BiB: New Translations – "Just Make It Happen": The DIY Secrets That Got Them Signed

0:00 What is going on? It is Adam. Welcome back to Bringing It Backwards podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieve stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to hang out with Isaac and Oliver of the band New translations over Zoom video. Oliver was born and raised in Kentucky and Isaac grew up with Ben who was not on the call. But Ben and Isaac grew up together in Chihuahua, Mexico at after high school they moved to the United States and Isaac ended up attending the same college as Oliver. So they met Orientation day freshman year and started playing music together. We hear about how the band formed, how they were able to build a huge fan base here in Nashville. They talk about the album Vacation and all about this brand new album as well. You can watch the interview with Isaac and Oliver and myself on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing It Backwards. It'd be amazing if you subscribe to our channel and like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram X and Tick Tock at Bringing back Pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify or Apple Music, Google Podcasts, please rate and review the podcast. It helps us out tremendously. We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts. Wherever you listen to podcasts, we're bringing. It backwards with new translations.

1:31 Backwards bringing it back. Hey, how are you? I'm doing great. How's it going? Fr? I'm good, man. I'm good. Thanks so much for doing this. Yeah, thanks for having me, man. Of course. I'm Adam and this is about you and your journey in music and let's talk about the band and the album and everything else you have going on. Oh yeah, Sounds good, man. Cool, brother. So first off, I read the. Are you originally from Nashville? The band started in Nashville. Right. Band started. It's a long story. I'm from Kentucky, Muhlenberg County, John Prine's Paradise. Oh, hell yeah. Nice.

2:26 And it was around 20, 21 is when us as a. As a five piece kind of found each other in Nashville. Okay, so you moved from Kentucky to Nashville before the band started. Yeah. Well, I'll give you the. The abridged version here. Okay. So Isaac and Ben. Isaac's are guitar and synth player. Sure. Who is trying to. It looks like he's trying to get into the meeting he might have joined. I will start at the beginning. Isaac is the guitar synth player. Ben is the bass player. They grew up together in Chihuahua, Mexico. Their parents, their parents were missionaries and so they, they, you know, grew up together. Essentially. And then when they graduated high school, they splintered off and went off into the US and that's where I met Isaac. I met Isaac on the orientation of college at Western Kentucky University.

3:30 It was the summer. Oh, wow. Okay. Classes had even started. And we were going to school for musical theater. And he would always work on music and would always tell me about his friend, but then. And who's really good at production, and we would just mess around, you know, essentially. We were both trying to do the acting thing for a long time and lived in New York for a bit. And then we both lived in Memphis working for a professional theater there. And that's when we kind of lost the love for acting and musical theater and kind of just fell into this. We were just having a lot of fun making music and I was singing and writing lyrics and he's a multi instrumentalist wizard. And so we. But we both sucked at production, you know, and so we would take our stuff to Nashville, drive from Memphis to Nashville and work then on producing it. And that's when it kind of formed 2018 as a. As a three piece. And then we all just made the conscious decision in 2020 to move to Nashville and just give it a shot. We had no clue what we were doing. We didn't know anything about the industry or the business and.

4:42 But we just liked making music. So we did that and we wanted to play it live. And so we found Andres and Philip. Philip's our drummer. Andreas is our second guitarist and keyboard player. And we just hit the ground running from there. And that was. We were looking in the van on the way to our show and we were trying to find like when it actually started because we. We couldn't even remember. And it was in. In May of. Of 21, we played our first show. First show. Well, you guys have obviously had a ton of experience on stage. I mean, going from musical theater and acting and in that world to. I think that's. I mean, you watch your guys live sets and it's insane that coming out as a live band, I'm sure. Wasn't that. That was probably the easiest part hard for you? Well, yeah. I mean, it's a different.

