Guster

Part 1

0:00We just met in school, we went to Tufts University, and that's what we had when we went to school. We couldn't bring large amps and drum kits and basses and all that stuff. I had an acoustic guitar, I had an acoustic guitar, and Brian had a pair of bongos and a conga. I don't think it was a predetermined idea to come up with the sound. I think that's what we had, the instruments we were playing at the time and seemed to work. Our first two records have drum set and bass on them. It's only lost and gone forever, that's very loyal to the instrumentation. Now is that Steve Luech's decision or yours? It's always our decision. I think we wanted to make records that captured our live sound and we failed the first couple times and then we succeeded with lost and gone forever.

0:46In part, thanks to Steve Luellie White. And then, you know, having accomplished that, we were ready to do something different. So you guys have a pretty different style on the new album. It's not just the two guitars that the bongos as usual. There's a whole bunch of instruments, bass, keyboard, banjo, a whole bunch of stuff. What made you change the style from the first three albums? I think it was just time. The other albums actually have keyboards, drums and horn sections and string sections as well, but the difference is this time we're playing those instruments with the exception of horns and strings. And the songs were written with those instruments in mind instead of an afterthought. I think we just felt limited with us drumming acoustic guitars. You know, a lost song on forever was the best album we had until this record. And I think the only, the biggest complaint we had about that record is that it was really similar from song in a song

1:33as far as soundscape went. So this record, I think, is a total reaction to that where I think every song has a very different mood and soundscape and feel each song. But yet it still seems to hold together as an album. I got tired of listening to percussion on our records constantly. I really liked the snare drum. It didn't really have to do with the condition of my hands, which is a rumor. It's a nice side effect though that they get to play a few songs with sticks. I think the biggest difference was that we started with those songs. So for example, the first song is Diane. And that song starts with drums, bass and piano, which is, and that's why we put it first on our own. And that's why we put it first on our record we wanted to sort of be like, alright, here's the new sound.

2:19So that's why Joe's on the road with you guys. How did you guys hook up with Joe? Joe plays in a band called Joe Mark's Brother from Nashville. And they're a great pop-in that used to tour with us, but two of the members went off with Josh Rouse and Joe came out with us so they're on a bit of a hiatus. But he's got a solo career also, at joepazapia.com. And he's just a great musician, helps us play the songs that we put way too many overdubs on him on the record. So you were in the studio for like a year and a half recording, he was together. And there were a bunch of songs that were recorded, but that didn't end up with the album, like say that's my face and Sunday afternoon. Do you guys ever plan on releasing those or recording those properly or anything like that? Those two perhaps.

3:04There's a bunch of others that you don't know of that didn't make it as well, that didn't even get finished. A lot of them weren't even completed as songs or somewhere and they just didn't make the cut. But Sunday afternoon is the one that we might cut again. The one that's on the pace you taste, I don't know if you've heard that, is a demo thing that we did in our rehearsal space really quickly. But yeah, that's something I'd like to record again. That didn't even really go through the Guster process. That's mostly just the song that I wrote and we just quickly put it together. There's a bunch of them that might make a return or parts of them that might use for parts and put a new song together. But generally we usually don't look back and we just kind of keep pushing forward. Cool, so Ryan's writing most of the lyrics on most of the albums actually, but on this album you decided to write a few.

3:49Why the change? It wasn't so much that I decided to write, so much as just someone had to write. It was nearing the day that we cut vocals and there were no lyrics on a bunch of songs, so I just stepped up and wrote a few. And now I kind of like it, it's kind of fun. I think I'll actively participate in the lyric writing process from now on. But at the time it was just a void that had to be filled. That's kind of the way it works, everybody just pitches in. You're now touring with Sam Roberts. How did that come together? I mean the styles of your live shows are pretty different. He sounds like a Roger Daltry Bruce Springsteen kind of thing going on. But at the core of it he's writing pop songs.

4:37He's rocking them a little harder than Guster can. We rock a little wimpier than he can. We're a little sappier. He can't do sappy the way we can do sappy. But we get along great and in Canada their fans are really nice to us. And so far in the States our fans have been civil to him. So it works in Raleigh, North Carolina. They really like to make. So your live shows, they're one of the coolest shows to see. We love them. We go see them all as much as we can. And 40,000 people showed up in Boston. How did that feel? Was that expected at all? Well, no, it wasn't expected. You can't expect that.

5:22But it was a free show the day of the record release. And yeah, the Barricu ladies did something similar in Boston when they released stunt. Of course they had a record before that that did a lot better than Lawson gone forever. And they had about 80,000 people there and were like, wow, if we got half that we'd be psyched. Yeah, we got half that. So it was great. Also in Boston you're known for your entrances. Who comes up with those ideas and like what's your favorite one? The ideas come from various sources within our organization. This last one actually we came in by a trolley and we did a whole Mr. Rogers theme with the Cartian sweaters and the swapping of the shoes and all that. But that was actually an idea from a fan that emailed it to us.

6:08They were like, oh, you know, this is just an idea. If you hate it, that's fine. Whatever. And we're like, no, this was great. So we did it and he was there at the show. But various. Yeah, you know, one time was an intern that worked at our office at Health. Like the last minute we were playing at Harbor Lights, which is right in Boston Harbor. And we can't, you know, at the last minute she's like, I'm going to buy a raft and we came in by paddling. So yeah, you know. Finally, how do you guys feel about the downloading of your music? Do you think it's helped you or harmed you more? Yes. It's helped us and harmed us. It helps us because any exposure is good exposure for us at this point. We're at the level where any way that our music can get out there is a good thing. But obviously at the same time, the music industry is so numbers based that it's hurting, you know, the number of records sold.

