TOED The Band: Insights on Music and Wellness

On this amazing episode of The FEEL FREE Podcast, we’ve got Brandon and Kaj, members of the band TOED here to talk about the release of their new single Hippity Hoppity and how music is an integral part of their wellness journey!

Hippity Hoppity:
https://open.spotify.com/track/2AXGIcMROcLVCN35ZG4IDL

TOED music catalog:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4TSAFdodp7mwAtdD9Ew7oq

Hippity Hoppity music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ylDpJjCMA&ab_channel=TOED

Follow TOED:
https://www.instagram.com/toed_jamz/

Transcript

Jon: 0:09

Yo yo. Welcome back to the Feel Free Podcast. Got a good episode this week. I got my buddies from the band Toad here to talk about some of the releases of their new music. We're also talking about wellness. We're talking hobbies, and we're talking about. How important music is to them and how important it should be to everybody else. I think whether or not you're gonna play some instruments or just go see some live music or just vibing out to music, we're talking music. Hell, we even throw some sobriety in there. Mental health and all that other good shit. It's gonna be a great episode. Stick around, uh, in a couple weeks I've got a very good friend of mine, Angelica from the Revolutionized Mind Podcast is coming on. She's gonna give a little background on her story and will let her to be a mental health advocate, not to mention her TED Talk. Something we dive into and we're just talking mental health in general. So stay tuned for the episode. Stay up, feel free. So we're back, uh, episode number 37. I got my good buddy, Brandon, my good buddy. Kai here. These are members of the band. Toad here to talk about their new single hippity Hoppity. Uh, just the band in general. And then we're gonna be talking about how music and hobbies impact, uh, mental health in general. So how you guys doing?

Brandon: 1:40

What's up guys? Man, it is, it's great to be here. I'm good. It's great to feel free with John Cerrone. Yeah, man. Love you to death. Thanks for having us. We already did quite a bit of bullshitting, uh, before the official announcement and, uh, looking forward to, to chopping it up and bullshitting some more with you guys. Man, I love you both. Love you too

Jon: 1:56

man. This is gonna be a good episode. I'm looking forward to it. Um, so I wanted to talk a little bit about. The single hippity hoppity. I want inspiration behind it. You guys also came out with a music video, which I just watched yesterday. It's funny as hell. It was so

Brandon: 2:12

much fun to shoot that shit. Thank you had so much appreciate that. Stick it around. It was so

Kaj: 2:16

fun.

Jon: 2:16

So who's, who's idea was it to come up with a song? Hippity. Hoppity? Where's the inspiration

Kaj: 2:22

for this? I think we're gonna let Brandon kick off on him. You have been. And then maybe I can chat on Sure. How it became a bigger thing. Cool.

Brandon: 2:29

Cool. So yeah, so anybody who knows me, um, you know, knows that I've taken a great inspiration from, uh, Libertarianism philosophically over, over the course of my life. And I was pretty heavily involved in that ideology, right? And the principles of freedom. So, uh, as a joke, when I moved into my condo complex, I bought a doormat that says, hippity hoppity, get the fuck off my property. And it's got a frog on a lily pad with a shotgun, right? Which is basically, it's been like a, uh, a libertarian meme over the course of, you know, the last decade With that, with that meme hippity hop to get off my property. I was like, this will be fun, you know, to fuck with my neighbors and just kind of have that casually sitting out. And I wanted to mess with the HOA a little bit, right? And, uh, so I, I ordered that one. I ordered another one that said, uh, welcome to our pad, which is like a happy, blissful frog who's sitting. I was like, really peaceful. So every other day, I was swapping out the doormats cuz I wanted to fuck with the Amazon guy and like the, uh, you know, the person delivering the mail, like, okay, am I gonna see an Angry Frog or a Happy Frog today? So it was just, just some fun and uh, I was just washing my dishes one day and I was like, just kept saying hippity hoppity. And I was like, get the fuck off my property. Hippity hoppity. And I was just playing with it and I started singing the chorus, right? Hippity, hippity, hippity hoppity. I'm gonna tell you one time to get the fuck off my property. Yeah. And I was like, dude, I called Kai. I was like, dude, I got some stupid shit, dude. I got some stupid shit. It might be dumb enough. I'm like gonna definitely need your help with building it out. And uh, you know, musically Kai. Like incredible. Just, you, you could come, come with an idea to this guy, and he'll immediately just start playing it on guitar. Okay, here's what we're gonna do for bass. And you have yourself a song like, it, it, it is incredibly easy to create music with these guys. So, uh, just having that kind of cadence and chorus, we were able to build upon it, you know, add some verses, bring it to, uh, to our band, uh, and just build it out and have some fun with it. So that's just kind of, yeah, that's kind of how it got started, man. Just basically off of a meme, you know? Long story short. Yeah.

Kaj: 4:43

From a meme. Well, and also Brandon wasn't your, one of your neighbors started flipping it over, right? Yeah, yeah. No, good point. And I think that was point, like, really when you're like, all right, gotta do something about this. And then, um, yeah, I came home. But yeah. And that it was, it was really early in the Toad, you know, process. I think maybe we had been. Four months old and maybe no music out, but like had some songs that we were, we had written and were performing. And up to that point, I feel like I had kind of written a lot of'em. I mean, you guys had what I want and, um, body of a Goddess. But then, um, in terms of the writing process, I was like pushing us to do more, do more. And then I think that was the first thing Brandon ever like, you know, showed some vulnerability with, to me and like brought me something that he had made. And I feel like I remember him being like, uncertain if it was gonna be great. And I, and I, uh, but the second I heard, I was like, no man, that is, that's a jam. Let's, let's make something out of it. And, you know, it kind of flourished from there. Um, I just, I don't know if anybody, if any of your listeners are familiar with, uh, music theory, but just basically took the Jimi Hendrix chord and some other seventh chords that gives it that real raunchy, just funky feel. And just put it over Brandon's, you know, retro Sing songy. Storytelling style of, uh, of songwriting and, uh, seemed to work out. Our, our bassist, Johann Raffi produced it, uh, at Wayne State. It was like, he's a music production student. Mm-hmm. So it was like a class and a project for him to go out and find a band and produce their music for him. And so sure enough, he's in our band and worked out well. You know, we, we jumped in there and we recorded it, and then it's just the, it's so goofy. It's so funny. It's an earworm. Um, and we wanted to put our weight behind it, and that's kind of why we were like, this is the one that we should make a music video for. Um, but yeah, it's, it's been an absolute joy to make just, you know, being goofy and having fun and enjoying enjoying the musical process.

Brandon: 6:44

I mean, it's like, yeah, it's reassuring like, to, to something that was just kinda like a silly fun project has gotten like pretty great feedback. Everyone has a lot of fun with it. It's fun to perform. Uh, the music video concept was Kai's idea. He was like, we gotta shoot a music video. I'm gonna order a fucking frog outfit, a fisherman outfit, a bass man. I'm like, dude, that's great. So it's, it's nice working in an environment alongside these guys where we are all able to speak so freely and bring these projects and, and truly support one another in like, Hey, this is a great vision. Let's work with it and let's make this happen. Right? Um, you don't get that a lot in a lot of, um, other bands or groups of creatives, right? There can be more like, oh, I really think it should be this way, or, I don't really like that sound. That never happens, um, with Toad. So it's been

Kaj: 7:30

nice. Oh, always concessions that are made, but nobody's ever,

Brandon: 7:33

you know, yeah, fuck you, you're stupid. Go

Kaj: 7:35

honk, honked, or, yeah, no, you know, it's nobody's, it's kinda like planco. You're going, you're going down the thing. It hits the ideas of everybody and then the sum is greater than the parts. Absolutely.