5:36 It's a. There's there's intense differences and intense similarities and we tried to lean into the similarities of it. Sure. Which is like, when crafting your set, you know, you've got an hour. There needs to be a beginning, you need to set the tone. There's got to be a climax, like three fourths the way through. And then like A denouement at the end of it all. So that. That was always kind of fun. We've leaned into the theatrics, usually in. In matching uniforms and just. Sure. You know, treated. Treating it. Treating it like a show and not just five dudes on stage playing. I love that. And I think that's such a huge thing that not many bands do especially. Or bands that are early on. It sounds like you guys have done that from the beginning. Like, we're just gonna. This is it.

6:24 Getting their money's worth. Yeah. I love it. Isaac. What's up, brother? Sorry, your name was your thing. We're all the same person. I doubt it. Well, good to meet you, brother. Well, yeah, we just kind of. Good to see you, man. Yeah. Your guys's story is a band. I'll ask you real quick, Isaac. So you grew up in. In Mexico. Okay. So you grew up in Chihuahua, Mexico, and then you moved to the States? Yeah. Yeah. So me and Ben, who plays bass and does some, like, production work for us, we. I grew up with him. I've known him since I was, like, 11. His mom was my.

7:05 Was our fifth and sixth grade teacher. And yeah, we. We grew up in a evangelical Christian, like, mission organization. Okay. Which is pretty weird. And then, yeah, I graduated high school and then college. Literally my first day of college is where I met Oliver. And, yeah, he. He kind of showed me the world. I was a very naive person, I would say. I was gonna ask you about it as far as, like, music goes and, like, how do you get into music as a kid? Or are you only playing, like, Christian music or, like, how does that work? And, like. Oh, yeah. I mean. Yeah, like, I. I was only exposed to, like, Christian music growing up. So, like, you know, Switchfoot, that was my. That was my jam.

7:56 But it was in college when I really started listening to bands like the national or, like. Yeah, just bands outside of the religious world. And I was like, oh, my God, this is amazing. And that's something that I think Oliver and I bonded over because he grew up Jehovah's Witness, so just. Yeah. Getting into the music world that, you know, outside of. Of our religious confines. Sure. With that, like, moving here, like, were you always interested in playing music or you wanted to do musical theater also? It sounds like. Did you go for musical theater? Yeah, I mean, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I started out as an English major in college.

8:38 Met Oliver. He took me to my first, like, audition for theater. So I was. I always danced around the major. I Was never actually a theater major, but I was in musicals all the time. All around. Was usually, like, the lead and I was usually like tree number two in the background. Yeah. So that was. That was a lot of fun. But I learned a lot. And I learned a lot about how musicals were written mostly, which was kind of what I nerded out about. And I actually wrote one musical in college. But that. I think that translated a lot into, like, how we. Yeah, like what we were saying, like, developing the live show. And like, you know, there's character arcs, there's themes, there's like, I want songs. There's like. How do you place these songs in an order that makes sense? Yeah.

9:33 When you guys, like, for the album, do you. When you write, like, the new album, was it thought of that way too, or is it totally different? Like, do you think of it as like, okay, we gotta write, tell the story, or there's characters throughout the album or not at all? Well, it's interesting because we went in thinking we were going to do quasi concept album and left with a completely different. Different idea. And I think, you know, you always have something in your head and then, you know, the music and where it goes and the. The lyric changes it. You. You slowly start to real. I think just being open to being like water and letting it all move around you and not fighting anything that feels right, I think is. Is the way to go. But we definitely. We always aim, you know, with that. With that lens of. It's this. It's. It's more than. Than just songs, you know, or stories within the songs. But there's a, you know, a bigger picture within. But it ended up not going that route.

10:37 No, it didn't fully tell a full story when she finished. Or it's in the way in. In the. In the way of like a concept out. Yeah, it didn't do that. But I think where we landed is stories that are just more grounded in reality, in the world that we're in, and an authenticity that I think our theatrics kind of shy away from sometimes. Or we. We keep authenticity or, like, vulnerability, I would say, at arm's length because we're playing these characters or. Sure, I'm an alter ego on stage. I'm not a crazy guy in the gas station, you know, I just. Just a guy, you know.