6:57There's something called SoundScan where everyone in the industry religiously taps into SoundScan and sees how many records you're selling and wear every week. So if our record sales aren't in a certain number, then other things don't happen. Like, oh, well, the radio's, oh, they've only sold X amount of copies this week, so I'm not as excited to play them. So it hurts us in that regard. But in terms of getting the music out there, it's a positive thing. If you burn or download an album and you like the band, you probably have an ethical responsibility, I think, to support the band in some way by a T-shirt or go to a show or whatever you can do to help them sustain themselves. And you guys get more money from D-shirts and concerts too, don't you? As true. When you're on a major label or when gusters on a major label, we don't make a penny off album sales.

7:44So we're not really affected adversely by people burning or downloading, except that we'll just get dropped from our major label, but that's fine.

Part 2

6:18Start to spill off with a song sitting here with Brian from Guster. What do you want to hear any gust or tune? Has to be one of our songs or something else. What do you want to hear? I'd like to hear O yoko by John Lennon. Yes going out going out to you on CJIQ It's John Lennon. That's an interesting song to choose. That's one of my favorite ones

10:44I don't know why it's one of my favorites though. It's because there's nothing to it really not It's cool. Have you seen that there's a documentary with him And he's got Phil Spector singing the harm in the studio too. It's pretty cool. Yeah, it's wicked. You should check it out All right, you just heard O yoko by John Lennon sitting here with Brian from Guster Interesting choice of songs. Well, that's cool. Yeah, we'll play some guster stuff as the night progresses. Okay First question I offer you when you come up to Canada next It's not so easy to just come to Canada. Why not? well you have to get work passes and And you can't sell t-shirts you have to get them printed up out there There's just a whole bunch of things to do So it's like if you just want to throw a Toronto show in the middle of a tour

11:30It's kind of a headache But once in like the summer of 1999 we did an extensive three-week Canadian tour where we played Let's see we played Every province we played a show in Edmonton play a show in Winnipeg Places that you know you wouldn't think there would be guster fans and they're worried Maybe they're right now. Maybe that's why we haven't been back Give me a shot though You guys are working on a new record. You've been working on the record for quite a while now Joe's in the band now. How songwriting changed with Joe actually in the band? It's pretty cool You know, it's just another musical voice in the mix someone to

12:16So I'm gonna take things in a whole new direction and we seem to thrive up that these days, you know, it's just like saying fuck it and just This this sounds cool. I don't care if it sounds nothing like we've ever sounded before. Is that the record gonna sound like? Some stuff, you know, there's a little bread and butter to you there, but It's all over the place and I just think it's just another level for us We wrote 20 songs and we're choosing the best 12 cool so If it's not if it's not guster certified high quality, then I don't know what we can do Are you writing lyrics this time around? I know you're on the last one Just a few, you know Ryan wrote some great lyrics and it's just towards the end when there are songs with no lyrics Where I usually tend to pitch in in a pinch and

13:03There were a couple of those but How's record common is it basically done now? It's basically done We have to mix it and re-sing one song and Then hopefully it'll be you know in the bag by the end of the year and out in April cool in the United States You can order it on the internet and stuff. Okay, that works. You often do that. That's how I've gotten all your records It's the postage higher for you. What is the postage more? That actually was pretty cheap. I think I got kit and the vinyl a kit for like 20 bucks Oh, it's great. It's not a speaking that record. Let's play a couple songs off it. What do you want to hear two songs? This is Jesus on the radio on CJIQ This is

15:57This song is well, what kind of station are you guys it will people get bored if I play a long way down? That song An unknown song kind of though. It's a lot of people kind of you never play it live either. We tried it today in sound check You gonna come on tonight? Wasn't quite there Alright So let's play a long way. I hate to you I want so long and long way down and we really could play those I feel bad now right of the set list right in front of me And I want to put I want to put some more obscure stuff in there But I don't want to put stuff that sounds bad Because you might be psyched but then people next you might leave Just stand up in the middle of cause or just walk right out I think it's been done

16:45Sydney with Brian from Guster

20:59I'm through Dear Valentine G major all songs were played on tour I had live versions of them. I'm through has been scrapped They're and they're just not happening. I'm through turning to a song called come on which we Which we love it's gonna be difficult for people who got to know I'm through to make the transition because it's totally different but we we Tore it up and used it for parts and put it together into like a song that felt like one song whereas I'm through felt like three songs in one Yeah But I'm with you. I'm through had some some great moments It's just like over time It just bothered us when it hit that chorus and there's a little harmonic change and it got all floaty and it just didn't feel like And feel like it fit So we we chopped it up and turned into something else the things are working out now. Oh, yeah, I love come on

21:45But it's tough people got attached to them through So what about this means nothing to anyone listening? Well, you know people might know the live versions put it on the website too So G major is stay is on the on the back burner for now I don't think that song is gonna be on the record, but it will get released in time You know, they'll all get released one way or another You're playing more bongos or drums in this record. It's a lot more drums. There's some percussion overdubs in in places and you know Stuff like that, but the foundation was a lot of drum kit That's you know, that's that's what excites me these days is that what's moving to already ever gonna have a day where the bongos don't come out into anymore, no, I think there won't even be a day where it's Not at least half percussion just because that's what our catalog is and