Jon: 7:47

I mean, it's a positive environment, which is like a huge thing about mental health. And one of the words I wanted to point out that you said Kai was, uh, vulnerability with, uh, with Brandon and vulnerability is a huge thing. I talk about it a couple times on the podcast. Um, I liked how you said the vulnerability with him coming to you with an idea cuz he had stated like, most of the writing process was you. And to be okay with putting your yourself out there into the world, uh, especially with artwork, is a very difficult process to do, um, for, for people who haven't really been musically inclined their, their entire life. So I, without a, I was supposed to ask Kai, you've been doing music since what? You were a kid, you've been learning since you were young, right? Um,

Kaj: 8:31

well I've always been musical sang in church growing up. Not really religious anymore, but, um, well, music is kind of, you're really religion. Religion for sure, in a sense. Uh, but um, I was a big athlete growing up, so I really, same. Didn't really, really dive into music until, um, I ran track at Michigan and that stopped. Okay. And I was like, I gotta put this intense passion somewhere. I had dabbled with the guitar. Um, but I would say since I was 19 is probably when I really dove into it and was like, I'm gonna learn. But I've been fiddling with ukuleles and guitars since, and singing since probably middle school. Okay.

Jon: 9:08

And Brandon played saxophone growing up and then he, he took a little bit of a break Right. For, for a couple years before diving back in. Yeah.

Brandon: 9:16

In terms of the saxophone. But man, like ever since I was probably five or six, I would be singing in the shower. Like I was always You've always been singing. Yeah, man. Like singing, being a goofball, doing voices, crusty, crab, all that. Yeah. I grew up on that man. So, um, but you know, going back to what you said, John, about the vulnerability, I'd always been like when I was in high school, The friends that I, I hung out with and associated with at the time were very adamant about doing open mic nights and playing at coffee shops. I didn't do that. I was always way too insecure. Um, afraid. I had a lot of anxiety and fear and stage fright. So I, you know, I, I remember having a discussion with my friend at the time and, uh, he was like, Hey man, we should do this song together. I'll play guitar and you sing. I was like, dude, no fucking way. So I avoided that for a large majority of my life. Um, but I always had a passion for, for songwriting, writing parody songs. I've been doing that for a long, weird, l was a huge inspiration, right? So, um, you know, having that aspect. But yeah, the saxophone, little bit of middle school one year in high school didn't touch it till covid hit, picked it back up, right? That was when the gear started turning in terms of mental health recovery. And I found that like, this is, this is going to be something that helps fill the, a huge void in my life, right? And, uh, I was really fortunate that things worked out the way they did and with the promotion, Rather than a prevention based lifestyle, we, we've, you know, gotten a lot more opportunities, uh, able to put ourselves out there. It's certainly a, a big jump in the right direction as opposed to just getting wasted and singing karaoke at a fucking bar. Right. So, um,

Jon: 10:52

I I was there at a couple of those. I remember, yeah,

Brandon: 10:54

read it. Yeah. Yeah. I was there. You gotta start somewhere, man. And that was Liquid Courage. I relied on it for a long time.

Jon: 11:00

Yeah. That was the first time I had, uh, sung Karaoke as well when I was there. I think I sang Ocean Avenue by Yellow Card and then, uh, main Street was Main Street. Great choice. Yeah,

Kaj: 11:09

it was Main Street Pub.

Brandon: 11:10

Yeah. Main Street Pub dude.

Jon: 11:11

And then I sang, uh, Sangs Santaria by Sublime as well. So those were the two songs. I remember that, uh, liquid Courage. Yeah. Um, see, yeah, I think the vulnerability, the coming together, you guys have a really good process going. You guys enjoy what you're doing. Um, I did wanna talk a little bit about like, How the band was formed. I was there like in the beginning stages of when the band was being formed two years ago before uh, Kai was a part of the band. And then you guys have gotten new members and stuff and I feel like now you're a little, you're more serious with releasing the music. You got singles music videos and you guys are in New York now. You guys just went to play a couple shows there. So what are your goals with, with Toad? Do you just want to play music to make people feel happy or is this like all for you cuz you guys enjoy it? Or is it a little bit of both?

Brandon: 12:05

Kyle, Kyle, you can go ahead on this one.

Kaj: 12:07

Yeah, I can, I can go ahead and touch on this. And it, it kind of gets back to kind of wanna, how I wanna discuss music. For me at least, it, it is a hobby, but it is also a vocation for me. It's something that I would, couldn't stop if I tried. Mm-hmm. Um, and I love it. And the end goal for me is to be a full-time musician. Um, But at the end of the day, I don't place a ton of pressure on that happening. I love what's the band is now, and I want to grow it to be the best that it can be to be, to get it to the most ears, to give people the funky, fun time that I know we can give at a live show. And you know, if I sit around all day and think I have to be a professional musician, and if I don't get there, it's a failure or I'm not close enough to it yet, this would be more of a stressor than it is a fun thing. Um, and I can sometimes fall into that, that mental state. Uh, but I find whenever I can take a step back and really live in the moment and understand that I'm fortunate enough to be playing the music with some great people and enjoying it, that's also when it grows the best. Like if you're really trying to make it and. You're, you're, you're putting too much pressure on that success from a commercial standpoint. Um, it's not gonna be fun and it's probably you're not going to organically network and grow. Um, so that's kind of where I'm at right now. Live it day by day, grow it the best way I know how to share music and be just as excited to hear other people's music as I am to share my own. And I think that, um, creates for the best musical environment that you can have without putting too much pressure on the commercial or professional success aspect

Brandon: 14:03

of it. Absolutely. Yeah, man, I, it feels similarly like it's breaking away from the mindset of like, I'll be happy when blank. Right. Fuck that. You gotta love the process. Uh, there's gonna be a lot of ups and downs. Like I, what I've realized is every time we get off stage, we're, we're in good spirits. And it's usually received pretty well by the crowd, but everyone's like, man, I fucked that part up. Like, oh fuck, I fuck, sorry guys. Everyone's apologizing to each other. Right? And that's just, you always think that you're the one that like, you're like, dude, no, you did great. Like, I fucking suck. No. You know? So, um, you really have to love the process and not put so much pressure on I'll, we'll, you know, I'll only be happy if music gets me this kind of money or gets me this many followers. But at the same time, it's important to know that you're, you're moving in a positive direction. You have metrics, you're measuring goals, right? Just like anything else. Weight loss, um, you know, your, your career goals, relationship goals, whatever it is. We, we need to measure these things and have metrics and make sure that we are all on the same page. We're communicating. You have the routines, right, structure, and, uh, that goes a long way. So, um, but if you don't, you know, not, you know, not for the faint-hearted, you have to love, you have to love the process. And, uh, that's what makes this thing so special is that we love the process. And Kai, the, I gotta, I gotta give him kudos again. Um, since ha, having Kai plays such a prominent role in, in joining Toad, right? We've been able, he, he single-handedly books us all these events. He's on top of the social media. He goes, The extra 10 miles for this band. Whereas, uh, you know, I, I was pretty upfront and clear. Like I wasn't that committed in terms of, it was more of a fun thing for me. Uh, we are now, we're gonna have some discussions where we be all play a little bit more of an active role, but Kai has certainly helped get us off the ground in the right direction. So we're, we're very grateful for that.

