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Aug. 30, 2024

Billy Corgan on Balancing Art, Legacy & Innovation in Music & Wrestling

Billy Corgan on Balancing Art, Legacy & Innovation in Music & Wrestling

In this exclusive interview, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins and president of the NWA dives deep into the challenges of staying true to his artistic vision while catering to a diverse fanbase. He discusses the evolving role of wrestling with the...

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In this exclusive interview, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins and president of the NWA dives deep into the challenges of staying true to his artistic vision while catering to a diverse fanbase. He discusses the evolving role of wrestling with the NWA, the future of the music industry in the streaming era, and how he channels personal experiences into his music. Corgan also explores the parallels between storytelling in songs and wrestling, and the importance of authenticity in a world of quick fame. Don't miss these insights from a true creative visionary!

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Transcript
WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Battleground Podcast and exclusive interviews with some

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of your favorite wrestlers.

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Stop. It's one O five nine in the Rock Nashals

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Classic Rock Its Battle and tonight there is a big

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show going on at ge Otis Park. You've heard us

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talking about it all week. I've even been telling you

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that I'm going to have a special guest in the

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studio and he is literally right here in front of me,

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a man that you're gonna be hearing performing tonight, William Patrick, Corgan,

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Jorge show. Sir, how are you doing.

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I'm good.

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I'm still reeling with the idea that you you dressed

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up as a giant piece of douchies going to unsuspecting

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front doors. That's I'm still processing that.

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I mean, you should see the videos we've we recorded

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all of them, we posted up on the internet, so

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they're on our Instagram if you want to see those

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all show clicks. Yeah, it's been very interesting. But first

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and foremost, before we get into anything any business, I

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want to say congratulations. I saw the news you got

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another one on the way.

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Yeah, number three, number three?

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How excited? Are you?

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Pretty excited?

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You know I was forty eight when my wife birthed

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our first child. So before I met her, i'd pretty

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much given up on the idea of having a family,

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not because I didn't want one, I just couldn't find

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the right situation. So to be here together twelve years later,

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we're married, we have two kids and another one away.

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It's amazing. I mean it certainly.

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It certainly makes the case for if you have faith,

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like anything can happen.

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Absolutely. Now, are you are the kids going to be

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interested in music wrestling? Are you going to try to

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like get like a whole big thing with them?

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Oh? No, They when we do NWA stuff, they come

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to the show, so they know a lot of the wrestlers.

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It's hard for them because they'll see the wrestlers on TV,

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but they in their minds it's like their friend, like,

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Oh that's my friend Tyris. That's how they think, you know,

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So it's hard for them to get into the storyline

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part of it all. Yeah, and then when they come

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on tour, they perform on stage with us. So my

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wife and I have gone out of our way to

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always make them feel like whatever we're doing professionally, they're

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a part of that. But at the same time, we

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always tell them. You know, whatever you want to do

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with your life, we're here to support you. But yeah,

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they obviously have very interesting experiences that are outside the norm.

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Right, because I mean they one day it's wrestling, the

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other day it's music. So it's like you said, I mean,

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it's got to be a cool moment as a dad

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to have these moments with your Well, we.

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Rolled up on MetLife Stadium not too long ago in

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New York where the Mets play, and my kids were

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in the back seat and they go, how many people

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are going to be here today? I go about forty

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five thousand, and they just don't even bat an eyelash.

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And then two hours later they're on stage dancing in

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front of forty five thousand people. So it's very I

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didn't have that growing up.

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Yeah, it's kind of My kids are the same way.

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I've got two as well. I've got a sixteen and

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a seven year old. The seven year old, or my

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seven year old, gets into everything. My sixteen year old

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is he's too cool for school. He doesn't want to

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do anything the dad does. But going to those things,

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it's such a cool moment.

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Well, you should dress him up as junior Dookie. Junior.

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I thought about that, that would be good kind of

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go to work with Dad.

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Right, exactly exactly, so let's talk about it. Of course,

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you guys are on tour with Green Day and Rancid

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and the Lenda Linda is that play in Giotis Park tonight.

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But you know, the Pumpkins have always defied conventional music trends, Right,

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how do you balance maintaining your artistic integrity with the

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expectation of a fan base that spans generations.

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It's impossible.

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And I would add to that the expectations of the

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music business because the music business, once you reach a

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certain amount of time in the music business, they just assume, okay,

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that's what you do, like you're this type of band.

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So when you do something that's outside their mental concept

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of who you are, that becomes a problem.

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We've always led.

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With the idea that if we believe in what we're doing,

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it'll all sort of work out, and it kind of

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has over time. Our path has been pretty unusual. I think,

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I don't think it's a bos I mean, you could

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argue it's a problem, but our path in music is

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almost like not like any other path of any other band,

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especially over this span of time. I mean, you're talking

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about thirty five, thirty six years, and you know, when

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we made this new album Agori Mori May, we decide

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to kind of go back to our old school way

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of making music and more guitar focused, and it's almost

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like people are like, oh my god, oh you can

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still do that, and it's like, no, no, we could

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always do that. We just chose not to for various

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lengths of time. So it's cool and that we have

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a little bit of win in our back for a change,

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and people seem to like what we're doing at the moment.

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But you know, it doesn't mean the next album we

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wouldn't decide to do something completely different. It's just it's

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just not the what's kept us motivated. And I think,

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like I said, over thirty six years, it's kind of

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worked for us. And you know, given our streaming numbers

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and where the band is public right now, I guess

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that you could argue it's also worked that way too.