22:35That's a lot of these songs have been adapted live like song captain It's one I played sitting at a drum kit, but I played it with without sticks and so live I just played on my standing up erect percussion kit and I'm only talking about me standing up on my feet Wow All right, let's play some more songs Songs off lost and gone forever Um Well, I enjoy a song on there that that might turn some people off call it all the way up to heaven That's a wicked song. There's a love hate relationship for people with that song, but I love it. It's on it's on the hiatus in the set list to ever since been full to kick the crap out of it with us last summer

23:21That was good to me though. No, no, we all the way up to heaven has been too depressing to play since Ben left I mean, I'm a shot to do the thing. I know well We have scooter. He's very capable, but Yeah Speaking of that song though, well, just because you mentioned it Where do you guys come up with the idea with the little hockey thing and the clapping and it hockey thing Is that where it came from one of those bubble hockey games the clapping? I wrote about that in the studio turn up. Oh, okay. That's where I'm thinking. That's where it is. Yeah, well, it's more the applause Idea comes from when there's a key change in a song It's like in star search at the end of the song when they're going for the high note They always modulate which is to say change the key So they goes to an even higher note and they hold it out and everyone applause It's like anytime anyone hears the key change. You don't even know it's a key change

24:08But you you're clapping So when we hit the key change in all the way up to heaven we added our own little golf smattering of applause We played rainy day last night. We don't ever play that I will make you play that on the radio station. That's too depressing. Yeah

29:21But uh, I spy is a good choice. Cool. This is I spy from gustor on the cj IQ 88.3 you just heard gustor I spy sitting here with a thunder god brian from the band

33:27I want to talk about records and albums and downloading for a second. Do you think the album concept is disappearing? I mean you guys are releasing manifest destiny and sorority tears just the one song out Right. I hope it's not going. I hope it's not disappearing You know that people can acquire music like they've never been able to acquire music before so for us That means more people hear us Which is a good thing But I hope people like you know Will appreciate what we're about to release as a whole album You know because it's all a snapshot of where you were at a certain writing process and a certain uh sensibility So, uh, I still think people acquire albums as albums. I mean If i'm curious about a band, I might go and download one song by them or two songs to check it out

34:13But if i'm like into a band, I want to get their whole album And you know, however you acquire music Uh, it's good to get whole albums You think downloads helped your harmony more? It's definitely helped us Because we don't make any money on our record sales anyway And you know half the kids in this crowd wouldn't be there if they had to pay for their records. So Um, it definitely helps us It's not the ideal system, you know The musicians Not being compensated or the worth of a song Being zero That's not an ideal system for the artist It's never been an ideal system for the artist because You know the worth of our record sales has been zero since we've been signed to a major label you know, we

34:59we get distribution and exposure and promotion and all these things in exchange, but Um, I hope there's a system in place where musicians are compensated in the future But to uh, you know to not embrace the technology would be silly It's it's incredible and It's great for most bands including ours. Definitely you think you'll need a major label? You just released a studio. No, I don't think five years We don't need a major label now, but um, you know a lot of us in this band Uh, enjoy the potential perks What in the back of our mind, you know, it's like if you want your music to be in stores and on the radio and You know

35:44promoted A label is still helpful if you want to do it all yourself The internet is a great tool and you know, the internet is still a tool even though we're on a major label Always has been for us at least since 1995 when I discovered it Paisley's gone former road manager True does that means the paisley tapes are over too? No, we're actually releasing one in about a month All right, it reminds me we have to uh, we have to announce that but We've got a kinks cover on there. What song? Uh, days by the kinks it's an old one Uh, daniel johnston cover on there and uh live version of a song And a song that didn't make the record that joe sings we got a whole bunch of good stuff cool Yeah, but you know the that's still called the pasty tapes even though pasty has left us

36:36The pop shows you guys perform at the boston puffs this summer Any chance everyone anyone's ever gonna see him did you record them at all? Well We'll see we're we're Trying to be a little bit stealthy about that. Okay. Well, there is there are recordings and It wouldn't be the same as being there in the room experiencing it because it's a it's a hall known for us to q sticks And that's not really gonna translate through a bootleg Um But that was a really cool experience and you know, I think there might be some recordings that sound okay. That's cool Adam durs just put a post-counting crow's singer. Um, he's doing that same thing working with us infinite right now And he's complaining about how hard it is to orchestrate things how hard was it for you guys? It was easy because we didn't have to do any of the arranging So, you know, I'm sure if Adam was trying to write out charts for every oboe, it would be a pain in the ass

37:26but uh For us we had it done for us and we you know, whatever it was it was We had like an hour and a half to rehearse, which is not enough time. Oh really and especially dealing with the acoustic so that room because nothing could be mic'd and certain drums were too loud And you know the flutes weren't Heard and so we had to try to make last-minute adjustments for the sound in the house and it was challenging But it was really cool. Awesome. Yeah, let's play some songs off uh, off-call fly. Oh, we're not going all the way Now we're getting into there's a good song on goal fight. It's called x-ray eyes 88.3 cj iq guster there with x-ray eyes want to spend some of my favorite guster songs

41:13Now we'll go back to back here with two points for honesty and a song called happier And when we get back still chillin with brian from guster You thought so you will be You'll be a waste of time You've dreamed a thousand dreams None seem to stick in your mind Two points for honesty It must make you sad to know that Nobody else Don't seem to stick in your must make you sad

43:05Do you guys care about mainstream success?

