BiB: Alexandra Savior - How Bipolar Disorder Shaped Her Most Raw and Honest Album Yet

1
00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:10,800
Bringing it backwards

2
00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,240
Bringing it backwards Bringing it backwards

3
00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:21,920
Bringing it backwards Bringing it backwards

4
00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,760
Bringing it backwards. Hi.

5
00:00:26,220 --> 00:00:30,060
Hi. How are you? I'm doing good. How are you doing?

6
00:00:30,380 --> 00:00:34,140
I'm great. I appreciate you doing this. Thank you so much. Thank you.

7
00:00:34,140 --> 00:00:37,660
Sorry I've had a tough few weeks, so. I

8
00:00:37,740 --> 00:00:41,300
know I was all over the place before. Oh, no, it's all

9
00:00:41,300 --> 00:00:44,700
totally okay. Yeah. I think you were sick, right? Didn't you get sick?

10
00:00:45,820 --> 00:00:48,940
Yeah, and then I had a family thing.

11
00:00:49,580 --> 00:00:53,430
I'm sorry. It's okay. Well, I appreciate you doing this.

12
00:00:53,830 --> 00:00:56,950
I'm Adam, and this is about you and your

13
00:00:57,270 --> 00:01:00,390
journey in music. And we'll talk about the. The album you have coming out, I

14
00:01:00,390 --> 00:01:02,950
think, like, next Friday, I think.

15
00:01:04,390 --> 00:01:08,149
Oh, shit. In May 16th.

16
00:01:09,350 --> 00:01:13,110
Is that next Friday? Oh, God. Coming

17
00:01:13,110 --> 00:01:16,550
up. It's happening. It is, it is.

18
00:01:16,950 --> 00:01:20,270
Well, I always kind of start off with, you know, where you

19
00:01:20,510 --> 00:01:24,350
grew up, where. Whereabouts were you born and raised? I

20
00:01:24,350 --> 00:01:27,950
was born in Portland, Oregon, and I grew up in the suburbs

21
00:01:28,430 --> 00:01:31,750
that are actually in Washington. It's called Vancouver,

22
00:01:31,750 --> 00:01:35,149
Washington. Okay. It's kind of like.

23
00:01:35,470 --> 00:01:39,150
Yeah, the suburbs. The suburbs.

24
00:01:39,150 --> 00:01:42,830
What was it like growing up there? Rainy.

25
00:01:42,910 --> 00:01:46,730
It was very rainy, and there wasn't really anything

26
00:01:46,730 --> 00:01:50,090
to do, so I think that was good. I'm glad

27
00:01:50,490 --> 00:01:53,850
I grew up like that because it

28
00:01:54,490 --> 00:01:58,290
caters to creative, you know, to build

29
00:01:58,290 --> 00:02:01,890
creativity when you're young. Sure. Is Portland

30
00:02:01,890 --> 00:02:05,210
fairly close? Like, was that, like the. The big. The biggest city to you,

31
00:02:05,370 --> 00:02:08,970
or. Yeah, it's like 10 minutes away. Oh, wow. So you

32
00:02:08,970 --> 00:02:12,550
drive over the border. That's awesome. Yeah. My dog's here,

33
00:02:12,630 --> 00:02:16,310
so come on, say hi. Hi, dog. What's your dog's

34
00:02:16,310 --> 00:02:19,750
name? Marvin. He was

35
00:02:19,830 --> 00:02:23,670
obviously looking his butthole, so that's his. That's

36
00:02:23,670 --> 00:02:27,070
his vibe. That's

37
00:02:27,070 --> 00:02:30,710
amazing. Well, that's awesome. Do you come from a creative family? Like a

38
00:02:30,790 --> 00:02:34,230
musical household at all? My brother

39
00:02:35,110 --> 00:02:38,230
played guitar, and he was really good at it and.

40
00:02:38,730 --> 00:02:41,850
And passionate about it. And, like,

41
00:02:42,250 --> 00:02:45,970
nobody in my family really was in

42
00:02:45,970 --> 00:02:49,050
my, like, you know, immediate family

43
00:02:49,530 --> 00:02:52,250
was an artist

44
00:02:53,130 --> 00:02:56,850
aside from my. My brother would write songs and stuff. But I

45
00:02:56,850 --> 00:03:00,490
have, like, an uncle who's a musician. He's really talented. And,

46
00:03:00,490 --> 00:03:04,090
like, my great grandma was a painter, and she wrote

47
00:03:04,790 --> 00:03:08,070
poems, and so we have. We have it,

48
00:03:08,310 --> 00:03:11,510
definitely. Yeah. Running. Running through.

49
00:03:12,390 --> 00:03:15,990
Was your brother older than you? Yeah, my parents

50
00:03:16,070 --> 00:03:19,110
had my brother when they were 16, 17.

