00;00;00;00 - 00;00;18;09
Unknown
Churches are all different, just like people totally get that. But I just think there's a lot of bullshit going on. I have a lot of experience in the worship world, and it's really hard when the churches production conflicts with my values. Exactly agree. I think the problem with the church is it's full of humans. That's the problem with everything, isn't it?
00;00;18;10 - 00;00;42;04
Unknown
Is full of human. Welcome to the Think in Cursive podcast. I'm Brandon Leonard, and I'm so excited to share with you my circle of interesting people and conversation. Please like, subscribe and share your comments along the way. It helps our little channel more than you know. All right, here we go. Marshall. Hey, man. Marshall Kurtz, this is the think in cursive podcast.
00;00;42;05 - 00;01;04;02
Unknown
I'm so glad to see you. It's been a while since I've seen you. Yeah, it's been a good long time, but, I'm sure you've stayed busy, Mr., producer extraordinaire. I'm most talented musicians I know. Thank you. Hey, what's going on with you in? Oh, so much stuff. So much stuff. I, I opened a studio, on my property about a year ago.
00;01;04;15 - 00;01;24;05
Unknown
To to forever to build. We got it open, like, last July, and, I've just been working hard on making that a thing, and, like, this summer, it's it's just kind of exploded, like, not like, you know, destruction, but like, everything's just, like, come to fruition. Was name your studio? It's called that bombshell bombshell records. So.
00;01;24;10 - 00;01;42;00
Unknown
Yeah. So I guess kind of, I guess the, the metaphor works, but yeah, things have been going great, man. Just like, just man. Just like in the last two months, like, tons of stuff has come together and it's. I'm really excited about it. Well, you've been kind of a fixture in Atlanta's music scene. And I mean, from what I am now, I don't think we've ever actually talked about it.
00;01;42;00 - 00;01;59;10
Unknown
But your dad has been two, right? He's been as Atlanta Discount Music. Right? Yeah. That's right. He's. Yeah. My dad started Atlanta Discount Music, which is like a music instrument retail store. And he's had that since like 78. There's not a whole lot of Atlanta institutions that have survived throughout the years. But I really think that's that's a cool thing.
00;01;59;10 - 00;02;13;09
Unknown
And they have great stuff in there too. Thank you. They do have great stuff. Yeah. That's great. Got my guitar. Oh, really? Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. They always have really cool interesting use gear as well. And they take trade ins and all that good stuff. Yeah, yeah I keep it keep trade ins. All that stuff keeps inventory flowing.
00;02;13;09 - 00;02;34;07
Unknown
It keeps the community involved. I think that's that's why that's spot is cool. It's it's not just like good gear. It's the community is important. Yeah. So you grew up having a dad with the music shop once. First time you started playing music? Well, I mean, there's always instruments at home, so I would, you know, since I can remember, I was probably on, on, like a little piano keyboard or something like that.
00;02;34;24 - 00;02;50;19
Unknown
I think the first time I played live was when I sat in with him and, I was like 13, at some bar in Gwinnett that. Who knows? But, yeah, I've just I've just always kind of done it, you know, it's been around me my whole life. What instrument did you sit in on keys. And then?
00;02;50;19 - 00;03;09;09
Unknown
Drums. Kind of like simultaneously. That was keys and drums were like my first thing. And then I kind of learn bass later and guitar or saxophone, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I first came across, do you remember when Grant and Seth were doing the, the dueling guitar band? Oh, Reynolds. Williams. Reynolds. Williams? Yeah, I was thinking about them yesterday, randomly.
00;03;09;09 - 00;03;30;14
Unknown
That's the first time I came across Seth. Maybe at one of Lefty's open jams or something. Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Maybe I'll get him on. I'm trying to say that is awesome, man. You should have him on. And Seth, I said, oh, you don't want lefty. I'd love to have them all on. They're just fascinating guys. But, like, first time I saw Seth, I was like, whoa, this guy is on another level.
00;03;30;14 - 00;03;52;07
Unknown
And then I linked up with Seth and he was talking about you. He was like, oh, well, you got to hear. Yeah. Marshall on here, I hear it because, yeah, Seth was phenomenal. And I hired Seth to do my EP, a few years back. Actually twice. And him and Shane Cole and, John Sheldon on drums.
00;03;52;12 - 00;04;12;07
Unknown
Yeah. John's awesome. It's just really cool, because coming from the band days where everything was a democracy, I wanted the opportunity to, like, just handpick players and give them parts and see what they did. Yeah. So that was awesome to roll that dice with Seth and that team. But I remember him talking about you and how much of a of a machine you were.
00;04;12;07 - 00;04;32;26
Unknown
Oh, that's cool man. Yeah. Seth is like my best friend on the planet, so he has to say that I could. Well, retreat to you guys. You can cover a lot of bases. We can? Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Is. So you've been recording. You've been producing? Yeah, I've been producing for about ten years now. It's funny that, one of the artists I'm working with now, Crane, that's the first record I ever produced.
00;04;32;29 - 00;04;48;27
Unknown
Like, I don't know, ten, 12 years ago. Oh, really? Was his record. You know, I the I Love women record. So it's funny that he's like, come back around laser and yeah, yeah, yeah. All that stuff, man. Yeah. And, we lived in the same barn because it's such a small world we live. We were like next door neighbors and apartment complex.
00;04;48;27 - 00;05;08;00
Unknown
I mean, this is, you know, a long time. I had no idea. But that's how I met him, and, he told me his story. Yeah, we were hanging out at the pool, and. And. Oh, you play too? Oh, yeah. All these connections are just like. Yeah, coming through. Man. People have talked to one of the like, man, the guy that, I'm looking at maybe mixing Master Crane's record is like a connection that I haven't seen in, like, 16 years.
00;05;08;00 - 00;05;23;11
Unknown
He ran, man. And they randomly met the other day. I don't know, I just feel like this this era is just, like, all sorts of, like, coming back around and just, like, linking back up and, like, you know, fulfilling from, I don't know, it's it's a good time. It's good to be alive. So your husband a father. Yeah.
00;05;23;12 - 00;05;43;16
Unknown
It's interesting because I got two little girls now. Yeah. Three and a half and almost one. And I have my worlds gotten really small, right? Because I'm in diapers. You're in the trenches, man. Yeah, that's how you do it. And because, you know, I'm not, on stages anymore. I'm not in the, the the gig flow like I used to be.
00;05;45;12 - 00;06;07;17
Unknown
You know, cutting real estate deals, flipping houses. So, you know, my, I don't necessarily long to be on stage more, but I miss rubbing elbows, shoulders, whatever with creative. The creative community. Yeah. And this thinking cursive thing, this concept is all about just kind of stirring up my existing network and really just chasing the concept of play.
00;06;07;24 - 00;06;27;06
Unknown
And I consider what you do for a living to be very play oriented 100%. Honestly, one of my big takeaways is when I called you and said, hey, can we do this demo that I never did anything with? Oh yeah. But the way that you kind of set the vibe and try to help me get the best performance.
00;06;27;06 - 00;06;44;22
Unknown
Adam produce me basically. Yeah. Like live production. That's right. That stood out to me. Cool. Because I, I've recorded maybe 7 or 8 different times, and, I get it all out of different flavors of personality with when people are trying to do the same job, they're trying to get the best performance out of you. And so much of it you're like to dance.
00;06;44;22 - 00;07;07;16
Unknown
Listen that like feel, you know, feel the music in your bones. Like lighten up. Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure. That is something that's really special. A lot of people don't understand that. That is a real big piece capturing the magic. Yeah, I think I think talking about that. Yeah. No. Yeah. Let's talk about it. I think that's, you know, the studio can be, a real, like, intense environment.
00;07;07;16 - 00;07;39;28
Unknown
It can be like, all eyes are on you, you know? The track is rolling. Hey, do your best thing right now. We're in this little box, but, Yeah, man. Vibe. Vibe is more important, I think, than microphones or preamps or your room or whatever it is. It is all about the performer, and it is all about the performer being able to shed the self-awareness of being under the under the lens, you know, and believing that they're on stage in front of a bunch of people or they're I don't know that they're like, wildest dreams are coming true.
00;07;39;28 - 00;08;02;01
Unknown
I think that's that's what makes great records. I think that's what makes great performances happen. Yeah. When people just feel great about what they're doing, feel like really inspired. I think there's like an element of, compartmentalization. Yeah. You know, and it's maybe the best, recording artists maybe are the best at compartmentalizing it, diving into that, do that.
00;08;02;01 - 00;08;17;29
Unknown
There's tons of life that goes on with everybody. Everybody's dealing with, you know, crazy stuff. And you really do have to be like, all right, I'm going to leave whatever I've, you know, is waiting on me at the door. So I can, like, exist in this space of freedom. And like you said, play, right? That's a big part of it.