48:28You guys are mainly for college crowd and we toured with the barenakie ladies We ended up with a bunch of older and canadian or fans And when we toured what does that mean canadianer, you know just nicer. Oh, okay good Um, and then when we toured with john mare all these young kids were coming out. I feel like our demographic Um, is it collegiate because we play a lot of colleges and because we were a college band but uh You know, there's a lot of parents who like us and It's not so easy to really pin down Um, what was the question? You guys care about mainstream success. Okay. Um, well if it happens it happens I mean we've had enough success that no one really feels like

49:17Any sort of yearning for anything You know, it's just they just want to sustain ourselves and be able to make music and Play music live that I like, you know, the major label thing turned out to be more of a headache Than to help than we really shouldn't do it Cool makes sense The no-key of theater you guys are playing there. This is big new thing. I have no idea what it is. Do you guys know what it is? It's just a theater in times square is it outside? No, it's indoor. It's really ritzy supposedly supposedly has a good sound It's just nice, but it's brand new venue and we're part of the like opening Months celebration. Mm-hmm. We're doing two nights there cool should be fun. I think so. Yeah, like the radio city shows Oh, were you there? I wish

50:04Wasn't heard some bootlegs of it. That sounded good. Okay A lot of people that aren't fans of the band or a lot of people are just hearing you guys for the first time Hopefully tonight and becoming fans of the band Don't know about your road journals And I love them. I read them all the time about my friends. You reason. I mean they're hilarious. They're fun to read What do we have to do to get into a road journal? Well There's not much rhyme or reason these days I have an agenda sometimes like I have to I have to plug Sean's departure and like announce the new crew members and all these things so You know, it's like The asparagus P incident happened and it's just whatever comes to me You know whenever people try to force themselves into road journals

50:50I'm not trying to force. Yeah, I'm not saying you are man Whenever it's happened, it's not it doesn't feel right and so it never really ends up online cool You want to explain the experience with people here them? What you know how your piece thinks we need asparagus? Yeah, it does it's things and I forgot I had all that asparagus like like tons of asparagus And I'd be in the bathroom and complained about the like the toilet not flushing well to shut to set our tour manager the poor guy So he went in there. It's like did you eat asparagus and I felt like a Premodonna dick but Cool you can say dick in Canada. Yeah, you can't say the stage Like you guys are so much cooler out there

51:37I think so much more laid back. Don't you have like this evil dickhead prime minister though? He steals our money really yeah, well, I should know he just got off our old prime minister's taking the blame now Probably because he's not an office and it's easier for the party But wow, don't we have some weird logging issue Probably us and you shop with lumber is always a problem. Yes, that's what it is. So far So far lumber. It's like you know, Condoleezza Rice is going up there to deal with this meanwhile 0.0% of Americans have any idea of things including me. I'm just aware of I have no idea what it's about But it's like a big deal for like prime minister up there. It's like, you know, it's because he's nothing else to deal with And one of the guy that wrote that book It was like some book about An old prime minister that like just made him out to be this total pots. Do you know what I'm talking about?

52:28Oh, marini. Yeah, okay I Like it up there. It's just honestly it wasn't so cold I would I'd move up there and if I didn't have to like pass some like test to get in there, I'd move up there in a heartbeat Cool well you should one day It's still gonna be cold What's the warmest spot in Canada? Is that Vancouver? Yeah, that's what I've heard but it rains it a lot We just think I'll show every cold five questions just five quick questions one more answer. I potter CDs iPod light under mccerny McCartney alcohol and marijuana marijuana Song you've written your most proud of has to be one word. Well one song

53:18Um come down stairs and say hello cool and one word guster Chocolate babies that's two words, but all right Get that tonight's tonight live skit. No. Oh god, it's the best That's cool one song closes up, right? um This is a song called say that to my face didn't make it on to keep it together, but maybe it should have thanks so much appreciate all right

Part 3

0:00So how are you? I'm pretty good. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Excited that we're playing some Guster music on the radio up here in Canada, because it doesn't happen too often, as you know. No, it doesn't. I'll take it. Well, you got a... You got a tour up here more. You got to stop just hitting Toronto every time. I know. Tell me about it. I know. I know. That's not your department anyway. But you just... I'm not sure how to go there. Then Cleeb, you know what I mean? Sorry to speak from your thing. Hey, Cleeb! Cleeb! Cleeb! Cleeb! Someone's got its own little niceness. There's a hall of fame there. Right now. I'm just, you know, I like to... We all have the adventure spirit. I like to go to new places. So thank you. This could help us quite a bit. I know. I hope this is the year. Yeah. This is the year. I haven't seen you guys play live in... Oh my god.