Kaj: 15:59

Appreciate that. Yep. But, uh, and I've also learned to love that aspect of the band. Um, if it was just us jamming every Sunday, like we're about to go rehearse after this, that is a huge catharsis in itself just to be able to go and play and get that out. Um, and if it was just that, and especially as I get older, um, and maybe the professional thing isn't gonna happen, if that was something I could maintain into my forties, fifties, sixties, just like once a week getting together and jamming, that's a good life. That's a great life. I get to do what I wanna do, um, at least once a week and that, and that gives me the strength and energy to pursue other things like my. Actual career, current, actual career in relationships. Um, but yeah, that's, that's kind of what I'm, uh, thinking with that. I think I had another thought, but I lost it.

Brandon: 16:52

It's all good. That'll happen. That'll happen during this, I'm sure it happens all the time, right, John?

Jon: 16:56

It does happen all the time. Yeah. Me and Muncy lost our place. Yeah, I heard,

Brandon: 17:00

I heard a couple times. I was like, dude, I feel these guys, they're like, fuck. They listen back to it. You're like, damnit, I knew what I was gonna say now. Um, old age, man. It's that fucking 30 year old shit.

Jon: 17:13

You, you guys have said a lot of like really wholesome points in the last like five to 10 minutes because I think. I talk a lot about the dangers of social media and what Kai was mentioning with like commercial success. If you're focused too much on that, then you know you're not having fun. Um, but Brandon's right there are things that you, you know, you need to measure. You know, and the reason why you, you put time and effort into something like this is because it's more than just a jam sesh on a weekly basis. You know? That's what it started out as, right? That, uh, the wellness practice or like, that's pretty much like a good foundation to have. You look forward to that once a week, but then like you start jamming together and you start really enjoying it and you're like, damn, we could totally like share this with the world, you know? Mm-hmm. And that's when you guys start coming out with songs, you're playing shows and you're doing all this, this good work and, but you're not looking like down the road as like, I gotta be selling out arenas and shit like that. It's more like you just want to be putting out good music, jamming with your buddies on stage, seeing the country maybe, you know, very like simple wholesome goals like that

Brandon: 18:23

and grow along along way. Sure. But that's not to say that that's not a goal. Exactly. And I, and I believe that that's, that is not, you know, I know certainly Ki Kai would be on board with something like that and, and I myself Oh yeah, of course. And I'm myself as well. And yeah, this is certainly, in a way, you have to begin with the end in mind. And you have to go into something with like this, right, with that mindset. We're gonna fucking, we're gonna really rock, we're gonna rock the world, we're gonna do some shit. We're gonna find our niche, we're gonna find our audience, and we're gonna, we're gonna fucking just keep, we're gonna keep going, keep going. Continuous improvement, right? So with that mindset, it's, you know, but you gotta, you gotta start somewhere and you have to continue to build that

Kaj: 19:03

process. Yeah. You build a music. Career or you build a, a culture of a band or something like that, brick by brick before you can have the house, right? Mm-hmm. So, um, you know, that's, that's the best way to look at it. And you just try and be better. Try to improve each day. Um, and if it's one Instagram follower, if it's one stream, if it's a song that you wrote that maybe you're never gonna share, but the

Brandon: 19:32

conversation that added to your, with another musician, right? So, so things,

Kaj: 19:37

that's what it's all about. Yeah.

Jon: 19:39

Um, so. Well, two things, or one thing I am very interested in hearing about is, now I didn't know this, that you didn't start until a little later in life, Kai, because you were an athlete mm-hmm. For a majority of your life. And I vibe with that and so do, uh, my listeners, because a lot of us were, you know, athletes in high school and stuff and mm-hmm. Sometimes injuries come along or, you know, the drive to just be an athlete once you get in your twenties is just, isn't there anymore, like when you were a kid. So like, where do you, where do you put that energy? You know? And for some of us, we put that energy into drugs and alcohol. Right. Um, for you. Yeah. Brandon raised his hands, uh, for you, you put it into music and then Brandon finds, you know, his, his foundation in doing music and all of his other things in his sobriety. So for people who do get in their twenties and stuff, do you have any advice for them on like, even if they don't want to do music, maybe I. Yeah. What, can you give an advice on like hobbies? Why are hobbies so important to you guys? You know?

Kaj: 20:48

Yeah. Um, I think I can touch on that a little bit. Um, I think for me, a lot of life has been, um, centered around trying to be well-rounded. Like, I love sports. I've always loved music, even though maybe when I was younger I wasn't playing it. Um, and you know, I've, I, the career that I have, I work, I do juvenile justice policy research. I also love doing that. Um, you know, so having that holistic, well-rounded aspect, um, to my life, I think it has, it's kept me from being idle and, um, staying out of that idle phase is when I feel like I find I'm the most content and the happiest. Um, I think in the summertime I dislocated my shoulder snowboarding and I had to. Just like post up for a while and let that heal. And, you know, there's some rough times in that when I'm just like watching TV or, you know, over and over again the same show or something. Um, and that's when I feel like I am at my least, uh, happy or even maybe verging on, uh, slight bouts of depression. But, um, so I, I find that, um, the advice that I would give to hobbies though is I feel like everybody, there's something everybody likes and would love to do and it can be scary to find the vulnerability to just, just take the leap and do it. Whether it's you wanna do standup comedy, whether you wanna paint, whether you wanna take a poetry class, whatever it is, um, just do it. And, um, just try. It's, nobody's good at first. In fact, everybody is bad at whatever it is they're doing at first, even if you have God-given talent. Um, so start, just go for it. Find a community that, that likes the same stuff. And, uh, I feel like that can be an incredibly rewarding, um, aspect of your life. Um, if you can find a hobby, uh, or a vocation, an extracurricular activity that, um, you can put on top of whatever else you have in your life and can be a little fun little escape.

Brandon: 23:05

Yeah. A absolutely. Um, with that recognizing right as so as a relationship oriented individual, it, having that sense of community makes it so much more rewarding. Like, you know, I, I found even when, in terms of, in terms of like reading or studying, I will have so, so much of a better experience and session doing those things in an environment around other human beings, right? So whether that's going to like Panera Bread or, you know, going to a teahouse coffee house, being in that environment fuels me. So I've learned kind of, you gotta, you gotta trick yourself and understand yourself a little bit. Like, how are you going to be your best right now? Playing my saxophone alone, I, I can get joy out of that, but it wouldn't be the same sense of community and belonging. I, I believe a lot of addicts, people in recovery, people, people that are struggling with addiction, alcoholism, they, they don't feel like they belong anywhere. They feel isolated. Right. And that can be really challenging feeling because a lot of times when we're feeling isolated and like, we don't belong anywhere. What do we do? We isolate ourselves more. Right? Of course. So that was like, cuz I don't feel good, I don't want to be around anybody else cuz that's, I don't want them to feel bad. Like, I don't want to bring my bad feelings and put it on somebody else. Uh, so we, we play these tricks on ourselves, which can really put us into a, a, a very vicious cycle. So, uh, for, yeah, for me, the, the sense of community and the reward that, that one gets by being around a group of people that are like-minded or, or share a similar passion or goal, uh, that are positive, supportive, like a good support group, right? I mean, you could say like, my hobbies drinking, I go to the fucking bar every Wednesday night after work. And you will get a sense of community from that. I mean, I, you know, and you'll have some fun, but you have to right. Begin with the end in mind. Okay. So do you want to look. Like it, like the 60 year old, 50 year old alcoholics that go there every day that have been doing it for 30, 40 years. Just like you. Like that's, that's your future. And, um, if that's not what you want for yourself, you better fucking find a different community or you're fucked. Right. So, you know, it's being, it's being realistic. There's, that's a struggle for people too is, is letting go of old communities. Right. Um, I've been fortunate enough to not really have to do that because I'm lucky to have people like, uh, you guys and countless other friends, you know, a few of which were on this podcast. Um, it's, that's a huge blessing that I, I wake up every day and I'm, I'm ever so grateful for is, is my friendship and community, uh, which helps, which supports and helps me strive towards, uh, betterment every day. So, um, I guess that's what I would say about that.