00;08;17;29 - 00;08;33;23
Unknown
When you when you feel like you're playing, not, you know, just like playing an instrument, but when you're like, you know, like a kid would just play, right? There's no there's no judgment and rules like a lot of, a lot of the people I love to listen to you talk about this kind of thing, just like it's the sandbox, it's ultimate freedom.
00;08;33;23 - 00;08;52;10
Unknown
It's like when you're playing as a kid and you make a mistake, there's no mistakes. It's just you do something, you do a different thing. It's, it's it's a great place to be in, to be creative. There's no performance metric when you're a kid. Yeah. When you know, you just doing it. The when you be in the studio, obviously there's somebody who's bankrolling this.
00;08;52;16 - 00;09;15;27
Unknown
Yeah. But it's. Yeah. Money. Is there anything by the minute. Yeah. Time and money is a factor. How do you I mean, so I'm curious to like. Yeah. How do you, like, walk me through if you're producing somebody and maybe it's their first record, right? Yeah. So not only is everything so near and dear to their heart.
00;09;16;01 - 00;09;44;01
Unknown
Yeah. Super precious. Yeah, they're very sensitive. And then all of a sudden, everything's miked and hot and they're hearing their worst parts amplified and repeated over and over. And you can just see their soul being squashed. How do you protect them and protect the vibe in that moment. We go to lunch first. No no no. But you like really like hanging first is a huge part of it.
00;09;44;04 - 00;10;02;23
Unknown
Building a little bit of rapport going out like you know if you, if it's your first day and you're getting into the studio, you're meeting your producer or I'm meeting a new client or whatever, take him to lunch. You don't have to come right to the studio and right into the booth and right into the work. You know, take a minute to just be like this experience you're going on.
00;10;02;26 - 00;10;25;09
Unknown
It's it should be fun for you. It's a journey. It's a creative journey. Creative journeys are not about numbers and about worrying about. But, you know, it is somebody. I mean, it has to be paid for, you know, I gotta eat, you know, I'm saying, but, no, but it's it's setting. The vibe is important. Keeping your space vibe is important.
00;10;25;11 - 00;10;48;12
Unknown
And there's that getting to know you period. Where at least for me, it's very important that we have that like Bridge of Connection, that we have that moment where you know that, like, I'm on your side unequivocally all the time. I'm not here to judge you. I'm just here to make you feel great about what we're doing. And that, you know, that's not just a gimmick.
00;10;48;12 - 00;11;05;13
Unknown
I mean, it is it is a tool, but, like, I, I do believe that anyway, like, I am on your side. If we're working together, I believe in you as a human being. I believe in what we're doing, and I want it to be the best it can be. Oh, you're very talented at that as well. On top of your musical prowess.
00;11;05;13 - 00;11;26;14
Unknown
Thank you. I I'll never forget the first time that I saw you play it. Probably Dixie tavern. Yeah, it's funny you said that because I'm, like, doing a gig every month at Dixie tavern again. Haven't played there in years. That's part of that whole coming back around metric. So I go ahead. I remember I saw you and I think you when I walked in, you were on base and you were just you were just, you know, you were having a good time.
00;11;26;14 - 00;11;42;22
Unknown
You were showing off. And it was amazing. It was delightful. And then I saw you get on the drums and start playing some Bonham. And I was like, well, that's not fair. Yeah, bass and drums. And then you got back on guitar and I was like, what the hell? Who is this guy? And that I was like, all right, this isn't fair.
00;11;42;22 - 00;11;57;08
Unknown
He could. I just get bored easily. Oh my gosh. Well, I can relate to that. You know, I feel like I've had like, seven careers in my life and. Yeah, and now I'm doing this thing which is totally foreign to me. But dude, it's cool. You're such a go getter, man. You're like, you know, you. How's it going?
00;11;57;08 - 00;12;18;05
Unknown
Awesome about you. Your studio looks incredible. You've got a great set up here. It's unfortunate that you have to work with Russ. I know you're looking for a better. A better dude on the engineering side. I just kidding. We love them. And it's crazy that, Yeah, I've made so many connections. And this is my excuse, even though I'm not, promoting a record or a gig, I get to still connect with you guys.
00;12;18;05 - 00;12;39;24
Unknown
And, actually, it's funny, because this table, is an old client of mine. He started doing woodworking and 213 woodworking. He made this table for me. No joke. I was talking to Russ before we started this, like, how much I love this table. This table is awesome. It's, like, sturdy and smooth. Yeah. You know, like, I like my women, and, you know, it is.
00;12;39;24 - 00;12;56;20
Unknown
It's a beautiful piece, for sure. But, you know, it's what's cool is that guy left his corporate job, and he just started to do woodworking, you know, like, I don't know, in his 50s. And, it's scary to do something brand new. You never done it, and you got mouths to feed and all that good stuff, so I like to.
00;12;56;21 - 00;13;18;04
Unknown
I got a soft spot in my heart for small business owners. You know, I remember the struggle of, just being a starving musician and all that good stuff, and, and and what Victoria was to, like, make $50,000 a year as a musician. That's. And is it hard? It's hard. It really is hard. You know, back in the ten or whatever.
00;13;18;04 - 00;13;35;18
Unknown
It's still hard. It's still, you know, I guess you really have to know. Lucrative. They they really do gigs. Live gigs. Do you really, really do not pay much anymore. More. Much more than they used to. That's a real problem for like, just people who play and, you know, and do that kind of things. The wages have not gone up.
00;13;35;18 - 00;13;55;11
Unknown
So are you. Fine. And because you're, you're probably in the flow with a lot of full time musicians and artists, and if it's not gigging, if it's not a guarantee, what kind of hustles do you see people evolve. I mean, obviously you could sell merch. I mean, I imagine merch is big. Digital sales aren't really much. No. These days.
00;13;55;11 - 00;14;23;28
Unknown
No, not really. I mean, diehard fans that support you are a big part of it. And like finding those core of really diehard fans versus like trying to be great for like 10,000 people, like, you know, it's that's the way to go if you're if you're an artist, that is if you're trying to get your music out there and have it be part of the, you know, the sphere, it's it's finding your like, intense core crew that was support you merch is big.
00;14;23;28 - 00;14;41;01
Unknown
Live shows are big. Connecting with people is everything as an artist. But it's like if you're like, let's say like a full time musician, not necessarily an original artist. And you want to, you know, play and make music and do gigs and stuff, you do have to have a lot of irons in the fire. You have to be hustling all the time.
00;14;41;01 - 00;15;04;12
Unknown
I mean, you know, teaching music is a great way to supplement that because teaching music, especially to young people, is a beautiful way to understand them, that their world can be bigger and that there's other languages out there that you know, that convey emotion and can teach us about ourselves. You know, music is a beautiful thing. There's a there's no judgment in the language of music, you know what I mean?
00;15;04;12 - 00;15;23;16
Unknown
Teaching is, is really great. And, and, you know, kids need great teachers. Not every, you know, not everybody is who is a great player is a good teacher, though, too. I mean, you have to you have to like, you have to, like teaching, to be a good teacher, I think. But, you know, there's the studio stuff sometimes.
00;15;23;16 - 00;15;47;29
Unknown
Definitely. Lots of cover gigs in Atlanta, even though, like we said, the wages aren't really, like, insane. There's a lot of opportunities to play if you are well practiced, sound and look good, and most importantly, stay professional. There's so many talented people who are stuck, as you know, as when it comes to like just everyday interactions.
00;15;48;02 - 00;16;05;05
Unknown
And they're in their creative world and they just think it's like, I'm just going to be super weird and out there and creative. And no, I mean, that's that. When you're creating, yes, that's fine. But in the in the world of interaction, just be great, be a great hang, be fun to be around, be bright and cheery to communicate with.
00;16;05;07 - 00;16;22;18
Unknown
That goes so, so far. You know, it's funny when I, I so I was in the dead fields and then when the dead fields were starting to kind of fall apart, you know, I booked 400 shows with that band, and, people were starting to have kids in the band. I was the youngest guy. I was like, now we're going to take.
00;16;22;19 - 00;16;35;02
Unknown
We're going to Europe. I just booked this to Europe and and they're like, we're not going to Europe. I got a like six month old and now I get it. Now you couldn't pay me to go to Europe and be away from my kids. Oh, you can pay me. I would love to be away from my kid for a little bit.
00;16;35;02 - 00;16;51;20
Unknown
Go to hear what do we do? When are we going? Let's do this. Elder. Yeah, yeah, that's you know, he said, I'm just going to I love you guys and just just getting better. But, when I, when the band was falling apart, I had financial pressure and a recruiter called me to said, hey, do you want to be an accountant for National?