51
00:03:19,590 --> 00:03:23,270
Oh, wow. Okay. So he's seven years older than

52
00:03:23,270 --> 00:03:26,190
I am. Did you look up to him as far as, like, when he'd play

53
00:03:26,190 --> 00:03:29,990
guitar and write songs? Is that something that you Wanted to do? Yeah. I would,

54
00:03:30,070 --> 00:03:32,950
like, sneak into his room and try to read his

55
00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:37,400
songs that he was writing, but he has really bad

56
00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,160
handwriting, so I think that was a good way for me to not. Be able

57
00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,720
to read it. I'll never know what they were about.

58
00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,880
Oh, that's funny. Did you take, like, piano lessons or anything like that growing up?

59
00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:53,080
I did. I, I took piano lessons when I was, like, 8 and

60
00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,000
9. Okay. And

61
00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:00,240
then I, I did a lot of stuff growing up, but I would always

62
00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,970
quit everything. I don't know why. I

63
00:04:03,970 --> 00:04:06,490
just always would quit. So I quit. And

64
00:04:07,610 --> 00:04:11,250
yeah. Music, obviously, you kept

65
00:04:11,250 --> 00:04:14,930
going. Was it, did you. When did you find, like, the passion for what

66
00:04:14,930 --> 00:04:18,650
you're doing now? Was it when you're younger? Yeah,

67
00:04:18,650 --> 00:04:22,010
I was really into, like, musical theater when I was little,

68
00:04:22,490 --> 00:04:24,410
and I,

69
00:04:26,330 --> 00:04:30,140
when I, I got bullied really bad in high school and I had to

70
00:04:30,140 --> 00:04:33,540
switch schools, and when I moved to

71
00:04:33,780 --> 00:04:37,220
the new school, they, they didn't have a theater program.

72
00:04:37,540 --> 00:04:40,420
And so that's when I started to

73
00:04:41,940 --> 00:04:45,460
sing and, and think

74
00:04:45,460 --> 00:04:49,300
maybe I should, should do music in this capacity, you know?

75
00:04:49,620 --> 00:04:53,460
Oh, really? Okay. And then you were. Because you started doing covers, right?

76
00:04:53,460 --> 00:04:57,310
On, like, YouTube or early on. Yeah. Was that kind of

77
00:04:57,310 --> 00:05:00,510
how it all began for you, like, to get the courage to do that? That

78
00:05:00,510 --> 00:05:03,630
must have been. I mean, obviously you knew you're a good singer or you wouldn't

79
00:05:03,630 --> 00:05:07,390
have went on the camera and been like, here's me.

80
00:05:08,830 --> 00:05:12,230
But I guess. When do you start doing that? Like, when do you start doing.

81
00:05:12,230 --> 00:05:15,790
Was that when you had switched schools already? Yeah, I,

82
00:05:16,910 --> 00:05:20,430
I, I decided to do a talent show, which,

83
00:05:20,590 --> 00:05:23,760
you know. Oh, wow, that's a bold move. And

84
00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:28,000
so there was a girl in one of my classes who played piano

85
00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,240
named Summer Tong. And so we would, like, just

86
00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,920
hang out after school, and she would play and I would sing,

87
00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,760
and we did the talent show. And then she

88
00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,440
one day was like, we should record this on the,

89
00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,440
our little digital camera. So

90
00:05:48,970 --> 00:05:52,250
we recorded it, and she uploaded it to YouTube.

91
00:05:53,050 --> 00:05:56,170
Wow. What song did you do for the talent show?

92
00:05:57,930 --> 00:06:01,770
I did someone like you. Oh,

93
00:06:01,770 --> 00:06:05,290
really? I was

94
00:06:05,450 --> 00:06:08,490
definitely 15. Sure. That's awesome.

95
00:06:10,090 --> 00:06:13,890
And then from that did. Was she working with you throughout

96
00:06:13,890 --> 00:06:17,490
your YouTube cover things or did quickly. Did you just start doing it

97
00:06:17,490 --> 00:06:21,150
yourself? Yeah, I did a little bit with

98
00:06:21,150 --> 00:06:23,710
my brother as well. Oh, cool.

99
00:06:24,590 --> 00:06:28,310
Yeah. And then you had a shout out from Courtney love at, like, 17

100
00:06:28,310 --> 00:06:32,150
years old, which must have been insane. Yeah, I was

101
00:06:32,150 --> 00:06:34,670
actually 16, which was. I think I'm 16.

102
00:06:36,670 --> 00:06:39,470
And yeah, that was

103
00:06:40,270 --> 00:06:43,670
just, it was all crazy because I never really wanted to be a

104
00:06:43,670 --> 00:06:47,310
musician or be a singer or in like a serious

105
00:06:47,310 --> 00:06:50,390
way. I thought that I would be a painter.

106
00:06:51,350 --> 00:06:55,110
Oh, really? Yeah. And so when that happened,

107
00:06:55,110 --> 00:06:58,710
everybody was like, this is not normal.

108
00:06:58,950 --> 00:07:02,230
Like you, you know, like, you should probably try to do this.

109
00:07:02,950 --> 00:07:06,710
And I sort of. Yeah, I went

110
00:07:06,710 --> 00:07:10,510
to New York and I performed at Fashion Week when

111
00:07:10,510 --> 00:07:13,710
I was 17. Was that due to that.