Jon: 25:59

Yeah. Well, out of all the hobbies, I, I, I think music brings people together and I'm not the first person to say that. I'm pretty sure there was a famous person who said that, but yeah.

26:09

Shout

Brandon: 26:09

out to the famous person. We'll, uh, maybe throw

Kaj: 26:11

something, I don't know what it's, uh, universal language. Right, right, right,

Jon: 26:14

right. Music. Um, so I, I go on and off with practicing my guitar. Last year, I, I played like for three months. I played a half hour every morning. Nice. On the morning. Nice. Um, and with Lisa moving in with me and getting a cat, there wasn't actually any room in my hobbit hole of an apartment to keep the guitar anymore because, uh, it, it was really small, that place. Uh, so I was actually able to bring the guitar out again now that we moved to a bigger place. So I've been practicing here and there. Cool. With that. Um, nice. I, I do think that seeing for those of you out there that don't feel like you can play an instrument, Okay. Everybody can play an instrument. There's a million fucking instruments to play. Whether or not you wanna put the time into it is another thing. What I do recommend if you're not going to try and play an instrument is to go see the live music. It's this sense of community that Brandon was talking about that's so important. And he could just sit there and play a saxophone by himself and practice, you know, I'm gonna practice my sax by myself, but he wanted to go find people to play with, you know? And now you guys have the towed band and you get to mm-hmm. Jam every week. Whether that's for fun. Now you're playing shows. Yeah. And now you're giving that live music to people to come and see because man, going to see live music is so good for the soul. That's a mental wellness, that's a practice in and of itself if you just go and see live music For sure.

Kaj: 27:45

Yeah. Going to Bonnaroo this week. Yeah. Look at that. Very much looking forward. So cuz up to this, like the last month or so, we've been, had so many shows, the music has been. Not like a job, but we're doing it a lot. And that New York trip was basically a business trip for, we had, for sure time of our lives still. But I'm really excited to, there's a lot of acts I really wanna see, so I'm excited to just like, relax, take in the tunes. Who are you most excited to see and really, yeah. Who are you have a, a passive music, uh, experience versus My most excited? Um, I really like this band, peach Pit. Okay. I've seen'em before, but they'll be sweet. Kendrick Lamar will be really cool. I wanna see Kendrick so bad. I've not seen him. Um, I really wanted to see Rainbow Kitten Surprise. Uh, but they suspended their tour for, uh, personal health reasons for the band. Um, hope that, uh, they're all right and can get back to it. But, uh, there it's just, there's just a, a slew of people like Wolf Pack. Oh, nice. Yeah. Shout to. It's gonna be a, it's gonna be a good couple of

Jon: 28:48

days. Yeah. My brother was gonna, my brother was trying to get us to go for the last like five to six months and the whole camping music festival and, and

Brandon: 28:57

my sobriety is, yeah. How do you feel about that, John? Yeah. Are you still, even after four years, it's kind of like, fuck man, that kinda leave that. It's tough past, right? Uh,

Jon: 29:03

it's, the camping part is tough because here, so here's the thing, we're probably gonna be going to North

Brandon: 29:08

Coast here. Okay. Yeah. But you can go in and out, right? It's kind of like that. Yeah. I can go

Jon: 29:12

home, you know, it's like a 30 minute drive. Yeah. Uh, I was gonna go to Lalla this year, but I decided against it because out of all the music festivals, that one here in Chicago is first of all packed to the brim. Uh, there's no age limit too, so you have a lot of really young people running around, acting foolish. And then obviously for snappers, 90% of people are fucking

Brandon: 29:35

wasted too, but like being covered in glitter, all fucked up on every substance you can imagine that got

Jon: 29:39

glitter and rave candy up our

Brandon: 29:41

arms stuff flashbacks to 2013 Forest Man. Just like, yeah,

Jon: 29:45

that was wild time. Uh, I did go to North Coast two years ago though, so I did get to see some live, live music there. Yeah, I actually went to a show a month ago and saw some electronic music, so, Here and there. I do. I am okay with it. Um, it's just whenever I'm around too many intoxicated people for too long of a duration that it's especially an enclosed place. Like if, if, if I'm in a small, like dive bar place for like six hours, it's gonna be tough for me. I'm probably just,

Kaj: 30:13

yeah. I'm just leave, dude. That's how I

Brandon: 30:14

felt in New York. I bet. We play it with, and it's already, it's New York City, so there's like a shit ton of people. And this bar was small, like it was packed. And I'm like, ugh. I'm like, I, I have never had like agoraphobia or like a, a feeling of like social anxiety where I'm like, I, I need to go away from humans and sit on a bench by myself. And I actually experienced that for the first time in New York City. Damn. So it's definitely go, go take a walk. And also,

Kaj: 30:42

also, just to give a shout out to Brandon's journey and his sobriety, we play in a lot of dive bars.

Jon: 30:48

I bet that's how you start out though. And

Kaj: 30:50

it's, and it's. It's great. I think the Detroit community is great for that. Yeah. Um, you know, you, you come out for an hour or two and you're not gonna be surrounded by completely belligerent people. Um, but also Brandon is, he's in bars quite a bit and, um, it's, it's impressive, uh, you know, that he's able to do that. That

Brandon: 31:11

you won't catch me in a bar though, with, and Kai, I appreciate that man. And, and it's, you want, it's because of the intent. It's because I'm there with you guys. Mm-hmm. I'm there to play. Um, that's, that's my fun. Now you won't catch me in a dive bar if there's not live music. A musician that I'm supporting or we're going on. Yeah. You just fucking won't see me. I have no reason to be there. So that's where we get that, that's where it's concerning. It's like, okay, why is Brandon at a bar on a Wednesday? Uh, around a bunch of drunk people and there's no live music like that. You kind of know mm-hmm. That the writing's on the wall there. But you guys make it easy, man. You, you make it really incredibly easy. So, but yeah, even then, six, six hours, right? Sometimes I'm like, I don't know, man, they got four more bands after us. I gotta get the fuck home and pet my cat now. You know? So you just gotta, you gotta know, you gotta know yourself and you gotta be honest with yourself, right? Yeah. Hey guys, I'm not good. I gotta, I'm gonna head home. I'm gonna do my meditation, do my routine. Get back to what, you know, you've got a

Jon: 32:04

good support group in the band though. Cause the band cares about you and they want you to play the best goddamn sax you can play and sing the best you can. Sure. No, yeah, absolutely. So they, they know what you need to

Brandon: 32:14

do in order to do the best to you, which I used to think I played the best in saying the best when I was wasted, but apparently that wasn't true. And I, I still don't understand, cuz I thought that I sounded pretty goddamn good. So, you know. Well, yeah.