00;16;52;04 - 00;17;13;12
Unknown
HomeBuilder? And I was like, no, no, I'm an artist now, right? Right. I mean, I they're like, 60 k, salary with a sign on bonuses. I was like, well, yeah, even if I get fired after six months, that's good money. That's right. I did my toes in this go right back to be an artist. So I started to be an accountant and, put on the hat and try to pretend play the part.
00;17;13;12 - 00;17;35;12
Unknown
Right. And here I am coming off of four years being on the road, putting out records, being a songwriter, really exploring creativity the best that I knew how and the most focus I've ever been with that, role. And then now I'm putting on the. I'm a I'm an accountant, you know, like, I've got a little office and cubes and whatever that allows me to take it.
00;17;35;15 - 00;17;52;04
Unknown
He. Exactly. And and I started, paying all the salespeople, and I saw what everybody made. Yeah, man. And I was like, well, there's no way that dude's worth three times as much. There's no way. There's no way he's three times smarter than me. No way Charles is doing that kind of stuff, you know? And so I schmooze my way into sales.
00;17;52;04 - 00;18;13;02
Unknown
And when I first got in, it was right out a year, and, they joined me with my, my, my new community partner. So I was selling, like, the model houses, you know, in the community. And, Donna Brown, we call her downtown Donna Brown because she had been selling new construction for decades. She was just like, when people come in, you got to be the puppy.
00;18;13;08 - 00;18;32;00
Unknown
You gotta be the puppy dog. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I'd be happy to sell. Exactly. Like, that's kind of what we're talking about. You know what we're talking isn't be inviting. Invite them in. You know, make it a happy space. But you're talking about creatives and performers and guitar players. Yeah. Little, little different, little different bag. Yeah. You got to meet them where they are.
00;18;32;00 - 00;18;53;07
Unknown
That's a tall order to be that well balanced and diversified or. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of different skills to be a performing successful musician. It is. It's a lot of performing. It's a lot of different skills. It's a lot of difference. I mean, there's a lot of different personalities in this world, a lot of very, some, very strong personalities, you know?
00;18;53;07 - 00;19;11;04
Unknown
And that's cool. That's part of it. That's why diversity is beautiful. Because, you know, if you're an accepting person, if you if you are delighted at, you know, how people are different and cool and weird. I mean, you can work with that, but you gotta you gotta want it. You got to be you got to be happy about it, you know?
00;19;11;04 - 00;19;30;05
Unknown
Yeah. Well, it's it's funny, when I was, when I was book and I think I told you before we started rolling, you know, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is so much work just to book bands for like 10% of the guarantee I should be selling houses or something. I said that in front of my old bass player, Chase, and and then it was like two years later I was selling houses.
00;19;30;05 - 00;19;50;15
Unknown
I just kind of fell into my lap. And it is a lot less work than booking bands. Yeah, I man, and not to say that we don't work hard, but the terms are a lot better. There's obviously trade offs. You know, I do miss the camaraderie of, of, making music with the bands. But right now I'm traded in for making music with my baby girls and.
00;19;50;15 - 00;20;06;25
Unknown
Yeah, man, you got a sauna down here. I mean, this is. You're doing good. This is great. Like, I'm definitely, like, hitting that up after the podcast, I. Yeah, dude, I got to get my sweat on, you know? Well, I tell you, I don't drink anymore. I've, like slowly. Cool. Pared away, peeled away some of those vices that were so destructive and unprofessional.
00;20;06;25 - 00;20;25;19
Unknown
Talk about musicians. Yeah, right. Dude, I mean, I have been so, I think back when you were saying that, I was like, oh, my gosh, I have been a liability before. Sure. And I'm sure, honestly, every full time musician has at some point, yeah, maybe not every. But I sure as hell yeah, I mean, it it kind of goes hand in hand with the, with the lifestyle for some people.
00;20;25;22 - 00;20;40;22
Unknown
And you know, when you're young, which a lot of musicians are, that's when you do that, you know, unless you just do it for, you know, that's when you, when you're young, that's when you're an asshole. And you learn from that and, and you move on. But you don't keep getting better and better gigs by staying in that headspace.
00;20;40;22 - 00;21;06;23
Unknown
Certainly not new. Yeah, that train will run itself into the ground rather quickly. And as you grow and evolve as a person, well, talking about playing and kind of performing without any evaluation, what do you do? What do you do outside of your creativity in the professional space to like, I don't know, blow off steam? That's a good question.
00;21;07;24 - 00;21;20;18
Unknown
You know, I, I do have to admit, I do play a little Rocket League, you know, like 20 minutes at a time when I need to just, like, zone out. Is that a game? Sorry. Yeah. It's. No, it's like. Yeah, it's a game. It's like a stupid like it's a car. You drive a car and you hit the ball into a net.
00;21;20;18 - 00;21;36;16
Unknown
You know? It's like a whole night, you know, you can play with people, but, that's, you know, speaking of vices, though, like, you know, alcohol or drugs or like, video, like anything can be advice if you let it take your time away. So anything you do to like let the steam out or distract yourself or just like, let your brain cool off.
00;21;36;18 - 00;21;50;26
Unknown
Yeah. Which is a very it's a very necessary thing. But you know, just, you know, got to keep that in check because it can become a thing. So like for me that's that's something I do. I try to do it like, you know, like I said, a little bit at a time just to not blow off some steam.
00;21;51;11 - 00;22;10;20
Unknown
I love to like hike in nature. Being in nature is awesome for me. I love like, me and my wife, Gabriel. That's like one of our things. Just like, get out in nature, go hike, take a walk. Even if whatever. Take a walk. Even if it's in an inner city. Some of the best conversations we've ever had have just come up because we're like, moving, going somewhere.
00;22;10;20 - 00;22;29;15
Unknown
We're just doing something together. That's a cool thing to do. Get outside. You know, I, you know, honestly too, I try to keep myself pretty steam free in my general life, so I don't I don't find that, like, I get huge amounts of, like, pent up frustration or anxiety or anger or whatever. I mean, something else with some things I do, current climate notwithstanding, politically.
00;22;29;15 - 00;23;03;11
Unknown
But, yeah, just do find what makes you happy and don't, you know, don't let your frivolous activity time be too big of a thing and start taking away productive time. Just find that balance, you know. Do you notice that people today have significantly shorter attention spans in general? Yeah, I think I think generally everybody just dealing with the evolution of technology and how we use it to communicate is not necessarily great for the human condition.
00;23;03;11 - 00;23;21;17
Unknown
I think, I think we are becoming a little bit more isolated in our existence. Like one thing I think about a lot is that like because all of our worlds can be managed through a singular device, you're kind of locked into this one thing people do not like. Look up and look at each other for things so much they're like, no, I can do it.
00;23;21;17 - 00;23;43;29
Unknown
I got my phone, I can emails and all my communicate. So everything's right here in a minute. And it's just because you're kind of locked in, staring down at the ground at a piece of metal or plastic. And it is not I don't think it is good. I think it makes us easier to manipulate. I think it makes us more distracted, and it makes us less reliance on our neighbors and our community.
00;23;43;29 - 00;24;10;20
Unknown
And I that's certainly not a good thing. Yeah. You know, we human biologically, we need each other. And it's okay to like, know and and respect and count on the people that are around you. That's how communities are strong. You know, I'm fascinated by people that work from home and also that are parents that, just how how they manage, especially being a parent.
00;24;10;20 - 00;24;28;25
Unknown
How do you manage, like your kids interaction, their relationship with technology? Yeah. Because I'm, I'm you're ahead of me in the game. I'm just now starting to think about this stuff for the first time. And, you know, the first time that you see how your kid can play can be completely hypnotized with the screen like it is. It is ten times more powerful than crack.
00;24;28;25 - 00;24;50;23
Unknown
It's like it's the, you know, it's like it's so alluring. And so, like you said, mesmerizing way beyond anything that people have had, you know, and until, I don't know, the 1980s a little bit and with, you know, just bombardment of entertainment and huge colors and lights and interactive city, it's real. It's a real it's a real thing.
00;24;50;23 - 00;25;16;23
Unknown
And it should be taken seriously. I mean, as a dad, like, what steps do you do to create separation? I ask a question like thinking back on the the 17 years, like, you know, tactile things are great things that happened in the physical world. Like, I imagine, like looking at this, this image helps me like, imagine look at somebody looking at somebody interacting with their device.