112
00:07:14,110 --> 00:07:17,870
Her kind of shouting you out on the comment? Yeah, the COVID

113
00:07:17,950 --> 00:07:19,830
Like, you know, at the time it was like

114
00:07:19,830 --> 00:07:22,990
2011, I guess

115
00:07:23,310 --> 00:07:26,910
2010. It's like social media,

116
00:07:26,990 --> 00:07:30,590
YouTube and stuff. It wasn't really what it is now. So. Yeah,

117
00:07:31,310 --> 00:07:33,630
I remember it got like a thousand

118
00:07:35,710 --> 00:07:39,360
watches after we, like a couple days

119
00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,680
after. And that was like crazy because, like,

120
00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,680
yeah, I didn't know a thousand people, so I thought that was weird

121
00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:50,120
because. Yeah, a thousand people saw this video, right? Yeah.

122
00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,640
And a manager called me from

123
00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,400
New York and it was Courtney Love's manager. And

124
00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:03,740
geez, that's so wild. Yeah. And then

125
00:08:03,740 --> 00:08:06,740
at 17, you're like. Or you said you're 16 or 17 at that time. And

126
00:08:06,740 --> 00:08:09,380
then you fly to New York and do in play Fashion Week.

127
00:08:10,580 --> 00:08:14,100
Was that nerve wracking? Yeah, I remember like

128
00:08:14,660 --> 00:08:17,140
begging my mom to let me have a Xanax.

129
00:08:20,420 --> 00:08:21,460
It's like, no.

130
00:08:24,740 --> 00:08:27,460
Did you just do. At that point, were you writing your own songs or did

131
00:08:27,460 --> 00:08:31,260
you just do a bunch of covers that when you performed there? Yeah, I

132
00:08:31,260 --> 00:08:32,700
started writing songs.

133
00:08:35,340 --> 00:08:37,980
Actually, my first song I ever wrote was when I was 14.

134
00:08:39,260 --> 00:08:42,780
Excuse me. And then I wrote some songs with like

135
00:08:43,020 --> 00:08:46,140
friends that I had that were musicians. Okay.

136
00:08:47,180 --> 00:08:49,660
And then I like sang some

137
00:08:50,700 --> 00:08:53,820
other person song that was like a

138
00:08:54,380 --> 00:08:55,980
pop writer from New York

139
00:08:58,290 --> 00:09:02,090
at the Fashion Week thing. Okay. And then from there,

140
00:09:02,090 --> 00:09:05,690
did you like, did her manager help you out? Like, did you

141
00:09:05,690 --> 00:09:08,770
continue working with him? I did. I.

142
00:09:09,330 --> 00:09:12,769
I was still signed with that management

143
00:09:12,930 --> 00:09:13,330
company

144
00:09:14,450 --> 00:09:18,130
until2015,

145
00:09:18,450 --> 00:09:22,130
I think. Oh, wow. Yeah. So it was

146
00:09:22,130 --> 00:09:25,900
like, I guess five years, five or six

147
00:09:25,900 --> 00:09:29,740
years. So when you're working with them, didn't they. Then you started. That's when you

148
00:09:29,740 --> 00:09:33,060
put out your first album, Right. Were you working because you ended up getting signed

149
00:09:33,060 --> 00:09:36,900
a major label, right? Yeah. I mean, so did stuff must

150
00:09:36,900 --> 00:09:40,460
have moved pretty quickly then once you kind of had that door open for you,

151
00:09:41,420 --> 00:09:44,700
kind of. But it was like I was still in school and

152
00:09:45,500 --> 00:09:48,620
my mom was like, you have to

153
00:09:49,150 --> 00:09:52,990
graduate from high school. But it was like, I would. I almost didn't

154
00:09:52,990 --> 00:09:56,830
graduate because I had so many apps. I had 150 days

155
00:09:57,390 --> 00:10:01,230
missed because I was like, I was going to New York

156
00:10:01,310 --> 00:10:04,750
and L. A. And I started writing with Linda Perry.

157
00:10:05,630 --> 00:10:08,430
That's so wild. Yeah. And

158
00:10:09,310 --> 00:10:13,150
everybody probably, like, hated me. I think all my friends

159
00:10:13,150 --> 00:10:16,950
were. Oh, they're all just. Now they're like, now they feel bad for

160
00:10:16,950 --> 00:10:20,710
me. At the time,

161
00:10:20,710 --> 00:10:24,430
it seemed cool. Sure. Wow. Okay, so you're writing

162
00:10:24,430 --> 00:10:27,750
with her and then you ended up working on the first album. You worked with,

163
00:10:27,750 --> 00:10:31,430
like, Alex Turner, right? Yeah. So I

164
00:10:31,430 --> 00:10:34,870
already signed to Columbia

165
00:10:35,669 --> 00:10:39,030
and then, like, was essentially

166
00:10:40,310 --> 00:10:44,150
writing. I was going to London a lot because I

167
00:10:44,150 --> 00:10:47,270
was working with a lot of. Of writers out there.