Kaj: 32:26

And just, just full transparency to your listeners and your ship. I am not, um, Or recovering attic or sober. I do enjoy beverage here and there, especially like sports games or after a concert. Um, but I, you know, before Brandon was sober, we drank a lot and, um, but not, not more so than like your typical middle 20 person who is hanging out and going to bars right. All the time. But, um, I've definitely noticed my own relationships with alcohol become healthier as a result of Brandon's sobriety. Well,

Brandon: 33:02

I'd just like to make announcement. Kai is definitely a raging alcoholics, sex addicts, uh, drug addicts. So he's in denial. He has like a lot of working on himself to do. And we're gonna talk about it like after this podcast. Yeah. But like, he has a lot of work safe space trying, this is where the, this is where we gaslight Kai and be like, no, dude, you have a problem. No, Kai, you've been great. Yeah, no, just fucking, I had

Kaj: 33:23

fucking up for a little bit. No, like, honestly, I, you know, it's, Yeah, maybe I have a few, no man, the night of a show and that's what makes instead of afterwards us just like going crazy. Know it's ni it's nice

Brandon: 33:33

jamming with people that aren't in active addiction. So like, this is what I noticed too, John. And to the listeners like. I was like shocked cuz like, it was like the first two days, I'm like, why is there no beer or liquor in the fridge? I'm looking at everyone like, don't you guys drink? Like there was no, like, they didn't, when I would've got to New York in, in active addiction or drinking right first, I'm like, where's the liquor store? We're gonna get this, we're gonna get that. We're gonna, and like no one was like, maybe I'll have a beer. And I'm like, what are you? Talking about dude, because they're there to play music, baby. They're not, they're, you know, so it being, being someone that is, has been that journey right. Of recovery for the last, you know, six months tomorrow. Actually it'd be, uh, six months of sobriety tomorrow. Congratulations. Thank you very much, Elliot. I appreciate that. Um, big milestone, but it makes it easy because I'm not constantly seeing people pulling shots or doing dope in a bathroom. It's like, oh, okay, this is, uh, you know, this is like a, a good group of guys and, um, it's, it makes it, it makes it wonderful, right? I was always the, the heaviest drinker and, um, you know, drug user on that aspect. So, um, it's, it's been great.

Jon: 34:37

It's nice that you've also inspired another person in your band to now have a healthier relationship with alcohol. Sure. Like you said, you know, one thing that, uh, Muncy and I talked about a little bit on our podcast where, um, how sobriety has affected our creativity because mm-hmm. Using was such a big part of our creativity, and now for you guys, it's. You've been giving wholesome answers, the majority of the podcast. So yeah. Have you noticed like a difference if you guys were just jamming normally, trying to come up with stuff, have you ever just like, were you guys jamming a lot while you were really intoxicated or were you guys mostly sober for that? That was

Brandon: 35:16

never an issue, man. Like, it just wasn't, these guys were never really intoxicated. I was always relatively, but that was pretty normal. Um, but no, in terms of the creation and the flow, we just fucking jammed on a six, like a, a, a sick blue solo. Like before we went to New York. This is a fun one. Before, it's the day before we go to New York City. And we had, um, a gentleman by the name of Zach join us from, uh, times New Roman. Shout out to Times New Roman. He joined us last minute. Appreciate to be our drummer. Our drummer, um, had had some stuff going on so he couldn't make the show. It was pretty last minute. He was like, I'll go to New York City with you guys and Jam Crash at my place. I'll play all the songs. We're like, holy shit. So we did one practice go through before we went and played this in, in NYC and we ran through the songs with him and sounded great. We just, we jammed, we just awesome, like great chemistry immediately. Uh, and then Johan just starts playing a blues blue

Kaj: 36:09

and me and Jahan had switched. Like we, he took my guitar, grabbed his bass, and we just started goofing around and it just worked. And we were like, oh shit. He

Brandon: 36:17

started playing the set like blues. Gotta, we gotta play John. I didn't know he could play the blues. I'm like, I don't know. I didn't know either. He is like, dude, this is sick. I'm like, let's play that. So we played it in New York City two days later. It just, Completely everyone completely sober. Yeah. Just having a good time. And, um,

Kaj: 36:31

and our, uh, our then roadie who we're pretty sure we're gonna bring him in as a fulltime member. Oh, he's a full-time of the group. His name is, uh, Simon Shit. Simon Oba, what's his last name? He also filmed, uh, Obba. Shira. I also have no idea told him earlier today to make sure that I was gonna say it Right. Podcast, I still might not be saying it Right. But, um, uh, but yeah. And, uh, so he, he, he's also, he's a friend of Johanna Bassis and he filmed the music video and he produced the music video. Nice. So great. And just like, as always been coming out to the shows. Um, I had a sense that he was musical. Cause I think he sang it Ghost Sl once Awesome voice. But like, last minute, Brandon's like, yo, let's just have him sing the blue song. And, and we're like, yeah, why not? More the merrier. And this kid starts singing and it is like a top five voice I have ever heard. Mm. Just absolutely ripping it. And, um, we're bringing'em in on like percussive instruments, tambourine egg shake or those things. And it's still gonna be like a singer by committee type thing in Toad. Um, cuz I think, you know, everybody's gonna write their own songs. Songs. He's all the lyrics too.

Brandon: 37:35

He's got the Beatles couple songs he's worked on with Johann, he's written out there. They're amazing. So fucking wonderful. So

Kaj: 37:40

yeah. But yeah, we're excited to bring him

Brandon: 37:43

in. Um, but these are all last minute it goes with the, the creative. But what do we, we got away from the general, we're going to creative, uh, substances and, and what our creative process is and to tie it all together, right? It's like, hey, let's do, oh that, alright, let's play off of that. Hey, fuck it. You try to sing it. That sounds really good. It's just constantly changing and evolving and being open-minded to, to that synergy, right?

Kaj: 38:04

So yeah, and for me, if I am trying to be creative or trying to perform and I'm drinking, I don't really smoke weed. But when I did, like in collagen in high school and when I would smoke weed, my brain would. Shut off. Like there's no creativity in that. Um, that's interesting. Mine would be in Chinese, it smells high. I, I used to, I used to take, well, sorry, mom, but in high school I did like acid and mushrooms and I thought that was a, I thought that was a tool to improving my creative methodology. And it definitely opened my mind up to the world and life in a different way, but probably in a negative way. I, you know, I think it was both just made me think everything was stupid. A little bit of both depends on the intent, but I, it did not help, it did not help with the creative process. Now. And even, like, if I have a drink Friday night, when I'm intending to like, write or produce or do musical things, I, again, it's like I slow down. Yeah. Or I start making some mistakes and, uh, it, it messes up my throat. I can't sing as crisply right as I would. Uh, same with like smoking. I don't really, I, I, I'll have a cigar every now and again, but. Don't like smoking because it makes it like nearly impossible for me to sing. And I'm just like singing all day, every day. And I have like a, a sadness in me if I'm like trying to sing, like being sick. The worst part is I'm like, Ugh, okay. That's the worst part of being sick. Um, so yeah, it's, I might have a beer the night of a show to take the edge off and then afterwards I'll indulge a little more. But, um, if I'm like drunk, I'm not gonna put on a good show. Right. That's not, it's not, uh, and it, it becomes not fun. You forget the performances go by so quickly anyway. Right,

Jon: 39:56

right. You wanna be totally present in that

Kaj: 39:58

you wanna be present for that kind of thing.

