The Mindbuzz

MB:212 with John DeMena A Sonic Journey Through Nostalgia and Innovation: Exploring Cultural Identity in Music

Mindbuzz Media Season 4 Episode 212

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John DeMena is an musician from Spain with his debut album “Dreams and Lies“out now on all streaming platforms. John is an artist for PRS Guitars, Ernie Ball, and Pig Hog Cables.  @prsguitars @ernieball @pighogcables

Follow him on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/johndemena/

https://linktr.ee/johndemena

Strap in for a musical odyssey that blends the hearty nostalgia of the '90s with the vibrant pulse of today's Latino culture and spans continents in its exploration of identity and passion. We kick things off with a deep dive into the cultural tapestry that shaped us—think grunge, iconic rock anthems, and the rich, fiery cadence of flamenco. It's not just about the music, though; it's about the life-altering narratives of those daring enough to chase their artistic dreams across oceans, and the resilience required to plant roots in an unfamiliar land.

Our guests and I invite you on a journey that examines the universal language of music, its ability to forge connections in places as diverse as the hushed streets of Japan and the buoyant music scene of Spain. We're turning up the amp on discussions around the soul-stirring power of classic guitar riffs and the ways live albums have immortalized moments in time, defining generations. And in the ever-shifting world of beats and streams, we muse over the balance between instant access to tunes and the cherished tradition of absorbing an album start to finish.

Finally, we peel back the curtain on the songwriting process, reveling in those brilliant flashes of inspiration that have led to some of the most memorable tracks in history. We're talking melodies that come to you in dreams, the hum of a tune that just won't leave your head, and the technological marvels that ensure not a single note is lost to the ether. It's a heartfelt homage to the collaborative magic of bands, the individual voyages of songwriters, and the tunes that become the soundtracks of our lives. Join us for a celebration of creativity, culture, and the enigmatic journey of musical expression.

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"King without a Throne" is performed by Bad Hombres

King without a Throne Official Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNhxTYU8kUs

King without a Throne
https://open.spotify.com/track/7tdoz0W9gr3ubetdW4ThZ8?si=9a95947f58bf416e

Speaker 1:

The MindBuzz, now partnered with MyGrito Industries.

Speaker 2:

This podcast episode of the MindBuzz is brought to you by House of Chingassos. House of Chingassos is a Latino owned online store that speaks to Latino culture and Latino experience. I love House of Chingassos because I like t-shirts that fit great and are comfortable to wear. I wear them on the podcast and to the Cardenas Adas. Click the affiliate link in the show description and use promo code THEMINDBUZZ that's T-H-E-M-I-N-D-B-U-Z-Z to receive 10% off your entire purchase. The cash saved will go directly to the MindBuzz podcast to help us do what we do best, and that's bringing you more MindBuzz content. Click the link in the show description for more.

Speaker 2:

February 23rd open mic showcase live podcast. It's Delic Comedy February 23rd. I am so excited for this you have no idea. Come out. It's in the city of Paramount and away we go. What is up, mindbuzz? Did I scare you? I'm sorry, I felt like I scared you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I felt like I scared him. Welcome back, dear lady. I know right. Welcome back to another, even though I look like a houseless person right now. Welcome back to the podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, the MindBuzz podcast. My name is Gil, your host and working the twos and threes right behind this screen is Amber. How are you, hello? How you doing? Today I'm good, or tonight I'm good, whatever time we're listening to this podcast.

Speaker 1:

I'm good.

Speaker 2:

You're good.

Speaker 1:

I'm good, I'm doing all time zones and time and I'm good, I'm doing good.

Speaker 2:

All right, well, good how are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm doing pretty good, that was a nice rack you had on there.

Speaker 2:

A nice rack.

Speaker 1:

I didn't know you had that. On your poster oh, yeah, do you like that? I don't know how I feel about it, but you know I'm hoping to it.

Speaker 2:

Think about it. It just came to me as I was creating flyers for that. I am super excited.

Speaker 1:

Now, it's so funny.

Speaker 2:

About that event in February 23rd Just released today. Ladies and gentlemen, the signups are on there. It's a completely 100% free show. Doors open at 7.30. You can see all the details down on the show description. If you're watching this show on YouTube or listening on Spotify, go down to the show description and the show notes and check it out. It's an open mic, it's a comedy showcase and it's a live podcast recorded in front of a live studio audience.

Speaker 1:

I like saying live studio audience, I feel it doesn't make you feel like you work for TV or something.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I work for Recorded in front of a live studio audience Recorded.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, because it was all the shows we used to watch. Everything was recorded in front of a live studio audience. Yeah, it gives you nostalgia.

Speaker 2:

I like the laugh track. I've had this 90s nostalgic feeling for the past month 32 years. For the past 32 years I've been watching a lot of 90s wrestling. I've been liking liking. I've been looking at a lot of 90s comedy, early 2000s comedy. So I don't know, I'm just in the mood for stuff like that right now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 2:

What about you?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, me too. I'm wearing my Hello Kitty shirt on right now. I think I always am. There's something about our generation and I don't know. I can only speak for our generation. Right, I don't know about other generations, but there's something about our generation that hasn't grown up completely Right. We're honoring our child self still, and I'm here for it. I really am.

Speaker 2:

I dig that Right, I dig Hello Kitty.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, me too.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to be frank with you, frank, but I didn't really like. Was Hello Kitty popular back in?

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Was it Back in the 90s?

Speaker 1:

I had like Hello Kitty Comforter, hello Kitty Pillows. I had a Hello Kitty party where everyone gave me Hello Kitty. I had over like maybe like 60 Hello Kitties. I had a Hello Kitty phone, alarm clock, trash cam, you name it, I had it.

Speaker 2:

Well, we're going to talk about Japan and Hello Kitty with our awesome guests, but first, before we get into today's guests, I believe we have a migratory weekly and we have a mindbuzz weekly.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So what do we got coming up?

Speaker 1:

So 3LH will be at the Tiki Bar in the OC on January 26. La Rosa Noir will be at the empty bottle in Chicago on January 28. The paranoias and profesor galactico will be performing at the Paramount on January 27. Maria Sanchez will be performing at Forever Mine in Bakersfield on February 10. Some of you may remember her from the episode 149 on here the mindbuzz.

Speaker 1:

So, make sure you visit our YouTube so you can go catch her episode and she sings amazing Rundown Creeps recently released this new music video. You can find on their YouTube or the link on their Instagram bio. The paranoias will be releasing their new music video shortly. Stay tuned For more details on these shows. Go to the artist's Instagram page and don't forget to visit mygrationet to purchase your vinyl right meow.

Speaker 2:

Right meow. And then I have some dates in February. February 8th I will be at the Mamba in Huntington Beach, february 9th I will be at 4th Wall in Hollywood, and the 23rd we're going to be taping the first live event of Dalit Comedy in the city of Paramount. And stay tuned for more dates. What do we got coming up on your side of the event space?

Speaker 1:

On February 10th, I will be hosting a Valentine pop-up. So come out and support small businesses, Get some gifts for Valentine or just for yourself. Come have a drink and shop small. On February 24th, my sister and I will be hosting a small business what do we call it? I can't think of it on top of my head Small business or goal setting event. So come out. If you're a small business or want to learn how to open your small business and you don't know where to get started or where to even begin, come out. We're here to help you, coach you and kind of guide you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

And then on the 25th I'm also hosting a pet pop-up, so you have any pet lovers out there? We're going to have really cool La Panaderia, so it's like paw and Panaderia. So a lot of nice little goodies for yourself and for your pets. So yeah, come out.

Speaker 2:

Cool, I'm excited for those and anything else.

Speaker 1:

That's it.

Speaker 2:

Cool, without further ado, let's get into tonight's guests. John Domena musician. How you doing, man?

Speaker 3:

Doing good. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2:

Am I saying that right? John Demena, Demena.

Speaker 3:

Either.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, demena.

Speaker 1:

No, not either. Which one do you want?

Speaker 3:

But it's normal, we're here to get it right, you saved me another first time, yeah.

Speaker 2:

There we go. Cool, thanks for coming out and doing the podcast. I really appreciate it. We've had this scheduled for a very long time and I'm excited that you made it out.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I love the podcast and it's an honor to be here, man, thanks so much.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, I appreciate it. So let's first get into your music, your experience. So first of all, let's talk about your music. So how would you describe your music and your music style?

Speaker 3:

I'm a rock artist, I would say Pretty much like the best way to define it is kind of like I like the term New Old Rock, so it's kind of like you know throwback to the type of rock that we classic rock that we grew up with.

Speaker 3:

What would a modern type of sound? Big guitars, big choruses, big, big, everything like big solos. And you know very passionate writing and you know, I guess, a little bit of the Latino. You know lots of shows in there. I would say that like very high energy. You know sun-driven rock music.

Speaker 2:

What rock music did you listen to growing up?

Speaker 3:

It's funny that I love it.