168
00:10:48,470 --> 00:10:52,110
What was that? I mean, geez. To be. You get signed, you're. You're graduating

169
00:10:52,110 --> 00:10:54,550
high school, and then you're working with Linda Perry, you're still in high school, and

170
00:10:54,550 --> 00:10:58,030
then you get. You're signed to a major label, they're flying you to London. I

171
00:10:58,030 --> 00:11:01,190
mean, that is such a trip to be that young and kind of have

172
00:11:01,830 --> 00:11:05,350
all that happening. Yeah. So the day after I

173
00:11:05,350 --> 00:11:08,750
graduated, which was the day after I turned 18, I

174
00:11:08,750 --> 00:11:12,270
graduated on my birthday. Thank you. For a couple days

175
00:11:12,270 --> 00:11:15,350
around then. And then I. I literally

176
00:11:15,830 --> 00:11:19,670
got on a plane and flew to London by myself and

177
00:11:19,670 --> 00:11:23,430
to go work with all these producers. Like, a lot of them had

178
00:11:23,430 --> 00:11:26,790
worked with, like, Adele and, like,

179
00:11:26,790 --> 00:11:30,150
Rihanna. And I think that the. The plan,

180
00:11:31,430 --> 00:11:35,110
unbeknownst to me, it was that I would be, like, a pop star. And.

181
00:11:35,510 --> 00:11:39,240
And. But then I landed and I was just like, I'm

182
00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,640
a little girl. Like, I don't know how

183
00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,320
to get around a city. Like, sure, I

184
00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,400
drive my car around vacant parking lots

185
00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:54,920
and, like, go to Wendy's. That's like, my, like, life experience as

186
00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,720
an adult. Yeah. And so it was really

187
00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:02,560
kind of overwhelming, but also just like, the best

188
00:12:03,060 --> 00:12:06,900
time of my life in really just finding myself and being

189
00:12:07,140 --> 00:12:10,580
away from everybody and not knowing anyone and

190
00:12:10,980 --> 00:12:13,300
having to, like, figure out who I was.

191
00:12:14,740 --> 00:12:18,100
And once you put that first album out, do you, like, get put on tour?

192
00:12:18,100 --> 00:12:20,100
Like, what's kind of, like the progression of that?

193
00:12:23,220 --> 00:12:26,900
Actually, it didn't get released until two out. Two hours,

194
00:12:26,980 --> 00:12:30,120
two years after it was finished. Wow.

195
00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:34,840
And I don't really know why that. Was, but

196
00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:39,120
that's a long delay. Yeah. So I kind of

197
00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,680
sat around for a couple years and made some little music

198
00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:44,360
videos and,

199
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:51,600
you know, wanted to. I wanted to be in charge of, like, the

200
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,450
art direction of the album. But I

201
00:12:55,450 --> 00:12:58,610
was also, like, I had, like, a high school level, like,

202
00:12:59,090 --> 00:13:02,370
art education and skill set. So

203
00:13:04,370 --> 00:13:07,890
it was just sort of like figuring out as I.

204
00:13:08,210 --> 00:13:11,850
As I went along, I guess the. Art for that Album is

205
00:13:11,850 --> 00:13:15,650
awesome. The COVID Yeah, with the. The flower.

206
00:13:15,810 --> 00:13:19,530
I think it's such a cool cover. Did you. Was

207
00:13:19,530 --> 00:13:23,260
that part. You got the. You got to have that direction on that album?

208
00:13:24,620 --> 00:13:28,260
Yeah, for the. For the. For the

209
00:13:28,260 --> 00:13:31,700
visuals. I did, but it was. I

210
00:13:31,700 --> 00:13:35,420
painted that, like, in my kitchen. Oh, really? You did that?

211
00:13:35,420 --> 00:13:38,300
That's amazing. Wow.

212
00:13:41,580 --> 00:13:45,220
Yes. Of. So after two years or whatever, later,

213
00:13:45,220 --> 00:13:48,260
after the album comes out, is that when they. Is the label, like, okay, we're

214
00:13:48,260 --> 00:13:51,980
gonna put you on the road. Like, let's start pushing this. This record. Or

215
00:13:51,980 --> 00:13:54,660
were you already working on, like, the next album at that point?

216
00:13:56,740 --> 00:14:00,180
I mean, I had written. I started writing

217
00:14:00,900 --> 00:14:04,660
again, but I

218
00:14:04,660 --> 00:14:07,620
wasn't really thinking about the next album until

219
00:14:09,060 --> 00:14:12,460
probably, like, 2016, 2000. Yeah,

220
00:14:12,460 --> 00:14:16,240
2017. We, like, it was very minimal

221
00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,920
amount of touring. Like, I really didn't play

222
00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,000
that many shows. But

223
00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,600
yeah, once, you know, once

224
00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:32,280
the touring seemed like it was kind of phasing out, my, like, manager

225
00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,160
quit and I got dropped. And

226
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,520
then at that point, I was living at home with my mom, so I was

227
00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,260
writing a lot on my own and. And started to work on the

228
00:14:44,260 --> 00:14:46,220
Archer more. Seriously.

