The Band Perry

0:00And I'll be honest, I'm not really a fan of country music, but I really dig your record. I've listened to it like five times now. So I don't know what you guys did going into the studio to make this thing happen and to make it sound like nothing else that's out there right now, but I don't know, maybe we'll start with you talking a little bit about that. Sure. Well, thank you so much for your comments. You know, this was a labor of love, pioneer. The good news was we had 18 months to figure out what the heck we were going to sound like next and what we needed to say next, which seems like a short amount of time, but frankly, for a sophomore project, that was a luxury of time. And so we got to go on this journey, if you will. And we ended up at a very different place than where we began,

0:48but I feel like with every single song that we wrote, the first one being back to me without you, the last one being the last song. And it does, absolutely. We saw the kind of change, the different direction of the project. We knew in the beginning that we wanted this out on to reflect more of who we are live. We're very primitive performers. We have big electric guitars and bigger drum beats live. So we wanted to accommodate more of that in the record. But we also, on the split side of that, wanted to be more honest and more vulnerable than we had in that first album, but songs like songs like pioneer and mother like mine. And so I feel like we really were trying to achieve those sides of that spectrum and hopefully accomplished that.

1:37You talk about being honest. I can't remember who in the band was talking about being honest and poetic and writing that difficult line in between the two. And I wonder how hard that is for you guys. And this is a reading that. And, yeah, what we were saying was, it's really easy to write poetic, great sounding rhymes, if you will, lyrically, but they won't always be the honest that they can be or what you truly feel as honest as you as you want to be. And that's really hard. And so a lot of times we would rewrite and rewrite these songs and we'd go back and ask ourselves, is that truly how we feel? And so the answer we can say is yes, that every song off pioneer is truly what we were feeling at the time and it is the most. We only got there from the work that went into it and that it is interesting how it's so easy, like, read that direct poetically, but maybe not 100% honestly.

2:33So I hope that we, you know, struck balance between those two on the record. And Kim, you were talking about Rick Rubin working with mechanics and rhyme schemes and how did he bring that, I guess, poeticism to that honesty? Rick was a song doctor and he did deal with our mechanics like rhyme scheme, but it's even more important than that. He did talk about the heart behind it. I remember this one situation we were in his studio writing in real time and he had headphones on in the control room. And when we walked in there, he kind of teared up. We weren't, we weren't saying any sort of words that made any sense. It was all kind of jigger-jagger at that point, but it was the music that he was still moving about, like, the chords and the melody that we were laying on top of it.

3:18And so it was kind of, you know, one of these moments that I really learned how visceral just music is. And then what the importance is of finding the perfect set of words to really, one, get out of the way of the emotion and the music. And number two, even take it to the next level. But one of my favorite memories from working with Rick was telling us that we could not rhyme, free and penny. Specifically, he said those three and two. We're from Alabama. We can rhyme anything. Well, yeah, it's like hip hop. You just got to change the cadence of the vowel and you're good. Right. Yeah. Talk about hip hop, actually. Why not go there? Better dig two's got this like, I don't know what it is. It's an 808 that kicks off the record, but it's got something like that for that intro could easily be sampled for a hip hop tune.

4:04Have you got a lot about that at all? I'm trying to put it out into that world. Well, we have from 10 to 10 thought about partnering with somebody in the hip hop community mainly because we're huge hip hop fans. And I don't know, I think there's something about what they're thinking about, like real life. And we're thinking about real life. There's so many times that find those two genres together. So you never know. Maybe we'll laugh. I don't know. I would look to a collaboration with either Kanye or Jay Z personally. So we'll see what happens. Take the two biggest names in the game. All right. Okay. Cool. Oh, let me call you a day. That's right. What did you love about bitter dig two? I mean, that says, you guys write most of your songs, but that's one that was presented to you or you heard a demo. I'm not sure how it came about. But what really struck you about that tune that you said this one has to go on our record and open it for that matter.

4:56This is Neil Matt. I think one of the things that I don't know, drove us to better to was the exciting music. You know, I think being musicians ourselves is one of those things we like to listen to. Not just the lyric and the melody, but the music and the music was exciting. It was intense. It had exciting drum beats. The electric guitar was cool, but the banjo kind of played this haunting, serious lick over all the electric. So that's one thing that drove us. And, you know, lyrically on the other side of that, so it had this really aggressive bit of music, but the lyric was so vulnerable. You know, our girl in this song, she's ultimately a love song. All the kind of a crazy, a best love song.