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Yeah.

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Absolutely, And of course you've been vocal before about the

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impact of streaming on the music industry. If you could

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redesign like the music business model from scratch, what key

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changes would you like implement to.

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Building Wow, what artists? What a great question I would

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like to see.

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And I'm working on trying to set up my own

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record label, but I would like to see something more

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akin to what Tony Wilson did with Factory Records, which

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was the which was the label most notably that put

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out Joy Division back in the day in New Order.

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And you know Jack Bates, his dad, you know, played

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in New Order, you know, in Joy Division, so you know,

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he literally grew up in that business model, which is

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that you know, the the partnership between a label and

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artist is a fifty to fifty partnership. I think that's

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the that's the most that's the best upside for everybody involved.

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That avoids Taylor Swift being mad about what happened here

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in town with her former label. You know, I'm saying,

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get down to like everybody's kind of got the same

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skin in the game. The old model, which is still

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very much the model, is Hey, you're lucky that we

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are interested in you. We're going to completely exploit you,

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and then if you're successful enough, we will work out

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the level of exploitation going forward. Creates a lot of

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bitterness in the business people who do have legitimate moments.

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Even if there are a couple of years, they don't

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really get paid what they're due for the moment they created.

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And I think the music business as a whole would

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benefit from a partnership model. The chance of it happening

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is probably less than five percent because labels just assume,

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very much like the NFL or something, you're only going

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to be around for a couple of years. So if

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you get lucky, we want to take the advantage of

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you getting.

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Lucky, right for sure. And this weekend, man, it's a

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very busy weekend. We were talking off the air. I mean,

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you've got the show tonight at Giotis Park. Then you

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got to hop on a bus to get the Philadelphia

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because you got NWA in Philly this weekend. And in

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your journey with the NWA, now is my time when

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I also get to geek out and talk about wrestling

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on a music we talking.

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About wrestling here, I've been in this chair talking about

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wrestling before.

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I'm having a flashback.

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Yes, how do you see the role of wrestling involving

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in like the broader landscape of entertainment, especially in an

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era dominated by streaming and instant content.

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Again a great question. You know, I think there were

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those years between let's say the mid forties and maybe

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up until about ten years ago, or wrestling's placed in

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the culture was very much kind of an almost embarrassed yeah,

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and there's wrestling too, you know. It was it was

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stuck over there in the corner with Roller Derby. And

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yet over those seventy years, you saw the rise of

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the NFL, the rise of the NBA. Heck, now we

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see the rise of the WNBA, right, And I think

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it was very hard for many people in the wrestling business,

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because they're obviously very gifted athletes to not get that

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same kind of street respect as another great athlete. Yes,

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they're entertainers, and we all understand that part of the business.

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I think since you've seen the sale of WWE to WME,

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which is also owns UFC, I think you're going to

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see now wrestling finally enter the core mainstream of entertainment.

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It'll be up there with Broadway theater and everything else.

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It's something that's obviously very popular, generates a lot of

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money for whatever partners that it has, and I think

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it also sort of attract more talent. So I personally

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I think wrestling's best days are ahead. And I love

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the era that I grew up and I think it

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was a fantastic time for professional wrestling. But I think

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what's to come, and when you see what WWAE is

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able to do with eighty thousand people in a stadium

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for WrestleMania and all that stuff. That's why I bought

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the NWA, because I saw a lane by which we

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could not only bring the NWA back, but also grow

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as a business. And all my meetings, whether I'm talking

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to top networks, big agents in the sports field, my

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pitch is always the same. It's a mainstream product. It's

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meant to be a mainstream product. I know it's very

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trendy right now for wrestling to be treated as a

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niche product, like a smaller and smaller fan base pays

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more and more to watch a very specific kind of wrestling,

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And I get that. It's very similar to the dynamics

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of independent music, where a band has a weird mustache

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and a bunch of people like them and they can't

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really write hit songs, but everyone says how great it is. Well,

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there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, I came out

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of the independent markets myself, but we all understand the

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biggest movies are about the most people going. The biggest

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wrestling events are about the most people going. So what

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does that tell you? You have to find a product

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that reaches everything from a five year old kid who

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gets what they're watching at the most fundamental levels and

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then in my case, sitting next to an eighty one

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year old Belgian woman who didn't even speak English but

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who like professional wrestling. I think that's when wrestling's at

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its best. So the best times are to come. And

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to your question about streaming, streaming is perfect for wrestling digital.

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We've seen a lot of growth lately in the NWA.

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We just started putting up just matches, no context, just

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put up a match, and our streaming numbers have gone

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back up. So what does that tell you? People only

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want to watch what they want to watch when they

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want to watch it. They don't necessarily want to sit

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for a whole show. Doesn't mean I don't want them

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to watch the whole show, but a lot of people

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they don't have time and they're on a bus. They

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want to watch one match whom they watch one match

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that you're offering them so.

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Right, and that's the great thing about like you said

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about wrestling right now and the whole streaming things, like,

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you know, if I'm sitting there and I can't watch,

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you know, the NWA show when it gets put out

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on the CW app, I could watch it on a

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Saturday morning, or I could watch it Sunday evening after

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I put the kids to bed.

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Oh. I mean, it's fantastic for that. But again, you know, look,

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you know, there's a lot of talk in the entertainment

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business about the influence of TikTok and how it's Somebody

233
00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:52.600
told me yesterday, somebody who's a huge, huge YouTube person.

234
00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:55.279
I don't want to say the name, but they said

235
00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:55.840
that when.

