Will Hoge

Part 1

0:00Off with that. Up and hurt. You guys like hip hop? I love it. Yeah? Yeah? You can corporate that into the show at all and do any hip hop covers at all? Not a lot. You ever think about it? Maybe tonight? What song? Uh... Whichever one you want to hear. Whatever. Maybe some Tupac? Yeah, he's my favorite. Are you bullshitting me or have you been to the earth? I think he's really good. Yeah? Really good. Or he is depending on if you think he's still alive. I think he is. What about you? I don't know. The verdict's still out on him. Fair enough. You guys want to start off with a song? Let people hear what you guys sound like? Yeah. What do you feel like playing? It's called Love from Us Car. One, two, three, four.

4:03Cool, too. Thank you. When did you write it? How'd you write it? It's about... Roted for this last record that just came out. I guess it's been, I don't know, eight months ago. Something like that maybe. Play it live every night? Yeah, we'll be working on it tonight. Cool. Yeah. You sound amazing. Thank you. It was really cool. First time up in Canada. I heard actually we were out here in January before. First time up here in the warm weather. Yeah. It's really hot today actually. Especially in here. It is really warm in here. Is it like that Nashville? What's the weather like a Nashville? Kind of like this. Sticky, like humid kind of? I think this is... Yeah, y'all don't know anything about humid. No. Alright. It's not humid at all compared to home. Yeah. It's good. You get all the seasons down there so it's nice. Yeah. It's hard to hear. I can imagine. Yeah, that was a real surprise for us when we were up here in the winter.

4:50People still running around in shorts and talking about how it was cold. Full of snow on the ground. We were all freezing to death. Yeah, that was a big difference. Cool. What was it like for you growing up in Nashville? I mean the music seemed to have just been amazing. Yeah, it's still a great music town. It's a music city, USA. Just so much great music. I mean it's obviously been known for country music for years and years. But there's so many other things going on there, coming out of there at this point. It's just a real creative musical town. It's a great place to live and work out. I think we're all excited about being there this morning. Cool. See you showed the operator at all, have you? Actually, yeah, I've been to the Opera House and the original place, the Rhyme and Auditorium,

5:35where they started years ago. It was still a theatre downtown. They do a lot of great shows there. It's an amazing venue. Nice. It shows above. What's your favorite venue to play so far? I mean you traveled across the country. The Nashville is really one of probably the best musical environments anywhere. It's just an amazing room. It's one of those old rooms that was at church originally. So it's just got those vibes. It's built for sound when there wasn't huge amplification. It's one of those places you can stand on stage and just play guitar and sing. It sounds incredible. It's a real magical place to play. What's your life set like? Is it just the three of you or do you have a drummer? No, we're part of a bass player and another guitar player. Is that it? Yeah, that's it. Nice stuff. Yeah.

6:20Cool. You like this strip down stuff? It sounds cool. Yeah, it's cool. It's a real pain to try to haul a drum kit in here. Oh, I can imagine here. Yeah. You guys want to play another song? Yeah, sure. What do you give a play? It's called Packer Full of Chains. One, two, three. Nice.

9:33That's kind of good. Thank you. I assume that song's about not being played on radio and that kind of stuff. It is. In fact. And people in Hollywood not enjoying your tunes. Exactly. We kind of don't need that anymore with downloading a music. You can just get out there on the internet and pick up anybody's tunes. How do you guys feel about that? I mean, I think all real big supporters of the internet and that whole thing has been a real leveling thing for the playing field. Like you just said, there's bands that obviously for years have depended on, you know, you have to have a record label and you have to have all of these things. And those things are still nice. I mean, if you can get someone else's money to help you get your record out to people, it's obviously, it can be really helpful. There are ways, I mean, I guess we're proof of that, that you can do it on your own. It takes a lot more work. I can imagine sometimes to it, but that's the thing.

10:18I mean, this is a lifestyle for us. It's not something we're doing just because we want to be rich by Thursday. It'd be great. Yeah. So it's a great way to get your stuff out there. It's something that, you know, that whole downloading thing and file sharing has been real helpful for us. So I hope that as that technology continues to spread, that we'll kind of stay on the cutting edge of that and be able to break into some new markets and win over some new fans. It just seems to be what you're doing here. Hope so. Yeah. You think it'll get rid of the whole album concept? I mean, the man who killed love obviously is an album. You put the tracks in order in a certain way you wanted to hear it, but I mean, kids aren't going to have it in the artwork and stuff like that. Yeah, I don't think it'll get rid of it for saying this. You know, I think that there are still people that are really big music fans. A lot of us in the band, you know, are the, I still enjoy the concept of, you know, going and having a physical thing that you can look at and hold.