229
00:14:48,540 --> 00:14:52,340
Yeah. Was that, like. I mean, getting dropped and, you know, you lose your manager

230
00:14:52,340 --> 00:14:55,580
and all this. Did you kind of feel like. Is this.

231
00:14:56,620 --> 00:14:59,940
Did you feel, like, defeated at that point? Or do you want to keep moving

232
00:14:59,940 --> 00:15:02,780
forward? Or was it like, is this going to work out? Like, is this what

233
00:15:02,780 --> 00:15:06,620
I should be doing? Like, did you ever question any of that? I think

234
00:15:06,620 --> 00:15:10,270
I was, like, living in Portland and, like, not.

235
00:15:12,750 --> 00:15:16,230
Like, I was not. I had really distanced

236
00:15:16,230 --> 00:15:19,910
myself from, like, the industry just

237
00:15:19,910 --> 00:15:23,590
because I had had a lot of really negative experiences. And I felt like I

238
00:15:23,590 --> 00:15:27,310
just needed to, like, be home in my, like,

239
00:15:27,470 --> 00:15:30,750
hometown and not have to think about

240
00:15:33,630 --> 00:15:37,380
all of that for, like, the first time in my,

241
00:15:37,700 --> 00:15:41,540
like, life, basically. Yeah. You know, from

242
00:15:41,540 --> 00:15:45,220
high school. And then you're right out, right into this massive thing.

243
00:15:46,020 --> 00:15:49,700
Yeah. So I wasn't

244
00:15:49,700 --> 00:15:53,420
really thinking about it. Like, I knew I still was,

245
00:15:53,420 --> 00:15:56,980
like, really diligently, like, working on the songs, and

246
00:15:57,380 --> 00:16:00,420
I had a band and I was performing around local

247
00:16:01,300 --> 00:16:04,880
Portland venues.

248
00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,640
But I. I got. So my friend

249
00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:12,400
Brian, who's also Danger Mouse, called me and

250
00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,600
asked if I would come and sing on

251
00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:18,240
a Broken Bells track with.

252
00:16:20,080 --> 00:16:23,280
James Mercer. Right. Mercer. At his house.

253
00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:28,720
Yeah. Because I'd worked with Brian before, and the songs didn't

254
00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:32,330
get onto my first album because it was, you know,

255
00:16:32,810 --> 00:16:36,490
But. And it was because they were

256
00:16:36,570 --> 00:16:40,170
based in Portland, so. Because that's where James lives. And so

257
00:16:40,250 --> 00:16:43,730
I went over there and then Brian had opened a

258
00:16:43,730 --> 00:16:47,570
label and was like, will you send me the songs that you have? And

259
00:16:47,570 --> 00:16:50,650
then I did. And then he was. He flew me out to New York and

260
00:16:50,890 --> 00:16:54,490
I. I recorded it with Sam Cohen,

261
00:16:55,050 --> 00:16:58,010
who is also on the label as an artist, but is a

262
00:16:58,850 --> 00:17:02,650
really great producer. And so if it. If

263
00:17:02,650 --> 00:17:06,490
it hadn't been for that sort of chance encounter, I

264
00:17:06,490 --> 00:17:10,250
don't know, you know, where I would be. Right. I mean, to

265
00:17:10,250 --> 00:17:13,850
get a call from Danger Mouse and have him say, I'm working on this new

266
00:17:13,850 --> 00:17:17,530
project with, you know, James Mercer of the Shins and you.

267
00:17:17,530 --> 00:17:20,010
I want you to sing on it. That must have been a huge moment in

268
00:17:20,010 --> 00:17:23,810
itself. Oh, yeah. I mean, it was

269
00:17:23,810 --> 00:17:27,420
cool. He. I. I really, like.

270
00:17:27,740 --> 00:17:29,660
I really respect James's,

271
00:17:31,260 --> 00:17:35,100
like, sense of melody. I think he has, like, really unique,

272
00:17:35,900 --> 00:17:39,580
interesting. And like, the Shins were obviously

273
00:17:39,580 --> 00:17:43,220
growing up, especially being from Portland, were like, yeah,

274
00:17:43,220 --> 00:17:47,060
huge. Like, the thing. So I was like, this is pretty

275
00:17:47,060 --> 00:17:50,580
cool. I think I like, called my brother and was like, whoa,

276
00:17:50,580 --> 00:17:54,230
this. But, you know, Brian, I've known for a long time,

277
00:17:54,390 --> 00:17:57,990
and it was nice because I've always want. I had always

278
00:17:57,990 --> 00:18:00,390
wanted to continue working with him.

279
00:18:02,630 --> 00:18:06,390
Yeah. And then he signed you to his label, too, right? Yeah, and then I

280
00:18:06,390 --> 00:18:07,750
signed to 30th century.