11:17 So I. I think it was a. It was a fun exercise and a challenge to. To kind of rise above that and just get down to what. What are you actually saying, you know, in the song. And Eve Rothman was the producer on that. He was a great, you know, kind of ringleader of that circus for those three weeks in LA that we, that we were tracking out there. He. He kept us honest and, and on track and under budget. So that's good. There you go. I love it. So you. It sounded like 2020, you all decide to move to Nashville and really take the band seriously. Was it.

12:04 Was there like a milestone or something that occurred that made you have. Make that decision? Or like, were you just over the whole theater thing and you're like, this band, we. We can make this band work? Or did you have a song that people are giving you a lot of praise on or like, what kind of. Really? Yeah, like you just. It was trigger. It was. I mean, for me, I think Isaac and I were on, on, on different paths at that time, but I was, I was so done with musical theater and basically the idea that you have to wait. You go to countless auditions and you're waiting for permission to do your job. You're waiting for somebody to be like, okay, you. You sound right, you look right, you fit the costume and now you do it and you do it for two months and it's great. And then you're back to trying to find the next thing.

12:55 And you're trying to find the next thing. Music. To me, whenever I felt inspired, I could write a song, you know, whenever I. And, and that's obviously grown to where it is now. Whenever you want to play a show, just make it fucking happen. Sorry if I can't. No, you can. You can. Cuss. Okay, great. Just make it. Just make, just make it happen. And, and it puts the, puts the power in you as the artist to. Yeah, I guess you could say the same for theater. You could. You know, you can write your own thing and host your own show, but that's such a. It's. Yeah, it was more soul sucking than it was giving. Can't imagine the amount of people you have to get involved with that and where guys can get together and just, and just. And it felt right. It felt right at the time. Yeah, the timing felt good. The band was always kind of like this casual thing, I think for us and. But I mean, I, I had, I started working on another musical project and was out in la and I mean, I was, it was, it was fulfilling but like I was doing like corporate gigs so, you know, playing Pursuit Ties. That didn't give a. About what you were doing. So like the band was really calling me back in my mind. I was like, damn, I I. I'm. I feel like I'm not in the right thing right now. And then Covid happened, and then Ben and Oliver started, you know, making moves,

14:29 like adding people to the bands. I was like. They would send me pictures of them rehearsing with other people. I was like, what the fuck is happening? So I was in la and I just told my girlfriend at this. I'm like, I gotta go. I gotta. I gotta get back. And I did. And I think it was. We would. We would write songs, Ben and I, and bring them to a production fruition. Be like, this is the one that's gonna make Isaac movies. This is gonna be the one. Yeah. I mean, okay. So then you eventually move to Nashville, and then that's when the band starts. And you talked about playing your first show in 21ish. Yeah.

15:18 And then from there was it just. You just kept playing around town. I'm. I'm. I'm close to Nashville. I live south Thompson Station area, but I'm from San Diego, so I know the. The move from LA to Nashville. It really all just. It again. We knew nothing about how any of this. We didn't know how to book a show. We didn't know what anything meant that what we were doing. But it's. It just all kind of happened rather quickly where we played a. It was a New Faces night at the OG basement. Okay. And that's like four bands. You get 20 minutes and it's a free show, and you're just cycling in and out. But grimy. Micah Grimes, who owns Grimy Records in the Basement east, was running the sound that night. And the man was just enthralled with what he saw. And so, you know, it grew from. From that to the OG and OG Basement headline. They did a free Friday thing outside the Tomato Fest, supporting the Basement. He slots headlining Basement East. It just. It. He was very instrumental. Gil and Grimy both were instrumental and just foot having footholds for us in Nashville. Yeah.