Jon: 40:00

So there, there's actually a couple, uh, Things that I looked up and the importance of hobbies and specifically music, uh, one of those reasons is it's capable of raising your states of consciousness. Uh, it changes your mood, it develops your brain, like neuroplasticity, and it also lowers your stress levels. So, yep. Uh, those are, those are four really big things, and trying to stick with the routine of playing is difficult. Now. You guys both started like really taking music seriously later in life, so, and which is arguably a lot harder for adults to learn something new, such as instruments or languages or new routines and stuff. So do you have any tips or tricks for staying consistent like that even without coming together as a band? I'm talking like your solo endeavor, like how did you get yourself to practice on a routine basis? Mm-hmm.

Kaj: 41:02

Um, so I had a lot of like self-doubt as I was diving into music. Like, am I really good? Um, cuz I, you know, starting off, I, I wasn't a very proficient guitar player. My vocals were okay. They, um, they, they needed some work. Um, but I was fortunate enough to have the funds to take some vocal lessons. Um, and I think, I hate to say that you have to pay for vocal lessons or any sort of lessons cuz I don't think you do. I learned a lot of my guitar stuff from online like Marty Schwartz, that type of stuff. Right. But, and I've started teaching guitar lessons and I find in my students that that weekly lesson that they're paying for keeps them accountable. Mm-hmm. Um, it's a set time and it doesn't have to be paid, but like, if you can find a way to etch out. 15 minutes weekly in your schedule to do that type of thing. And it's easier said than done because I feel like the money keeps students consistent. Like, I'm paying for something so I gotta do it. I mean, like, that's kinda like college, but that's also not the best way to build intrinsic practice or, or love for something. Um, but yeah, I, I also think I'm unique just cuz I wanted it so bad and I still do. Um, and nothing was gonna stop me from being good at it. Uh, so I prioritized that in my mind. I made the trade-offs for music. Um, and, you know, I made sure I was gonna practice and learn. And I also just love the journey. I love learning something new. Um, so I think that's something you gotta have. It's not the best answer. No, because I mean, like, most people can find a way. I'm sure they can in some capacity to be consistent, but that's the hardest part. Um, but it's also the most important part to consistent growth and development. And I'm, we play a lot and we gig a lot, and I teach, and I go bus at Eastern Market, so I'm playing a lot. Mm-hmm. But I'm currently in a spot where my study is stagnant. Mm-hmm. I'm not currently listening or watching new lessons on YouTube to expand or meeting with other musicians and learning new tricks, even though I have those resources available to me. Right. Um, but, you know, I've made a conscious decision to, I only have so much time and energy that, and the band is the phone's ringing at the moment. So that's, that's what, where it's gonna go. Um, but hopefully in the winter when gigs slow down, um, I can spend more time writing and expanding my guitar, um, experience. But I, it. You ju you, you gotta find something that'll keep you ac accountable, um, on a weekly basis or however long it is. Like, I was playing an hour a day for probably about a year, and I made a, like a conscious decision that an hour a day is what it was gonna take to get me to the level I wanted to be at, um, as a guitar player. Um, so I feel like maybe just writing down your goals, writing down when, um, and trying your best to stick to it and find any measure of accountability, um, that that could be helpful.

Brandon: 44:23

Yeah. Um, absolutely. The goals have been knowing your goals, knowing what you want to do once, once you have an, alright. All right. I'm gonna back, I'm gonna back up here and go kind of, cuz this, this all relates but getting back to having, having a sort of master plan right. Where I, where I had it right. So I, you know, I took a stab at it beginning to become a little bit more healthy and more mindful. A, a couple years ago, this journey started a couple years ago. Uh, I lost a significant amount of weight, started running, doing five Ks, 10 Ks, half marathons, marathons, half Ironman's, right? I still wasn't sober, but I started doing, I started getting better from that aspect, and I had written out a mission statement that, that guided me. I was reading, um, I believe Joe was reading the same book, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. So, yep. Uh, that was, that had a huge influence on, on my existence and my mindset. So that, along with meditation, having a planner, you know, which was all good stuff, having kind of the right habits, but still being someone who binge drinked, uh, on, on the weekends and had other unhealthy habits. It was kind of this giant paradox in my mind, right? So what, what we did was my therapist and I, we had gone back and he's like, dude, you, you can't write a mission statement. So you, you, you figure out, right? What's your higher and lower self? So, Like shit. Yeah, because in which, which self, which version of self is writing that mission statement? Is it the, the devil on your shoulder or, you know, like the angel on your shoulder that's, that's trying to, to guide you to light. So, you know, having done that, basically did the same thing that I had done a couple years ago and you, you write out your mission right? And I've got three core principles that guide mine. And it's very easy once you have core principles within a mission statement because now you know, What the hell do I wanna do with my time? It's gonna be things that relate back to this core mission, right? It has to, it all has to stem from that because then everything just, it's aligned. You're, you're in alignment constantly with, with the decisions you make, the interactions that you have, all of that, your job, everything gets so easy once you can align it to your core principles. So, uh, one of them is, is creativity, right? I've got accountability, compassion, and creativity. And I read this mission statement on a daily basis, actually twice a day, once before bed as well. And, um, so creativity, what does that mean? Right? That's gonna involve for me, creativity within my job, getting in front of prospects, selling, having fun with people. Um, it's a lot of, it's ingrained in entertainment, right? And that's gonna be through the band, through through music, through impressions, uh, through podcasts and content just. Everything. And we can, we can start identifying the areas in our life where we can expand on that. And there's room for growth. And uh, then it's like, dude, you, you know, you're scheduling out your time accordingly. This is what I want. This is going to guide me in my mission. Fucking write that down. Get that into planner. Right. Have a, I got a weekly planner, a daily planner, a monthly planner. I know Kai has a giant monthly planner too, on his, on his wall. I see it every time I'm in there. And I would be,

Kaj: 47:25

dude, a dry erase. I don't know. Can't

Brandon: 47:27

beat it. I have no idea how. How I would manage with without a sense of, of that kind of direction. And, and back to the accountability piece, right now, we know that creativity and playing music is, is such a rewarding experience, at least for, for my own existence, right? It, it all the things that you talked about, John, all the positive health benefits there too. Um, having that, the community, now that's the band. So I, with a lot of shit that I got going on, we all have so much life happens guys, right? We all know that like, shit happens. We we're, you can't predict the outcomes of things that we can't control. So, um, with that, it's, it's important to have a plan, but you gotta be flexible and, and it's a lot easier to do and prioritize and be flexible and adapt when you've got a group that can adapt with you. So whether it's band, practice, adjusting that, I do a lot of one-offs with Kai. Right. And that's, that's a huge sense of accountability and practice. He's like, Hey guys, uh, so and so likes this song. I like it too. Uh, we're gonna fucking play it. And we got a show in two weeks. Fuck it. I, I guess I better practice and learn how to fucking play this song. Like, it, it's good, it's good kind of, uh, stress, right? Like, because it might never practice really that song, if I didn't, we're fucking playing it, you know? And, and it's

Kaj: 48:40

also with, with Brandon, his instrument is, uh, tuned, uh, a whole step higher than our instruments, right? So we gotta transpose. So anytime there's a new song, it's a little trickier, a little tricky, but not, not the end of the world, but just takes a little bit more.