281
00:18:09,910 --> 00:18:13,750
And. Yeah. And

282
00:18:13,750 --> 00:18:17,510
then the Pandemic happened. But. Yeah. Did you. Because you put the record

283
00:18:17,510 --> 00:18:21,180
out in 2020. Was that before the pandemic? Yeah, it was

284
00:18:21,180 --> 00:18:23,940
like January 10, 2020.

285
00:18:26,740 --> 00:18:29,820
So what's that like? I mean, you have this album out and then the world

286
00:18:29,820 --> 00:18:33,580
shuts down, so you can't really, again, do much. The first album, it

287
00:18:33,580 --> 00:18:37,340
takes two years to put out. So the touring you said was kind of

288
00:18:37,340 --> 00:18:40,900
minimal. And then this time around on the Archer, it's

289
00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:45,060
okay. I got, you know, I'm on 30th century,

290
00:18:45,060 --> 00:18:48,140
the danger Mouse is helping with this record, blah, blah, blah. And then you put

291
00:18:48,140 --> 00:18:50,960
it out and then the Pandemic hits. Yeah.

292
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:56,080
It's so funny because I feel like every time I've been saying this a

293
00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,800
lot, but, like, every time I release music, it's been really

294
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,400
anticlimactic. And, like, that was a different version

295
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,079
of being anti climax, I'd imagine.

296
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,480
But at the same time, like, I. I have a hard time on tour.

297
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,880
And so I think. I think we all. Everybody that I've talked

298
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:19,580
to has been like, when the. When it first happened,

299
00:19:19,580 --> 00:19:23,020
and they were like, oh, hey, everybody. Like, be in your house for a couple

300
00:19:23,020 --> 00:19:26,860
weeks. We were all kind of like, okay, like, right. Like, I'll

301
00:19:26,860 --> 00:19:30,700
paint, I'll Paint my bedroom and, like, do some crafts and read

302
00:19:30,700 --> 00:19:33,700
a couple books. So, like, that's where I was at.

303
00:19:34,820 --> 00:19:38,620
We'll flatten this curve in two weeks. Yeah, it's gonna be

304
00:19:38,620 --> 00:19:42,020
great. Everybody will be fine. Yeah.

305
00:19:43,060 --> 00:19:46,860
And then. Yeah, two years later down the line. Did you even

306
00:19:46,860 --> 00:19:49,860
have a chance to tour on that album? I.

307
00:19:50,420 --> 00:19:54,020
I had a tour that kept getting postponed that I ended up doing

308
00:19:54,100 --> 00:19:57,820
in, like, 2022, and it was just

309
00:19:57,820 --> 00:20:00,980
like, a few shows. And

310
00:20:01,780 --> 00:20:05,420
so, yeah, it was a weird one because I actually, I.

311
00:20:05,420 --> 00:20:08,740
I started doing these little paintings and selling them on

312
00:20:08,900 --> 00:20:12,680
depop. And so I was having, like. I was having all of

313
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:16,240
this, like, all these interactions with fans and,

314
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,600
like, literally writing people, like, letters and, like,

315
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:24,760
I felt very involved with, like, the people

316
00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,520
that were listening to the record. And I was like. I just had, like, all

317
00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:32,120
these T shirts in my mom's basement, and I was, like, signing them and,

318
00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:35,930
like, packaging them up and sending them off and, like, with records and

319
00:20:35,930 --> 00:20:39,010
stuff. So it was. It was kind of a cool way for me to be

320
00:20:39,010 --> 00:20:42,770
able to interact with people and. And really

321
00:20:42,770 --> 00:20:46,410
feel like the music was being heard. But,

322
00:20:46,570 --> 00:20:49,770
you know, unfortunately, not in, like, the way that.

323
00:20:50,810 --> 00:20:54,610
Not in a way of being able to perform. Right. But you're still able

324
00:20:54,610 --> 00:20:58,410
to. Yes. Keep in contact with your fans and, you know, how

325
00:20:58,410 --> 00:21:01,150
stoked are they? They get a shirt signed by you or whatever, you know, and

326
00:21:01,300 --> 00:21:04,940
you're chatting with them online or whatever. I mean, that's huge. It was

327
00:21:04,940 --> 00:21:08,540
fun. Yeah, it was nice. So going into

328
00:21:08,540 --> 00:21:12,180
this Beneath the Lily Pad album, tell me about, like, was this different.

329
00:21:12,340 --> 00:21:15,940
A different process or, you know, when do you start working on

330
00:21:15,940 --> 00:21:19,580
this? So I started. Well, the first

331
00:21:19,580 --> 00:21:23,340
song that I wrote that made it onto the record was meant to

332
00:21:23,340 --> 00:21:26,820
be on my last record. It's called Let Me out,

333
00:21:28,340 --> 00:21:32,020
and that I wrote in 2017, I think, like, when.