Speaker 2:

Did I say that right? What rock music did you listen to growing up?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean at the time, like we were talking about the throwback Amber was saying about the 90s. I mean like, don't they say like the music that permeates your life in your 13 to 15 or 16, that's your music, it's kind of like you know.

Speaker 3:

So I mean a lot of that music, like a lot of the 90s, especially Seattle scene came out where you know, when we were in high school I would say like that was still like a good time where people would still be trading, you know albums and all that. So a lot of that you know was kind of like the music of my generation, like the Alice in Chains, the you know the Sun Gardens, the Nirvana's and you know a lot of the British stuff to the radio heads and Oasis and Blur.

Speaker 3:

And then later, through friends of you know, like brothers older brothers are friends we started to discover kind of like the classic music of the time. So it was kind of like, oh, you guys like this, listen to this thing. You know it's ACDC. And we were, oh my God, this is like you know. So. And then now it just became kind of like the music of you know the soundtrack of my life. A lot of the classic music, a lot of Pink Floyd, later Sabbath. That saw that you know you were so a lot of classic rock. I also grew up in Spain, so there was a lot of flamenco over there that I really appreciated.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

I appreciate it at the time so much as I do right now as a performer type of thing, because it's a music that it's so passionate that it's impossible to quantize or, you know, like, do like with the modern approach, like you know mechanics or something like that, because it's so expressive. And then, as from the performance point of view, I appreciate it a lot more now than you know, than ever. It's just, you know, it's such a unique and, you know, very passionate type of music and now I'm glad that it's in my DNA a little bit, even though I don't perform that music, but it was nice to grow up in that culture.

Speaker 1:

And doesn't it take like also because it's been for some reason? That's funny that you say that, because for some reason it's been popping up like more on my TikTok. So I see more videos of people performing like flamenco and like singing, and it's not only voice, I mean. What you have to have a pretty regulated voice, like right, like high pitch, low things like that.

Speaker 1:

But they also use their hands and their body movements and it's like. It's like all three things into one, while the videos that I've seen so maybe am I wrong, or is it all.

Speaker 3:

No, it's a super cool, enriched culture that you can be a flamenco dancer and actually the way that they dance is almost like a drummer, sometimes better than some drummers. You know, like I would say, so what exactly is flamenco? It's kind of like the traditional folky music from. Spain like Southern Spain, but I mean tracing it back. They said that it has a lot of influence from Northern Africa and India.

Speaker 3:

It has a lot of that, you know, infused type of like ethnic, traditional type of music. You know we discovered it more and more now, now that you know we're visiting back, and then you know, like kind of like see my country through the eyes of another person who didn't grow up over there. So you know, just, you just realize how cool it was.

Speaker 2:

And you grew up.

Speaker 3:

So you grew up in Spain, yeah, grew up over there and then I moved out here when I was 25. Oh, okay.

Speaker 2:

So you spent 25 of your first years in Spain and then moved over here.

Speaker 3:

No, family no one Whoa.

Speaker 2:

Everybody's still back there, really.

Speaker 3:

The black sheep is the you know left. They still wonder when I'm going to go back and it's been like 15 years.

Speaker 2:

What was your family's thoughts when you told them you were going to move to America?

Speaker 3:

It was kind of back and forth for the first couple of years. I mean, they were like well, you know, you've been playing music all your life, so it kind of makes sense.

Speaker 3:

But at the same time it's scary because it's like you know, do you have anything going on? Or you know, because it was kind of like kamikaze lifestyle at the time. It was kind of like you know, in your 20s, you just bulletproof and then you just go for it, you just throw it and then just came here, didn't even know anyone. No, you know contacts or anything like that. So at the time, but it was always like, well, you can just, you know, roll the dice and then if it doesn't work out, you can always come back, or you know. So I mean it's a.

Speaker 3:

It was challenging at the time, but it was kind of like also, like you know, it kind of like.

Speaker 1:

It always amazes me to think how, as humans, we can survive, like because I I'm very close to my family and where I'm at and I don't see myself moving across the country with you know nothing, because I'm scared. But to me, when I hear people and their success stories of just moving and no family and no plans and anything, and that's like commendable that you could just come somewhere and survive and off of just passion, right, because that's what you you came here because of to pursue. Did you come here to pursue music?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just like something that lives with you for a while, like you want to do it and then you just I know myself very well and I just don't want to be in that mindset of like the rest of my life, like what, if? Well, I should have you know. So I was like I'm just, you know, I'm just going to do it and then see what happens. And then you know later, you just realize for, and then you just endure A couple of things and then you grow up and then you know, you learn more about yourself and the world and you know, and then, but that's the thing, but that's what you were saying.

Speaker 3:

You know, I just try to still be. You know really, you know nurturing those relationships and still, like some of my best friends are still like friends were, you know, when we were, like, you know, elementary school or or so it's. You know maintaining that. You know balance and connection with them to your values. Or you know type of like the people you grew up with, in addition to the people that you, you know, meet along the way.

Speaker 2:

How long were you playing music before you you moved out?

Speaker 3:

Probably 10, 11 years 10, 11 years. My first friends were like in high school I would say, playing bands, and then I moved out here. You know I was like 24. I was like something like that 10 years I.

Speaker 2:

I still can't, I'm still trying to comprehend that people do that Like people do that all the time, right Like it's move out of state. Move out of state is one thing, but going to a completely different country is completely different, right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean, and on top of that I feel like still privileged because I mean I mean migration, like the stories you know of that, there's no an easy case, but still for me I feel like for me it was kind of like, you know, it came from a comfortable point of view is that you? Want to pursue this, I mean. So it's still like I feel.

Speaker 3:

Yes, you have to endure a lot of things and you know, loneliness and you know and and making you know pretty much the impossible possible because you need to like go up the ladder day by day and then do it, but still I mean it's good, I mean I've met people that really went through. You know, like compared to to yourself is like, oh my God, like mine is just like, you know, like a pleasure, you know compared to what they wanted to.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, some people you know it's you know meet a lot of cool people on the way and then a lot of stories. I would say.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because you go to a different country and you put a lot of thought, you put your your whole life right Into your project, into your passion, and I feel like when you're already there, at a certain point there's a different mentality, right, because you're already there. So you, you have to kick yourself in the ass a little, you have to work harder because you're like, okay, what did I, what did I do this for? Right, you know what I mean? Like I've already, I've already gotten this far. Now I need to keep pushing the envelope versus somebody that's living in LA doing a Working music or doing a passion project. It's just, it's there's more to lose in your perspective.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's a, that's a thing. I mean I was kind of like taking it day by day, because it started like from you know, like how do you get around? You know, like I didn't even have a driver license or something. So I was like you know, how do you do this? Or I remember like I, you know, I Mean just that's how you know, like what I say is like you know, like a 20 year old yeah, you know brain, that you know, it's just like, you know, not scared of anything.

Speaker 3:

I came out here I didn't even do my homework correctly. So because I was, like you know, looking for places and apartments and People like say, well, you know, we would like to have you, but you have no credit so we cannot rent you a place, I was like what do you mean credit? I mean I have money that I can, you know, and there were no, but here you have to have credit. So it didn't even work out for me like that, because it was like, at least where I grew up, if you have the money, you, that's fine. It's not like a credit type of thing.

Speaker 3:

So I have to be in, you know like youth hostels, like the first three months, you know like sharing rooms with like six people in the same room or something like that, until I was able to, you know, get a job. And then so it's more like at the time you don't think about that. It's almost like you, you kind of like develop this Tunnel vision and you just go okay, what's next tomorrow or what's next you know, and then eventually, just you know, find your way. You're gonna be very ambitious. I think at least the first couple years you can be very ambitious, otherwise it's overwhelming, is like.

Speaker 2:

So 25 years ago? No, no, no, I was 25. You're 25. Okay, so 15 it was 15 years ago. You said.

Speaker 3:

Like yeah, I would say something like that Okay.

Speaker 2:

So when you got off the plane right around that time, what was the first thing that you did?

Speaker 3:

Going to the hostel that I was staying at the same time, at the time to you know, then figuring out, like you know places for you know jobs and applications and all that, and then you know, eventually just make your way up. For the first, I would say like that must have been weeks nerve-wracking dude. Yeah, but I was like, I mean I came, I grew up in Europe, so I was used to taking the bus and all that was kind of like for me, right that was them the.

Speaker 3:

It was like using public transit and then you know, but eventually I'm very organized so you can go from a to B to from B to C of course like so, day by day, you just connect, you know the dots and then you start like making it. You know At least, you know you find your place, and then do you think that?

Speaker 1:

Because my mom, my mom, always says what she puts it into perspective with like, marriage, right, where she says, like, like, if you marry someone in your 20s, you don't think of all these x, y's and z's, right, you marry for love and it's just like, let's do it, and everything she says. But once you pass a certain age, you start thinking of, you know all the x, y's and z's.

Speaker 1:

So, in the perspective of your case of just coming in your 20s to to another country and you know let's do it Do you think in your age now you think you would still do the same thing?

