BiB: How a DIY Album Got Lightworker Signed #podcast #interview

0:10 Bringing it backwards. Bringing it backwards. Bringing it backwards. Bringing it backwards. Bringing it backwards. Bringing it backwards. What is going on? It is Adam. Welcome back to Bringing It Backwards, a podcast where both legendary and rising artists their own personal stories of how they achieve stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to chat with Joe of the band Lightworker over Zoom Video. Joe was born and raised in Redwood City, which is North Bay, San Francisco Bay Area. And he talks about how he got into music. Always grew up loving music, but did not come from a musical household per se. As far as his mom didn't play an instrument, his sister didn't. He started playing violin at a young age and later picked up guitar, but he never really wanted to learn other people's songs. He always had it kind of as a. A vehicle to write his own music. He talked about how he ended up getting into heavier bands. We talk about how Light Worker formed, then putting out their first EP and then first album DIY Style, and then Solid State ending up releasing that first album for them. And he talks a lot about the struggle he had with writer's block going into this next album and working directly with Solid State on putting out this album as well. So do yourself a favor, check out the new

1:40 album from Lightworker. It's called how the Beautiful Decay. And you can watch the interview with Joe on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing It Backwards. It'd be amazing if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok at bringing back pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, Apple Music, Google podcasts, it would be amazing if you follow us there as well and rate and review the podcast. It helps us out tremendously. Thank you so much. We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts. Wherever you listen to podcasts, we're bringing. It backwards with Light Worker. Sweet. So this podcast about you, your journey in music, and we'll talk about the new music you all have coming out, and I want to know how you guys got on Solid State and all of that as well. All righty. Yeah, sure. Sweet.

2:35 So you're in San Francisco. Are you originally from the Bay Area? Yes. Born and raised in what's now. What's now not such a little town called Redwood City, even though it's called Redwood City now, It's much more of a city. Yeah. And yeah, that's where I grew up, North Bay. Right. Okay. Yeah. I lived in San Francisco for like five years. Oh, nice. I should say Bay Area. Y. Yeah. I'm originally from San Diego and then I started on terrestrial radio. So I was on. I think it's back now. Live 105 in San Francisco. It is back. Yeah. Yeah, it was. They changed it to something else. Dave FM or some garbage like that. I can't remember. It was like, so random.

3:28 But anyway, rad. So growing up, did you come into the city a lot as a kid or like, come check out? I would imagine most of the shows you'd go to were probably in San Francisco or Oakland. Yeah, I definitely went to the bigger shows out in. In San Francisco for a while. The smaller shows were out there at this really sketch part of town. Like the Tenderloin in San Francisco? Yeah, they have one in Redwood City? No, they had a. I would usually go to either something in San Jose or in which.

4:10 Where's like. Or that area which was kind of like had the smaller shows usually, you know. Oh, in Tender Line. Is that what you're saying? Or are you just comparing? Sorry, I'm confused. My bad. So like. Yeah, so basically for. For the first few years of my, like concert attending years or shows, I should say, like, they were just really small. The was a place called the Pound in San Francisco that was like perfect for, you know, small bands that were just coming up. Like a little band called Under Oath or. Yeah, those guys are tiny. Yeah, exactly. Or Every Time I Die and Haste the Day. So back then, basically, like, they were like the size of like, I guess my band now. Know what I mean? And so like on the smaller side. But obviously they've huge now, so. But back then, you know, this was like just as, you know, their big albums were just being released, you know, so like, so they were playing like, you know, these 300, 400 cap rooms, but that shut down unfortunately. And that was in the Tenderloin area.

5:29 And that was like. Yeah, that was super sketch. Like we were at the venue, my friends and I, and you know, just a bunch of like emo kids, you know, like just standing there and then you would just see like syringes on the ground and stuff, and we're just like, whoa. Yeah. And then. But then that kind of like shifted because that venue shut down and then. Twitter, like bought a building there. Right. And it's underlined years later, part of. The reason why they probably all went nuts, but. But then the San Jose area started hosting more shows at churches and various different churches and stuff like that. And you know, and that's where I Would see a lot of bands that, you know, ended up being. I mean, like one of my old bands opened up for Sonny Moore right before he became Skrillex.

6:25 Oh, no way. Yeah, like over there. And that was at a place that was just like. It was just like a community center, but the, you know, like, for youths and. But I mean that, the capacity there was. I mean, it was a hundred people. If they were all like, you know, just like sucking in, I guess, you. Know, like, was that, was that what he first to last or was it even before he was in that band? No, it was right in between. It was like he was just known as Sunny Moore and. Okay. And it was just like this brief window of time where. Yeah, and Johnny Craig was there too and. But yeah, just very small venues before, like all these artists, like really took off.