Brandon: 48:55

Time and energy. Yeah. And once again, guys's been, he's like, before, he's like, alright, I fucking transpose your part. Here's what you're playing. We're playing this. Yeah. Don't, don't lose this, don't lose the sheet. And then like of course after the hob cat show, I lost my whole binder with all the shit on it. I was like, you know, classic. Yeah, fucking

Kaj: 49:10

classic. But now we back him up, we back him

Brandon: 49:13

up and bang, we're drive. Um, so there's, there's always areas of improvement, right? And, um, you know, but it all stems from principal's mission. And then you, then you put the plan down, you get the plan, you have the community, you've got your, your morals, your goals, your values. And, um, you do your best through practice to, to embrace those on a daily basis. And it makes, it makes everything else so easy, right? It's, uh, we overcomplicate all this shit, but we have, you know, we, we have the tools to, to, to truly, um, execute effectively and, and, and reach our higher selves. So,

Jon: 49:52

I feel that I even find that if I don't make it around to practicing guitar, I've now made, uh, a routine of writing poetry. Cause love that I, I got off of my poetry grind, uh, when I stopped producing rap music. Cuz then I switched over to being an author. I'm like, I'm just gonna be an author. You know? And that type of writing is a lot different. Like philosophy and poetry are, are very polar opposites. Mm-hmm. Um, so I've, I've taken the time now to understand that I started writing when I was 14 and it started writing as poetry, which is a very creative form of art. So, and I've noticed that if I don't have the time to strum a guitar or go see live music, then I'm just gonna sit down with a blank piece of paper and write some rhymes. You know, not even for the sake of being a song or. Anything. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna write some fucking

Brandon: 50:47

rhymes, you know? Where do you do that at? What's, what's your your best environment for, uh, writing? Uh,

Jon: 50:53

by

50:54

myself.

Brandon: 50:54

By yourself? In like, office? Kind of like the low, the Lofi beats is there, like,

Jon: 50:59

uh, so it's either Lofi Beats or No Beats, actually. Okay. Oh wow. Oh wow. Yeah. I, I actually started writing all of my rhymes with no music until, so for six years of writing poetry, I wrote without music. I didn't start writing poetry with music until I was 20. Oh, interesting.

Brandon: 51:16

Did not know that. Yeah.

Jon: 51:18

Yeah's cool man. So I, I just switch off now. Sometimes, you know, you get in a better head space if you got something playing in the background, but other times I just gotta get, get the shit on a piece of paper, you know? And, uh, I like Kai used Cathartic, uh, earlier. That's been one of my favorite words, uh, the last month. So yeah.

Kaj: 51:38

Great, great. Great words,

Jon: 51:39

right? Great words. Um, so. Is there anything else you guys are feeling like you need to touch on for the, the toad?

Brandon: 51:48

Oh yeah, I got one. They're putting chemicals in the water that turn the fricking frogs gate. No, that's basically all I gotta to say about that man. I mean, Alex Jones said the best as

Jon: 51:58

I asked that question. I knew you were gonna say something like that. I just, I

Kaj: 52:01

felt, I felt, I can't say, you cannot say no. I felt it. I learned. I learned.

Brandon: 52:06

Come on. I learned that the hard way you putting chemicals in the fucking frog's water, dude.

Kaj: 52:13

Um, yeah. Well I think, um, I just like to touch a little bit more on what we've done, uh, what we have coming up right. And, um, that sort of thing. So yeah, hippity, hoppity out on all platforms. The music video out on YouTube. Um, And then within the next month, from June 24th to July 14th, we've got four shows in four different towns. A little, little mid, uh, Southeastern Detroit tour. We got, uh, uh, 6 24 at the Alley Cat Cafe. It's right by my sister's place. It's gonna be sick. Yeah. Um, with, with Green Maine, who we met through,

Brandon: 52:54

uh, Muncy. Get Joe exotic snacks, man.

Kaj: 52:58

Yeah. And then, uh, we're playing Ipsy, a place called Ziggy's on six 30. The next day we're playing Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. Uh, uh, July 1st, and then. The last one will be July 14th and Eastern Market, Detroit City Distillery, midnight Temple Free Show. So, um, but yeah, and then we got along with Hippity Hoppity, we recorded two other songs in Studio. One being, you Know Me, which is another, uh, song written, uh, by Brandon. That's a, that's a brainchild of a brand over there. Oh, that was one too, too. Which, you know, they're, they always get, those are always, uh, yeah, that's, that one's, that one's a lot of fun to play live, especially. And then, um, song called Honor Roll Be, which is actually a song from an earlier project of mine when I was in college with a band called Kyle Tous and a Hotel Arch. Um, and it's just a, it's a nice little funky jam, two chord thing. It's like one of the first things I brought to Toad when we first started playing and we're like, this works. Brandon found his way. And, um, it's a good one to, you know, still keep that. It's, especially like, it's a good one to start off with. It's high energy, not a, not a whole lot of complexity with instrumentally and. You know, warms the voice up. Um, but so that one's recorded with Toad, with the sacks now. So that'll be a new, uh, element and we're probably gonna release that, probably gonna release those kinda on a rolling basis, probably do, you know, me next some point this summer and then maybe on a roll, like in fall or early winter. Um, and uh, yeah, that's kind of what Toad's got in the vault at the moment. Nice.

Brandon: 54:31

John, are you, are you writing the second book? Are you got anything in the works for us? Are you working on that second piece? It's gonna be called, uh, have you announced the title yet, publicly, or is this uh, uh, I've

Jon: 54:40

actually Hold, hold on, hold on, hold on. Um, so, so you guys got, you guys got a big month coming up and, um, what, what are the dates for the, are you guys gonna drop dates for the singles getting released

Kaj: 54:53

soon? We will, but we haven't sat down to discuss that yet for sure. Yet. There's still some additional production that we wanna add into these tunes, but, um, Probably won't be too, I would say, you know, me's gotta be out by end of August. Okay. Oh yeah. Early September, hopefully. Right? I don't know if you have other thoughts, Brandon can

Brandon: 55:15

No, sounds good to me. Happily make those discussions. I know. I'll drop it right now. It's kind of my, my it's fucking please. Everything. Uh, the

Jon: 55:22

reason why I'm asking is, uh, so the Hippity, hdi, uh, and the other singles coming out, is this gonna be on like a new EP that you guys are gonna drop? Or are you guys just gonna, just singles be releasing a couples Just

Kaj: 55:32

singles. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I think, I think we're gonna try and do the single thing, um, focus on the marketing strategy. I think there's been some discussion at, right, at, at like, at the end of, after releasing four or five, six singles. Okay. Maybe like putting together a compilation piece and just like calling that album. Right. Um, but, uh, You know, we'll see. We got, we got, we got several other

Brandon: 55:53

unrecorded ones. Oh yeah. We got one that we haven't even started writing yet we can work with, but we, we, we, so we spent the Sunday in Chinatown and, uh, that was a fun experience. We sat down and I got to practice my Mandarin capabilities and we, uh, got some tea and food, which

Kaj: 56:05

was, I unbelievable. I wasn't convinced he could actually speak Mandarin with him. Crushed it. And he's like, yucking it up. They're like cracking jokes, which I hear is like the hardest thing to do in another language. So that it was, it was tune

Jon: 56:18

that day. You didn't believe that he could speak Mandarin?

Kaj: 56:22

No. No. He knew. Knew he could, but

Brandon: 56:24

I, but people say I speak, oh, I speak blah, blah. And they Oh yeah, I know how to say Hal. Hello and goodbye. Like, you hear that shit all the time from Americans. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't, I don't think these guys knew that. I was like, no, he fucking

Jon: 56:33

speaks it for sure. Yeah, it was.