236
00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:59.960
They do short YouTube like shorts for like Instagram or TikTok,

237
00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:02.240
thirty five seconds is the perfect time.

238
00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:03.919
Yeah, that's the level of.

239
00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:08.639
Attention you can get from somebody thirty five seconds before

240
00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:10.000
they scroll onto something else.

241
00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:13.840
I mean, so, are we down to thirty five second matches?

242
00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:14.519
You know what I mean?

243
00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:15.159
Like, I don't know what.

244
00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:16.519
I'm gonna do with that, but bring the bell and

245
00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:21.399
that's that's real information. Yeah, you know, so, but you know,

246
00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:23.120
we see it now. I don't know if you're an

247
00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:25.559
NFL fan, I would assume, you know, being being here

248
00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:29.799
with an NFL team, I've gotten very used to you know,

249
00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:31.639
I don't really watch the NFL anymore, but if there's

250
00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:33.200
a game i'm sort of interested in, Like we have

251
00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:35.799
the new quarterback in Chicago, I'll watch that thing the

252
00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:38.200
NFL puts together that it's like basically six eight minute

253
00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:40.360
highlight but they show all the top plays.

254
00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:41.000
It's perfect.

255
00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:43.799
Yeah, I'm watching the product. I get a chance to

256
00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:46.679
see my team, that the Bears, how they're playing, and

257
00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:49.480
then it's you know, instead of three hours and eight

258
00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:50.600
thousand beer.

259
00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:52.080
Commercials later, right, you know what I mean?

260
00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:54.320
Yeah, I get those I get those other two and

261
00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:55.639
a half hours of my life back.

262
00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:57.879
Yeah, and you can do other things like, you know,

263
00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:59.320
writing songs or whatnot.

264
00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:03.559
Oh yeah, like standing in the sunshine or a breathing oxygen, you.

265
00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.320
Know, right, which kind of leads me to my next question.

266
00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:10.639
Because the Smashing Pumpkins sound has always been deeply introspective.

267
00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:15.320
As a songwriter, how do you channel your personal experiences

268
00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:19.440
into music while still allowing space for listeners to interpret

269
00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:21.519
and find their own meanings in your songs?

270
00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:24.960
As strange as it sounds, the more personal my songs

271
00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:29.519
are traditionally the more people seem to find themselves in it.

272
00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:33.039
If I write kind of a vague song, there seems

273
00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.000
to be no connection. If I write something that's very

274
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:36.720
as we call in wrestling, me me, me, me Me,

275
00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:40.679
that's when people seem to want to get married to

276
00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:43.720
the song and have their kid born to the song.

277
00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:44.080
I know.

278
00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:47.159
It's strange to me because I feel a lot of

279
00:12:47.159 --> 00:12:49.159
the songs that people have connected with through the years

280
00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.200
are super personal.

281
00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:53.039
But I don't know how that works. It's a mystery

282
00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:53.240
to me.

283
00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:55.600
Yeah, it's gonna be one of those things, because it

284
00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:59.399
is interesting when people connect to those songs, especially if

285
00:12:59.399 --> 00:13:01.639
it's on a whole different level, like you said, like

286
00:13:01.799 --> 00:13:04.000
if you wrote it for your personal experience, but they're like, hey,

287
00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:05.159
I'm gonna interpret.

288
00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:06.399
It for this well.

289
00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:08.480
And then just the whole thing misheard lyrics. You know,

290
00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:10.840
my my diction isn't so great when I sing, so

291
00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:13.879
I mean, it's amazing the miss the misheard lyrics through

292
00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:16.759
the years. So you get that too, like somebody they've

293
00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.840
convinced themselves that there's a line in a song that

294
00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:20.360
isn't the one you're singing.

295
00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:23.120
But that's the one they believe in. Yeah. So and

296
00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:24.879
they come up and tell you like, oh I love

297
00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:25.399
that line.

298
00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:26.759
You're like money, you don't want to.

299
00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:29.279
I want to say the all time one though, was

300
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.440
it's a slightly different topic, but a guy came up

301
00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:34.840
and said, you know, I got a I got a tattoo.

302
00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:38.320
You know my favorite lyric of years of all time,

303
00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:40.240
I got a tattoo. And he lifted up his sleeve

304
00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:43.039
and one of the words was misspelled. Oh no, it

305
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:45.159
was like one of those eye before e like conceive

306
00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.759
or receive. And I was just like, I can't be

307
00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:50.519
the guy to tell him this. It's just like, that's

308
00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:52.600
a great tattoo, that's all I said.

309
00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:53.679
I was like, oh, thanks, bro.

310
00:13:55.600 --> 00:13:58.799
Oh well, I don't know if it sticks. But for

311
00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:02.080
a while there was a site Pumpkins Tattoos. It's just

312
00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.240
thousands of tattoos of pumpkins related.

313
00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:08.639
I mean, that's got to show like something really cool

314
00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:11.159
to the test of time with everything that you guys

315
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.720
have done of just like you have a page dedicated

316
00:14:14.039 --> 00:14:15.559
to tattoos of the pumpkins.

317
00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.080
Well, yeah, you know, I used to. I used people

318
00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:21.320
would want me to sign.