Speaker 3:

No, I think you, just you know, you develop some, you know kind of like comfort, and then you Appreciate what you have and then I think you know it's like the, you know, the youth rebellion you know, that. You know that. You know it was right after college too. So it's kind of like the perfect time. You know you have no attachment to anything. You know you're not attached to a job, you know you know Attached to Anything. So that was the time to roll the dice and nice. So far, so good.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you just jumped right in dude. Wow, that is amazing. What did you study in in college?

Speaker 3:

Uh, southern Spain, and I was here. That's where I grew up. I was also like staying home. I got I was never you know like I was, you know staying home with my parents and then go to college over there. It's a small town in between Sevilla and Granada.

Speaker 2:

Okay, can you pull up a map of Spain? That's so cool, dude, that it does so awesome. But what did you study in college, was it? Yeah, you studied English, yeah, okay.

Speaker 3:

Wait, so is studying English like like English English, or it like literature, yeah like writing, okay, music never worked out for me because I mean at the time, the way to go, because it was kind of like a small town, so there's not like too many opportunities. So the only way to go was going through the classical, you know, training through the conservatory, and then Me and a lot of my friends who got into music, like in our teens, we got rejected at the time because it was like you have to enter, yet to be super young. To enter those you know, conservatories, like you know, the application is for kids who are like in seven, eight years old or something.

Speaker 3:

Well because the program is super long. Yeah like if you enter when you're like 17 is a wall, just you have ten years left of this because it goes by. You know different degrees at the time, so I mean I never studied music at them, you know? Oh, like in the traditional type of sense.

Speaker 1:

Trying to see where what are we.

Speaker 3:

South a little bit more yeah you see that. Yeah, like that city. This is Cordoba Portable.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, a little bit to your right there on the, so you're on the coast.

Speaker 3:

No, let's, yeah, yeah, to see Granada. So over there.

Speaker 2:

Okay, oh, right, there, okay those um oh.

Speaker 1:

Good old in Granada Got it. Okay, see that see, now you get perspective.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, whoa, that's awesome. I don't even. It just blows my mind, because we were just talking about Japan earlier and you guys went and I? I only know English and a little bit of Spanish, and you're gonna think I'm this may be the dumbest question in the history of the mind buzz, but what do? What language do they speak in Spain?

Speaker 3:

Spanish.

Speaker 2:

Is it, and it's a different type of Spanish.

Speaker 3:

I would say it's like kind of like like British English and American English. Oh, okay, so there's just like different have like oh, that's a different accents and sounds and you know like and slang and you know, but it's pretty much that's the main thing.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's an interesting An elegy to.

Speaker 3:

it's like a yeah, or like Portuguese from Portugal and Portuguese from Brazil.

Speaker 2:

Okay. Okay, that makes sense. Alright, there wasn't a dumb question, right?

Speaker 3:

No, that's, many people asked me that yeah okay, I mean, we're like, we are a notion in a continental way okay it's normal that people you know we'll see, you know like those European countries are like I mean it's.

Speaker 2:

I thought it was one of those things where people in Brazil they don't speak Spanish, they speak.

Speaker 1:

Portuguese yeah. I thought it was just but Spain, spanish, that's where Spanish yeah but Portugal, I mean Brazil.

Speaker 2:

Maybe they speak Brazilian, oh no, no.

Speaker 1:

You don't know.

Speaker 2:

I don't know, I didn't finish college. Okay, all right back off. But we were just talking about that before we. We hit the record button and it's just it's. It's different when you go to a different country, I mean Japan. I don't speak Spanish, I just speak English, and going to Japan and just Feeling the feeling, the, the culture of a different country, like it's super different.

Speaker 3:

I went like we were talking before. Yeah, I went to Japan like 2009 and that was kind of like the first years of like the smartphones and so like kind of like the apps and translation and even Even having internet on your phone was not very efficient, so we cannot be translated the way that we do these days. Or and I was like dude, I speak English and Spanish, like to the most you know Whitely spoken languages, and I feel useless over here because I can I couldn't communicate with people like I would. It would just hand signals Like I'm hungry, you know where do we go to the train or something, and it was like you know, because we could not pull out like I mean, you have to go back to the hotel and translate something on Google translate and then write it down, because it was like you know it was because you didn't have a phone.

Speaker 2:

It was the early. Oh my gosh, the iPhone and all that.

Speaker 3:

It was like, you know, like now you take it for granted, but like 2009, like phones were, you know, like very basic.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, our phone would like speak for us. Yeah, now you translate.

Speaker 3:

Now you can point your camera to anything and it translated anywhere in the world and just yeah, get around without even knowing. When you told us that?

Speaker 1:

earlier. It didn't register in my brain until right now that you're saying like yeah, you're right, like you didn't have your phone to even say look at this.

Speaker 3:

Oh dang.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but but we were talking and right when we're talking about it off camera. I was saying that I felt like, because I've traveled to other countries and Universally or what I thought universally, everyone spoke English. So I thought, going to Japan, I said, oh, it's gonna be easy. Uh-huh and as soon as we got off the airplane and we went into the airport, every single sign was in Japanese.

Speaker 1:

There was not one in English, and I was like, oh Okay, and I remember we couldn't read it, we couldn't communicate and we couldn't anything. And then that's when I realized, you know what, I'm over here thinking my American brain thinking that you know I, that people have to speak, you know English and and it gave me a little bit of a culture shock of like, no, I'm coming to their country, so I should have learned. You know Japanese. I have to do the effort to to learn what's going on within in there, and I was, but it's a cool.

Speaker 3:

Culture shock.

Speaker 1:

It is. It is countries.

Speaker 3:

It's so awesome, like I mean, we are, like you know, every time talking I mean I guess every band will that's that saying of be big in Japan or something like that. But it's like I think every musician's dream is, like you know, playing in Japan in Japan.

Speaker 3:

It's just such a cool type of concept or you know. So I mean, and also like music over there is, like you know, it's felt like very with a lot of passion too. So you see some you know historic shows or you know that happened, you know Some the venues that they have over there and it's such a cool place. You know, difficult market, I guess to you know, to tour and all that. But you know, one day, you know it will be a, you know a dream come true to to perform over there.

Speaker 2:

Why do you think that there it's, so the the music culture is so Rich over there? Like, why is it so loved?

Speaker 3:

I don't know like, for some reason, like rock Always worked over, there is, like you know, it's very passionate, I think a lot of the narrative that goes with rock and a lot of the you know, kind of like you know the Like, the aesthetics of that music have always worked very well for a country that it's very into like you know, like you know storytelling and you know that's, you know some kind of like Aesthetics or you know narrative that goes like that it could also be super exotic, I guess you know to that type of you know Music.

Speaker 3:

Going back to the whole thing that we were talking before, a lot of Flamenco artists in Spain they go to Japan and they get paid super well, really love it, and Sometimes they were saying I mean, and without getting too much into like you know, like country personalities or something like that, but they were saying that a country that tends to be on the reserve side, just see somebody Be so vigorous, like speaking and screaming and you know, like like being so out there, right, they find it fascinating because, it's kind of.

Speaker 3:

it's almost like somebody who, shy, sees a band performing on stage and you see a singer who was like you know, just oh, my god, I wish that I could do that, not like performing, but it's like I wish that I have, that my shyness would not get in the way, or something you know I mean yeah, so that could be something interesting you know for that, that's something that you know the energy that especially rock music has, it's something that you know it makes a lot of people all over the world like really resonate with it.

Speaker 3:

Because you see, like bands that play all over the world and then like the reaction is amazing, you know, like it's just it's so global and they and sometimes they perform. I mean, when we were kids we didn't even didn't even understand what the, what the songs were saying, but I felt them. You know, like I will listen to. You know I listen chains or you know, or pink floyd or something, and I was like I don't even know what they're saying, but you could feel the music.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it does something to me that feels nice you know that's how I feel with With Spanish music. That's why I feel with with Mexican music. You just I, you just feel it in a certain way like it. Music crosses all these different boundaries between language, between vibration, between everything. That's not really Like you, really it's not. It's not and it goes deeper than listening to A song and understanding it. Yeah, you don't even think different.

Speaker 3:

It's like if I say uh, why do you like Um cheese? Or what do you exactly not explain it? Just, I just like it. You know, it's like I just you know, I just eat it and I like it, so it's kind of like you don't know why, but it just resonates with the white pizza. Good, I don't know why. Pizza is good.

Speaker 2:

It's just great. Yeah, I couldn't explain it to you, but I just like it, you know. So you know the less you think about it the better.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean, you can say that about any music.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, you can say that about any music, that anybody. You can say that just about music in general, or any art. In general, if you see a painting and you like a painting and you're trying to explain that to an alien or even another human about why you like the the art piece, it's just it's hard to Really conjure up some words to tell somebody what you like.

Speaker 3:

I normally try to I mean probably, I don't know, like, if you know, later, like in a close, you know circle, you talk about your comedy or something like that, or about your jokes or something. But that's something for me. Like you know, I try not to explain my lyrics or my, you know really that's because it's just impoverished. You know like them because it's like you know sometimes I got people who you know. I think this song means that and it's a dude, that's way better than it would be my brain.