00;25;16;28 - 00;25;36;02
Unknown
But the device is just it's just like, a plank of wood. Right? And they're just tapping on it and tapping on it and looking at it like, how how silly would it look if they're just like, if there's nothing on the screen and they're just like, they're just like staring at this little thing and like pointing at it and clicking it like, what are you really like?
00;25;36;04 - 00;25;52;01
Unknown
It'd be insane. It's just what it is. Insane. Like, for people to be like, what are you doing? This staring at this piece all day versus like, I don't know if you're young playing play with Legos, build stuff outside, you know, go on walks, look at the natural. There's so much cool stuff in the natural world, but you have to be focused on it.
00;25;52;01 - 00;26;16;25
Unknown
And it is. It's like you're really up against a tough it's a tough thing because like I said, the technology, the visual stimulation side of technology is so powerful for young people and so alluring and so it's so enticing. So it's you really have to be like, look, we're not going to do the screen. We're going to do physical stuff, limit the screen time.
00;26;16;25 - 00;26;38;22
Unknown
I mean, make make screen time meaningful. If you're going to do screen time, make it about something really educational and not just like fidget spinning, you know, not just what do you call, you know, just like, what do you say? Thank you, thank you. Respect. The rest is here for a reason. The mindless self-indulgence, idle clicker. You know that stuff?
00;26;38;22 - 00;26;54;02
Unknown
Yeah. We all do it. I certainly like it's like the Rocket League thing. It's like, yeah, I'll play a video game. I'll. I'll do some Kingdom Crush or whatever it's called. At the end of the day, just like to let my mind unwind or whatever. That's important too. But for young people, and it's very important that you keep it separated.
00;26;54;02 - 00;27;26;06
Unknown
In the words of offspring, you know. Yeah. Do you see people, especially since you teach students? Do you find that kids today have like, is there more of a barrier to them learning music and having, like, slowing themselves down or slowing? Yeah, definitely slowing themselves down. And it depends on the kid. There's there's still a wide landscape of of different learning styles and some, some kids get it right away and they love music and they love using their bodies and hearing the sound.
00;27;26;06 - 00;27;52;12
Unknown
You know, that's great. And there's kids who are like, I'm not going to touch a piano unless I'm I'm on my piano app and I can see it scrolling and I can get the yeah, like the sound effect that when you do a lesson. So for some kids, it's a lot tougher now because of the technology has just like the they're into it and it's got their hooked either hooked crazy man and in real estate I can do almost everything from my phone.
00;27;52;24 - 00;28;11;17
Unknown
Which is yeah, it's convenient. But also I find myself like just being glued. Now all of a sudden I've spent hours in my day like this walking or even walking around my house and like, hey, my neck hurts. Why is my why, yeah, why? Like, oh, I've been freaking glued to this stoop. That's all right. So anyway.
00;28;11;18 - 00;28;32;22
Unknown
No. Yeah. For the. Yeah, I don't realize that, like, I'm regularly processing, you know, ten emails an hour and ten texts an hour for, you know, years. Yeah. And I don't know that that's why I'm starting to try to create more space to peel myself away from the freaking phone. That's why I'll add one reason I built the sauna.
00;28;32;25 - 00;28;51;10
Unknown
Okay? You can't really be on your phone. Will overheat in the summer. Yeah, totally. I started skateboarding at 40, and, I mean, I skated when I was a teenager. I wasn't any good. I'm still not any good, but, But there's no evaluation to my performance in skateboarding, right? It's it's pure play. It's just fun, you know?
00;28;51;10 - 00;29;18;25
Unknown
And I'm like, I used to feel a lot of fun, drinking whiskey and chasing tail, and I. I don't do those things anymore. I'm looking for my constructive ways to play, you know, like. Yeah. So all of this is really just, an exploration of how can I use my time wisely and fruitfully to where having conversation with interesting people feels like play to me because, yeah, man, you know, it's a beautiful I love learning, I love and I feel like I can I can learn from everybody that I've had on here.
00;29;19;00 - 00;29;37;24
Unknown
Yeah. And, and you're no different, dude. And there's a lot to learn from you, and, it's really cool to, I don't know here how you kind of vibe. Check professionally as well as. Yeah, or just create the vibe because you've got to in your studio with your students. You've got to I mean, yeah, as a parent, you've got to.
00;29;37;25 - 00;30;02;03
Unknown
You're always interacting and creating a mutual space with the person you're interacting with. You're always going, hey, this is our our communication bubble or, or whatever. Yeah. And this is, this is how it feels when we exist together and are interacting. That's so important. You've got to have trust, a little humor, compassion, all that stuff is really important when dealing with when dealing with people you're talking to.
00;30;02;03 - 00;30;20;28
Unknown
Is there anything, coming up, in the next year or so that you're really excited about? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. So, I, I've been working with a lot of cool people lately. I am, about to start working with these, with this country doing named Kitten Cha. And they are. So it's a couple of girls.
00;30;20;28 - 00;30;39;00
Unknown
They are, the country singers, you know, kind of country, rootsy, Americana. And they're so sweet. They're super nice. I just kind of got, like, hooked up with their camp. We're about to do some original music, and just kind of, like, see what we can do and like their artists sphere. And so pumped to be doing that.
00;30;39;18 - 00;30;53;02
Unknown
I'm working with a guy named Crane who I said, you know, we talked about him a little bit. He was like the first guy I produced, and now he's. We're working on his next project now, and it's like, it's a it's a cool it's like way evolved project. There's a lot of cool stuff going on with him.
00;30;53;14 - 00;31;11;05
Unknown
He's just he's he's a great dude. I've been working with this other engineer, producer artist also named the Samantha I, which I have talked about him before, but, he's just a super smart, you know, super smart dude. Love working with him. Kind of a co-production thing. So if you're listening to this, check out the heart.
00;31;11;07 - 00;31;39;07
Unknown
His music is awesome. He's he's doing great stuff. And, Yeah, just building building teams, building community building collaboration. I don't know. I'm going to we're starting to develop, like a video arm to, like a music video production kind of thing. Okay. And that might bleed into some film production. I just, I don't know right now. It's like, I feel like manic with just, like, positivity, like, I feel like everything is just like there's all these possibilities and none of them are feel limited, you know?
00;31;39;07 - 00;32;01;09
Unknown
I'm sure there will be a down cycle when you know whatever in the future, but right now, I'm not trying to focus on that. I just feel I feel really pumped. And, part of my faith is really trying to tune into the fear frequency. And anytime that something really makes me feel a little afraid, try to be real honest with it.
00;32;01;09 - 00;32;22;24
Unknown
And, you know, when I, I don't know, maybe might have been last year when I was talking with somebody who's like, maybe I should, you know, do a podcast or something. And I thought about having people come over to my home and people, smart people, come and sit down and have like, a face to face conversation. You know, I wanted it to be old school, tactile and, like, real and that that's why I was like, I don't want to do a third thing.
00;32;22;25 - 00;32;36;22
Unknown
I know. Yeah, thank you for getting me to come. And I was like, can we kind of do it from my studio to your studio remote. You're like, no, no, no, in person. But you were right. Well, it's better you're you're disrupted. You're in another environment. Yeah. We're creating an experience right now. That's part of it right now.
00;32;36;22 - 00;32;59;28
Unknown
And I don't know I just kind of thought yeah this is, it's all about connection and community and building something like that, something that's authentic. And I kind of just had this feeling that it would be good, but it may be a little uncomfortable thinking, okay. Because, I mean, I might have I might have a music producer, I might have, an investor on I might have a CEO, I might have a in the May fighter on.
00;33;00;03 - 00;33;24;19
Unknown
And, like this concept of play and like, that's really just the underlying kind of theme. These are all people that I think play in different ways well, and that we could all learn from it. So, the variety, is very, freeing. The concept is, I think is great. It's. Yeah. But it made me a little nervous to have like, really like they're going to come in in my home.
00;33;24;19 - 00;33;43;03
Unknown
Yeah. This is your space, right? You know, like, here we are. And so I was like, ooh, maybe there's something that's telling me not to do this. Maybe I should do it, right. Do change that. Change the fear into into, you know, go get it. A yeah, yeah, it's it's become conviction. And I have no idea what's going to come of it.
00;33;43;03 - 00;34;13;10
Unknown
But if all I do is strengthen my network and help to, maybe I get you connected with somebody else in film. I mean, when you said film, I was like, three people popped into my mind. There it is. And, you're right there. Yeah, there's a lot of overlap with music production, the need for film. And also, I mean, realistically, if you're running a busy studio who probably wouldn't sign up for the Polish edited cool video show of life, the life, you know, bombshell production totally ever.
