Not that ultra is very grungy, but like I love the smallest ones, yeah. Like where you can only fit the band. Yeah, I love that. I don't know why, can't explain it. I do too. It gives me jazz club vibes. So, like, my favorite is is I love Bremen, and I love Ultra, and I love Last Race.

SPEAKER_03 59:39

Uh, what's your favorite Milwaukee bar?

SPEAKER_01 59:45

So, does it have to exist still?

SPEAKER_03 59:47

No.

SPEAKER_01 59:49

So I'll give you the non-existent answer, and that's the Palm. The Palm is my all-time favorite bar, and it got replaced by like the worst thing ever. And my probably my favorite bar now is Bernhardt's. Okay. I tend to go there at like 1.45 in the morning after work and have like one Guinness and one Fournet, and then go the fuck home. And they know me, and like I just kind of like I walk in and they give me this shit and I pay for it. Yeah. Sit there on my phone and just decompress from a long night at the restaurant. So yeah. That's my heart.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:26

That's my spot. Uh well, uh, we'll see if your bias comes out here or not. But what's your favorite Milwaukee restaurant?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:35

My favorite right now is a place called a Mexican restaurant called Tlax Calteca. It's on 13th and off of Mitchell in the 13th Street L Rey parking lot. Okay. And it's a bira uh focused, tiny spot. Okay. And you get the biria tacos, and they give you the consomme with it in a little styrofoam cup. And it's like I will go there as much as I gotta go there. Consumer. Yeah, really, really, really good and and very like um uh Southern Mexico. Okay. Uh cuisine.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:17

Uh what is your favorite music, movie, or documentary?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:24

Dig.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:25

Oh, hell yeah. I love dig, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:28

Dig is the shit. That is the best. And tied with dig is a straight note chaser, colonial smoke documentary. Okay. Yeah. Both of those. But dig is Dig is the shit. Amazing, and and and seems uh more than some of its parts, because it's just like it was intended to be one thing and became another thing. So, and I'm such a Brian Johnston Masker fan. Okay. Fucking so awesome. And I actually recently last year I saw Danny Warholz play in Portland, and that was quite great too. I see. Yeah. I guess. Yeah, but brilliant, brilliant movie.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:02

Uh do you name any of your instruments? Not at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

And not to everyone. I don't know. I I don't spend a lot of money on instruments, and I don't become too attached to them. Yeah. I think it's because I was it I had a house fire when I was uh 20 years old, so like I try not to be attached to things anymore.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:27

If you could join any band and be a member of what would it be? Any band? Any band that you would like to be part of prepared for this one.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:45

Probably Haunter. That's gonna feed into Haunter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:52

I'm a huge Haunter fan.

unknown 1:02:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:54

And when you ask me what my favorite Milwaukee band is, they're gonna call it.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:58

Haunter. Yeah. Alright. Yeah. I don't know them.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:05

I know Aiden. Yeah. I know the same. I only have their tapes. That's good. I've only played for a while. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:13

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:13

I heard them maybe uh three, four years ago on localize though.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:18

Okay. And uh to me that's not too long ago, but yeah, they haven't played.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Yeah, they haven't played very easily. Uh you wish you wrote it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:54

No, I'm not yeah, it's one of my favorite songs. So the band The Band America. The Ban America, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:05

Yeah. I'm a huge fan of like sort of that era of things. If I start thinking about the songs I wish I wrote, but I definitely have a connection with like California and stuff. Uh that song super speaks to me, so I'll just say that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:28

If there were any artists who could collaborate.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:48

I'll say Wayne Shorter. He's a saxophone player. Played the Miles Davis quintet in uh the second quintet in the sixties, but also played the saxophone solo on Asia's dealy dam. Oh, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:07

Yeah. And and played also the saxophone solo on Bruce Horns of the Record on one song. Interesting. But yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:20

So besides what you do for shrine zone, besides making kick ass can always do you have any other talents? I can like wire a room in a house.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:36

I can kind of like remodel a house a little bit. Yeah. Like I don't like construction. I didn't teach any construction skills. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:46

Yeah. Demo and then redo.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:49

Whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:52

I've done a lot of that at my house and I learned a lot of it from my dad.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:56

I'm not wanting to talk to you about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

do upstairs. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Yeah. Last question for EQ. If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be? Oh man, nothing. Nothing. It's perfect. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:21

Wow. I don't exist in it. I don't feel like I don't I don't know anything about it. I don't uh I don't wish anything about it. I'm happy like in my lane. You know. I've kind of been peripherally through the through the the journey a little bit but I I've glimpsed enough to know that it's like uh yeah that's not me. You know I don't really I don't really need to be chasing that at all. Like not at all. And I feel like it's especially pertinent to our conversation about Shrine Stone because Shrine Stone is like 100% just something I want to make and not driven to like marketing or chasing some sort of like uh anything other than the sound of it. And anything other than playing a show locally or something like that in the smallest room possible. Like that's that's it for me at this point in my life and and I've kind of like had a lot of meetings and had a lot of like you know development deal and possibilities and stuff like sort of kind of pop up here and there and like little things but it's fine. I don't like I don't want to think about that. You know music's not that to me anymore if it ever was and uh I just want to be able to like have a band that I like the people and like the songs and just play a show once in a while. You know? And it's like that's that's enough. You know I feel like the bigger it gets the the the the more of a can of worms it is and um you know I don't know touring is not very appealing to me. So yeah I don't have I don't need a company especially now. It's weird now. It is weird now.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:29

That is the most pure and beautiful answer I've heard so far.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:37

You don't even need to make product anymore it's really like kind of cool if you embrace it I I make I make product once in a while out of nostalgia but yeah wow yeah I don't know I it's kind of a beautiful answer.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:57

Yeah I can't feel any kind of way about it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:01

I just have fun with it yeah and and I'm I'm from here it's easy here you know uh I can get on the radio if I make a good song I get that too Milwaukee's been very cool yeah we only got half a bottle to go so this feels like uh a good place and uh have you guys play a song sounds great let's do it all right thanks again for watching Chords on Fire episode three with Shrine Stone Please hit that uh subscribe button like button whatever you can support uh they've got a big show coming up May 23rd at Holy Mackerel it's an outside venue rain or shine and it's the first uh little music festival that they're gonna be putting on over there and uh what song you guys gonna play Jason we're playing Starbucks alright Starboxing and who's joining you this is Brandon Birchbauer the guitarist the great excellent so come out May 23rd they're playing my band Cassini Echo's playing with them come check it out it's gonna be cool alright Starboxing take it away guys