11:09But I think that they're probably, you know, they're younger kids that would, we'll have never done that. So I think that there will be people that, you know, will never own an album. No download is straight from your website. They'll download the artwork and be done with it. And that's fine too. And I think they'll always be a place for, you know, a physical recording. Just I think there are people that enjoy that, you know, that concept and having the collection. It's kind of like saying, you know, we'll get rid of books. Yeah, it's starting to happen. Kind of. I think that there will be people that will do it, but they'll always be the old fashioned guy that will go back and, you know, want to own a record. I hope so. I hope so. Yeah. Cool. Playing another song? Yeah, let's do one more. We'll do, uh, we'll do a lower tonight or something else's baby. It's up to y'all. Let's do, uh, we got all up here.

11:54Let's do something else's baby. Alright. That's hard to learn. It's a desperate leap, but I'm a say. Oh God, he'll make it just one more day. Oh, the tape will be signed.

12:44You got it. Is that a good?

16:04Thank you. You just think of a week, five questions, five quick questions, one word answers. Okay. iPod or CDs? iPod. Leonard McCartney. Both. One or the other. You said one word answers. Fair enough. Okay. Alcohol or marijuana? Yes. Song you've written your most proud of. That doesn't have to be a one word though. Okay. Oh, uh, song you're most proud of. Uh, can't pick. Okay. And one word will hold. Rock. Cool. Thanks so much guys. Really appreciate it. Thanks man.

Part 2

0:00Well, well, thanks so much. You say to him and me. Yeah, well thanks. Thanks for bringing us to the Greek theatre. This is One Hell of a Room. Thanks Sugar Land for bringing us to the Greek theatre. So you've been on the road for a few weeks with them? This is the first night. We've known them for years. Through different things. Through different friends and bands and stuff like that. But this is the first night of playing together. Cool. You were just sound checking. What's the Greek sounding like? The very famous venue. Yeah, this is one of those places. There's a very short list of venues that you kind of keep that you want to play. And this is one. So we can check this one off now. What are some of the others? I don't assume the rhyme. The rhyme in Back Home was certainly a big one. We've gotten to do that one twice, which was great. Red Rocks is another one. The Fillmore in San Francisco we've gotten to do. Is there any left on your list or have you done them all now?

0:45Red Rocks. I still want to do Red Rocks. So if anybody's watching that has anything to do with that. We can get you on our rocks. Don't scratch it off the list. What records you grew up with. Man, there was so many. My father was a musician. Before I was born, he grew up playing in bands. Where he played bass and sang it. Okay. And then eventually she had the bass and just was the singer. So I grew up kind of a generation removed. Where all my friends were listening to Bad 80s metal and stuff like that. I was a lot of Rolling Stones and The Beatles and The Temptations. James Brown, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, James Taylor. Just kind of like I say more of a 60s and 70s record collection than an 80s record collection. I read an interview with you saying there were a lot of that stuff and there were four British bands as well.

1:30Yeah. What are the four? The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks. And who was the other one? They just made that a Led Zeppelin. Yeah. The usual four? Yeah. But the Kinks don't always make it and why the Kinks for you. What drew you to Radioys? I don't know. Well I think that there was a real, to me they were more raw than, to me that was almost, I think Buddy Holly was the invention of punk rock to me. And the three piece just kind of banging things out, especially the early records. And to me the Kinks were more of that lineage where the Beatles grew from this really core, beautiful songwriting and melodies and things like that. And The Stones came from that real bluesy background. And to me the Kinks kind of, they were right in the middle of those two things.

2:16But much more, the Kinks were way scarier than those other two. Yeah, he's a little out there. Yeah. He still is for that matter. Yeah. How do you make a setlist for a show? Because you got a lot of records now to go through and choose. We do. I know a secondhand heart comes out a lot. It does. But that seems to be the one like mainstay. Yeah, there's a few. I mean, you know shows like tonight where we've only got 20 minutes. It's just, you just kind of throw. Well what do you do for a show like this? Because it's not your audience. It's not. So you're either playing your biggest songs or you're playing whatever the hell you want because no one's going to know them. Yeah, and it's kind of a combination of those two things. I mean, you know it depends on the environment. I mean, when we're the first band, you kind of, and maybe we shouldn't. Maybe we should just go out and do whatever the hell we want. But I think we try to cater a little bit to the folks that are sitting in their seats early and try to gauge it kind of by the crowds.