00;34;13;11 - 00;34;31;05
Unknown
You know, I would it's right. I mean, it's it's everything like, you know, that is what I actually that's what I'm trying to do. I think with the with the recording studio and with the artists we're working with, like, I, I do want to do like an inclusive like label kind of situation where we're doing like artist development, where we're helping with the video content.
00;34;31;05 - 00;34;51;29
Unknown
We're, you know, producing that stuff. Music videos, you know, management. Yeah. All the things it's that, you know, artists need that artist need someone to be in their corner and all the stages to help them be their best selves. And I think it's having it all under one roof, where you have people who do care if they're working with you.
00;34;52;13 - 00;35;11;08
Unknown
That's really important. It's really important to have good, good cats all the way through. You know, one thing I've found out, too, because as a small business owner like you were so many hats and you realize that there's experts that you could if you had an unlimited budget, you could theoretically hire an expert in every little, little task area.
00;35;11;24 - 00;35;31;14
Unknown
But it's not sustainable for most people. And and realistically, having just the right person, the right vibe, the right relationship to just give you validation that that's a good idea. Like, you should do that. Yeah. That right there might be better than having the expert in every field. Yeah, it is a balance. I mean you you do want some.
00;35;31;14 - 00;35;54;17
Unknown
Like if you do want to hire people who do things better than you do and let them do their job when you can. But the role of a producer, I think in music or film or whatever it is, is to make people go, yeah, we we're, we're love doing this. This is a good work environment. We're, we're we're pumped about being creative and we're just going to keep going forward.
00;35;54;20 - 00;36;12;07
Unknown
And that's great. Yeah, almost. It's almost funny. Like, I almost like what I do is like, you could hire anybody off the street to just come in and be like, no, that sounds great. Let's go with it. You know what I mean? Just having another person there is like 50% of it. And if you're good at it, that's the rest of it, you know?
00;36;12;08 - 00;36;34;14
Unknown
But it isn't. It's so important to have a sounding board. It's so important to have someone who's not you, who is not, you know, at core, intrinsically involved with the project, who can be, hey, I'm a sounding board for you. I just bounces off of me and I'll tell you what I think. And even just having another person in the room listening to something that you're listening to will change your whole perspective.
00;36;34;21 - 00;36;52;20
Unknown
How often do you see a new artist come out? And maybe they've saved a little money, or they've got some backing in some way, shape or form, and they just are trying to piece this together and they blow their financial wad on a video thing before maybe their sound is even fleshed out oh, so many times. Yeah.
00;36;52;20 - 00;37;21;12
Unknown
The sequence is the sequencing. No. Yeah. The sequencing is very important, especially these days when it's kind of like you have to keep sequencing yourself into the social media sphere. Yeah. And, you know, whatever the algorithm, you know, I'm saying like sequencing and being consistent is very important. And how you let people into your world matters a lot because that's that's mostly what we're dealing with in terms of like marketing ourselves now is the social sphere.
00;37;21;12 - 00;37;42;00
Unknown
So having somebody do that, that, kind of even that, like, hey, we're going to release your music this many times, let's get some music, music, video content. It's whatever, blah, blah blah that goes into it so heavily. Now that I find it, it's hard to separate that from producing a record and have it being just successful in that, you know, you really have to have a plan for the people that you want to succeed.
00;37;42;00 - 00;38;04;15
Unknown
Yeah, I could see that being a really big asset or just like having in-house production. Yeah. To oversee kind of the video and the messaging strategy. Yeah. The branding. Yeah. Because if you do it right, the, the, the tone of the record and the vibe of what the artists are saying and the messaging and their whole like that should all line up like that can it doesn't have to be just like this.
00;38;04;15 - 00;38;25;14
Unknown
Marketing is just so gimmicky and I'm just doing no like it can. You can say what you want to say as an artist while you're being in front of it, while you're marketing, while you're doing your social thing, if you're being altruistic and if you're being authentic, it doesn't have to feel so slimy. And it can feel like all of this belongs to your world as an artist and not as not just gimmicky.
00;38;25;14 - 00;38;44;11
Unknown
And just curious, do you, do you play evening church gigs? I don't, I assumed church gigs like ten years ago, five years ago. Let's be honest, I was just curious because, it's a whole different role. And a whole different purpose. Performance. It is performance. It is. This is a good choir. I'm glad we're talking about this is very interesting question for me.
00;38;44;11 - 00;39;18;02
Unknown
Yeah. Well it's funny because I've, I have a lot of experience in the worship world and, and it's really hard when the churches production conflicts with my values. I exactly agree, you know I 100, but yes, that is my head off and extend grace. But it's a lot of other musicians do it. Churches hire a lot of musicians who are either not necessarily Christian or don't believe it, or worship in the same way that the institutions that they're playing for do for people who are cool with that, I have no, I mean, that's totally fine, right?
00;39;18;04 - 00;39;40;02
Unknown
I'm not trying to like, it's a it's a gig. We're not trying to like, you know, hate on anybody's gig at all. But for me, if you're in the spiritual space when you're like, giving people this emotional experience and you are not exactly down with the way they're doing it, if you don't believe in it, I can't, I don't I can't do it, I can't do it, and I don't, I don't yeah, I can't do it.
00;39;40;02 - 00;40;04;05
Unknown
It feels weird to me. And also hate up that early on Sunday morning, but, no, I, I just, I, I feel there is like, I don't know if this has always been the case, but there's like a, like a lack of spiritual sincerity kind of going on everywhere. And people kind of go through the religion thing and they do this thing they're involved in, I think for a lot of different reasons.
00;40;04;05 - 00;40;24;10
Unknown
I think sometimes it's what their family does, it's what their community does, and they want to feel like they're a part of their community. It's something they feel like is important to their life to keep it on track, which is admirable, but when you're getting down to like, telling people what's what about who God is to them and what the afterlife is supposed to be like.
00;40;24;10 - 00;40;48;01
Unknown
Nobody know you don't. You can't know. You don't know you. There's no way. Anyway. So I, I just kind of hate it for me. But you just. Right. There's a lot of reasons people get involved in religion, and I think often it is not for the reason that they are trying to have a sincere connection or that they are truthfully seeking the best for humanity in themselves.
00;40;48;04 - 00;41;07;08
Unknown
I think that's often the case, but I don't think it's I think it's often not the entire case, and I think there's not a lot of dialog around that. I think we let it we let a lot of stuff pass because it's tradition. It's because what we're used to is because the church says if you don't come every Sunday, you're going to go to I mean, there's a lot of that.
00;41;07;08 - 00;41;29;26
Unknown
There's a lot of that going on. I think the modern Christian church, not every church, every church is churches, all different, just like people totally get that. But I just think there's, I don't know, there's a lot of bullshit going on. And it's and we don't talk about it because some of the tenets of some ways that Christianity is practiced is you can't talk about it, because if you do, if you question it, it's the devil.
00;41;29;28 - 00;41;48;17
Unknown
Where in the Bible Belt. Yeah. Yeah, man. It's real. It's real. People don't. People. People need to. It's healthy to question and to think for yourself and to reach and go within and say, what does this mean to me? For real? What is this? What is the message I'm participating in? Is it a higher message? Does it serve humanity?
00;41;48;17 - 00;42;08;20
Unknown
Why am I doing it? And I and I that that sort of like glaze that sort of just like, autopilot thing is, I think why a lot of a lot of hate and a lot of ignorance and, and those kind of things, are get, get wrapped up in what is should be an inclusive spiritual world. Yeah.
00;42;08;20 - 00;42;30;20
Unknown
It's tough when you focus on inclusivity because it is fundamentally, yeah, exclusive. It's fundamentally exclusive to a lot of people. Again. Yeah. Now not all churches are like this totally. There's some there's some people doing great stuff and and being of a higher mind and trying to like, just wrap people up in love and elevate their experience for sure.
00;42;30;22 - 00;42;55;24
Unknown
So please don't think I'm just like, every church is terrible, you know that. Well, I'm not personally, volatile or insecure or fragile about faith stuff. I love Jesus, I'm a Christian. Totally. But I also recognize if you read the Bible, it doesn't sound like today's church at all. I mean, the original church didn't have three services, and, you know, lasers and.
00;42;55;25 - 00;43;16;17
Unknown
Hey. Yeah, dude, I don't know, man. It's the production is is maybe usurping the message a little bit because people people are emotional and they feed off that. Yeah, but but I think the problem with the church is it's full of humans. That's the problem with everything, isn't it? It's full of humans. You know, we are the Bravo.
00;43;16;18 - 00;43;37;26
Unknown
Yeah we are. So our 3 pound brains can't comprehend all of everything and we all are grasping for it. We all grasp that knowledge, but we're desperate. Like that's gonna happen, you know, it's not going to happen. And people that need that certainty, you know, they're never going to get it. And any anybody that tells you this is exactly how it is, right?