319
00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:23.080
Them and then you know, I thought that was kind

320
00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:24.200
of cool, and then one day I was like, oh,

321
00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:25.960
this is wrong, Like I got to stop doing so

322
00:14:25.960 --> 00:14:30.120
I stopped doing that. But yeah, it's interesting. It's interesting

323
00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:32.759
what people you know, it'll be a small symbol from

324
00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:34.759
an album that they connect with. It'll be sometimes the

325
00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.759
band's logo. Usually it's my handwriting, so it's weird. I'll

326
00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:43.159
see my handwriting like on somebody's body. Yeah, there's other

327
00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:47.159
stories there. I can't tell then, about women in tattoos. Whatever,

328
00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:49.600
let's just leave it right now.

329
00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:51.919
We'll just leave it right there. Of course, our guest

330
00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:55.360
in studio right now, William Patrick Corgan The Smashing Pumpkins

331
00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:57.360
are playing tonight with Green Day at Giotis Park. And

332
00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:01.399
you know, as someone who has exceeded in both music

333
00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:06.279
and wrestling industries, what parallels do you see between crafting

334
00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:10.600
a compellative, a compelling narrative in a song and building

335
00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:12.399
a creative storyline in wrestling?

336
00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:14.440
Another good question.

337
00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:18.200
Uh, you know, I could give you kind of a

338
00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:23.279
high falutin answer, but it doesn't really apply. The closest

339
00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:28.000
parallel to wrestling and music for me are set lists.

340
00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:30.919
You know, you have a two to three hour event,

341
00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:33.600
how do you pace that event so that people feel

342
00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.159
that what they're watching sort of has an unfolding narrative,

343
00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:38.000
even though it's just a series of matches, which is

344
00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.240
the same as a set list, right, What do a

345
00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:42.360
series of songs tell people about who you are as

346
00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:45.360
a band? So, for example, anybody coming to the show tonight,

347
00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.440
we start with Everlasting Gaze, which was, you know, a

348
00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.720
moderate hit on our last record of the nineties, and

349
00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:57.759
then we play a song from Zeitgei's which came out

350
00:15:57.759 --> 00:15:59.600
in two thousand and seven, which was a very controversial

351
00:15:59.639 --> 00:16:02.399
record time, but most of the audience, of course, won't

352
00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:04.039
know the song. And then the third song we do

353
00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:08.159
a YouTube cover which is somewhat obscure YouTube song, not

354
00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:10.840
a big hit, So people would say, why would you

355
00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:13.159
open your show with the first three songs? You know,

356
00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:15.639
sort of, but that's the story that we want to tell.

357
00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.120
We usually start dark and then kind of move to light,

358
00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:22.279
and not everybody agrees with that setless philosophy. Some people

359
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:23.840
believe you should come out with a bang and hit

360
00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:27.240
and everybody cheering, and I'm like, but there's only one

361
00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:29.559
way to go from there, which is down right, So

362
00:16:29.559 --> 00:16:31.399
you have to have confidence to tell a story. So

363
00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:33.240
same thing with matches, right, you got to have this

364
00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:35.919
confidence that you know, some of the early matches can

365
00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:38.279
tell a story that we'll get they will get the excited,

366
00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:41.519
the audience excited about what's still to come. I suppose

367
00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.279
just like looking at their watch thing, Okay, I get it,

368
00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:46.679
but like let's move on to the next thing. So

369
00:16:46.759 --> 00:16:48.559
that's a big thing with n w A. As you know,

370
00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:50.679
storytelling is a huge part of what we.

371
00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:53.440
Do, absolutely and it's been some of the great storytelling.

372
00:16:53.480 --> 00:16:56.519
And it's awesome because here on this show, like we're

373
00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.559
a music driven show, but I also a big wrestling nerd.

374
00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:02.519
As nobody that's paid that's listening to this right now

375
00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:04.200
can see. But behind me, I have one of the

376
00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:08.000
most prestigious titles in all of wrestling sitting back here behind.

377
00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:08.920
Me, the ten pounds of Gold.

378
00:17:09.079 --> 00:17:11.000
That's it, the ten pounds of gold. When you see

379
00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:14.200
that thing that is that is the championship belt of

380
00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:15.720
all of wrestling. I'll just go ahead and say that,

381
00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:18.400
and you can fight me for that. Whoever's listening to this.

382
00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:19.480
Right well, so interrupt you.

383
00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:21.279
What's cool is you know that the lineage of that

384
00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:24.759
belt goes back directly, you know, over seventy six years.

385
00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:27.880
So when you know, right now EC three has the belt.

386
00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:29.799
When you have that belt, I mean you have a

387
00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:32.759
direct link back through you know, some of the greatest

388
00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:36.920
talents in wrestling history. Yeah, so there's no getting around that, right.

389
00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:39.279
I mean, that's a that's a real tangible thing in

390
00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:41.400
a business where there's not a lot of reality.

391
00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:43.400
No, and you look at it and it's like you said,

392
00:17:43.480 --> 00:17:46.799
I mean a EC three, Tyris Nick gold Is, Harley

393
00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:47.799
Ray's Rick Flair.

394
00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:50.000
I mean, the list goes on and on and whoever

395
00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:53.240
has even Adam here, Adam Hears who you know is now.

396
00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:55.880
I saw recently he's talking about having another match and

397
00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:58.720
I think it's been over ten years or so that

398
00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:02.200
he since he's had a match. Incredibly talented person. So

399
00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:05.519
that'd be interesting too, because you know his lineage is

400
00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:08.680
through the NWA title and that's how he made his name.

401
00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:12.759
Absolutely, and I mean the NWA when you think of wrestling,

402
00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:16.519
it's synonymous with wrestling. NWA is it, because I remember

403
00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:19.559
growing up watching NWA at the fairgrounds here down the

404
00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:21.680
street in Nashville, and every.