3:04And some of it changes. I mean, luckily the band knows all the songs. So a lot of times the setlist, people will say that after a show, they're like, can I get your setlist? And the setlist is never what we write down. It's usually the start and then somewhere towards the end will get back on course. But it's never, it's more of just a guide than anything else. Cool. Well, let's talk about this new record, the record. Yeah. Is it named after the accident? The song, the record was written after the accident. And I guess really everything that I've done since the accident is somehow and indirectly at least related to the, you know, the record isn't about a motorcycle record. It's about a relationship that you're trying to hold the pieces together. It's got to get in there somehow.

3:50It does. And I don't know. And I think that's what it is. I think it's much more of a subliminal thing. It's not something that I thought about. Like, let me sit down and write a bunch of songs about piecing things back together. But there was so much of that going on at the time. And the wreckage. At the time, you know, when we were going to, the song was written and then we talked about title and the album, that same thing. And we felt like it was kind of a tip of a cap to me and the band and some of the fans that were playing. And some of the fans that really stuck with us through the whole process. It was kind of a nod to them of thank you and they'll know what that's about. And then folks that are just discovering the record, I don't think it's going to hear the wreckage and then think, I wonder if I've got an accident. Hopefully they just think it's a cool title. What did you gain from that? I know a lot of people come to these near death experiences and are changed in a certain way.

4:38Yeah. And it changed to sound overly cheesy. I mean, it kind of changed everything. It really is one of those things that you just get a whole new perspective. I've always felt really fortunate to be able to do this for a living and to have great friends around me and family and things like that. But just after that, all of those things get put in a much more bright light. Even my wife and kids and family and my band members and guys that have been there and stood by me through this whole thing. And as a songwriter, it really just refocused me on the craft of songwriting. People tell you your whole life to make your first record. And then six months to make everyone after that. And this was the first time where I really got to step back.

5:26We were three quarters of the way done with the record we thought when the accident happened. And then we sort of stood back and looked at things and wrote a bunch more songs and changed some things. And that really put me back on the path of writing songs and making records and not just touring all the time. So I think there were a lot of real positive things that came out of it in the end. I'm sure there were. Is it harder to be away from the family this time around though? Yeah, it is. It's tough. I mean, we dealt with a lot of post-traumatic stress, I think, within the family and myself included. Getting back in a car and driving and being away and things like that. I mean, it's tough anytime that there's a wife and little kids at home. And this just makes it a little tougher. But it also makes it a little sweeter in the end too.

6:13We're still able to do this. We're still able to support my family doing this. It's been about a year. You seem to have a record every six months like you're saying. Not every six months. But you're pretty consistent for an artist because most people two, three years kind of thing. So you must have already started working on the next one. We do. We are about 90% done with it. Oh no way. We'll be open. That will come out sometime in March. What does it sound like? Is it more soil more? No, it's a little more. It's kind of just another. This one is a little more song-oriented and a little more rooted in story-based songs. Running stories on what? There's a little bit of dragon. No. No monsters. Not yet. We still got some songs to write. You know, we touched on a few things economically.

7:00There's a few things that are a little more family derivative struggles within family working class folks and things like that. Just a little more topical in some of the songs that we've been in the past. And then we've still got some of that girls in cars. Well you have to. That's rock and roll right there. Back to the genre thing for a second. I talked to a lot of young bands that are pitching their stuff to labels right now and they're having trouble. It should be good country, it should be good pop. You kind of float in between the two. Did you have those kind of struggles when you were getting started? It's easy to get caught in the start. No I didn't because getting on a record label was never very important. The biggest thing to me was always I wanted to write great songs. I wanted to be in a great band. I wanted to play music in front of people. I never stopped to think I should be trying to do this or trying to do that.

7:50It was always just something I wanted to do. Whatever the songs are. I try to get to the core of those things. The fact that there was ever a record deal was always kind of a shock to me. The fact that there's been more than one at this point is even a bigger shock. I hope that's something that continues. It doesn't do me any good to worry about where the songs fit or anything like that. Hopefully somebody else's job. Cool. Thank you so much. Appreciate it man. Thanks a lot. Thank you.