0:45I don't know. Six, seven years now, because you never come up here. But... Yeah. Have you ever played Montana or Idaho? Because that's the closest you'll get to this. Yeah, we just played Boise. Actually, not too long ago. Okay. Come on. How was that? It was great. It was really fun. Mostly just because we hadn't been there in a while, you know, same thing. We like to go and look at weird things and hike and eat strange foods and meet new people. You know, it keeps them a knotting of touring down. It becomes less than not. Are you on the road right now? Are you touring right now? No, we're just finished to run like a week and a half ago. We just did a show and on Friday, actually, it's the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was really fun. Oh, wow. And now we're starting again at the end of March. Oh, crazy. And that's probably the Canadian date here in Toronto.

1:32Yeah, that's right. That's the first show of the tour. Cool. Well, let's talk about this record. Easy, wonderful. Because it seems to be like... If Goldfly, Parran, Shoot, and Lost and Gone Forever are a trilogy of you guys, the two guitars and the bongos. And yes, I know there's overdubs of stuff on the record, of course. But these three fit very sonically together as well. Do you feel the same way? Like they're two separate trilogies, almost? Yeah, I do actually. It's fine. Most people sort of don't see it that way, but I definitely feel like Parran, Shoot, led to Goldfly, and then sort of Lost and Gone Forever was the best version of Buster 1.0, you know? And then keep it together. We kind of screwed everything up and changed the instrumentation and everything. And then, and then gang it up on the sun was a real continuation. And this sort of feels like we're kind of on the same tack.

2:20But there's sort of a... Yeah, there's sort of a 2.0 version. I don't know. Yeah, it definitely feels like this is of the new era, even though there's sort of a through line of all six of our records. It definitely feels more like the second half of our career, you know? Is that because... Do you think Joe brought a lot of stacks? I mean, those are the three records he's playing on. Well, yeah, I've kept it together, where he didn't really become involved until the tour. Oh, okay. But yeah, I mean Joe was a huge influence on the last two records. No question. And also just sort of the same thing. The touring monotony, I guess, maybe we all had ADD. You know, I think we just sort of felt like we had exhausted what we could do with two from the acoustic guitars and a guy hitting bongos all day.

3:06I mean, right around that time, like 10 years ago, and lost him down forever, came out. Brian was sort of just like, he just... He didn't even have to hit the bongos. He wanted to just hit a high hat. He was talking heads. And we kind of started to really get into groove and rhythm, which isn't something that we were really focused on for the first sort of half of our career. Yeah, I definitely think that there's a, you know, a continuation of sort of the last three records, where we've just really concentrated on trying to make great pop records. Yeah, and they are. And they're different kind of pop records. I can't remember, I was reading an article about you talking about how you're making tie... Not timeless records, but they won't sound like 2010. You're talking... Yeah, I mean... Talking about the dirty projectors or sleigh bells or something like that. Totally. And like I said, I think in that context,

3:53it was never in power, not knocking those bands. No. I got it. I liked that music a lot. And I'm listening to Odd Future. I'm trying to stay on top of this stuff too. And a lot of it's really great. But we're not really out of that class. We're not sort of that graduating class. We're sort of outside of that stuff. And there are a few bands that sort of take the same tech that we do that sort of quietly make pop records. Only as the sort of universe goes on with whatever it's doing. And we take note of it and we incorporate it. And I incorporate everything that I sort of listen to into our songwriting.

4:39But it's a little bit different. Yeah, it's definitely a little bit different than your pitch force. And your bog bands for the most part. How did the songwriting work this time? Because I know Brian was writing lyrics on Keep It Together. I think even in the last record too. Was it more of a shared thing this time too? Yeah, this one, I don't know how much background you have. But this was a lot harder records for us to make. Yeah, how come? And just we did it in two parts again. I think we had a weird experience with our produce from the first round, which was just wasn't quite a great match. And we had to really take a few months to figure out what we were doing and why we were doing it. I think it just has to do with the fact that we're nearing 40.

5:26And we're nearing 20 years in the band. The momentum doesn't really carry us forward. It sort of carries us away from each other. So you kind of had to take this moment and decide what are we doing? Why are we doing it? How are we going to do it? And it was a really great experience for the band. Because I think we made our strongest record. And now that we've kind of been out on the road for a few months after the record's been out, people have been really responsive to it. And it feels like it's fit into the sort of greater scheme of what we're doing. You know, it's a really weird thing, our career, of just how we sort of chugged along and done really well, but not super well. You know, we're not famous, but we kind of, most bands, you know,

6:13they get a window and they go, they get big or they don't. And then they go away or they don't. And we've kind of just like had this slow progression over the last 20 years. And it's not, it's a pretty unusual tack. Not a lot of bands have done that. It's been an interesting thing of, you know, how we find new fans and how we, you know, keep the old fans interested in the whole trip. Do you want to be famous though? Is that something you guys try? I don't see you guys trying to say that. No, it's not fame. You know, I think we kind of all made our piece with that a long time ago, that we weren't going to be on the cover of Rolling Stone or, or, you know, but I think we want to be able to keep making records. And I think, you know, even, even what we did on Friday, playing at the Metz Paul Temuzium of Art, which was like, we played with the artist who did all our art and we did the sort of art.