Speaker 3:

I'll take that so, sometimes trying to explain, for example, like if you're saying art or music, or To me it's kind of like if you know you can be Somewhere and there's like a hundred people listening to a song, there's like a hundred different interpretations, you know of course or like, or a painting or something like that. So sometimes you go and you try to explain it and then it kind of like oh Wow, it's less epic. You know that, it was in my head, so I try to, you know, always leave it open or something like that.

Speaker 3:

So same for art, it's just leave it open to interpretation you know, it is what you want it to be. You know, or what you want to make out of it.

Speaker 2:

I would say right, the beauty is in the listener's beholder. How does that the eye of the listener, yeah, or something like that. I mean, um, I don't know that the music is just. I'm drawn to music, man, like I even. Uh, like you're just saying pink floyd. Uh, we were talking earlier about, uh, nostalgia 90s. I've been playing the same 1995 hits Playlist on Spotify for the past two weeks. Honestly, and embers getting tired of it on, you're not okay.

Speaker 1:

I know them all we're gonna.

Speaker 2:

We're gonna continue that with 19 next week. We're going in 1996, everybody. But yeah, have you heard the most say the Okay computer by Radiohead, they. They compare it to Dark side of the moon, like what dark side of the moon was in the 70s.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, on a moderate like, from the production point of view and the the way that it's written, I mean that album is a lot of. It is acoustic. I mean acoustic it's, it's played by hand, it's so. It's no program or something you know, they might have a few things, but it's a lot of yeah, like paranoid Android or something. I mean that song is almost like Like boheep, like a weird, you know nerdy bohemian wraps, a B type of thing.

Speaker 3:

I mean eight minutes is super epic. It goes up and down and starts acoustic and then he ends over here.

Speaker 3:

And then they have that rain down the moment and they picks up later. Yeah, I mean, that's like. You know, that album is like you know just from. You know, like the, just the guitar work, the production, you know, at the time it's a, it's a masterpiece to me. I think 97 is when that, I think 1997 is that album came out. You know just, I would compare that to, I wouldn't say like things are like apples to apples, or I mean of course.

Speaker 3:

It may just be like, but it's, you know, somebody at their peak, you know, and also like a great time, right when, like things started to. You know, music production started to go on more on the digital taposide, but that was still like at the time where the performance and the technology was not so powerful To cheat or to fix things you know later. So you have to commit to the performance, that, the performance so, and that album I mean it's just, you know, it's a, to me is a masterpiece.

Speaker 2:

Committing to the performance and then also finding creative ways on how to change the instrument sounds when it's going into the to the program, right, yeah, yeah, that's. That album is just, and they took the risk.

Speaker 3:

They took the risk of Changing you know, you know and experimenting and going in a different way, because then you know and then even further with you know. You know K-Day after and you know those. But that's, I really appreciate that. You know our musicians, you know who sometimes you know you explore and Just follow your curiosity and it can go either way to.

Speaker 2:

That's a it can go that's a throw of the dice, because it can go either way. You can be a pioneer in you know your genre or what you're doing with your career, or it can it can go the yeah.

Speaker 3:

I can totally tank the moment that it starts to be Associated with trends or trying to follow in trend, especially these days. Trends these days last what? Three months, six months, or like a sound or a band that comes out. Then everybody wants to. So I think now is it's, it's, you know it's. I mean there's a sound, there's a band that comes out. Everybody is like kind of like the next thing, then another band will try to Get on the wagon and sound like them and write like them and then by the time that they release their album, that that is gone.

Speaker 3:

You know, like that, you know trend is gone already, and now you end up sounding like something that might be dated for you or something. I think that they were, you know, like pretty much coming up with something new themselves. So that's what made it so unique, that they were so original at the time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, plus the songs always to me first time. I heard no surprises. Oh my god, it was like the first time I heard the Beatles. Honestly, it was that that has that that aspiring dude.

Speaker 3:

But that's at the end of the day. Like for anything, it's good songs. Yeah you have good songs you know that have that convey, you have that you know passion in there and then people you know will feel them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah do you remember the first time you heard rock? No, and who was it?

Speaker 3:

I do not remember exactly how I heard it, because it was probably in the house or something like that.

Speaker 3:

But I remember In one of those parties, when we were, like you know, in our early teens or something, a friend's brother played a deep purple burn and here that song, like is how they're belting, like the chorus, we were like I mean it just, it was fascinating because it was like kind of person sing like that, because it's just, I mean it's just one word, but he's just belting, holding it like you know, and we were like oh my god, it was so, so, so impressive. You know, it's just, it's almost like a, like a freight train that comes to you.

Speaker 3:

Right like a 300 and. I'll hit you, you know. So if those it was really, you know, cool. That's where it has like, especially like the guitar riffs and all that which is what many kids get into. It has that tribal type of thing, like when you hear AC, dc or when you hear, like you know, many of those bands you know, like the guitar riff, like black Sabbath, now that you played before you know like Tony, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3:

I don't know what he has is. I think it connects so deep into like a very tribal type of thing, because it's this cyclical thing that repeats and then it kind of it's so you know and you know, and it's so easy to remember to they're like so memorable. So, yeah, that's a.

Speaker 2:

You know, child in time? Yeah, oh my gosh, the first time I heard. Okay, so deep purple is one thing. Their organ player I forget his name, but oh my he is like Not John Lord, john Lord one of the best out there, aside from John Den's wait. No, john Den's more as a drum player doors. Yeah, no, the, or what's the organ player of the doors. Oh my god. His name is Ray man oh MG, but the dude that plays organ in Deep purple is. John Lord.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, dude the first the first time I heard child in time, the the singer just belting, like you were saying, is just holding that note, for it was just mind blown. It's just crazy how music can send you somewhere that's.

Speaker 3:

But what it's the mind. The most mind-blowing type of thing is many of that music didn't exist before, like, if you, yeah, like Sabbath, because now is, oh yeah, I came with this sound, yeah, because you have a lot of information for something that happened before, right, but black Sabbath, for example, before that that didn't exist.

Speaker 2:

There was no. There was no metal.

Speaker 3:

It was the mamas on the papas and you know, like the, you know the, the beach boys. It was all this super cool. You know like 60s, you know hippie type of sound and then and then I will pay. My always says I will pay money To see the reaction on the face of the person who listened to black Sabbath for the first time. This is the first time that is scary music, and it was.

Speaker 3:

It's almost like if you like movies, yeah, like like the Texas chain massacre, I get it. Why the when it came out like people ended up going to hospitals and all that because it was so shocking. Yeah, now you compare to like the. The threshold of you know some scary is way higher. Like now, movies that you see these days they can be like, you know, I mean it makes that look like a Disney movie, you know right, but at the time that didn't exist before. So you go to a theater and you see that I think, like the impact that it had will be like Jesus Christ, what was that, you know? So, yeah, yeah, watching yeah.

Speaker 2:

Imagine going back in time and just seeing Ozzy and and Tony and Bill and the other guy forgot his name, but for the first yeah.

Speaker 3:

For the first time, and that's just got to be Mind-blowing on its own.

Speaker 2:

And then, plus, even if you took a tap of acid or something, if you're, you're smoking weed or something. Oh my god. Yeah, that's, that's what. It's the most impressive.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, listening to that music and knowing that that didn't exist that they literally came up with that.

Speaker 2:

They mixed punk rock with uh like you're, some tribal sounds and Just that. You know what I was looking up like. What is classic rock? And I? I did not know, I don't know if you know this, but it had the reason why they use.

Speaker 2:

They call it classic rock is because of the, the, because of like it's supposed to like, emulate, like classical music. I can, can you look? Can you look up like the definition of classic rock? I read that like a few weeks ago. I have to read it again because I think I butchered that a lot of bands.

Speaker 3:

At the beginning would have some type of influence. Uh, definitely from from that.

Speaker 2:

Let's see what it says. Classic rock oh yeah, right there, scoot it over a little bit ideology. Ideologically, classic rock serves. Classic rock serves to confirm the dominant status, a particular period of his music history, the emergence of rock in the mid 1960s, with associated values and set practices, um, so it's probably like the, the most canonic type of rock like you know, like what, what? You know what they find like melody, and you know, oh, define the what they find, or you know the era. Yeah right, jeff Beck, jimmy Hendrix.

Speaker 3:

Led Zeppelin.

Speaker 2:

Led Zeppelin, my local. What is that? Rock is just a generic term covering a variety of genres. Classic rock just means more than 20 years old. Oh, that's interesting. Um the differences between rock, hard rock, punk, rock metal and heavy metal, I've been well explained already, huh, okay.

Speaker 3:

So it's always open, like maybe the next generation will see 90s music that we were talking about as classic rock one day they may be like well, that's kind of like you know amber, what were you saying that you, you heard.