405
00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:23.519
Saturday is definitely an NWA town.

406
00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:27.039
Yes, absolutely, so hopefully you know, we can get another

407
00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:28.799
NWA show back here in Nashville.

408
00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:31.079
But you know what it is is so crowded. You know,

409
00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:33.240
we like running the Fairgrounds, but every time we call

410
00:18:33.319 --> 00:18:36.000
for a date, they're like book booked, booked, and so

411
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:38.480
I don't know, I needed if anybody's listening, you know,

412
00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:40.319
somebody at the Fairgrounds. I mean, we need an in

413
00:18:40.440 --> 00:18:42.960
over there, because literally every time we've called with a

414
00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:46.920
date just booked, I think they're booked two years out

415
00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:47.559
or I.

416
00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:49.400
Think we could work around I know some people over

417
00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:49.839
there we can make.

418
00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:52.640
I appreciate that, Yeah, because we love running Nashville. I mean,

419
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:55.160
had some great shows here and for a while we

420
00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.720
were doing our TV here as well at Skyway.

421
00:18:57.559 --> 00:18:59.400
Right for sure, and that that's a great place as

422
00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:02.279
well to do some stuff. But you know, we're here

423
00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:06.079
talking about music, wrestling and everything in between. And you've

424
00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:10.640
often spoke about the importance of the authenticity in your

425
00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:13.720
work in today's culture, and we've bifinitly talked about this.

426
00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:16.319
Is there anything authentic in today's poture.

427
00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.400
Quick fame and viral moments? How do you stay grounded

428
00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:22.240
and true to your long term vision, Whether it's with

429
00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:24.359
the pumpkins or the nwa.

430
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:29.039
Well, to be blunt about it, I've always taken the

431
00:19:29.079 --> 00:19:31.880
position and my father was this way too, so maybe

432
00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:33.559
it runs in the family. But it's something along the

433
00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:37.000
lines of this. When you see everyone run to one

434
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:40.079
side of a room, right, well, that's going to leave

435
00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:41.519
a lot of space on the other side of the

436
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.799
room for something completely different. So I don't know, I

437
00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:49.599
don't know what would make people run to a corner

438
00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:52.839
of a room. Oh my god, it's a super famous person. Okay, Well,

439
00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:54.960
I'm the type of person that isn't going to run

440
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:57.200
to that corner. I'm the type of person that's going

441
00:19:57.240 --> 00:19:59.960
to hold back and say do I care? And that's

442
00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:01.680
point I'm gonna turn around and say, well, what's going

443
00:20:01.720 --> 00:20:04.119
on in the other direction? So I think you have

444
00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:08.880
to provide a counter narrative thing that has just as

445
00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:15.000
much value coming from independent music. And if everybody remembers

446
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:18.160
in the late eighties, you had early glimpses of what

447
00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:20.480
was coming with Guns n' Roses and then sound Guard

448
00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:24.640
and then ultimately bands like Nirvana to kind of break

449
00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:27.079
through what was the But if everybody remembers the eighties,

450
00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:29.559
especially late eighties. I mean there's a lot of hair

451
00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:32.079
metal and every you know, a lot of great hair

452
00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:34.000
metal bands, which I still like, but you know, they'd

453
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:35.799
all fall into that thing where everybody was doing the

454
00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:38.799
soppy ballad. You know, I'm on the road and you know,

455
00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:41.599
I've run out of hairspray and all that those songs, right,

456
00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:44.599
and then you know, and then you had you know,

457
00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:47.599
Janet Jackson was a hugely dominant pop artist. It was

458
00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.960
all about dancing and you know, like a lot of

459
00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:52.880
stuff which I wasn't particularly interested as a music fan,

460
00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:54.599
even though I loved her music.

461
00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:56.960
I thought her production was always great and all that stuff.

462
00:20:57.400 --> 00:21:02.279
So when you when you try to create something that's

463
00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:06.160
counter to that, it's not just like it's not just like, Okay,

464
00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:07.519
well we're going to go over here in the other corner.

465
00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:09.680
We're going to make a big racket and that competes. No.

466
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:10.920
No, what you have to do is you have to

467
00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:15.440
present something of a higher sense of inner integrity. So

468
00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:17.519
if everybody on the other side of the street in

469
00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:23.440
twenty twenty four is plastic, surgeried out, you know, filtered out,

470
00:21:23.640 --> 00:21:26.799
God knows what they're running their voices through. You know,

471
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:29.559
all that stuff that everybody does, so everybody seems perfect

472
00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:33.799
and all from the same alien laboratory. Well, when a

473
00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:35.880
kid turns around and looks at that other corner of

474
00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.119
the room, they need this to be somebody that's completely

475
00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:43.160
opposite that. Yeah, so you get into crooked teeth and

476
00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:45.759
not perfect people and they go, well, why are they

477
00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:49.400
standing there? And that's where being a deadly live band

478
00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:52.240
has always worked for us, and really just not giving

479
00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:55.759
a you know what about what people think. If you're

480
00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:57.680
fifteen years older, you're twenty five years old, and you

481
00:21:57.720 --> 00:21:59.799
feel a bit lost in this current culture and we

482
00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:03.079
and we know statistically that many many people do. Well,

483
00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:06.480
that's why bands like us with Green Day and all

484
00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:08.640
credit to green Day, it's their show, are able to

485
00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:11.400
sell a stadium full of people. And by the way,

486
00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:14.599
the audiences that we're looking are very, very young. I

487
00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:17.039
would say the average audience on this tour is probably

488
00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:20.680
somewhere in the mid twenties. Yeah, not like the audience

489
00:22:20.680 --> 00:22:23.160
you would assume, which is like old gen X people

490
00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.200
coming out for one more round because it's a couple

491
00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.279
of nineties or three nineties bands. No, it's very young.