334
00:21:32,580 --> 00:21:36,300
With. When I was touring my first album

335
00:21:36,300 --> 00:21:40,140
and then. Oh, wow. And then other than that. Yeah,

336
00:21:40,140 --> 00:21:43,740
I started. I had been writing a lot after I finished the

337
00:21:43,740 --> 00:21:46,500
Archer, and I kind of scrapped all of that stuff because

338
00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:50,900
I just, like, I felt like everything

339
00:21:50,980 --> 00:21:54,430
had changed so much, like, the minute that

340
00:21:54,590 --> 00:21:58,430
all that. So I felt like I'm in a totally different

341
00:21:58,430 --> 00:22:02,230
world, a totally different place, so I'm gonna just start over again. And

342
00:22:02,230 --> 00:22:04,030
then started writing.

343
00:22:05,870 --> 00:22:09,510
Started writing Beneath the Lily Pad. Then why did you

344
00:22:09,510 --> 00:22:12,830
decide to keep that song? It would just. Did you feel like it finally fit

345
00:22:12,830 --> 00:22:15,870
with the songs that you're writing now or for the album?

346
00:22:16,750 --> 00:22:17,950
Yeah, it's like.

347
00:22:20,530 --> 00:22:24,210
It's a song that's like, Two parts. So it's like a two part

348
00:22:24,210 --> 00:22:27,970
song. And it's not like a traditional verse, chorus, verse,

349
00:22:27,970 --> 00:22:30,770
chorus, bridge, whatever. So

350
00:22:31,970 --> 00:22:35,650
I don't think I knew how to,

351
00:22:35,650 --> 00:22:38,050
like, execute it properly before.

352
00:22:39,250 --> 00:22:41,170
And then I had been

353
00:22:43,250 --> 00:22:46,690
really, like, working on what I wanted the, like, vision to be for this

354
00:22:47,260 --> 00:22:50,900
album, and I felt like it. It applied to

355
00:22:50,900 --> 00:22:54,620
that. Okay. Yeah. Can you tell me about, like, what the album is

356
00:22:54,620 --> 00:22:56,780
about? Is there, like a through line for it?

357
00:22:58,140 --> 00:23:01,500
Yeah, I mean, it's a very personal

358
00:23:03,420 --> 00:23:06,700
album and a lot of it has to do with my

359
00:23:07,420 --> 00:23:09,740
mental health problems and

360
00:23:11,340 --> 00:23:13,660
kind of like the dichotomy of having

361
00:23:15,420 --> 00:23:19,020
bipolar disorder and the

362
00:23:19,020 --> 00:23:22,700
depths of, like, depression and the, you

363
00:23:22,700 --> 00:23:26,540
know, extremes of mania and the

364
00:23:26,540 --> 00:23:29,340
psychosis that usually comes with

365
00:23:29,980 --> 00:23:33,340
mania for me. And I think I was just, like,

366
00:23:33,340 --> 00:23:36,780
processing it, being very

367
00:23:36,780 --> 00:23:40,220
isolated and having to, like, go through all of this. It made me see

368
00:23:41,590 --> 00:23:45,150
really what it is and what I am within

369
00:23:45,150 --> 00:23:48,470
it. And that's what the whole album's about, basically.

370
00:23:48,870 --> 00:23:52,310
Wow. Do you. Did you feel like it was therapeutic to be able to write

371
00:23:52,310 --> 00:23:56,070
about it or not really? Yeah. Yeah.

372
00:23:56,070 --> 00:23:58,950
I mean. Cause it's like you write a song and then like, three years later

373
00:23:58,950 --> 00:24:01,590
you're like, oh, yeah, that's what that's about.

374
00:24:02,710 --> 00:24:06,510
Oh, you find yourself. Yeah. Figuring it out later down the line. Yeah,

375
00:24:06,510 --> 00:24:09,890
definitely. Interesting. Well,

376
00:24:10,210 --> 00:24:13,210
I love the records that you have out thus far. I think the Mothership is

377
00:24:13,210 --> 00:24:16,290
the newest one. Right? Yeah. Okay.

378
00:24:17,970 --> 00:24:21,610
And when it came to this album, like, did you work with different producers

379
00:24:21,610 --> 00:24:24,450
or do you work with the same people that you had on the Archer?

380
00:24:25,730 --> 00:24:29,410
I worked with Drew Erickson, who is actually my

381
00:24:29,730 --> 00:24:33,410
partner of six years. Oh, wow.

382
00:24:34,290 --> 00:24:37,570
Yeah, we just, like. We were actually living in this room

383
00:24:39,810 --> 00:24:43,090
with a mini fridge and a microwave and a piano and

384
00:24:44,050 --> 00:24:47,730
probably almost killed each other. But also, you

385
00:24:47,730 --> 00:24:51,530
wrote the whole album. That room pretty much. Oh,

386
00:24:51,530 --> 00:24:54,210
my gosh. It was like kind of a.

387
00:24:55,170 --> 00:24:57,650
It just, like, seemed inevitable that

388
00:24:58,770 --> 00:25:02,450
it would happen that way. And I was really going through so much, like,

389
00:25:03,170 --> 00:25:06,930
emotional and, like, just turmoil

390
00:25:06,930 --> 00:25:10,570
with my. With my bipolar. And he really helped,

391
00:25:10,570 --> 00:25:14,050
like, kind of guide me through it and like,

392
00:25:14,050 --> 00:25:17,890
encouraged me to. To go into the studio and.