Speaker 2:

Uh, somebody said that they heard. I think it was like um, like a 90s grunge band on like k-earth 101 or something.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like back then when I was well, when we were younger it was oldies right. Yeah, uh, huh, like, uh, k-earth was an oldies um radio station and you're talking about, like you know, like all these oldies like 50s, 60s, maybe even Early 70s, but no, it was like more like the duop, you know, type of being orita franklin, all of those, so that's what it was. And then, um, like 20 years later, now they have 90s, 2000s and they call them oldies and I'm like that's not old.

Speaker 2:

That's crazy.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, uh, you know it's just. You know it's just getting older, we don't get any younger or something.

Speaker 2:

But if you think about it in the 90s, 20 years, like we just read right now, anything that 20 years are older is considered classic rock. So in the 90s, pink floyd. Yeah, let's, let's zappelin the stones that was classic rock, but now 90s, john, 90s music is considered or can be considered.

Speaker 1:

Inns and all them they're classic rock.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Oh, it's crazy that those albums are like. Yeah almost 30 years old, some of them um you know, like you know, 25, or you know because they were, so you know.

Speaker 2:

I like to.

Speaker 3:

I was a kid when I was like, yeah, and you're them and I like to push those albums to To the younger generation.

Speaker 2:

Oh, morning glory and dark side of the moon.

Speaker 3:

And also something that you have to. That's very interesting about. That is, like back back in the day, the concept of An album as a thematic unit.

Speaker 2:

Yes, was very strong.

Speaker 3:

It was almost like a book, yeah. The characters need to make sense now. I believe that I mean and you know this is, you know, everybody's free to do, but with this single Way of like Consuming, singles most of the time, like people just listening to a single and all that, yeah, it's great, but then you're missing how it all fits in the entire you know it's, uh, you know. So I think that is something that, um, it was really.

Speaker 3:

I mean, it had a lot of value for you know, like how a song will go to the next one, to the next one, to the next one, and then oh yeah, the whole thing was almost like that you know it was a cool trick like you can take for like an hour and a half or something, um, or like an hour now, with, uh, you know, most of the music being, you know, consumed as singles these days. I would say that's something that you know hurts a little bit.

Speaker 2:

It does. I guess, as a lover of music, there's nothing like Putting on an album and letting it play Uh-huh one through 12 or whatever, and just Listening to it as a, as a book like you said or like a story, yeah, like uh right, like when the songs bleed into each other and then they change. That's why I love dark side of the moon.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, like yeah, you can't just listen to one. You listen to one and you, you want to listen to say you're listening to number two. Whatever it is, it bleeds in and it stops and you're like well, what happened?

Speaker 3:

I got to Finish and the mindset at the time was right. What's the, the conductor Of these songs, and what's the the theme, or like the thematic type of thing, or the concept. Yeah, I mean think about the wall. I mean, the wall is an entire concept, it's like one big song, even this yeah, it's like one of those um, you know.

Speaker 3:

So that's one of those things. I still feel like I'm kind of wired in that way that I look at that. You know um a lot and I try to write, you know, from that perspective and um, but you know it's uh, you know it requires more Work and thinking outside of the box and you know, like being really curious and then Pulling this thread and follow and see where it goes to. But I really enjoy doing it like that.

Speaker 2:

Do you think concepts, concept albums, are out of the or out of the the picture right now in music?

Speaker 3:

It's uh. I mean there's still an audience that will enjoy them. I mean they might be out of the.

Speaker 3:

You know what the market is interested in really okay you know, just people don't consume that so much, or people just, you know, do not do that. But then there are many bands that you know still you know commit to that type of approach and then it's really, really, you know, amazing, like you know, like the things that they come up with. I think now is, like you know, it's a more convoluted type of you know ecosystem, I would say, where you know Multi-gender genres, co-exists and different ways to market it. Now it's even crazy with social media.

Speaker 2:

Dude, I tell you, man, it tick tock is the the evil, it's the devil and everything, because it has rewired our attention span to To media that is being consumed. Yeah, and this much. Yeah, it used to be this. We watch a ten minute video on YouTube. We can't do that anymore.

Speaker 3:

It's like 15 seconds, yeah that's and it's thousands of just scrolling and scrolling, consuming those 15 seconds and and and it's if have you just even noticed that how the length of songs of what it was used to be a radio song, have decreased Really? I mean the four, like a radio song could be five minutes. I would say, you know, like four minutes or something that like you, I mean what, what, like mainstream type of you know Okay we're talking these days now could be maybe like the standard right now. It's like two minutes.

Speaker 2:

Oh my god.

Speaker 3:

It's like you know one, two, three beats and then you have vocals already because it has to be, you know, straight to the point, because it's like you have to plug it in those five seconds or you know so you can. Sometimes you see that that some of like the biggest songs right now they're like super short and super like intentional when it comes to that. So the whole idea of like you know Build up a song and you know like have on a cool intro and letting things you know enter Intertwine and then grow up and all that, it feels like almost like, like, almost like. It's almost like a rebellion against it.

Speaker 2:

Prehistoric rebellion. Yeah, yeah, I. So for me, when I think I just over time Getting stuck in this YouTube shorts and the the reels and just having the content be really small. Now, Now when I listen to music, I feel not agitated but I feel like, okay, get to the point now, okay, move on. Okay, get to the good part, okay. Mm-hmm on older songs, but I have to catch myself and see chill out yeah.

Speaker 3:

Chill out, wait for it, I listen to it. Yeah, I went a couple years ago. I like the moment like I went back home for the holidays and I was hanging out with my friends since we were kids, the same people that we were spent like all night just listening to records or something, something like that, and then we were listening to music. It was like, you know, like, get together, everybody gets to see each other. And then I remember like they were like just fighting to play music. You know, like they will play one song and then it wouldn't even let it finish because everybody once wanted to discover New music to to them. So, you know, check out this new band that I discovered, you know you're gonna love it, and all that. And they were like impatient man, like it was a dude, just play the album and let it. You know, like, and then the rule was like no one can touch, like oh, we all the playful albums.

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's cool, Even if it's three, you know per night or something like that. Tonight you know you roll the dice or whatever, but we only play full albums and then we go back to talking, or you know like this, because it was anxious and like the anxiety. Yeah and it was like people that used to consume a lot of those, but he thinks like it's like you know, now they're so used to. You know skipping, skipping and moving, and you know who is the cool part.

Speaker 3:

But you know, I mean he has his pros and cons. It's wonderful that your music can reach you know Anywhere, and then you know, you can, you know, but at the same time is you know, it's just you have to. You know, watch yourself like developing those habits sometimes.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely yeah, to be aware of those habits. Spotify, pandora and iHeartRadio they feed into that anxiety because all their free versions of their applications are Shuffle played right so you can't listen to full Amber. How long were we out with the Spotify premium account?

Speaker 1:

Like a week or something like that. No, like a couple days.

Speaker 2:

See, I thought it was Longer than that, but it just, oh, it pained me To listen to music on shuffle, because I'm super huge on listening to albums.

Speaker 2:

I, whether it's throughout the week or or or throughout my day, I'll just put on a An album and just let it play when I'm when I'm working on my computer or you know Making different stuff, but I just it. It pained me, but I feel that these applications are feeding into that anxiety 100% because it's all free. Of course you're gonna go for free, but then they make you pay for the premium accounts to choose the different albums.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's definitely like, you know, like an interesting you know time, like to to me, like right now, like Sitting down one day or like we go on a you know on a trip and like playing an album from tip to tip. It almost feels like an act of rebellion.

Speaker 3:

Now is like it's always like you know, Like there you go like, or you open a you know you having a drink or something like that with somebody, and then you just have music in the background or you just listen to that. Yeah, I mean, it's almost feels like it's you enjoy it more, because also, like now is almost something that you cannot do it every day.

Speaker 1:

All right, you know to me what, what like? Shocks me the most, I think, are Like all the different genres that people are creating right for music. So there's like I don't I can't even name one. I think you know one in particular because I'm gonna tell you guys the story behind it. But you know, there's all these different genres now that people create, you know, like in Spanish. There's like you know you could do where before it was like Northeño, right or Banda, and then now it's like they put other words in front of it and then they change it up and things like that, which is great. But I recently came across this I guess you can call him an artist, but he calls himself His music. He calls it more bull, right.

Speaker 1:

So for me the word more bull means like, like, maybe like dark morbid, morbid, you know, like more bull more bull, but all of his songs and every single lyric is about degrading women and salt and cheese very, very extremely explicit lyrics like like Crazy, you know, and, and he's selling out concerts.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's that I mean. What Sucks that these days? I mean, if you realize, like or like, you know, for anything the music industry, industry, or like any, it has become like the attention industry, like if you get attention and people are talking about you, you know there's an interest that for that. So it's sad that sometimes that tends to happen more than ever, because, I mean, everybody has a microphone. Now, you know, let's talk about social media too. Like anybody has an opinion and then they can voice it out there.

Speaker 2:

Everybody has a platform right now.

Speaker 3:

And so that's a thing like without getting too, you know, into. You know, I'm no one to say like who has talent, or yeah, I have talent or something like that. But you know, Because you know it's just easier to get attention just by throwing those things, that you know Just a fast way to get it versus, you know, putting some effort into it. You know what.