492
00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:30.799
So what does that tell you? They want something that

493
00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:32.759
feels a little bit more gritty and a little bit

494
00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:35.599
more real. And if you look at Green Day who

495
00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:38.079
they are as people, they're not perfect. I don't think

496
00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.680
they would tell you they're perfect. We're certainly not perfect.

497
00:22:41.160 --> 00:22:45.599
Rancid certainly not perfect people, but we're all ourselves. And

498
00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:48.160
when when you put all those people together, it's not

499
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:51.319
you don't you like, Okay, this is we're we are

500
00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:54.400
that other side of the room. It's not for everybody,

501
00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:55.680
but it's enough, right.

502
00:22:55.880 --> 00:22:58.119
Yeah, And that's a great analogy. And of course you're

503
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.839
going to be able to see all that tonight Giodis Park.

504
00:23:01.319 --> 00:23:03.400
You can still grab tickets ticketmaster dot com and I

505
00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:04.960
think we actually have a pair that will give away

506
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:05.400
as well.

507
00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:09.279
During the show. Do I have to wear the Dukie suit? Though,

508
00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:10.039
you don't have to.

509
00:23:10.039 --> 00:23:11.880
Wear the Dukie suit. But here's what we'll do is

510
00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:14.400
I will wear the Dukie suit and I will take

511
00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:17.720
a close line from EC three on stage if he's around,

512
00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:18.240
we'll do that.

513
00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:19.119
I like that.

514
00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:21.559
That's what we'll make viral news that way on this

515
00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:26.440
little quick thirty five second clips. I mean Alex Taylor

516
00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:27.640
can do it. I mean he can do it. He

517
00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:28.119
lives here.

518
00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:34.559
That's true, Plunk Plunky would definitely put you to sleep.

519
00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:37.279
We'll figure we'll talk about that after the air. We'll

520
00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:39.880
we'll figure this out. But last question before we let

521
00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:43.000
you go. And I always like to kind of get

522
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.079
people's thoughts on this. Recently I had Slash on the show.

523
00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:49.640
We talked about this. Over the past year or so,

524
00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:52.599
AI technology has kind of gotten really bigger. A lot

525
00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.359
of people using that, a lot of people using AI

526
00:23:55.480 --> 00:24:00.880
technology in music. What are your thought thoughts on AI

527
00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:04.480
technology being used in the music creating process?

528
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:07.480
You want the short answer and the long answer.

529
00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:09.799
Whichever answer you I don't want to I don't want

530
00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:12.599
to bore your great listeners, so you tell me.

531
00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:15.440
Hey, give them a long answer. These everybody, I would

532
00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:18.279
love to hear from the musician, the guy that shuts

533
00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:19.480
there and goes through the process.

534
00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:22.759
We'll start here. AI is not going anywhere.

535
00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:26.000
So the debate over it as far as whether or

536
00:24:26.039 --> 00:24:27.680
not it's going to be part of the music business,

537
00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:30.920
that's already over somebody recently in the in the end,

538
00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:35.319
the Nashville I Almos said, und way, the Nashville circles UH

539
00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:39.759
told me that AI is being used in almost every

540
00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:43.000
writing session in Nashville now and has been for years.

541
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.279
So it's here, yea, Now, let's hit pause on that.

542
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:54.079
Every time there's been a major technological advancement in the

543
00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:57.920
history of music, it yields a new type of music.

544
00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:02.359
You could say it's good or bad, but it does something. Heck,

545
00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:06.119
the invention of electric guitar, basically by Les Paul in

546
00:25:06.200 --> 00:25:09.160
terms of what everybody would understand the modern electric guitar, well,

547
00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:12.119
that ushered in people going well, now they can hear

548
00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:13.759
me in the back of the room and Muddy Water's

549
00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:16.359
turning all the way up and distorting his guitar and

550
00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:20.720
link ray slashing, you know, a speaker with razor blades,

551
00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:27.480
so it's sounding more cool and distorted. So it gets into, like,

552
00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:29.680
let's call it the ethics of what you're going to

553
00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:33.279
do with that technology. So here's let's start from the

554
00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:36.279
bad side. What we've seen over the last twenty plus

555
00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:37.920
years with pro tools is there are a bunch of

556
00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:40.000
people in the music market who have no business being

557
00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:43.880
in the music market. Now you can argue, hey, who

558
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:45.920
cares if they came up with the right beat, the

559
00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:48.799
right rap, the right chord changes, the right song however,

560
00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:51.519
beautiful silly. If they get it done and they get

561
00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:53.240
a song on the charts, will more power to them.

562
00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.799
It's a capitalist society and you should do it. But

563
00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:57.480
what you end up doing is you sort of end

564
00:25:57.559 --> 00:25:59.759
up mutting the water where it's really hard to tell

565
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:03.640
who are artists with real ability and we're going to

566
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:05.599
be in your life for the next thirty or forty

567
00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:06.720
years or somebody.

568
00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:08.039
That's just having a little bit of a moment.