7:00And we talked about his art and how he collaborated and we played this show. And it's just sort of like, wow, this is a cool thing that you get to do the bigger you are, you know, and we played with the Boston Pops before where they played all our songs. And I think we're going to do another symphony performance early next year. And it, the same thing is only good for sort of the access that it gets you to collaborate and, you know, work with your peers or do interesting things or to travel, you know what I mean? And to not have to, you know, sort of pay your dues all over again, every time you go into a new country or something like that. So I don't think any of us are extremely frustrated by it. We know we're all pretty realistic about who we are and what the challenges are. But there's definitely no desire to be, you know, billionaires or to be, you know,

7:49connoodling with Katy Perry or something. But I think there are the opportunities that sort of quote unquote, same gets you or something that we're still very, very ambitious about. You know, I think we want to sort of people to recognize that we're making great music because we really believe in it. And it's hard to watch bands sort of that we've played with sort of go on to notoriety and we're sort of like, and the wings. I mean, I think I counted, I did count. Like there were five bands on the Grammys this year that opened up for us. So it's sort of like, you know, it's not the first time that's happened. But it's sort of like, okay, would I have liked to have been up there with Mumford and Sons, you know, playing with Bob Dylan?

8:34Absolutely. You know, that's the sort of, that's the elusive part of fame that I miss and not so much that I get a great table that's Bago or something. You mentioned the bands that you toured with that. But did you see greatness in them? I guess you're talking about Mumford and John Mayer. I remember you toured with a while ago. Did you see greatness in them at the beginning or do you think it's just, you know, luck on the draw. You know, playing with Ray, Lamontaine, he was one of those and we played with Avit brothers. Did Ray get booted off your tour though? No, no, he kind of booted himself. Not really. It was a weird time for him and it was sort of, I love Ray and I love his records and I really, really like him and respect him as a person. It was just kind of a weird timing thing for,

9:20I have no zero ill. Well, not I love seeing him and I love listening to his music. But you know, seeing greatness in like John Mayer and Mumford before other people. Yeah, I mean, yeah, Mayer, it was sort of like you could, I remember the week that he opened up for us, it was sort of, it was weird. We didn't know what to make of it and then I didn't really pay attention. But there was the last show that we played. He was opening up for us in Atlanta and his hometown at this really great venue called Tabernacle. It was 2500 people, it was a beautiful theater and I remember walking out and him telling along, you know, John Mayer story is, he does and everyone was totally quiet. And I was like, whoa, this is our audience and he's killing it right now. So it sort of like made me sort of pay attention in a way that I hadn't before. And when we played

10:08with the Ava brothers, it was the same thing. They opened up for us at somewhere and I think it was a UNC somewhere in North Carolina and they killed it. I mean, they absolutely killed us and I was like, this is great. And so I definitely had sort of recognized when we've been sort of lucky enough to play with the quote unquote real artists and Ava brothers in particular. I sort of, I wish them well because it's sort of, they're on a kind of a weird tack to and same with Ray. I mean, that's not really contemporary sounding music and they're making it contemporary. So believe that I mean. True. But you guys aren't doing too shabby yourself. Do you feel the upward progression? I mean, I guess this will be two radio singles for you on this record and I don't seem to remember, well, I guess careful did get a little bit of playoff keep it together. But I don't remember

10:53this kind of builder, this kind of seeing your name in as many places as I am. Yeah. It's hard for me to say, you know, it's like every record kind of starts off with like, oh man, this could be the one and then and all this kind of land in this place where we get turned on to a bunch of new people and some new people kind of go on onto it. But it's not like, you know, it's not like we get to buy each other jaguars. So I think we all have pretty reasonable expectations and know it's going to be a fight every time and it makes me feel good that your sense is that it's sort of growing. I mean, you know, we took a long time between records and that kind of kills your momentum and our fans are sort of getting older. So there's, you know, it's just really hard out there. It doesn't matter who you are. I have a lot of respect

11:39for any band that's just going out there and making a living doing it because there's so many bands out there and there's so many great bands out there. And so the fact that you can go out and get a thousand people to show up somewhere in America and pay, you know, $25 to see you and sing along every word. It's just a huge accomplishment. So I think we're feeling really grateful that we've been able to sort of this tour has been a little pick up even just where we left off before and feel like the record is connecting. That's the most important thing. None of us are interested in and just being a nostalgia band and playing songs from 20 years ago exclusively. I mean, if our new record, you know, I sort of said this out loud and to myself, I'm like, you know, if this new record doesn't connect with people, it's going to be really hard to keep going with the band. And

12:26so thankfully, every record seemed to have found its audience and a lot of people, a lot of people that have been seeing us for a long time have come up to me after shows and been like, man, that's just the best show I've seen you guys do. And that's really what it comes down to. Like, if we didn't feel like we were on this uptick, I don't know sort of, you know, sales-wise or numbers-wise or but just even just emotionally. And if we didn't feel like artistically we were on that sort of upswing, then it wouldn't matter. I mean, the rest of it, we can't really control. So that's why I'm sort of like this then dude about the whole thing. All I can do is try and write the best songs I can and to make the best records I can to put on the best show that we can. And then hopefully the rest takes care of itself. And it seems like it has for the most part. So

13:16that's sort of that's sort of the trip. You said a lot of interesting things in there. One of which do you feel like you haven't made the one, the record that will take you to that next level? I don't know what that is anymore. You know, it's like, what is that? And it's it's so weird to see something like Mumford sort of poke through and be like, wow, that's the thing that made them famous? Like that song? I mean, no disrespect. No, I don't. They're like, wow, that's cool. You know, they just kind of, you know, it's not a merit-based industry. And especially when you're talking about that kind of stuff and you're talking about, you know, international fame or international fame, it has very little to do with what who the best band is. It has everything to do with sort of what kind of team you have in place and what kind of marketing

14:01materials you have and just timing and luck and all that stuff. And so we just sort of, what do I mean? I think we just kind of put our heads down and concentrate on what we can do. And then the rest of it will take care of itself. And like I said, it mostly has like we get to go into where we get to play the film or and we get to play with the symphony and we get to do all these kind of cool things and hopefully we can still grow at this point. Does Brian still bring bongos on tour? Yeah, sure. We definitely like, we mix it up. I think, you know, 25 songs set two thirds of it or from our last, you know, we play eight from the new record and 15 or, you know, 16 from the older record. So the older stuff, it's a huge part of our live show still as much as he doesn't want to admit it.