Speaker 2:

I mean People love drama, people love the Cheese man when you have some cheese. Man like oh my god.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, oh, you heard about this. I mean and then, and then the music is almost secondary, like, and then I listened to. One of their songs is like. It was a ride for like, but they did this, so it's just you know, that's a thing, it's just that, because now is like you know and I think it's also now.

Speaker 1:

We're in the generation of like Beats. Right, people are creating beats and then people are are like oh, I want something catchy and be, and, and they're glazing over the lyrics and I think that this person, this, this Guy and he's young, he's very young.

Speaker 1:

He's like 23. I think His beats are great. If I cover if I not cover my ears cuz I can't hear the beats but if I tune out the lyrics, the beat is catchy. It's like, okay, I get it, but once you incorporate the lyrics, that's where you're like whoa and I think that this generation and and I which is not bad, because there's a lot of music that doesn't have lyrics and you're able to.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know, but I think that they're glazing over or possibly even Making that normal right there, there, there, what's the word that I want to use? Normalizing normalizing and, almost, like I don't want to say, fantasizing, what, what's the word? Like Looking up to that? Right so so they're, they're looking up to this guy and what he's saying, and then that becomes the standard.

Speaker 1:

And then that's what's being taught and to me, I think it's crazy and and maybe we're just older now and you know back when rock and roll was invented Maybe that's what you know the older people were saying about rock and roll or, you know, listening to Elvis albums.

Speaker 2:

And yeah, elvis albums and the older generation were like.

Speaker 1:

Elvis and all you know he's these damn kids.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, but still like that Degrading people like that off-putting. It's very I mean cuz I mean. I mean art should be. I mean for me, no one should have censorship anywhere that you should be, free to say whatever you want, but then you also, you know, free to be judged or something that you can put there whatever you want, oh yeah, but then you, you know, you have to understand that.

Speaker 3:

Then there's an audience out there that will listen to it. So, yeah, that's the thing is like. You know, I Don't know, I think it's just because it's so easy these days to do that. There's a what you want to do. You want to spend like hours and hours and hours and hours learning an instrument or something like that that will get you the same results as, like you know, I just say something. You know that, you know triggers. The cheese man Then just gets people talking about you and this because it's the easier thing to do right.

Speaker 3:

So you know, sadly, that's another thing, like Many people saying that social media and all that has, you know it, brought the democratization of music. Everybody can put out their music and all that. But then that's the.

Speaker 2:

You know, that's also like the, without getting into like gatekeeping or like I mean everybody's free to do whatever they want to put whatever they want, or you know Something but I mean you, you said it just right you're, if you put it out there, it's out there to be judged. Yeah, right, like, even though you put out your art, there is still a place to it's. It's out there to be judged and For other people to consume and to have their own opinion about your art and and it do you think. And then I don't know it, maybe music's a little bit different, because Comedy is subjective, whether, like comedy in these days especially yeah it's very subjective right, but music, I feel that Musics is music subjective.

Speaker 3:

I think it has. Things have changed to. You know the way that you know, Things are now consumed and the way that Things are reaching some people. He has, you know, definitely has changed that or has moved the needle a little bit, so it's a little more subjective. That you know it was probably before.

Speaker 3:

Of course, that's you know, for People to, yeah, or you know to to see, but you know it's, you know it's an interesting time for that, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is the the fundamentals of music, like time, oh, tempo and tempo, rhythm and yeah yeah, I mean, there's some things that are like very you know Mathematical in a way you know, like the way that something you know moves, or or the way that you know some type of beat or music makes you dance, like the reason that you listen to ACDs and you wanna move, or you wanna dance or something like that, or some type of more like salsa or like, or. That's definitely like mathematics.

Speaker 3:

I mean, there are patterns that repeat and there's sound and there is something that gets you there. It's also songs where the intro is a little more narrative and it pulls you in. It's almost like a very storytelling and then the chorus is more explosive and it's almost like a celebration and it makes you wanna, you know, like it's euphoria type of thing, you know. So it's a lot of those things. It's almost like you know movies and how lights you know have an effect or how this thing brings a mood, you know.

Speaker 3:

So these moods, there's, like you know, many of those items that you know, their tools that will help you get there, or like draw the journey or the path.

Speaker 2:

I would say, Because I hear some music, I'm just like, okay, this guy didn't use a metronome. Like you know what I mean. Like you listen to certain music and it's off a little bit.

Speaker 3:

I don't know. Maybe it's just my taste, or I'm just Sometimes also like there's nothing wrong about like some you know old school type of music. I like the fact that they were. They're like happy accidents a little off and all that because it's not so quantized and it doesn't feel so mechanical. You know, so you can. There are sometimes dramas that rush a little bit or that they are like a little behind the beat, but it makes it more human.

Speaker 3:

It humanizes it. You know, Like if you listen for five minutes and every beat it's the same, it's a they're like consistent. You know, Like it's kind of like boring, I would say yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

No, well, that's a good take on it. Yeah, that's yeah. Like some, I forgot who it was. I'm still trying to remember who it was, but it was just like the beat was off and like it was like off by like a hair. And if you put it right on beat, the song is completely different. I think it was like a Beatles song or something like that, or the rhythm was off just by a little bit, but if it was on tempo it'd be completely different, like the feel that somebody will have.

Speaker 3:

You know, like dramas and all that it's a huge thing and in the way that you react to it, like how it makes you dance or how it makes you move.

Speaker 2:

Even ska on the down beat on the third. It was on the third right On the upbeat.

Speaker 3:

That thing because it's not happening on the down beat. It's not happening with the kick. It's normally like most traditional music that you hear, the first will be like the driving, like the first one will be on the kick. There's a boom ta.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So it's kind of like very solid type of thing, but that one happening on the upbeat. So it's mm, mm, mm, mm.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Top of upbeat type of thing is what makes you move a little bit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Like ska and reggae.

Speaker 2:

Reggae. Yeah, the first time I heard ska I was like what the fuck? Because the first time I heard the specials oh my God, dude, it was just completely different, cause I love punk rock, and it was just like one through four and that was it, and it was like a consistent.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, all you do in just altering that type of thing.

Speaker 3:

That's what makes it so enjoyable and so cool. That's one of the things that I love the most is writing. I mean, I would consider myself more than anything as songwriter, more than a guitar player or a singer or something like that, and songwriting is to me like the thing that I enjoy the most, because it's endless, like you decide where it goes, or you decide, and it's just. It opens so many things. And then the whole idea that you just you start one day or something, but something that doesn't exist, or you pull out of the ether and then, at the end of the day, you have this thing that has a meaning or creates and has something.

Speaker 3:

It's kind of cool it feels like magical, that just something came from nowhere. And then you know, and now you have it. You know, you capture it, and then you know, it creates something on people, you know.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, just how do you get some of your ideas when you're writing? Does it just happen out of nowhere and you have to pull? You have to pull over to the side of the highway and write it down Like what happens For lyrics and all that.

Speaker 3:

I've done, but normally I try to be. I mean, I'm very naturally very curious, a very curious type of person Like I am driving down the street the Nessia billboard for you know museum exhibit about Ethiopian culture, and I was oh, let's call it this weekend, you know, and I want to learn more about that. Or I hear a band you know, from any type of you know styles or anything, and I want to explore a little bit more about that. So that sends you on a path that you're out of your comfort zone, because for me, my comfort zone will be doing the type of same thing that I've been doing, you know, or like the type of thing that works, but you follow that and then you go this way, that way, you just, you know, you create a couple of things and then maybe 99% of the time it's just trash, it just doesn't work, it just.

Speaker 3:

But then you, you know, you come up with something that it's super, super cool and that was from you know, maneuvering the song here this way or the other way, something that it's kind of like I don't know, kind of cool. I kind of like now I figured how it a lot of very cool things that I wrote especially riffs and all that. Or the people really appreciate came from the first moments of grabbing the instrument. When you almost like you're like in a not even in like a duty, you know mindset or something like that you just sit down and say, oh, this is kind of cool and you just go that was very cool.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, because you kind of bring that natural beat within you or like you're in that in this natural, you know state and then you grab it, then you record it and then you start working on it, and then the moment that you spend like 10, 20 minutes into that, then the rest of the day it feels almost like business, you know. It feels almost like mechanical and that doesn't happen Like that spark it has happened a few times where you know it's just the natural reaction Cause you're not thinking about it. It's almost like you just grab it and there's oh, there, there, there, there, and there's oh, that was very cool, you know. And then many of those things I try to capture, for that, I don't know, sometimes I don't know, like there are ideas or things that almost just come down to me and I just try to, you know, capture them. I would do what you were saying, that we're going somewhere and I hear somebody say something to somebody. It was like that's a cool line for us.

Speaker 3:

And I, you know, I would just. But the songs are out there, Like, the stories are out there, Like music should feel like almost conversational or narrative, you know. So I don't know. I always say too if you're gonna tell stories, you have to live those stories. Right, I would say Like, if you're gonna tell jokes or something, you should experience those situations with those jokes happen.