7:15 That's where I would usually go. But if I wanted to go see, you know, much bigger bands and whatnot, or, like, you know, as Under Oath grew and whatnot, then I would go to, you know. Yeah, the, the bigger places like the Fillmore and Warfield or whatever. Is that the Warfield? Yeah, Warfield. I definitely did I see Under Oath there. I definitely saw Deftones and Dillinger Escape Plan there. That was okay. Yeah. And there's like, I'm trying to maybe the Independence, the smaller one or Hill or. I don't know, I'm trying to think. Of Bottom of the Hill. Slims. Is that still there? No, dude, I mean, it technically is, but somebody else bought it. They turned it into like an EDM club. Oh, wow. I saw so many good bands come through there, dude. I saw. Yeah, dude, legendary bands like. Yeah, that, that went through there Next door is still available though for, I guess, more of the, the, you know, rock based scene, which is DNA Lounge. Okay. So, you know, they, so I, I, and I like that place too. And their pizza is awesome. So there you go. Right on. Well, how did you get into music? Did you come from a creative or musical household at all or.

8:36 I didn't come from music household basically at all. Like my mom, you know, when she was raising my sister and I, you know, she, she was never like. Music was one of those things that she liked to have on in the background. You know, she didn't play an instrument or anything like that. She's one of those folks that if you ask her, hey, who sings the song? She has no idea who it is. She just. Okay, likes the song, you know. Got it. Yeah, yeah. But, but I took a real keen interest on it. And my sister is the same way as my mom and.

9:16 But I, I, and I'm the exact opposite. I, you know, know, you know, back, back then, you know, especially as I got into music more and I bought CDs. I mean, you know, like in middle school I would save my lunch money and not like, eat lunch. That way I could go buy the new, you know, Drive Thru record album, you know. What? Sure, yeah. You know, and then my mom would be like, why are you always so hungry after school? I'm like, don't worry about it. And where are all these CDs coming from? And I would just like scour like the, the liner notes and see, I was like, oh, I don't know what a producer is, but this guy produced it. I, I don't know what a record label is per se, but I see the same logo on the back of all these CDs and you know, and I would see the bands thinking other bands.

10:10 So that's how I would find out about other bands or I would follow the label, you know, like, yeah, that's. What I would do is, I mean, if anything, like, yeah, Drive Thru put out anything, you knew it was going to be cool or. Exactly. Fearless or Victory or whatever it was back then. Be like, oh, Victory. Sign this band. They're probably, you know, up my alley or whatever, you know, Exactly. It's worth checking out at least, you know. Yeah, definitely. And so that's, that's what I did and then. But I was always really interested in who produced what and who engineered what and you know, so I just became pretty obsessed with that stuff. But my mom played mainly like traditional Latin music around the household or like there. I'm not sure if you, you're, since you're a Bay Area guy, I'm not sure if you. Everybody makes fun of it, but it's like that light Rock Station, 96.5. Oh yeah, what was the call letters? I can't remember. Wasn't that like Don Blue or something? Got Monday mornings or something? I can't remember. Oh yeah, something like that. But anyway, yeah, so I know what. You'Re talking about, but I, I can't remember what. I mean. I, I lived there like, you know, 15 plus years ago. Oh, okay, got it. Yeah, yeah. So there was, so there was, you know, that like a light rock and Motown station, so basically playing all ballads and, and stuff. So. But once in a while they'll, they'll play something a

11:43 little bit more energetic, you know, and, and those were the songs where you Know, my ears definitely perked up because I was like, oh, this is pretty cool. You know, like. And so the first rock band I got into, because I heard it on that station, was Third Eye Blind. Okay. And Bay Area guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, guys. And I ended up. I ended up finding out that my mom's former boss. Was Stephen Jenkins. No, just kidding. Her kid. Her kid actually was their merchandise manager, so. Oh, that's awesome. So there was a connection there. So I was able to get, like, free CDs and stuff and, you know, and. Yeah, so that's kind of what got me into. Into rock, which is quite a bit different because, you know, if you listen to the other guys in my band stories, it's. I mean, typically, like, you know, the Beatles or some sort of classic rock or. Or classic metal or something like that. Whereas for me, it's like. I mean, my mom definitely didn't know who Pink Floyd was or whatever me. You know what I mean? So.