569
00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:10.079
And so what it does is kind of smears the

570
00:26:10.119 --> 00:26:13.440
culture around where everything kind of feels almost less than

571
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:15.960
what it should be because you're not really looking at

572
00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:18.799
a whole group of people of accomplishment. You're looking at

573
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:22.319
basically a high school photo. You know, if you've ever

574
00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:24.839
looked at a high school photo twenty years later and go, well,

575
00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:27.559
that one didn't turn out so good, And so that's

576
00:26:27.599 --> 00:26:29.839
what you're looking at now in popular music. You're looking

577
00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:32.559
at a high school photo. We're probably eighty percent, ninety

578
00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:34.680
percent of the people in the photo. You won't even

579
00:26:34.680 --> 00:26:38.000
remember their name a heck, not ten years from now,

580
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:41.160
maybe even a year from now. So think of the

581
00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:44.160
message that sends to young people. It's good to cheat,

582
00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:45.960
it's good to be a fraud. It's good to do

583
00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:48.039
whatever you got to do to be successful. Let's call

584
00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:51.480
it the American idol model. What do I got to say? Who?

585
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:53.640
What needs do I need to be on in front

586
00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:57.440
of to you know, to you know, prostrate myself so

587
00:26:57.480 --> 00:27:03.279
you'll give me the magical wand of a Now to

588
00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:07.920
the ethical part of it. A very famous person in

589
00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:10.599
the tech industry came up to me approximately seven years

590
00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:13.839
ago and told me that this technology was coming and

591
00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:18.839
offered me an early version of it and said, you know,

592
00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:22.599
basically all of music history had been analyzed, and this

593
00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:25.480
machine would tell me what chords to play. That would

594
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:28.599
give me the greatest advantage with you as a listener,

595
00:27:29.720 --> 00:27:32.119
what beat to play, what tempo, what key to play,

596
00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:34.920
and to basically game the system so I'd have a

597
00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:37.759
better chance of reaching you as a person listening.

598
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:40.079
That is scary to think about, okay.

599
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.240
And I've known this person a long time and something

600
00:27:43.319 --> 00:27:45.279
I'm friendly with, and they thought they were doing me

601
00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:48.279
a favor, like hey, like, you know, hey, I'm going

602
00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:50.759
to give you this technology, you know, right, And I

603
00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:54.160
told him not to want it, and he just he

604
00:27:54.359 --> 00:27:56.839
couldn't believe that I didn't want it, and I said,

605
00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:01.240
I'm not interested. I said, my whole life is standing

606
00:28:01.319 --> 00:28:05.559
on a stage playing my music, and that's just the

607
00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:07.480
way it is. And if that means that I'm not

608
00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:09.480
going to be good enough, well that means I'm not

609
00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:12.480
going to be good enough. Ten years from now, I

610
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:14.640
might be standing in a stage somewhere, a much smaller

611
00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:18.559
stage than when I'm standing on and the new alternative

612
00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:21.680
musicians of the world, they might be all AI this

613
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:24.960
and AI that, and the audience just won't care because

614
00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:28.319
it's just the new version of the new thing. I

615
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:31.359
don't want to be a luddite and wave a flag.

616
00:28:31.480 --> 00:28:35.119
I just I believe, and I'm a spiritual person. If

617
00:28:35.160 --> 00:28:38.119
you believe in God like I do, if God gives

618
00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:41.079
you a talent and then you want to cheat with

619
00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:43.400
that talent, then why did God give you that talent?

620
00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:48.279
The journey is ultimately inauthentic. And I like to believe

621
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:49.839
in the theory that when I lay my head on

622
00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:52.200
my pillow, you know it's a pillow I bought with

623
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:56.240
my own money, with my own work, not because I

624
00:28:56.279 --> 00:29:01.720
was able to cheat my way forward. Last thing, we

625
00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:04.000
know that young people are totally going to cheat their

626
00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:07.920
way forward. Okay, if it's not a filter on Instagram,

627
00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:10.640
it's going to be AI telling them what to sing

628
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:15.599
and play. And so I think pretty quickly we're all

629
00:29:15.640 --> 00:29:17.559
going to have to make a kind of cultural decision

630
00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:21.039
of how we view let's call it AI inspired work,

631
00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:24.920
and I'll go one step further. Is everyone ready, including

632
00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:27.319
people that listen to the station? Are you ready to

633
00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:30.440
listen to artists that aren't real? Yeah, because that's coming

634
00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:33.440
to We recently saw it, and God blessed because we

635
00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:36.640
understand the situation. But Randy Travis where they used AI

636
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:41.000
to have his voice in a song because obviously he

637
00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:45.279
can't sing, And it's a weird feeling, right because on

638
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:47.839
one level, it's like you realize what a great talent

639
00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:51.119
he is and what a crime it is that he's

640
00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:54.240
in this situation where he's not able to sing at

641
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:57.119
the level that he was once able to. So there's

642
00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:01.119
like a familiarity, there's a tug on the heartstrings, and

643
00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:04.680
at the same time, it's not real. So are you

644
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:06.519
ready for a whole generation of that?

645
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:07.960
Man?

646
00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:08.799
It's it's scary.

647
00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:11.359
Are you ready for? Are you ready? Are you ready?

648
00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:13.000
As a as a let's call it a rock fan.

649
00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:16.079
Your friend goes, hey, do you hear the new uh,

650
00:30:16.119 --> 00:30:18.839
you know the new record by the you know the

651
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:22.839
water Bottles. No, oh my god, this is great. Let's

652
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:26.799
go see them live. You're watching the band live on stage,

653
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:29.359
and you're like, Okay, this this is not bad. And

654
00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:31.200
then your friend turns and goes, by the way that

655
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:35.000
that recording that's not that was all Ai. This is

656
00:30:35.119 --> 00:30:38.680
just the band they sent on tour to play the songs.