Speaker 2:

It feels genuine Once you get personal. If it starts to feel genuine and other humans can relate to that, I went there and I saw this.

Speaker 3:

oh, you won't believe what happened you know, you have to be there Like if you are locked in your studio, you know, eight hours a day or 10 hours a day, day after day after day after day. What are you gonna talk about?

Speaker 3:

I have a wall to my side I have a wall to the other side, so many of those things, stories like this last album couple. You know stories of people around me that were you know something you know happened. They kind of like almost found their way into me and into you know, they almost permeated the album and that's allowing what it's around you to happen. You know it's not so much about, you know just, it's not so much about just numbers and you know, and beats and meters and all that it's almost like feel like you know letting the stories find their way and play here and there and then eventually things will happen. Also like to take a lot of space and time. You know like I will get into because these days, like, especially like, if you are, like, you know, like an independent or like an emerging type of artist, you have to wear so many hats, like you have to promote yourself.

Speaker 3:

You have to do this and there are sometimes, you know I would just like to be playing guitar or singing for eight hours, but I can't. You know like maybe can only do one hour. You know the rest have to be writing emails or putting together press releases or you know doing things and I learned that the moment that I'm pushing too much the writing, it starts to suck, you know, and I have to just step away from it. You know, and almost like want to do it again. And then sometimes goes a couple of weeks, three weeks, and then you start like singing a melody or an idea. You know, that makes sense. That's kind of cool. I wonder if I, when I get home, but then all the way there you're thinking about it, the melody.

Speaker 3:

Right, right, right so it's almost like something is calling you and drawing you in and then that's when you go. But if I wake up and I'm like today, I'm going to write a song. This doesn't work out there I'm from eight in the morning to five.

Speaker 2:

And.

Speaker 3:

I sit down like in a, like you know, eight to five, at least for me.

Speaker 2:

Have you ever done something and just like immediately forgot it or lost it? Like you get an idea or a riff or a sound that you like. Right, when you get, you're like, okay, okay, it's going to be great, this is going to be great. But you get to your computer or your guitar or whatever, and it's completely gone.

Speaker 3:

What do you do? What are you doing? My theory for that is that it was not good enough because it was not memorable enough.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my gosh, really Okay.

Speaker 3:

I was like, if it was that memorable, I will be. I will remember the next day. You know, I will remember. I mean, sometimes you know you miss them or you know, but that's a good way to put it. I like that, yeah, because otherwise, how many stories you heard about, you know, iconic songs that came to musicians in dreams or, you know, came over here and then.

Speaker 2:

Yesterday Didn't yesterday, by Paul McCartney, came into a dream, like the whole melody was a dream that he dreamt the night before he wrote it.

Speaker 3:

So I want to think like that, like if I don't remember, it was not worth it, though sometimes in the moment you're like, oh my God, that was so cool. But then I mean, now it's easy. Like my phone right now is like you. Just, you know, play record, and then you just get, like some you know singing or melody or something like that. Back in the day it was harder, I think.

Speaker 2:

I bet.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, for many of those it's like. I mean they say that many musicians used to walk around with a notebook, right With a notebook and a tape recorder or something like that.

Speaker 2:

They even say that about the comedians, and even now it's just. I'm a digital person. I just I. There are some of my comic friends that still have notebooks, which is. To each their own, but they still walk around, they still do mics with their notebook, but I guess that's just the way that they're comfortable. I tried writing my ideas on paper. I just can't. I'm just a typing person.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I kind of, like you know, start favoring the computer, but not for anything Like if I have to write poems or anything that I want to write for myself, I would just write.

Speaker 2:

I have to sit down with a notebook. I wonder if it's different, Like if it would be a different brain process than typing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah for me for lyrics and all that. I'm kind of like a musician first, you know. So I normally write lyrics to music, you know. It's all like oh, I wrote this beautiful poem, I'm gonna try to plug it into us.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so you first, you have music first, and then I think about something that. How it makes you feel or how does that process work?

Speaker 3:

I feel like with it, like kind of like the beat tells you, kind of like you know.

Speaker 3:

I think that's pretty much what most people do you can tell, like some you know bands or some songs, that the chorus is so locked in. You can tell that it was built around the chorus or it would be. You know the melody is so precise or something like that. So normally that's kind of like the thing you think about cadence, you know, like some, you know type of thing that rolls well with the words, and then you think about the melody or things that work in that sense. I mean, that's normally my approach and I think most people's.

Speaker 2:

And it's melody first and then lyrics.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you can yeah, you will have the music and then you can think about a melody line, or you know.

Speaker 2:

Amber, can you look up famous songs that had maybe we can look this up a little bit in more in depth but famous songs that were written with music first, then lyrics, is that? I wanna see how that plays out, cause that's we talked to a lot of musicians on this podcast and that's usually one of the questions that I asked, like, what comes first? Is that your lyrics are your music or lyrics or music? Which comes first? Taylor Swift Bands that write music first, then lyrics.

Speaker 2:

Yeah let's look at that. Who's this? Steve Hoffman music forums. Oh REM you too.

Speaker 3:

I mean, if you think about the natural, you know, ecosystem of a band, you're gonna have three or four people that don't sing and then one person True, so you're gonna have three or four people doing a lot more work and pouring ideas. And I have this and I got this and normally the singer comes after, you know.

Speaker 2:

Stone Temple Pilots. Who else Scroll down Elton John? Who else Is that it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's all they have, yeah that's all they put down.

Speaker 2:

Okay, but there's a few examples. There we go. Oh, 22 popular songs that were written in 30 minutes or less. I want to see that one BuzzFeedcom. What's up with Taylor Swift these days? Geez, with Cardi B. Come on, I know. Okay, that's not Cardi B who is. That Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N Roses was written in five minutes. That's nuts dude.

Speaker 3:

I heard. Some songs from that album were kind of like almost wrote themselves.

Speaker 2:

That's crazy Rap, god. In six minutes, one second, that's cool.

Speaker 1:

He like wraps, like it's like the fastest rap.

Speaker 3:

That's still not be yeah, there's some signs like then what other ones?

Speaker 2:

let's see Adele Debut hit hometown glory in under 10 minutes. That's just nuts, but these guys are Lady Gaga just dancing in 10 minutes.

Speaker 1:

I feel like that happens because they already have an idea of what could be.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, could be that also, like what I mentioned before, like allowing, being in the moment, and then really I'm knowing, you know, like that, you know being like really being the vessel for creativity because you can be, you know, you can try to Divide something like an assembly line, but that's yeah.

Speaker 2:

I've done that before.

Speaker 3:

Like, I will write something I think you know, like in your head. You saw into it and then you step away from it the next day. You listen, oh my god, what was? That? What was I thinking? And I think you just you know, you just burnt out, and then you just, like you know, like assembly line type of yeah type of thing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, but that's you know. Riding for me is Is my, you know, is what I find the most liberty. I can be, like you know, people who love video games and they can, you know, be playing video games for like four or five, six hours.

Speaker 2:

That's me, you know, like I can you can sit there and write for six hours or writing, I guess, so lost.

Speaker 3:

It's almost like a journey of trying this, but it's not like Perfectioning and right is like trying just getting stuff. I'm gonna try these drums. Oh, I'm gonna try this bass. Oh, I'm gonna try this sound. I'm gonna try this that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

I'm gonna try this and then and then.

Speaker 3:

Things. Fine, you know. One things are rejected, other things you know. Enter the game and then you know. Sometimes it's like you know, and then it's crazy, you go to sleep and you continue a little bit of that. I know like it's almost like probably like somebody who writes Anything like you know box or story or you know like comedy or something like. If you go to sleep right after you know you finish, you're gonna continue with with that, moving your head a little bit.

Speaker 2:

How do you know if it works or not? Because with four at least, I can speak from my point of view as writing comedy and performing it as a Stand-up. I can go open mic, work it out for five minutes, come back and rewrite it and go to another open mic and try it again. But how do you musicians do that?

Speaker 3:

Sometimes these days is easy, because you can record pretty much everything right. You know, you come up with, you know, a good demo where you have at least good drums or something, and then you Perform it a little bit, you know, on yourself, and then you listen to it you can share with some do you go back?

Speaker 2:

and? Oh yeah, you know, adjust it a little bit.

Speaker 3:

Go back and adjust and try this or try that, or, and then if you have the, you know, the opportunity to like play it live. If it's just a song that you just, you know, rotest a little bit and see how you know it works, or because also, that's another thing, it's like life is a different, it's a different beast you know, like the way that you're performing the song is completely different.

Speaker 3:

You know you have to. Sometimes the song that was written one way, life sounds completely, you know, different because it's, you know it's more energy to it or it's like you know it's less intimate. You know at that time, or so you know that's a good thing about technology, right, it's like now you can, you know, listen to it and you know and record yourself and then listen to a few, you know, demo's and takes there's not really that many Live albums now, like people are not doing, live albums Are there, are there, are there.