00;43;37;26 - 00;44;06;29
Unknown
It's like, okay, well, there's no humility in that statement. No, or consideration for the other person. And and I don't mind. I love having, discussions with, with whoever about whatever. I mean, that's that's what we're doing here. And. Yeah, I think there's as long as we recognize there's something you can learn from everybody. There's always there's always, a little bit of room for magic to happen, a little bit of perspective to sneak in there and the best kind of conversations aren't ones where you're like, well, here's why you're wrong.
00;44;06;29 - 00;44;24;09
Unknown
Yeah, dude. No, the best are when maybe even days, weeks, years go by and then all of a sudden the light bulb comes on in private for that person, and they reach out like something that you said really stuck with me. Stuck in there. Yeah. And that that has happened many times. Had a little bit of truth that like I, I recognize.
00;44;24;10 - 00;44;46;02
Unknown
Yeah. Right. We all have we all I think experience these little bits of truth. I think we all have like you said, that there's something to learn from everybody. We're all carrying a portion of the light, right. That we were born with. That is that makes life possible. That is the great dissemination of of God's wisdom or the universe, if you want to call it that or whatever.
00;44;46;02 - 00;45;07;17
Unknown
You know, it's like we all have these little bits that we can share with each other, and nobody has it. All right. And nobody is complete in their knowledge. Right. Except these three. We can't we can't know everything. We're not just can't do it. So you got to look to even the people. You don't think you can learn anything from the people who you think are outside of your sphere.
00;45;07;20 - 00;45;27;04
Unknown
Even they have something that you can learn from and grow from. Yeah. And it's all holy in my opinion. Like the lessons, the hardship, the the truth, the love. I mean, it's all part of the experience. Well, I don't think that you can truly cherish something beautiful and profound without suffering. I know it's a hard it's hard to swallow.
00;45;27;05 - 00;45;46;04
Unknown
Right? That's a hard truth to swallow. But it is true. You need a backdrop for the for the beauty to understand how beautiful it is. That's what our life is like. And you can never appreciate a great boss unless you've had a terrible boss. Hey, man, that's right. Of course, for self-employed. So. That's right. That's about to say, like, I really appreciate it.
00;45;46;07 - 00;46;16;14
Unknown
I'm a terrible bastard right now for myself, it's a I wish I had a better boss now. Yeah, I heard something the other day talking about. Yeah. Oh, is this terrible, boss? The way they talk to me and. Yeah, in the context of self-employment, it's it's our our thoughts. They creep out, but I don't know, some of us hide them better than others, you know, the amount of heavy thoughts that I've had to swallow to appear gentle, you know, and to be gentle.
00;46;16;14 - 00;46;38;20
Unknown
And it is. It is a choice. But now, you know, I got a little girl, so I'm just like, in this phase of life where they're the most precious thing in the world, and maybe everything that I thought was so important and so cool and so hip and so fundamentally selfish. Yeah. Self-seeking. So seeking, is now secondary.
00;46;39;19 - 00;47;00;09
Unknown
And, and that's okay. It's good when you realize that there's more to be had like. Yeah. You know giving to other people. Yeah. And I just being so wrapped up in yourself your world kind of gets bigger I don't know if it was Richard War, Richard Rogers quote or who, who quote who said this, but, the second half of your life begins when you realize it's not all about you.
00;47;00;09 - 00;47;26;29
Unknown
Yeah. Amen, bro. Yeah. For real? That's so true. It's so true. It's not all about. It's, It is about. It's it's about us. First up. Yeah. You know, that's what we're here to do. Yeah. It's fun, man. What are you going to do next to, maybe. Maybe something outside of work, outside of. Is there something that you're excited about or, that you'd consider, like a play or a trip or, something you're going to go explore, outside of work in the next.
00;47;26;29 - 00;47;42;21
Unknown
Oh, man, I know I've been grinding so hard, I haven't had time to think about it. Oh, wow, I would love. I miss Europe like we were talking about earlier. You know, I'm saying, like, I would love to go take a tour. You know, I would love to go to Spain and check that out. I would love to.
00;47;42;21 - 00;48;01;00
Unknown
Like, I'm so we're like, we're kind of, like, super into cooking. Me and my wife, Gabriel. So we would love to, like, go explore some different cultures, for that reason and get I would love to. Spain is like super intense and some of the best food ever. I would like to check that out. I love to see South America.
00;48;01;00 - 00;48;13;11
Unknown
That would be super fun. Or like check out like, some of the Mayan ruins. I think that would be really fun in Mexico. Yeah, I love mean travel. I mean, you know, of course travel is fun is awesome, you know? And I mean, it's like you're getting them to go and place like a vacation. But I would love to travel a little bit.
00;48;13;11 - 00;48;30;11
Unknown
I would love to get into, screenwriting a little. And I like I said, the film production thing is very alluring to me right now. Do you ever do any scoring as well? Yeah, yeah, I have that. Would love to get. Actually. I'm I'm kind of gearing up like my studio is really well set up for film scoring and film scoring production.
00;48;30;12 - 00;48;58;06
Unknown
That's kind of thing. I've got a great like projector you can like, you know, see it like it's on a big screen and work on it. I've got a lot of tools like that. So I do what I would love to do more of that, I don't know. But you know, I would love to get into building a little bit more stuff, like constructing the studio with my friend Jason, and, and the super ingenious studio builder Forrest, McPhail, who was invaluable for the, like, more sensitive acoustic stuff, has taught me how to be like, a construct.
00;48;58;16 - 00;49;13;29
Unknown
I didn't I didn't know nothing about. I was like, I couldn't even join two boards together. Like, it was real sad. So I'm into that now. And that's kind of cool. It's just good to be in a place where you're thirsty for some more stuff. It's easy to get. It's easy for life to get up, like on top of you.
00;49;14;01 - 00;49;33;15
Unknown
And you feel like I can't even take or not. One more thing, you know, I don't want to learn anything else. I don't want to. It's when you're. When you're pushed down like that. It is a tough way to be. So just feeling like I am into, like learning some new stuff is a great feeling. I had to tell you, I had a friend of mine, when I first went to general real estate.
00;49;33;23 - 00;49;55;21
Unknown
I left the builder and I went to join Sotheby's Atlanta Fine Home, Sotheby's and fancy. It was fancy. I thought they were the fanciest broker. And, in some aspects, they they presented themselves that way. But, somebody I was talking with another agent. She was talking about how her husband, got into whatever, like, like reptiles.
00;49;55;21 - 00;50;14;10
Unknown
And he built this massive, enclosure and finished out this basement to the point the story was I was like, wow, he knows how to do all of that. Like, he knows construction and renovation and framing and also and she said, no. But when he turned 40, something and him clicked and he decided that he was going to do this stuff.
00;50;14;17 - 00;50;32;26
Unknown
And all of us, I think that gave me permission to just, like, go figure it out. And I don't know, I wasn't 40 then, but it I was just like, yeah, I can do that. Like, that's all I needed to give myself permission to go screw some stuff up. Dude. Yeah. You just need permission to fail is a huge thing.
00;50;32;26 - 00;50;50;11
Unknown
And that was before 31 houses. There you go. And so like, now I realize, okay, anything can be taken. None of this is rocket science. It's just sticks and bricks, you know, you take it apart, but it's all modular, so there's no, sensitive circuitry or, and, you know, you that's I know I was in that same place, man.
00;50;50;11 - 00;51;07;01
Unknown
That's what that's what my like one of my mentors. Like I said, that dude, help me build my studio. Jason, who's also a very talented, contractor and a musician, too. He was like, look, man, this is not you. Not just do. It's not rocket science. Yeah, just it's just stuff, you know? And if you screw it up, you just undo it and do it again.
00;51;07;01 - 00;51;24;25
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. And that really that changed a lot for me too. I was like, oh yeah. Yeah. The beauty of working with wood is you can always just burn it and start over. I have burnt wood. I have had so many fires since starting my studio construction, so many fires which can which also are super fun, you know, bonfire, invite your friends.
00;51;24;25 - 00;51;46;11
Unknown
Let's burn my mistakes. Yeah. It's great. And they just disappear and turn into smoke. It's a great thing. It is a great thing. Yeah. Fire. Fire is a is an interesting thing. It transmutes you know, I think that it's, much more satisfying than anything that we'll ever watch on screen. Dude, I agree, I mean, I not to, top my own first because I did have a really cool purse one time when I was like, you know, I was like, it was earlier.
00;51;46;11 - 00;52;04;02
Unknown
I was like, sitting by the fire. And I had this realizations like I posted on Instagram. I was like, you know, fire. I think I said, like, this used to be the main event for thousands of years, the like setting by fire. And still I think it holds up really well to its modern constituents. But I think that's totally true.