5:46But it was just this really backwards written way of saying, hey, that val so that's the best part. I'm going to take it one step further and say not even then. And it's really a sweet turn to that, but it was so aggressive and so haunting with Neil said it was just kind of a mixed bag of tricks, but I think that's what drove us to better to do. Rolling Stone called you guys death obsessed, I guess, because of that tune and other lyrics you write. So what is it about death that interests you in the songwriting process? Well, I'm not sure that we're death obsessed. Although we all at one point or another will have to deal with it. But, you know, for us, I think it's that, you know, there's nothing quite as final or as romantic as life and death.

6:33And so I think that I heard a wise person say one time, you should make every important decision in your life, sitting in the graveyard and then ask yourself, will this matter when I'm here? So I think that we do contemplate a lot like life when all is said and done. Will our lives have mattered? What will the words that we've spoken have mattered? What will the songs that we sing and matters? And so that's probably why we end up bringing that theme in a lot. Because I think it's important to contemplate, you know, what your chapter here on earth will mean to those that you know now and the future generations. Have any of you tried that graveyard decision making process? I did it once and I was so scared. Kim really, since you're talking, you were saying once that you get inspiration from the fans and listening to the music.

7:25So what songs on this disc came from something of that nature? Pioneer 100%. You know, it's the title track of the album and we were just thinking about, you know, our fans and hearing about different stories where they are in life. You know, so many of them are beginning or ending school. So many of them have begun and ended relationships and these sorts of things. And, you know, Pioneer is about taking the future by the rain and telling it where to go as opposed to it telling us where to go. There was one really definitive moment. We debuted the song actually on a stage in the UK. And it was really close to the club show that we did. It was very intimate. There were like 500 people there.

8:12And I remember we played Pioneer and we could just hear a pin drop. Everybody was just like really hanging on the words of this song. And then the next night we played at the same set in London and we played Pioneer again. There was a group of girls who had been at the show the first night and we always started the opening. Manzlin Red on Pioneer. They held up this sign that said, we won't hush. And it was just like a really structured three of us. And I remember we thought about it each, you know, on stage and then talked about it after. Because that was the one phrase they took away from Pioneer and frankly from the whole night, the night before. And so that was the moment when you're like, you know what, it really is going to be an anthem. You know, for our fans. And that's why we ultimately because of those girls ended up naming the album Pioneer was very smart.

9:02It must be nice to be able to tour now with a whole new batch of songs as opposed to, I mean, with one record you're playing. I would assume the same set every night for a good long time. So what's it been like being able to add all these new songs into the repertoire? You know, for us, it's been great. And this is Reed because it breathes in a whole new life. What we've been doing because we love the songs off the first album, but after two years, it's nice to be playing the music out there. And for everyone else who's seen us over these past two years, I mean, we've had fans that have seen us probably 15 times. And so to bring in some new music for them as well is great. And it's allowed us to bump up the show as well as a lot new production, you know, more fog jazz and lights that help us take it to the next level, if you will.

9:59Reed, what are some of the songs that off that first record that nothing you feel like you have to play every night, but that will remain in the set night after night because they just, they connect with the crowd so much from that first disc. You know, all of the singles from the first album as well, but independence is one that we constantly love to play that and double heart as well. Those are two kind of staples that so far would we. What's it like running the stairs every night after after a show? How many, what's your record up and down. I'll be honest with you. I haven't run stairs in a long time, but whatever I do, I feel good about myself. Yes. And I mean, what's our record? We will actually do jump roving in there running after shows.

10:45But 45 minutes, I don't know. You got to come come yourselves down off after all that high energy. Yeah, I mean, it's just so easy. It's a buzz and you know, turn on big bang theory and eat the last bowl of Lucky Charm. Oh, big bang theory like Sheldon Sheldon Cooper. We do. We are big Sheldon Cooper fan. We don't see much time here, so we do something called five questions, five quick questions, one word answers and you guys can all answer. Roder studio. Right. Eleanor McCartney McCartney McCartney. When you hear a song what usually hits you first lyrics melody or rhythm melody melody.

11:33Probably rhythm for me. Cool song you've written your most proud of. If I am. Yeah, well, I got yours and waiting on the other two. Oh, I was thinking probably back to me without you. Cool. Is that all three? I think I've only gotten two there. No, you got all three. Three said back to you, Neil said done and I said it. Oh, I didn't hear done. Okay, gotcha. Cool. And in one word, the band Perry. I know. Hard one. There's two.

12:21Fun. Who said that one? Was that Reid? That was Neil. Neil says fun. And then. And then a tenacious. Tenacious is good. Kim. I did not. I'm sorry. I'm waiting for it. Then I was hard working hard work. But you go back and you can go. Yeah, exactly. Amazing.