393
00:25:18,610 --> 00:25:22,410
And really finish it and. And you

394
00:25:22,410 --> 00:25:26,170
know. So. So you did most

395
00:25:26,170 --> 00:25:29,250
of the demos. Yeah, the demos in there. And then you went and recorded it

396
00:25:29,620 --> 00:25:33,220
elsewhere? Yeah, we recorded at Valentine's

397
00:25:33,220 --> 00:25:36,420
Studio with a. Live.

398
00:25:37,140 --> 00:25:40,260
With a band, like, live to tape and. Really?

399
00:25:41,060 --> 00:25:44,820
Yeah, so which was a weird thing to do because everybody's wearing

400
00:25:44,820 --> 00:25:48,660
masks and like, we had, you know, it

401
00:25:48,660 --> 00:25:52,420
was like, still the pandemic. Ish. Oh, when you. So you recorded this a

402
00:25:52,420 --> 00:25:55,940
while ago? Not all of it, but okay, but some of it.

403
00:25:56,230 --> 00:25:59,830
Yeah. Yeah. We started it in 2021, but

404
00:26:00,150 --> 00:26:03,870
recorded it. We. I. I, like, was paying

405
00:26:03,870 --> 00:26:07,710
for it, so I couldn't pay to go in for two months

406
00:26:07,710 --> 00:26:10,870
into the studio, so we would have to go in and fragments.

407
00:26:13,750 --> 00:26:17,030
So, yeah, it was like, over the course of two years, little,

408
00:26:17,350 --> 00:26:21,150
like, bits going. Wow, that's awesome. They did

409
00:26:21,150 --> 00:26:24,890
it to tape. I think that's really cool. And then the band was live,

410
00:26:24,890 --> 00:26:28,610
also. Live to tape. Yeah. Yeah. For most of it, except

411
00:26:28,610 --> 00:26:32,290
for the two singles, because at that point I had absolutely no

412
00:26:32,290 --> 00:26:36,130
money to pay a band. So recording all of it

413
00:26:36,130 --> 00:26:36,650
right now,

414
00:26:41,290 --> 00:26:44,930
That's really awesome, though. Very cool. What do you plan on touring this

415
00:26:44,930 --> 00:26:47,930
one? I think you have some. A couple dates coming up, right?

416
00:26:48,900 --> 00:26:52,580
Yeah, some, like, American dates in

417
00:26:54,260 --> 00:26:58,020
August, California dates, and we're doing,

418
00:26:58,020 --> 00:27:01,740
like, the Troubadour and

419
00:27:01,740 --> 00:27:05,580
Outside Lands. Oh, yeah. In San Francisco. Yeah.

420
00:27:05,580 --> 00:27:09,140
Which is cool, because I've never been to that. That's a great festival. That's one

421
00:27:09,140 --> 00:27:12,900
of the better ones, I think. Oh, I'm excited. I love

422
00:27:12,900 --> 00:27:16,410
San Francisco. Yeah, it's a cool one. In the middle of Golden Gate Park. It's

423
00:27:16,410 --> 00:27:20,130
awesome. That's cool. Yeah. Well,

424
00:27:20,130 --> 00:27:23,810
I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for doing this. Yeah,

425
00:27:23,810 --> 00:27:27,570
thank you. Yeah. I have one more question for you before I

426
00:27:27,570 --> 00:27:31,250
let you go. I want to know if you have any advice for aspiring artists.

427
00:27:33,490 --> 00:27:37,090
You know what, actually, Brian slash Danger Mouse,

428
00:27:38,690 --> 00:27:42,210
he gave me advice, like, 10 years ago

429
00:27:42,210 --> 00:27:46,010
or probably more than that. And he was like,

430
00:27:46,010 --> 00:27:48,770
if you're ever stumped on,

431
00:27:50,130 --> 00:27:53,690
like, writing a song, just find, like, a

432
00:27:53,690 --> 00:27:57,530
song from that you love from the 60s or

433
00:27:57,530 --> 00:28:01,050
something and learn that. And

434
00:28:01,050 --> 00:28:04,890
then, like, buck the chords up a little bit and write a

435
00:28:04,890 --> 00:28:08,660
song over it, which is maybe, like, I'm not supposed to. It

436
00:28:08,660 --> 00:28:12,380
sounds like cheating, but it's really helped me a lot because,

437
00:28:12,860 --> 00:28:16,500
you know, it's sometimes like, you know, sometimes

438
00:28:16,500 --> 00:28:19,500
things just don't come. Come up out of nowhere. So

439
00:28:20,140 --> 00:28:22,780
that's always been a piece of advice that I've

440
00:28:23,340 --> 00:28:25,900
utilized a lot in my life.

441
00:28:31,990 --> 00:28:33,430
Bring it backward,

442
00:28:37,110 --> 00:28:40,790
Bring it backward Bring it backward

443
00:28:40,870 --> 00:28:44,470
Bring it backward Bring it backward,

444
00:28:44,550 --> 00:28:46,310
Bring it backward.