00;52;04;02 - 00;52;29;11
Unknown
I mean, like we're talking about like how a learning technology is for kids and how much it grabs you and there's so much to do. But like, honestly, there's something so primordial and satisfying and just ancient feeling about getting around the fire, being with people. It's it has its own it's a way of mesmerizing you. And that's a I think of a lot more.
00;52;29;13 - 00;52;47;00
Unknown
It's a lot more fulfilling to stare into a fire than it is to stare into a flat piece of, yeah, technology. You don't get all those negative side effects of like, oh, my life is a sham. And dude, I know there's a lot, there's so much information is gone bonkers. And it's yeah, we are struggling to be able to handle it.
00;52;47;00 - 00;53;11;20
Unknown
It's not all it's mostly not great. Endless information. No additional wisdom. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Thank you. In this information, of a sea of information, no additional wisdom. Just a lot more worry. So because there's so much, it's easier for, seizure now for anybody to publish something, right? With technology? Totally. And it doesn't have to be good.
00;53;12;01 - 00;53;31;01
Unknown
It seems like. Very true. Very true. Really hard to find, or really hard to, like, connect with people, you know, because there's so much information and, you know, it's hard to get people to go listen to stuff, right? So there's so much noise without it, especially without an emotional connection. Like they see you in person. You can have a great connection.
00;53;31;01 - 00;53;54;11
Unknown
Totally. Maybe they'll go and listen to your stuff on Spotify or wherever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But for people that don't that aren't performing, I can't imagine trying to get anybody to actually, I don't know, maybe that's, part of the machine that I was never familiar with with, like the record label or how do you actually get this spun or, you know, are people actually, you know, are radios promoting records?
00;53;54;11 - 00;54;16;23
Unknown
These days? Is there radio? You know, is it even radio? I don't know, I haven't touched one in forever. I think it was. Are they still towers broadcasting? No. Of course. You know, just a radio. I don't know, I really do not know how radio works these days. I mean, I mean, I know how it works, but it's like, there's the context, there's so, you know, and what I am like, what I.
00;54;16;23 - 00;54;35;01
Unknown
Yeah, and independent music, what I do, it's so much more about self-promotion. Certainly. I mean, if you if you have something that blows up and there's some label money behind it and, you know, there's some radio payola that, oh, that has to go on for you to get on radio. It's pretty much all the time. Then, yeah, you can, you know, if you're if you're killing it and you've got a great brand.
00;54;35;01 - 00;54;51;20
Unknown
And mostly when a bunch of people with a lot of money think they can make more money off of you, you'll get on the radio. Right. Then that's kind of how it is. Or unless you're just like wildly successful on your own and you've come up naturally, which does happen. And it's a lot more rare. You know.
00;54;52;28 - 00;55;23;00
Unknown
But you know, this is goes back to finding like it is hard to get people to listen. It's hard to get like a thousand people to listen to something they might not care about. It's a lot easier to get 20 people to tune in to something that really resonates with them. And I will tell anybody this whoever asks, find your small amount of core people that really get you, that really are ready for something that you have to give them in the creative sphere, and they will love it so much they will hold on to it.
00;55;23;00 - 00;55;47;25
Unknown
They'll tell all their friends they will buy your merch. They will. They will live your your creative world with you, you know, and that's what you want. You just need your core. You need the people that you resonate, that understand you. And they will spread your message and they will live in it with you. And if that's alright, if you if your thing is really good and, and, and you can speak to a lot of people and enough people get into it, they will.
00;55;47;27 - 00;56;05;14
Unknown
They know people who are like them, they will tell them how good it is and hopefully everybody will benefit and you will sell out. You know, your 300 cap room and it will. It would be awesome. If you do that enough times, then you'll move up. You know, you just move up, level up, level up. It can happen.
00;56;05;16 - 00;56;31;16
Unknown
It is a slog. But it's so fulfilling when you have even as even a 50, even a teeny tiny venue that's like, nearly sold out where everybody is there to see you. I cannot overstate how magical that feeling is. You know, I put out I put a, an EP in 2018 and in downtown Roswell, I had an album release show, A Gypsy Rose.
00;56;32;02 - 00;56;55;02
Unknown
Which they've come and gone. Yeah, they've closed, but it was a small room. Yeah, probably. I mean, maybe 100 people. Yeah. And, sell, like $20 tickets and really hustled and and sold it out. And it was a room full of people that were there, probably in spite of my music. They didn't really care what kind of great friends had it, just people.
00;56;55;02 - 00;57;13;20
Unknown
There was like people from church, from CrossFit, from real estate, from like the old band days, like family, all the stuff. And it was the most magical experience that you're talking about, where, I mean, I wrote a song for my grandma and I got the whole room chanting her name and like, dude, right? It was the most magical thing.
00;57;13;20 - 00;57;38;24
Unknown
Yeah, it is you. That to me is like church. Yeah, that to me is like, we're all experiencing this together. We're having this agreement where we're invoking the magic of God, if you want to call it that. Together, we're all here to do the same thing. Well, you go to a concert. I mean, I think we're all worshiping, whether we realize it or it's right, you know, it's we might not know that we're worshiping and we might not know what we're worshiping some.
00;57;38;24 - 00;58;01;13
Unknown
Yeah that's true. Yeah, I agree, but yeah, I had that feeling. And honestly, that was the the nail in the coffin for me to saying yes to another bar gig. After that I was like, all right, I got a day job now I, I've got my own income. Never wallpaper again. Maybe I think I want to just be the soundtrack to like, you know, people working on their third marriage or third first, you know?
00;58;01;14 - 00;58;19;29
Unknown
Yeah, for sure. As well as the rising and the soundtrack to getting bombed on a. Yeah, yeah. I was like, I think this is the last time that, I sit around and have people spill their beer on my pedal board or whatever, or for real, then for real. It's it's a lot. I mean, if there's one thing, if you if you love to entertain and do it for fun, you do it every once in a while.
00;58;19;29 - 00;58;45;11
Unknown
But I, I agree, it's like there's such a difference between being hired to provide the background for something and performing to people. Those are completely different things. Unless the money's like insane, I hate, I hate doing. Yeah, it has to be. It has to be great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, I always, just always used to think it's got to either move the needle monetarily career wise, or it's just got to be a lot of fun.
00;58;45;12 - 00;59;01;10
Unknown
It's got to be a lot of fun. Yeah. It's got any really any two of those. Yeah, yeah. In two out of three ain't bad. Yeah. No. That's that's that's good enough for me. Yeah. I remember reading this book, How to Make It in the Music Business and they talked about, the average payout of a gold record.
00;59;01;10 - 00;59;21;25
Unknown
Somebody sold a half million records. The the band, you know, what they got at the end of the day? Yeah. Versus an independent artist that sold 2500 records and the 2500 that was that was the equivalent. Yeah. Like go out. And I just started to become disenchanted with the the smoke and mirrors of the big machine. Oh, it's so smoky.
00;59;21;25 - 00;59;38;28
Unknown
Just go on the voice. Oh they love it made. Do they. They live on smoke and mirrors. They do actually music industry doesn't even. They just there's they build smoke and mirrors. That's all they do. They just sell that shit. It's it's totally real. They're because they're, they're to make money off of you. They want you to buy into it.
00;59;38;28 - 00;59;54;18
Unknown
Which is I mean, it's well, so what we all do in our, in our business is whatever we want to try to try and make some money. But yeah, that's that's what they're there to do. But if you have it, it is. Yeah. It is predatory it for sure. Yeah. But if you have that conviction, this is not authentic.
00;59;54;18 - 01;00;08;15
Unknown
It's not me which, which really isn't going to come to you at 20 years old. Nobody is going to know unless she's had a hard life and you've seen some shit. You know what I mean? Perhaps, perhaps. But I had a hard life and I had seen some shit. But I've been like 30 people since I was 20, right?
01;00;08;15 - 01;00;25;09
Unknown
Yeah, I know very well. So true. You do? Yeah. But, you know, just that idea of, Yeah. None of that is real. No, it's the entertainment industry. It's so. Yeah, it's that's what we do, you know, even I, even I that's what I said, you know, even in a studio, I'm like, the I'm getting you to believe in your music.
01;00;25;16 - 01;00;43;26
Unknown
Some of it is smoke and mirrors, but if you use that tool for good, it's not such, you know, it's okay. It's okay to have the fantasy, if you're using it to better yourself. Well, you got to believe in it to a certain extent. You can't just fake it and it'll ever end up being anything of substance.