12:54 Wow, that's cool. So what about, like, an instrument? Like, I mean, getting into all those bands. Every time I die, seeing these bands play in San Francisco and going down to San Jose. And you said you were in a band that ended up opening or. Who became Skrillex. And. And what? Like, when did you start. Did you start playing guitar? Or You. You sing for this band, right? Was that something you. Have you always been, like, the front guy? No, this is the first band that I've fronted. I've always been, like, kind of more. So. I started on violin a long, long time ago because I really did, like, a lot of classical music growing up, too, so I guess I. That was, like. I was only allowed to listen to what my mom listened to, plus classical, so. Okay. You know, very strict, traditional household. So. Until what. Hey, like, when did you start getting to go to all these shows, like, in Centerline stuff?

13:54 Dude, I wasn't. I think I was, like, 15, dude. Okay, so you're a little bit older. Teenager. Got it. Yeah. And even then, like, a lot of my friends started going to concerts when they were younger, you know, But I wasn't allowed to for a long time. But, yeah, so I. I started off in violin, and then that kind of, like, fell to the wayside. And then I really wanted to play guitar because I wanted to write my. It's. I wanted to write my own songs more than actually be, like. Like a guitarist, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, you just wanted as, like, a vehicle to write your own song instead of, like, I want to learn every third. I Want or whatever it may be. You know what I mean? Right. You know, exactly. And so it's like I just want to know enough so that way I can, I guess, express myself is, you know, kind of how I, I looked at it.

14:51 So I then, you know, and then as I kind of, you know, like I mentioned, I kind of got into the drive through stuff and I think, you know, I really had an appreciation for more of the mainstream stuff, you know, like Third Eye Blind and, and all that stuff and, you know, but I really started to fall in love with more of the underground stuff, you know, whether it was like, you know, stuff that you would find on smaller labels, you know, back then, you know, like bands like Alkaline Trio and, and Hot Water Music were. Those are like of my favorite bands. Oh yeah.

15:33 See, like, yeah, Hot Water is definitely like up there for me. And yeah, I might. I have a sleeve based off of that album cover, the split that they did. Oh, that's so sick. Yeah, I'm a huge, huge hot water music fan. So they did that like vinyl that had the two sides and they covered one of each other's songs. I don't know. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the, the vine, the, the picture disc had this crazy drawing on it. Like, that's amazing. So. Okay. Yeah, I gotta come up with a version of it anyway. Sorry. No, no, you're good. But no, I actually have the split with Bouncing Souls and Hot Water. I love bouncing. That's a good one. Yeah, but, but you know, so like, you know, there was stuff that I discovered that was like on, you know, Drive Thru was one, but another one was Fueled by Ramen before they got all that Paramore money, you know. Yeah. You know, back when Jimmy World actually released that one EP that right before.

16:38 Clarity, the one before Clarity, the one. In between Clarity and Bleed American. Okay. I can't remember what it's called, but I know what you're talking about. It was just self titled. I. I have the 10 inch and it's very. It has that one. Really? Or there's two songs that you can't find anywhere else, not even on streaming platforms. One of them is called Roller Queen. Jimmy World's my all time favorite band, but. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, so. But you know, like stuff that was like on Asian Man Records, you know, Fueled by Ramen, you know, stuff like that. And then started to listen to stuff that was like on Solid State and. Well, first tooth and nail, because I didn't go immediately into the heavy stuff. Right.

17:24 But, but you Know, a band on. On Drive Thru. And then later on was Finch that. Yeah, like, really started, like, you know, Third Eye Blind would have the occasional scream here and there. And I thought it was pretty cool, but it wasn't until, like, Finch brought it along because they still had very strong pop punk roots, but they were doing something a little heavier, you know. Yeah, yeah, they were a band from. Well, like, I guess it's not even really San Diego County. It's more like Riverside County, I guess, at that point. Yeah, they're from Temecula, which. Yeah, they try to. People would claim them as a San Diego band, which is funny, but. Oh, really nice. Yeah. And then. And then a Static Lullaby, who were from Chino Hill. So, like, you know, those were like, some of the heavier bands that I started again into. But, you know, a lot of my friends are getting into heavier stuff. And I was like, okay, well, I want to kind of dive into that too. So the first, like, I would say the first heavy record, in my opinion, that I. That I bought was Failure on By Beloved, you know, and that was on Solid State Records. And I really liked some of the riffs. And then my friends were like, well, you probably like metal more than. Than hardcore then, because hardcore is a little bit more rhythmic and, you know, breakdown heavy, you know. And so I bought

18:57 ZO cd that was a compilation. And I bought Hasta Days Burning Bridges. Okay. And. And growing up, I did have a cousin that did listen to all a bunch of, like, you know, metal and grunge and stuff. So I was aware of it. Like, I. I knew I loved that twin guitar stuff that Iron Maiden did. I was exposed to Iron Maiden at a very young age and Nirvana and Slayer and all that stuff. But because it was taboo in my household, you know, I never really dove into it. Yeah, right. You're like, here, mom, like, check this one out.