657
00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:40.960
But the song that you like isn't real at all.

658
00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:43.799
Are you ready for that? Because that's coming for sure.

659
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:45.640
I don't think I'm ready for it, just like I

660
00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:49.519
don't think I'm ready for the whole like hologram concert

661
00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:51.960
thing as well, because I remember, like they did the

662
00:30:51.960 --> 00:30:55.079
Tupac thing years ago, there was the doo talks of

663
00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:58.480
a hologram tour happening. I think recently they did like

664
00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:01.920
a Roy Orbison hologram tour that people will pay him for.

665
00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:05.079
I think, you know, hologram type of thing is fine

666
00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:06.960
for an amusement park. I don't think it'll ever work

667
00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:09.119
for the for the concert venue. I don't think people

668
00:31:09.160 --> 00:31:12.920
are going to go to the Ryman and watch a hologram. Yeah,

669
00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:15.839
but they will go to the Ryman and watch Hank

670
00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:17.519
Williams imitator.

671
00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:18.319
Mm hmm.

672
00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:19.200
Okay.

673
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:22.079
And by the way, they push that on Hank Junior

674
00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:25.400
when he was eight years old. Yeah, okay, that's the

675
00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:28.880
early version of what I'm talking about. Hey, there's a demand,

676
00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:32.720
And are you telling me they can't like AI comes

677
00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:34.960
with what or they find a guy and they go,

678
00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:37.599
you're going to be the voice. We're the record company.

679
00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:39.319
We're gonna do the AI record, but you're gonna be

680
00:31:39.359 --> 00:31:41.759
the voice. Your your voice will actually be on the record,

681
00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:45.599
but you won't actually sing. Yeah, it's it's it's here.

682
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:47.519
I mean, that's what I'm That's what I mean. It's

683
00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:49.920
like it's like something out of a bad seventy sci

684
00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:53.440
fi movie, right right? Are we gonna end up with

685
00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:55.240
a you know? It's like remember there was the argument

686
00:31:55.319 --> 00:31:57.839
during a when steroids were pervasive in baseball, and there

687
00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:00.640
were people literally saying, just let him do steroids. Like

688
00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:02.480
what do we care? We want to see a five

689
00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:05.599
hundred foot home run, right, I think you're gonna have

690
00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:07.519
a crowd that's gonna be like, I don't care. I

691
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:10.880
like the music, I don't care who makes it? And

692
00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:13.000
are we gonna have this weird thing where there's gonna

693
00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:15.640
be an audience that's refused, you know, like GMO foods.

694
00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:17.799
You know what I mean. You're right, I refuse to

695
00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:18.880
listen to AI music.

696
00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:24.559
The line won't will be impossible to ascertain because almost

697
00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:26.960
every popular artist will be using some form of AI

698
00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:31.279
to game the system. And then you're gonna have these

699
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:33.319
and they've been doing in Japan for I think over

700
00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:36.160
ten years, where they have these anime bands where they're

701
00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:37.079
like they're not even real.

702
00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:41.880
Wow, it's gonna be interesting to see how music plays

703
00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:45.039
out in the future. No pun intended there, but.

704
00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:47.079
It all goes with the biblical end of the world,

705
00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:49.160
you see. So we're right on point there.

706
00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:52.079
We're getting there. Well, it's been an honor and a

707
00:32:52.119 --> 00:32:53.960
privilege to have you sitting here in studio with us.

708
00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:57.680
Can't wait for the show tonight before we let you go.

709
00:32:57.720 --> 00:32:59.680
Is there anything you want to say to all of

710
00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:01.599
nash right now that's listening to this?

711
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:04.319
You know, every time I come here, I've spent a

712
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:06.839
lot of time here for people don't know. We recorded

713
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:09.240
a lot of our new album here and in Nashville

714
00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:13.279
at Blackbird. We love working at Blackbird. Great family obviously

715
00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:20.599
runs the studio, the McBride's, and in many ways, you know,

716
00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:22.160
we used to do a lot of our recording in

717
00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:25.000
LA back in the day in the nineties. So Nashville

718
00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:29.799
has become our new musical home outside of Chicago. So

719
00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:31.839
every time I come here, I feel like I'm home

720
00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:33.400
because this is where I do a lot of work. Now,

721
00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:35.720
what I always tell people, because a lot of people

722
00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:39.200
ask me, because obviously get around they think about moving

723
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:42.680
to Nashville obviously the hottest city in America, And I

724
00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:45.519
always tell them, as usually musicians asking, I always say,

725
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:47.799
the great thing about Nashville is there's still people there

726
00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:50.599
that play. You know, there are still people are going

727
00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:52.960
to be out on a Thursday night in one of

728
00:33:52.960 --> 00:33:56.440
those bars playing. And that's what I love about Nashville

729
00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:59.039
is there's still players here because you won't really find

730
00:33:59.039 --> 00:33:59.880
it in LA anymore.

731
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:00.640
It used to be.

732
00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:03.279
And I God, I got I don't can't even imagine

733
00:34:03.319 --> 00:34:05.000
what goes out in New York anymore other than they

734
00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:08.880
say jazz. So this is this is the music city

735
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:11.840
for America right now, and there really is no close second.

736
00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:14.800
I'm just gonna end it like that, then it's all

737
00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:15.039
I got.

738
00:34:15.239 --> 00:34:16.719
She's got to add a nuclear explosion.