01;00;43;26 - 01;00;59;16
Unknown
No. At some point, you do have to believe faking it is a great way to cultivate belief. But if you never if you never cultivate the belief, you have to be your strongest advocate always. Especially as an artist. You have to believe in everything. Your belief has to be so infectious that you get other people to believe in it.
01;00;59;16 - 01;01;18;15
Unknown
Yeah, that's wild man. All of the skills necessary to make it, in the music world, it's it's not a fair gig. I mean, you've got to be so well-rounded, you know, so many little skills. That's ground control to major Tom. And it's like, put your helmet on and just, like, go out in space and see if you can find another planet.
01;01;18;16 - 01;01;37;11
Unknown
It's it's such it's such a it's such a shot in the dark. And if you're measuring it like if you're going to make something happen, but it's the journey. The journey, if you're a creative person, is always worth their it has to be worth it for you to go on the journey, because that's what we're doing. I mean, it's about it is the creative world is about the journey.
01;01;37;11 - 01;01;55;17
Unknown
I think there's a stubbornness to I mean, realistically, yeah, you wouldn't seven you got to be so stubborn and intent on. I'm going to make my living this way. And you got to be flexible with what you do with it. But at the same time, there's either easier ways to make a living. Oh, my God, so many history.
01;01;55;19 - 01;02;13;19
Unknown
Yeah. So maybe less fun ways, but certainly way easier. Yeah. You, you you have to be like. And that's kind of like how you get your voice out. That's how you be heard as you say. No, no, this is who I am. I'm not going to let wind blow my candle. I'm not going to let the seas, like, wash my booty away.
01;02;13;22 - 01;02;38;01
Unknown
I am solid, that is, this is what I'm doing. And that is like the where the core of belief happens. It's like if you're that solid, people will listen, then your vocals have way your music. It's like when you hear something, it's undeniable, you know, you know that that person is like, yes, this is what I'm doing. That adds a lot of solidity to your art.
01;02;38;04 - 01;03;15;23
Unknown
It's the stubbornness. If you could sit down with Marshall from 20 years ago. Oh, so many things, what would you say? Oh, so many things. Where would I even start? I would say, give up on the idea of perfection, especially when it is going into an adventure that you don't understand. Because like a lot of the times, like in my early days and I still struggle with this is going like, okay, I've got to if I'm going to do this new thing or put my, you know, put myself out there in this new, uncomfortable way, I've got to know everything about it and have it be totally perfect.
01;03;15;23 - 01;03;33;11
Unknown
So I'm safe when I do it and have everything. No, there's no such thing. Is that the studio that we that we built? Not perfect. No such thing is that there's stuff everywhere that I could have done better. I wish we know going into I was like, oh, we got to get this sound. But anyway, give up by the end of perfection.
01;03;33;11 - 01;03;53;11
Unknown
Try to let go of the idea of scarcity because it is reductive and it will make you spend less on yourself. It'll make you believe less and will make you do less. Abundance happens when you are not afraid of failing and when you just go for it. When you start to spend on yourself and believe and invest in yourself.
01;03;53;15 - 01;04;22;23
Unknown
Scarcity is that thing that pushes you into the earth and and weighs down on you, and it's not good for you ever. And I would say also enjoy, enjoy the journey. And there's going to be ups and downs. But just like look for the look for the beauty in life and also oh this is a big one. Go ahead and like BS, be more specific about what you want when you're trying to figure out what your life is going to be like, be more specific about what you want and speak it.
01;04;22;23 - 01;04;49;15
Unknown
Speak it all the times. Like say it out. There's so much. There's such a different world between like thinking and speaking. It's just like night and day, right? You, when you speak something out into the universe, it leaves the internal world, which is powerful, but it leaves the internal world and becomes part of the physical world. The vibration is whatever, you know, physical, physical science, nature.
01;04;49;15 - 01;05;10;04
Unknown
We will. They go out into the world, they bounce off other things. Other things vibrate with you. You cannot speak something into the world and not have it be part of the world. That's just how it is. So say what you want, write it down. Be specific, and then lose the idea of scarcity like it's not. You won't ever be able to afford it or it can't happen.
01;05;10;04 - 01;05;33;02
Unknown
It won't be perfect enough. That's good man. Yeah, yeah, that whole, idea of security and safety is a fallacy anyway, so it totally is. It's a fallacy that you adopted when you were a kid for obvious reasons, that you needed to feel safe. But when you become capable of doing your own things, just, you know, you don't have to be like, you don't have to, like, give it all up one day, but just start like shedding the layers.
01;05;33;02 - 01;06;00;21
Unknown
Just start taking a piece here and there that you don't have to do anything in one day over time is the way right? Great things are built slowly and over time, and that's okay to take your time doing that thing as long as you're going in the right direction. Yeah, that's good man. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. So if there's, a young artist out there that thinks that they've got something special, and maybe they are starting to feel that conviction of like, this is the path for me.
01;06;00;23 - 01;06;20;10
Unknown
This is what I was made to do. Yeah. And they want to get hooked up with martial arts. Yeah. How can they reach you? You can get me at bombshell. Underscore little on Instagram or martial arts. You can get it. I mean, that way if you are convicted and you really believe in what you're doing to come, come hang out for it for an afternoon.
01;06;20;10 - 01;06;37;08
Unknown
Let's get some lunch. Right. Let's talk about it. You talking about cooking and all the kinds of ways that, you love to travel and you guys love to to eat and and all that stuff. Where's your favorite place to eat in town? Oh, how much time do you have? No, man. Okay. So. Okay, I'll tell you what I'm loving right now.
01;06;37;09 - 01;06;57;23
Unknown
Okay. There's this, like, a little bodega style, like, country store thing called pure Cuil Superette. And it's on Memorial Drive. Kind of. Right before you get to Morlin. And it is the cutest, best little sandwich shop. I, I, I went there like three times this week. It's like been saying I take all of my business people like meetings.
01;06;57;23 - 01;07;22;25
Unknown
They're all of my career meetings. Pure Cuil Superette for lunch. Amazing, right? Also, what, what else is great? Breakfast. Homegrown Atlanta institution. I love an institution, first of all. So I think any any place that survived and carries the torch of like the lineage of Atlanta is special to me. So homegrown is sick. For a delicious tendon.
01;07;22;25 - 01;07;44;25
Unknown
I think I'm going to go. Oh, I don't know, man. There's so many fun. And I'm. We live in Decatur with, like, all kinds of good stuff. So fun is a cool new place to go. How steakhouse is another one of those, like, institutions and kind of in North Buckhead, old school place. I really miss Alfredo's like on Cheshire Bridge.
01;07;44;25 - 01;07;58;21
Unknown
They're like, I miss like the old school Italian spots. I used to be in Atlanta. But anyway, like I said, I mean, do we have another couple of hours? Let's keep going. Let's do it for two. Let's do a list. Yeah. I miss, the cuisine living in Decatur. Yeah, there's a lot. I mean, we are so spoiled.
01;07;58;21 - 01;08;17;03
Unknown
There's a lot of great stuff. What do we get all the time? Oh, man. Oh, let me happy to. This taqueria Aloha Kenya in like Jones and South and Morrow Elmhurst and like Peachtree city ish is the best. It's the best Mexican food you ever have outside of Mexico. I think it is so good. It's not like Tex-Mex.
01;08;17;03 - 01;08;37;08
Unknown
It's like with whatever, wet burritos or whatever. It's just like taco spot with, okay, anyway, that's that's a gym beyond belief that you've got to check out. It's so good. Yeah, I would definitely pick that spot. Yeah, I think that about ties it up. But listen, you know, get at me if you need a restaurant. Rico.
01;08;37;08 - 01;08;52;29
Unknown
I'm always down to talk food. Tell us. Bombshell underscore radio if you just want to eat. Good. Yeah. Yeah, well, this has been good. It's been so good catching up with you, man. Wish you lots of success. I have no doubt that, Yeah. Like I said, I. Well, I'm not going to be surprised when you're holding your Grammy one day.
01;08;53;02 - 01;09;07;10
Unknown
Thank you. Man, you know. Yeah, I'm not either, I think. I think I'm ready for it. You just keep showing up. It's a matter of time, right? 100 to 100% that. That's real talk. That's a really good, really good statement. Yeah, yeah. Marshall Kurtz, thank you so much, brother. Thank you, my brother. It's great to be here, man.
01;09;07;10 - 01;09;25;07
Unknown
This is super fun. Till next time, man. All right man cheers. Cheers. Thanks for checking out the Think in Cursive podcast. Please give us a like, subscribe and your comments along the way are so important to us for all things podcast or real estate you can find me at Be Good brandon.com. Thanks for checking us out. We'll see you soon.