19:39 Exactly. South of Heaven Don't Diabol Musica. The guy on the COVID like, don't worry about what he looks. Exactly. Well, that's cool. So, like. So you start playing guitar, writing your own songs, and then you said you had a band, but how long down the line do you begin? Light Worker and you guys had an EP out. And, like, would that. Was that on Solid State or is this the first album or first release from Solid State? This is our second release on Solid State. Our EP was diy. And. Yeah, so. And actually our first album is, like. Even though it was released on Solid State, we did everything. DIY pretty much. And they, like, signed the album or Something or, like, signed you and put it out.

20:28 Exactly. So. Because we were literally waiting for the masters when, like, everything else was done except for the. The masters. And so obviously we didn't have artwork or anything, but in terms of the music, like, we had vinyl mixes and everything waiting, and we had sent it off to get mastered, and we were just waiting for that, and then they offered us a deal. Wow. So. So did you just. Were you just sending out press kits or, like, how did you end up getting. Not even Solid State had a little bit of, I guess, a leg up on other labels because Daniel Gailey from Fit for a king, S.L.

21:14 phas, and formerly of Becoming the Archetype and a bunch of other great bands, he worked with us, and he let Solid State know that he was working with us. And so they were like, oh, yeah, just keep us posted. So, so how did you get to meet him and work with him? So I've actually known the Phineas guys for at least. There's only one dude that was a part of the lineup that I had met, you know, back then, but I've known the Phineas guys since, like, before they were even officially signed.

21:55 Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, before they released. Yeah. So, like, I think. Or at least maybe. Maybe that's a little incorrect, maybe around the time that they did sign, but basically it was like before they really just blew up, you know, so they played their. I got them to play the Bay Area for the first time and got them to San Francisco for the first time and with me and our drummer, Ryan's old band. And so when Daniel joined Phineas, you know, I had already known the other guys, like, fairly well. Okay. So, yeah, so they. They.

22:44 We. We went out to a show they were opening for era and, you know, went to the show, met up with the Phineas guys. And I knew that Dan kind of did some, like, production work and, you know, producing and engineering on the side, so I was just like, hey, I. I told. I told my guitarist, Grayson, and I was like, you know, we can work with him, or there's this other guy I know that's, like, rad too. But we. We knew that we wanted to step up, like, the. The. The guitar game, you know, on our end. So, yeah, ultimately we showed Daniel, like, our old stuff, and he was just like, yeah, this is sick. Yeah, let's do this. And so, yeah, through. Through, I guess, my prior connections with. With Phineas and whatnot, our friendships and. And whatnot, we were able to go to, you know, work with him. And, yeah, eventually, yes. Solid State. Yeah.

23:48 That's awesome. What was the difference going. Did he work with you guys on this new album or no? Yeah, yeah. Oh, awesome. Yeah, he did Bo Burchell of Seosin and both worked on this album. They also worked on the prior album. So we, we did the same team for two albums in a row. Oh, okay. Yeah. That's cool. And with this new album, I mean, being, you know, like you had the other album done and then it got signed and released by Solid State. But going into this new album, was it any different having them as a, like having them like co sign prior to you even like beginning or like kind of Tell me about going into this album and was that any different now that you had a label backing? You know, you have this, you have the seat, you have the, you know, the, the logo on your album that you used to look through as a kid and be like, oh, okay, this band's probably awesome because they're on Solid State.

24:48 Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I would call my band awesome, but. Well, okay, well, you know what I'm saying, right? Like people will just gravitate to it. To it or check it out because they know it's on, it's on this label. No, no. You like FAT Records and you see a FAT Records look. Oh, this band probably sounds like another FAT Records. Oh, totally. Yeah. No, absolutely. So I, I would say there, I mean, going into it, I, I. The only differences were that we weren't paying for it all out of our own pocket, which was pretty sick. Yeah. And then beyond that, you know, we knew how, we knew how Beau worked. You know, he was no longer like this new dude. You know, he became a friend.

25:40 And Dan had also wrote a lot more as a writer and a producer as well. So what was great about that was, you know, he went and, you know, officially joined Fit for a King, was in the studio a handful of times with another producer and you know, was able to gain perspective and growth from there. So. And then, you know, he brought those things that he learned and, and you know, brought it to the table with us. So I think the biggest change was the two biggest changes were, you know, like we were on a label and so we didn't have to self fund anymore, which is awesome. And then I think everybody kind of knew each other more and or was more seasoned at what they did.