14:49Let's just hands bleed. You're killing the guy. Well, it's just, it's a cool, unique thing. And I think when we stopped doing that on our records, it made, it might have made it musically easier, but it sort of made it visually harder. So we've had to, thankfully, you know, there was a, there was a big, there was a big, all of us sort of held our breath as we introduced drums and bass and everything. But yeah, was there a backlash from your fan base at all? There wasn't so much a backlash. I mean, if we hadn't replaced the more, you know, what I've heard is that we sort of become in some ways, like it's definitely a less unique sound. You know, we had a very interesting sound, but we were never, that was never our goal. Our goal was never, hey, let's be a really cool and weird sounding band. We just want to be

15:34great. We wanted, it has to serve the song. And I think we just sort of, we wanted to paint with different colors. And I think if we hadn't replaced, you know, the uniqueness of just percussion and strumming guitars with great songs, then we would have been in trouble. And we, the band would have handed 10 years ago. But, you know, those records, they stand on their own. And hopefully, like a song like Satellite or, you know, some songs off our new record or, so, you know, or hang on off, keep it together. Like, how to great song? I don't care if there's percussion or not. So, yeah, I mean, I think definitely there are fans. We lose fans every record. Every record we seem to lose, like, 10 to 15% of our fans are like, man, this doesn't sound like parachute or golf fly. And then, like, I'm done. And then we gain like 20 or 25% of our new

16:21fans who are like, you know what? I was never really into those records, but this record is great. And that has been consistent. Records are record to record. We always lose a little bit, and we gain a little bit more. And that's just because we've changed every record. You know, we're still on this. We're still on this march to making a great pop record. What's with the fascination of Jesus recently? I don't know. And I wish I hadn't done that. Because there's two of them on this one. There's two. There might be three. Well, there's two in the title. Yeah, I mean, I've always sort of, we've always sort of been interested in this stuff. I have a degree in religion, even though I'm, you know, agnostic slash atheist, you know, I didn't have an agenda. I think it was, it was sort of just where my head was at on some of this stuff. I think, you know, I'm spirituality and people and I grew up in Texas in the Bible Belt.

17:10So all this stuff sort of just like, it was just, it's just part of my DNA. And so when I'm, I didn't come out and I didn't know when I'm talking, these are songs sort of deal with sort of, you know, bigger issues and not like, hey, I went to buy some milk. So inevitably, I start to stumble over spirituality and religion and faith and sort of putting it out there in certain ways. But you know, it's been, I think on first blush, people like, Oh, Gus, you're went on Christian. It's like, well, no, we're all Jewish. That's the weird thing. Yeah. And being out of us really believe in God. So it's like, you're over to, but it makes me laugh. It really doesn't even, it doesn't bug me. Although I do sort of feel like I'm going to make a point not to do that on the next record. Speaking about songwriting and whatnot, we do like a

17:59storyteller's bid on the show. And I was wondering if I get a couple of clips from you on the songs that we play. Sure. Well, we're going to feature architects tomorrow. So if you can give me a little background on writing that, that'd be cool. You know, architects and engineers, this sort of, it was just, it was one of those ones that we didn't know how to finish. Some songs come really quickly. And, you know, like the, the Stay With Me Jesus song, I literally wrote that in probably, you know, eight minutes as long as it takes to play it. And then I never, that's how it is. And then now when, and architects and engineers, it just took us a while. We couldn't figure out what the chorus was. And is there a chorus? And I still don't know the answer to that question. And I had that sort of idea, you know, I didn't really know. I always write songs. I sort of, I don't ever, I don't ever write lyrics first. I just sort of, I have melodies and then

18:46words attached themselves and melodies. And then I kind of have to reverse engineer the song to figure out what the heck I'm saying to myself. And so, you know, that one was a really, it was a tough one to sort of connect the dots between the outro and what I was singing and the verse. But I think, I think it took, I think it took cohesive thought at this point. I hope so. I'm interested in, I'm interested to know what people think of that one. But it just, it, we were really surprised. It went from being a song I didn't want to put on the record to being the opening track and now our single solo. Just lyrically, I think it's a pretty interesting thing. And it's a, it's a typical, one of those guster songs where you're singing really kind of happy melodies of a really, I keep doing that. I think I'll do that forever. I think that happens everywhere though. That's,

19:34that's half of John Lennon's songs, right? Yeah, yeah. And it's myths and yeah, it's great. I love it. It keeps the songs from floating away for sure. Do you love me? Do you love me? It's just sort of like, it was definitely one of those that we, we saw like, oh, this is going to be one of the beat ones. And the key is just to make sure that it's not. So, you know, I, we got a lot of references and people heard of that to like the love and spoonful and stuff, which is great. Because that's, that's right where I wanted to go. Like the, the 60s sort of summary pop, but that actually mean something. And so that's another one of those where it's like at first blush people just think it's like this happy song about a happy relationship. But it's really about the total dissolution of one and how you just become sort of stale and, and over time