Kaj: 56:35

It was incredible. It was fun. It was incredible.

56:37

So,

Kaj: 56:37

but he inspired to cut. I knew he had the accent down. I didn't know how, like, how well his comprehension and interpretation was, but it was, it was truly, uh, she, she was

Brandon: 56:45

really, she was really cool too, man. They hooked, she hooked it up. Like we got a fucking shit ton of food in tea for the low, low. So Nice. That was another thing. It's really cool about New York and Chicago is the Chinatown, man. It's a lot of fun for me. Um, yeah, I was

Jon: 56:57

gonna ask you, you guys, so you got Kai over here booking shows in fucking New York. When, when are you guys coming to

Brandon: 57:04

Chicago? What the hell? As soon as you book us a fucking show, John. Me. Yeah, dude. Well, you're the guy that's, you're the only guy that we actually met another guy that was with us out in New York, Zach's friend, and they're like, yeah, this guy, uh, this is Chicago John. I said, no, he is not. That's Chicago Johnny, because I know Chicago John, and we're gonna be on his, oh, shit. So you better fucking change your name to Johnny because you're the fake news. You're fake news John. And, um, but, uh, we, and then Kai, I think knows a couple people out there as

Kaj: 57:30

well. Yeah, well yesterday, I, I basically. I'll, I'll do this when I get into my, uh, my control freak grind for the band. I just like looking up every possible local, local, independent venue in the Midwest and, you know, with a, with an interest in Chicago obviously. Um, and so I've, I've got like seven. I'm gonna, I mean, at the very least, just send them hippity and the, and the, um, music video and see if we can form a relationship. I mean, the, the New York trip was unique because I had a friend who was in a band in New York Right. Who was willing to put us on the bill. Nice. Um, so, you know, I don't quite have the same connection with anybody currently in Chicago, but I, I plan to continue to grow those connections. We plan to continue to grow those connections. I got another guy we could call him. Um, but yeah, second. Second. Second, we get an opportunity. I'm all for making Chicago

Jon: 58:27

happen. Hell yeah. And I will tell all the homies here. I can roll deep with like 10 people. I'm pretty sure. So I'll be sick,

Kaj: 58:32

man. Oh yeah, absolutely. Sick. Oh yeah. Well that would be amazing. Hell yeah. Um,

Brandon: 58:37

oh shit. Wait real quick. Back to Chinatown. All right, I've got all this shit going on my head. So we had so much fun in Chinatown and kind's like, you know what would be a good song name? Sundays in Chinatown or Sunday in Chinatown. I was like, dude, that'd be a really good one. So look out for that shit. Haven't started writing it, but it's gonna be similar to, you know me in the sense that I'm gonna and incorporate, it's gonna be half English, half Mandarin. And that's the nice, and it's gonna be funky as hell. It's gonna be awesome. We don't even know what we're gonna do yet. But these dude, these guys we're gonna craft a fucking awesome song.

Jon: 59:11

Sunday's in Chinatown. Yeah, that sounds lit. Honestly, that'd be cool. It's gonna be a banger. Yep. Uh oh. Yeah. To answer your previous question. Mm-hmm. I, I, I actually, so I had another book started that I was going to be finishing and people know it, I've been not really working on it, but working on it. It's called the Hierarchy of Habits. Yep. Uh, and in the last month, I've now found a, a new inspiration. I, I typed like 20,000 words in like two weeks. It was, yeah. It was insane. I just couldn't stop writing. So I'm actually going to be writing a, a new book and, uh, hopefully gonna have that finished by the end of the year

Brandon: 59:54

and Wow. Dude, look at you, man. Yeah, I read that first dude. The, in the first one. It's, it's so good. I, I guess I just ordered two more copies, but like, everything I read in there, it's like, like I said, it was like I was. It was written by one of my friends. And, uh, you're just such an incredible writer and, uh, very excited to, to continue reading the, the things that you put out there. Appreciate what's, appreciate you got working title for it. What's, uh,

Jon: 1:00:17

uh, fear, forgiveness and Freedom. Okay. Triple F. So yeah, the book's gonna be centered around, um, fear and forgiveness. Um, cuz I've obviously, I've struggled a little bit with my comprehension of religion ever since, falling away from the faith. Mm-hmm. And, um, I was just wrestling with an idea of like, why isn't forgiveness more accessible to people who don't have religion? Like, I guess that's spirituality in a sense, but I, I kind of wanna write on what, like, literally fear makes us make decisions we don't want to do. Like, if you're fearful, I don't think I'm gonna be a good musician, you're afraid of that. And so you don't practice. Mm-hmm. Or if you're afraid of being. Unhealthy. No, you're just afraid of change, right? So fear drives all of these things and then we don't forgive ourselves for not facing fear, right? So I just had this shit happen in like two to three weeks where I just could not stop writing about that concept. So I'm going to try and write a book where I can make that accessible to everybody instead of just like, you need this religion to be forgiven, or you need this to be this, or like mm-hmm. Well, I'm trying to make something for everybody. Yeah. You

Brandon: 1:01:32

know? I love that man. Oh, that's a really, that's a really great, powerful concept.

Kaj: 1:01:35

Sounds

Jon: 1:01:36

powerful. Appreciate it. Yeah. So that sounds to that. Yeah. So that, it was an interesting two weeks I felt like, uh, Stephen King just writing like a motherfucker, you know? Um,

Brandon: 1:01:45

what's your routine for that? Yeah. You're not, you're not chain smoking cigarettes anymore, but you, are you on a caffeine? Do you go on a caffeine hiatus when you're, uh, In

Jon: 1:01:52

the zone. No, ca caffeine hiatus. Get outta here. Um, the last week I have been smoking cigars again. Okay. So, um, yeah, but that, that was actually, actually after shame, shame, shame. That was actually after all the writing though had happened. So during like all that writing and stuff, that was your reward? It was my reward a little bit. Yeah. So cool. Um, but yeah, so I am looking forward to accomplishing that, uh, this year. Uh, obviously sticking with the podcast, uh, and all that stuff. So, uh, yeah. I really appreciate you guys coming out here. This is an awesome fucking episode. Really excited. Yeah. Oh, thank you very much

Brandon: 1:02:28

for having me. I love this shit. Hopefully, hopefully we get invited back. I don't think I said anything too offensive. So. Uh, you know, I guess, I guess we'll find out. See if I get canceled from this episode. Yeah. I got go up to work next week. They're like, bro, you gotta get the fuck outta here. Like, like, damn dude. That's what did it.

Jon: 1:02:45

I think we, I think we did a good job today. Well man,

Kaj: 1:02:48

I had a lot of fun. Yeah, we did the thing. We did the thing.

Jon: 1:02:50

So, um, with that being said, uh, we're gonna sign off. My boys in the band towed. Uh, you can check'em out on Spotify and all those other listening platforms. I'm gonna be dropping links to their music video, their social media, and all that other stuff. You guys gotta really check'em out. They're bringing some funky ass vibes to the airways. You don't wanna miss that shit. Uh, inspiring people to have a good time and also to chase some wellness dreams. Uh, really appreciate everybody coming out today. Uh, pick up a hobby or a fucking book. I don't know. Just do whatever you gotta do to feel free. See, y'all have a good start to your week and we're outta here.

Brandon: 1:03:24

Peace out. Love you guys. Have a good one,

Kaj: 1:03:25

man. See ya. Thanks for having us.