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19:21 That's hellofresh.com bib tv10fm to get 10 free meals and a free item for life. Yeah, I mean, from there do you, do you start like trying to play outside of Nashville? I mean, obviously you build a fan base here, but outside of that, I mean, you, you signed a Warner Records. I mean you, you guys have accomplished so much and just getting from Nashville, getting success in Nashville itself is huge and hard to do with the amount of talent and people here. But then, yeah, taking it to the next level, like how do you go from, you know, just playing East Nashville to getting the deal?

20:05 You, you literally Just do it. You just do it. I mean, it was, it was, it was crazy. You know, we were playing our first out of town shows I think in like Atlanta and like Nashville is a great hub for, you know, the southeast market. You can kind of bop around in that way. And so Phil, our drummer, had worked as a booking agent and so thank God he knew exactly. He knew how to reach out to people. He knew what a hold meant. He knew how to, you know, orchestrate these things to get us and you know, playing to 20 people in Atlanta turned into 40 people, turned into 100 in Charleston.

20:53 You know, I think the live show being what it is, a focus of ours, we just literally had to get in front of people to do it. And we, we kind of learned how to be a self sustaining business model in a lot of ways, like with the booking of the shows. And then Ben, he's, you know, he's worked on the road before, so he knew how to tour manage us and we all kind of were able to take on those roles that usually you hire outside sources to do. And I think that, and everyone was pretty good at their job. So I think that really kind of helped us move to that next level of, of creating value for ourselves. That I think is, that's like the missing piece, I think with a lot of bands, however good they are, like, how can you, you know, be a working machine within in the band? Yeah. Well, I think what you guys did is so cool and like, it's so, it's like traditional if you were a band in the 90s to like, you know, get, get the songs, get the live show and then go out and play to 20 people in Atlanta and then 40 next time.

22:09 And that just, that grassroots way to do it is just, it's, it's so different now because somebody, somebody could get a tick tock tok hit for two minutes and then get everyone on their face and then they're on the show and maybe five people show up because just streams and stuff don't turn into ticket sales. I think what you guys are all doing is, is such, is the way to, to really build a true fan. Base, like longevity in that way. I, I, I totally agree. And you know, maybe things would be different if we were good at TikTok, but we are all individually so terrible at social media. We try, you know, but we're, we're definitely not in our early 20s. So I, I think it, I mean, we opened for Rainbow Kitten.

22:56 Surprise. Yeah. And I think that that was important for our manager to see, you know, the label, to see the, you know, the merch sales afterwards and just the lines that we had. It's just if we can get in front of people, then I think we have a way of connecting to not even a specific genre of music, not even a specific demographic or age group. It's just. I feel as though our message of community is inclusive to everyone from, you know, 8 to 80. It's. It's a universal experience and I. I really love that. And we strive to expand that every show, whether there's 10 people there or 3,000 people there. Yeah, I love it. And you guys have. You're on tour now, right?

23:50 You're playing LA tomorrow? Oh, yeah, we're in. Isaac. Where are we? Seligman? Arizona. Oh, man. Arizona. Route 66. Yeah, but we're. We've been driving from Hickory, North Carolina, which has been quite the drive, but we'll get into LA tonight and then. Oh, man. So you've been. You left. You're in Arizona now from North Carolina. Yeah. Oh, my God. Routing was a little weird, this one. But, you know, I think we're doing a good job staying sane and finding that we've got it down to a pretty nice routine now. There's not a lot of question marks of where we're staying. Shout out. Then our TM and bass player and production. So it's. It's.

24:46 It's kind of just like punching into work to get to the show. Nice. Yeah, you're playing. You have some really cool venues on this tour, I saw. Yeah, the Echo been wanting to play that one for a while, so that's exciting. Right on. A lot of first markets for us, too. You know, we've. Nashville is good for that. Southeast, sure, but in the Northeast. But it's. It's hard to cross that. That great divide, you know? Yeah. I mean, brick and mortar in that line. You're playing San Francisco and the Mercury Lounge in New York. I don't know if you played there. Before, but that's once before. Yeah.