Speaker 3:

Some bands will still do it to get out of their contracts, you know, because sometimes they may owe the, the Record label, a last album or something like that. Then you know they may do something like a live album, or, you know, I think now more than the live album, unless you're like a huge band that have a, you know.

Speaker 3:

Oh, okay fan base that it's very Eager to get more content from you. I think what people do more or they said more like live Videos and live content. You know, so you get to see. You know what the band is like life, you know um, but you know every now and then you still see.

Speaker 3:

You know live albums, but Back in the day is like because you have those epic shows right that were recorded and then they were like, oh my god, like you know, like the purple big in japan, like made in jet in japan, you know like that album was yeah, you know, like that or that, kiss, symphony, symphony, that was cool kiss alive. That was like yeah, that was actually bigger than you know any of the. Any of they are the previous ones or something. I think kiss alive was like you know, like that's the one that broke them, or like made him, you know, um, or like or like the time was.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm a big, big fan of kiss. Do you get to see him or no?

Speaker 3:

Okay, no unfortunately not. They just, you know, they called it quits, uh, uh they do that every like three years.

Speaker 2:

I saw them uh, probably not with ace, though I don't think I'm gonna be able to see them with ace really.

Speaker 3:

I saw him uh with tommy say, or a thing like age was not. Oh my god um. I saw ace also by himself.

Speaker 2:

Really.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, like solo. Um, that was like Pretty much when I moved out here and then kiss at the staple center at the time. You know, um, super cool. Is this one of those bands that you want to see, like before because you came here?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you have to right, because it's just. It's not just their music, it's like the performance and their costumes, their makeup, the pyrotechnics, it's everything.

Speaker 3:

Influential that they've been to uh some, uh, you know, um, musicians like I mean, especially like American musicians like you listen to Pretty much everybody. They were when they were kids. Kiss was kind of like. You know, like that, what many people devoted this. You know fascination with them, or you know so I never realized how I mean, growing up in Europe, how influential they've been to American bands. You know, like they're like a lot of Famous musicians that we admire these days. They started being complete kids fans kiss fans were pretty much.

Speaker 3:

Maybe that was the the thing that got them into. You know, into that, because I mean, if you think about it is like it's very, very, very attractive. You know like, oh yeah, you're like you're a kid, you have this. You know soup. They almost look like superhero. Right, they have fire on stage. Who else?

Speaker 2:

was doing that in the 70s.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I mean, no, I mean there are moments where queen have these epic show right all that you can see, but it was like larger than god, larger than life, you know type of like persona that you see, um that, it just blows you away.

Speaker 2:

They had comic books, they had Uh tv shows, they had toys, they had yo-yo's Games, they had everything it's easy, like, for people like to criticize, oh my god, you know, like it's just, you know.

Speaker 3:

But I tell you they pretty much, you know, invented what everybody's doing these days, you know, which is kind of like, well, it's just every all the money right now is in merch, you know yeah no, anywhere. They're like, and they started doing that in the 70s. You know, like or?

Speaker 2:

yeah.

Speaker 3:

So they pretty much were like the blueprint of many things that yeah. Are happening, you know these days, or you know so, um, and at the end of the day, what I've said before, the songs, oh yeah, because you can have an estate, you can have a look, you can have but they're range but they have amazing songs and that's where we'll age so well, like it will you know, stand, like the, the, the, the stamp of time you know For their range across music was just phenomenal.

Speaker 2:

I was just listening to their best hits the other night and I almost cried when I heard Beth again. I haven't heard Beth in like years and I heard Beth and I was like fucking Uh pretty, chris man, every fucking time it gives me the drummer.

Speaker 3:

Yes, that's another thing. All of them sang yeah like the drummer is singing that song they're like the Beatles but for like metal in the 70s and Makeup and makeup and all, and you know, like they, they got it, like they had a vision early on and I have a lot of you know, admirations and respect for them. And I only saw them once.

Speaker 2:

You know, I saw a that's one more than than me, bro.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, but it was like you know I, they were moments that I, you know I would like to go or something like that. Then I ended up not going because it was like you know something else, or the time didn't have money to buy shows. That's when shows were even affordable. Now is like you know, these days shows are like you know.

Speaker 2:

Jesus christ yeah and beers are like $35 for a michelada or something like that. It's nuts right now.

Speaker 3:

We uh, you know we are. I mean, I used to go to so many. Now I'm just trying to be a little more selective right you know Um, because it's super expensive. I mean it's also like a good problem to have, because you've seen a lot of bands of course.

Speaker 3:

But, uh, you know, we have a few uh ones, um you know, coming up, and then you know, just, you know, less is more, I guess at the time, yeah, it's just so expensive if you really want to get crazy, you can sit down and listen to a vinyl album.

Speaker 2:

Like when's the last time you list, you sat down and listen to a vinyl album? That's crazy too.

Speaker 3:

And that is that's, a cool market that you know it's, it's booming right now it's booming right now and then you know there's a lot of you know super cool special and it's like it has its own you know um Ecosystem that you know, people are, like, very devoted to it Um even to make them, they're very expensive. I heard there are not many plans and the the the waiting times are huge right now because it's almost like Everything is made by the same plans.

Speaker 3:

So they're like they're bands that if they want to like, if they have an album coming up, uh, and they want to have the vinyl they need to like, the order has to go Like, maybe like eight months ahead of time you know, for because it's back ordered everywhere. Um think, uh, what's the? The guy from the? Um? Jack jack white, the guy from the white stripes right. He has his own plant. And third man, I think, is in Nashville and the metallica just opened their own plan.

Speaker 2:

Did they?

Speaker 3:

really congratulating they were like whoa thanks for doing this, because you will not believe like the huge favor that you're doing to the industry by allowing more people to you know, to create it. So I think vinyl it's uh, it's a very hot topic right now, but it's like you know the, you know the, the, the back, or there everything is back ordered.

Speaker 3:

Yeah so you have to, you know, be very strategic If you want a record that comes out. You know, at the time we have a few ones for for this album too, and then we wanted to do something special. But it was the same thing. It's like. You have to, you know, plan ahead of time. You have long, you know, wedding time and it's kind of pricey, depending on how much you?

Speaker 3:

make, but you know it's a cool, you know then to have I still have like. Remember like I was a kid and then my uncle was like, I was like he had I have master of puppets, the original one on vinyl back home in spain and my uncle was like here's, this thing is like. They created this new thing called cds and they're like and these things there will be worth nothing. It's like this is useless anymore and all that I would like so to them. They were like oh, this is you know right.

Speaker 3:

It's useless. And then I had a couple of those Still, because they were like, okay, this is, this technology is taking over, and then it's just pointless in having this.

Speaker 2:

And now you see, that is, like you know, worth a lot of money, or you know, you know what's a crazy thought experiment to to wonder if that will be the case for Files of music, like in computers, if we, somebody or everybody in the world start deleting files Of music, what that would do and how the next phase of consuming music would be like what? Because it's all digital. Right now we're in the digital age. Clouds we all, we all. We have this information on clouds. Imagine the cloud is gone, like what's, what's what would be left.

Speaker 3:

I mean hopefully, I mean pretty much everybody will have backups or something like that. And you still hear stories like was it like Universal, something like last year there was a fire and they lost a lot of um masters like classic with Mac or rumors and this, oh, it's con.

Speaker 2:

It was like a louis armstrong it was.

Speaker 3:

it was nirvana I think, yeah, like a home. You know a lot of you know, you know classic, classic albums that the masters were lost.

Speaker 2:

So never mind, is it another one too, that I just uh, there's just Music right now. It's just I love, I love music, I love talking to musicians.

Speaker 3:

Okay, that's great.

Speaker 2:

John, thanks for coming out and doing the podcast. I really appreciate it. Can you tell us where we can find you and where you got coming up?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 2:

Appreciate it.

Speaker 3:

You know really appreciate it. It's being a pleasure. You can always check out my music on everything john de menna, like john de mennacom, or instagram. Everything's gonna be on the same thing. Instagram check out the live shows coming up. We have a west coast tour coming up. We have a show in anaheim February 2nd and then we have we have a new week, you know, starting to record the next album, so you know to stay tuned for the next music coming up and you know, let me know. You know connect. Thanks so much for having me and you know everybody has a good time.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for uh for being here and uh check out john de menna's uh stuff on the links in the show description. Everything is clickable. Adam on all the social medias. Check him out on spotify, his merch store. He has a show on the second in anaheim at the doll hut. At the doll hut with uh, our friends too, with um, papa rhino promotions in uh, he has a music video. Papa rhino music promotions in anaheim is also with doll hut. Check out his official video. People, people are strange.

Speaker 3:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

I was listening to awesome take man. I love it. Yeah, uh, let's see what else do we got. Check him out on youtube, but everything, all the links will be down in the show description. Check him out. What else do we got amber Cool and then all our events in february. Check him down. Uh, on the show description. Everything will be down there and it's gonna be fun. February 23rd. I'm I'm gonna be pushing that for the next month. February 23rd in the city of paramount. It's a free show, open mic Showcase and live podcast. Oh yeah, it's gonna be fun. Check us out my