20:24and all this sort of excitement that, you know, just leaks out of one. But most people don't see it that way. I was, I was like, you know, I keep wanting to be in like a, in like a really happy movie or like a, a Kleenex ad or something. You know what I mean? I'm like, wow, this is a little depressing song ever. Like, like when I was like, like when I was two just lust for life was in like a, like a cruise ad or something. I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's about drug use. It's something really dark, you know? It's like, I got a lust for a lot, you know? Well, once you get that Kleenex ad, you can all buy yourselves those Jaguars you were talking about. Exactly. Right. So that, you know, exactly. Well, that brings me to an interesting point before I get to another song. What, how do you feel about that? I mean, that's how you make your money these days in the music business. You started out when people were still selling records and that you made

21:11your money do it. But now you have to not sell out because it's not selling out anymore. That's how you eat, right? Yeah, I mean, you know, I did a target. We did a target commercial, you know, we wrote a Christmas song for a target commercial that ran and it's just a few months ago. And I think, you know, the backlash to bands doing that, attaching themselves to products sort of evaporated right when people started stealing music. You know, people didn't feel like they had a right to steal all the bands music and condemn them for getting in advertisements. I mean, we still have to pick our companies really well, especially because we kind of have an environmental record. So like certain things have come in and we're just like, no Monsanto, you can't use do you love me. You know what I mean? Like, there's just certain things we just can't attach ourselves to even if the money's good or something like that. So I think, you know,

21:59for us, we love being in advertisements, especially because they're getting so much cooler and in movies and in TV. It's just like, we'll take the exposure where we can. And as long as it's not something, you know, we're not supporting something purely evil or just totally driven. It's a pretty accepted practice. And I definitely still, there's definitely some bands that hold out and don't have anything to do with it. And I totally respect that. But for a band like us, it's just a slippery slope. I mean, we've been on a major label for 13 years. So it'd be, you know, we got in bed with the bad guys quote unquote a long, long time ago. Do you think you're going to stay with them though? Because it's only a one record contract, right? You're on? Yeah, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how I guess it sort of feels, it'll be interesting to see how it all sorts out. I mean,

22:48we've had a good relationship with Universal so far. And you know, I think they probably, they need to sell a hell of a lot more records in order for it to make sense for them. But you know, it's, I don't really know. Like I said, it's not something that I sort of, I spend a lot of time worrying about. I think we were excited to sort of try another major label record one last time as the sort of label, the whole thing sort of spins out of control and the whole thing eats itself. You know, I just, they're not going to be around in 10 years. And if they are, it won't be in the current incarnation. No, probably not more of like a worker. We were interested in just saying, oh, well, you know, of all the things I want to do right now, like if I were 20, I would never sign to a major label. But I'm not, you know, like we have kids and we have all these other things that are going

23:34on. So none of us really wanted to prove a point by starting a business. We just want to make our records and play our shows and have a team that was sort of lined up to help us get the word out. And they've been great so far for sure. Yeah. Back to the storytellers thing, the greatest breakup song I've sent it to everyone that breaks up with someone so long. Oh, really? Well, I'll take it. Well, we'll get give me a little background on it. Because I found a version that has much more scathing lyrics than the one that ended up on the record. Oh, really? I don't think about your headed for nothing. It's nice not to be where you are, those kind of things. Whoa, that's you. Oh man, that's you in the live version. Eric, come, you're a completist. You know, things I don't even know anymore. Yeah, I don't know. I think that was sort of like me being more of a dick in a song than I am in real life. But that's funny. Yeah, I guess it is a breakup song. Yeah, I mean,

24:27I can't really interpret that any other way. That wasn't a breakup song, really? No, I guess it was. I don't know. That was also like 10 years ago. I was a younger man. It was bad before kids wives, you know what I mean, baby food. Fair enough. Fair enough. Is it harder to be on the road now that your father? It must be very difficult. Yeah, I think it's both harder and easier in some ways. I think we all kind of had kids around the same time, almost three years ago. And so it also just makes, we also appreciate to wear that much more. We hate being away from our kids, obviously, and especially when they're young, because things happen every day. But also, you get to go to a movie. You know what I mean? You get to hang out with your friends. You get to go to a restaurant, you know, like this and real freedom. And that we didn't appreciate before

25:16that. You just can't, you know, you can't tell your wife that it's five o'clock and you're going to go eat dinner and, you know, go play a show and drink with your friends. I mean, to end up being a lot more like vacation than it ever was before. No question. That's a good thing. But not for too long, you know, you got to, we have a, we have our limits. Right. Like two weeks and you're like, all right, I need to get back to my life here. Before I let you go, we do something on the show called five questions, five quick questions, one word answers. Okay. Road or studio, Leonard McCartney. Oh, no, I'm going to go McCartney. Cool. Most important thing in a song, lyrics, melody or rhythm? Melody. Song you've written, you're most proud of. Oh, I like that one. Most proud of maybe satellite. Cool. And one word, guster.

26:07Um, that's following the trend. I think Brian said chocolate babies last time. See, we like the food.