25:31 Yeah. That's awesome. What about new music? I mean, the album didn't come out. It came out this year, but are you guys working on new stuff? And you just did that Audio Tree thing, right, for Spotify? Yeah, yeah, we did the. Did the Audio Tree. We just wrapped the second album, tracking. Oh, really? Wow. Yeah. Yeah, that was. That's the one with Eve Rothman and out of la, we. We literally left, you know, almost a month in the studio, got back, drove to Buffalo, played a festival, came back and now we're on this tour, so. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it's just. It just feels like it just keeps going, which is good. That's. These are. These are good things. But.

26:18 Yeah, so we've. We've got a new alb. I can't say when it comes out. Not because of a secret, because I just don't know. But we don't know. Yeah. Can you talk about it? Did you go in as a concept this time as well? Well, that. That was. Maybe I mixed the wires. Then earlier, Vacation, the album that came out. Yeah. This year we definitely went in. We went in as a concept, and this one we recorded, we went in with a whole sheet going in as a concept, and that's the one that changed, you know. So Vacation. Vacation went in as a concept and that ended as a concept. Yeah. Yes. Right. And then this. For this one, we had a concept, but all the songs that worked with that concept ended up getting cut. So then we were like, well, I guess the concept is no longer the concept. Yeah. But I definitely love where it lives. Yeah. It helped to have that in our minds because at least it gave us some kind of direction. At least you're trying to say something, and then in that process, maybe it changes, but at least you're in it now, which sometimes the hardest part is just to start, you know. Oh, I bet. Yeah.

27:35 So this, though. So the new album is this one. Okay, now I got you. I figured. Yeah. Okay, cool. And it's a. It's a fun, you know, we definitely played with more organic sound, more acoustics and, like, live ox percussion and kind of just melding the worlds we're known for, like synth, you synth kind of action and electronic drums and stuff like that. It was. It was a fun. That was probably the coolest thing about the whole thing was just learning how to make the two work together and in a very Flaming Lips, Yoshini battles kind of way, you know. Rad.

28:18 Oh, sorry. We're gonna ask something, Isaac. Sorry. Our. Our main challenge and project, at least me personally, is just how to build. Blend the worlds of, like, shoegaze with, like, disco dance and, like, get people crying while also dancing and staring at their shoes. So I think. I think we did a better job of it with this record. It definitely feels a bit more sober than the last record and a bit more mature, I would say a little. A little darker, but still at the same time more full of hope than I think the last record.

29:01 So we're all really, really stoked on these Songs and. Yeah, can't wait for them to be. Out in the world. Are you playing any of them on this, on the road? No, that was the. I think we. We sneak, like, five minutes. We're opening on this tour, so we get. We get like, you know, five, 10 minutes of a sound check usually. And so we're trying to. To sneak in little. Little practices again. We left the album to then go straight to this tour, so there hasn't been a. Been a moment to. To really, like, reflect and fine tune, but no better time to practice than in front of. Front of people.

29:46 We're definitely striving that by the end of the tour, we can get a couple of them on their feet. I love it. Awesome. Well, I appreciate both of you doing this today. Thanks for your time. Yeah, man, I appreciate you. Yeah. I do have one more question. I want to know if I need an answer from both you too. If you have any advice for aspiring artists. Aspiring artists? Yeah, I would go. I would go back to just do it. Make. Make it happen. There's. It's such a. A wild, wild west in the music world with the advantages and disadvantages of social media, but just find your community. Wherever you are, whether that's five people or 500 people, find that community and make it happen.

30:37 Yeah, I would say, like, no, I mean, basic, but, like, no one else is gonna want it as much as you are. And so many people are gonna promise you things that if you leave it in their hands, it'll get taken care of, and it is never taken care of, or it's done in a way that is just not what you resonate with. So just do it yourself as much as you can. Yeah. And if people help you, that's awesome. But you can't expect them to want it as much as you do or care as much about it as you do.

31:20 Bringing it backward, bringing it backward, bringing it backward, bringing it backward, bring it backward, bring it backward.