26:25 Cool. Yeah. And with this album, like tell me kind of about it, like going like the writing process of it as far as like, what's the album About. And did you know you were gonna be writing an album? Because, I mean, nowadays a lot of people are just doing single, wait a few months, single, wait a few months, and then those all become an EP of sorts. But to go into an album, I mean, that's cool. I. I appreciate it, but it's just definitely not the norm anymore. Yeah. Yeah, I. I think we kind of entered into this whole, you know, music business thing at a unique time where there is a lot of change that's happening, you know, and it's happening faster than it ever has before, because when MP3s came to light, I mean, that ruled for a solid, like, 10 years almost, you know, so. So there was no real shift. But, yeah, as we became a band, it's like physical media was going down, but for whatever reason, vinyl was going up, streams took over and whatnot. Like, people used to look at, you know, your followers on social media. Now it's like, how many streams are you getting monthly? You know, It's.

27:40 It's. And also, recording is a lot easier now than it was even 10 years ago. So I think for us going into this record, this has definitely been the most difficult batch of songs that me or Grayson have ever written or been a part of. It's. I love the creative process, but Grayson definitely struggled with a lot of writer's block, and in. In rightfully so. I mean, the world was kind of shut down for quite a while there. So, like, yeah, you know, so.

28:29 And things had shifted, and, you know, so th. You know, I. I could have definitely understand from his point of view how that would definitely mess with your creative juices, you know, But I think through that struggle, we've been able to write something that we. We knew it was. We wanted it to be heavier. And I think we're getting to a point where it's like, okay, we're. We're kind of learning how to be, you know, like, how to write heavier music and were recognizing what works for us. And I think a lot of the lyrics on how the Beautiful Decay deal with what we've kind of been through the last three and a half years or so. And it's all compiled into, you know, 10 songs. And.

29:27 And the. The name of the record came about before we even wrote a single note or. Oh, really? Yeah. And so that was kind of like our. Kind of our guide. You know, it's like, hey, everything we write, we want it to be able to sound like it would fit under this title. You know, whether that's lyrically or. Or Musically, and so I think that really helped. And obviously, having, you know, Daniel and. And Bo be at the helm of a lot of this stuff has. Has really helped, too, and. But it definitely was a bit of a struggle to get to that finish line. But I could definitely say this is the most proud of a record that. Or any kind of music that I've ever been, ever since I was a kid. Like, definitely the most proud of this one. There's. Yeah, I'm.

30:27 And. And honestly, I'm looking forward to the next one. Knowing that we have, like, this experience under our belts. That's amazing. Yeah, that's really, really awesome. I can imagine being hard to, like, run into a writer's block, especially if you're signed to a record label that's like, okay, are we gonna have something here? You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, like, I mean, burn Scar, the second single that we released, was the one that broke Grayson's writer's block, and. And we. We started to get really stoked and, like, I. And once now that we've actually played some of the new songs live and. And have done some touring and whatnot and have seen the reception, we. We felt good about it, but seeing the reception of it has, like, solidified, like, hey, going this heavier direction is definitely. Not only does it feel good for us, but the audience is also receiving it really well, too. So it kind of makes us ponder, you know, like, okay, well, we can definitely. There's a lot more to explore in.

31:32 In terms of the heavier aspect of. Of our band. It's awesome, man. Well, I appreciate your time. I think the album comes out on Friday, right? Almost. That's exciting. You doing anything for. I know you had some shows that you had already played, right? Like, whiskey and stuff last month. Yeah, this. This month, we're. We're kind of taking it easy. We're. We're just going to be releasing the album and. And ramping up, getting ready to go on tour next month and then the month after that. So. Awesome. But I think we're just gonna celebrate with. With each other, you know, and, you know, have a couple beers and just be like, finally out. Right on, Joe. Well, I appreciate your time, man. Thank you so much for doing this. I have one more question. I want to know if you have any advice for aspiring artists. Do the work that's, like, if you. If you know nothing is going to be handed to you, like, and if you feel like you're not getting the opportunities that you want, then, you know, I guess the saying is, you know, like, build your own chair and bring it to the. To the table. You know, like, you know, get out there, go to shows, make contacts and stuff like that.

32:54 Dedicate the time to your craft and, yeah, just do the work. Bringing it backward, bringing it backward, bringing it backward, bringing it backward, bringing it backward, bringing it backward.