This week, in honor of the additions to the 2019 lineup, Brad & Barry dive in to the artists playing the often forgotten Who Stage! So excited because there are LOTS of discoveries this week! Plus, the guys talk to Matt from Drax Project, another Who Stage addition for this year.
Topics: Bonnaroo, Drax Project
Guest: Matt Beachen
Journey through the stories that define the artists playing Bungaroo. Who are they? What are they? What will you see? The what? Which bands? This year? That matter? With Brad Steiner and Barry Courter. Is there a more apropos band name for today's show then? I don't know how they found me. Bungaroo found you and put you on the who stage today. This is the what podcast and we dive into bands playing the who stage, the Cafe Axe, the bands just announced this past week as additions to the lineup. I don't know about you. Yeah. But I'm having probably more fun discovering bands than being excited about seeing the name acts that I know. Right. I was going to say that too. The first thing I was going to say was this is outside of the show that is all about me, Brad's picks. This is my favorite one of the year. This is my favorite one of the entire series because today we get to dive into bands that we have no idea who they are. Well even last week with the rap and hip hop thing. I just like that. I think it's a lot of fun. That's why we started this last year. Remember? We looked at the lineup and said I don't know 70% of this lineup. So that was the whole idea and I enjoy it. And it was a artist from last year that we found that played the who stage that I think was maybe the turning point and when we started realizing oh this is a thing. We can do this every week if we wanted to and it was Davey. The day that we found Davey he found himself on the who stage later on in the summer and then we just got obsessed and then we found band after artist after band after artist over and over and over after Davey and it really gave us the the win to our sales essentially. Absolutely. That was a lot of fun. Davey was great and if you remember that right after that show was Warren Treatee who just did the grand old opry apparently and crushed it. Well here's the thing about the who stage and by the way if you don't know that's Barry Courter from the Chattanooga Times 3 Press. I'm Brad from WDOD Radio Hits 96 in Chattanooga Tennessee. This is the What Podcast? A podcast for Bonnaroovians by Bonnaroovians. If you've missed any episodes of course you can check out the whatpodcast.com and we will of course give away Bonnaroo tickets. If you interact with us via the whatpodcast.com even on Instagram or Twitter at the what underscore podcast. The who stage is maybe the hardest stage to play in a festival circuit. I can't imagine a harder place than three o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday when people are so tired they're so beat up and the heat has destroyed them. Standing on the hottest stage in America with the sun beating right down onto you with no shade whatsoever but one random tree to the right. I don't see how it gets harder than that. I don't disagree. I kept thinking though when we were talking to our guest who will come on later about something Adam from AJR said talking they also started sort of as buskers and we're talking about how hard that is to grab somebody's attention if they're walking by on a street versus I think you asked him about that show down in Atlanta maybe or even even the run of the Chihuahuas. The difference between busking where people are walking by and you got to grab their attention versus they're there kind of to see you. Well see that's they're there for a show. They're okay but the the difference is is if you're playing on the street you realize that people are going to be walking by and you realize that more often than not they don't care. If I'm standing on the who stage I'm doing everything I can to bring you in and if you're still not paying attention oh what a heartbreak. No no I'm not disagreeing with you at all. It's almost it's almost you can just look out at some of those people in that audience and they're like man not so loud not so loud. Man do they realize what kind of night I had? Exactly. What's going on? My ears are ringing from Post Malone. Oh my god I'm still. But that Davy show is a perfect example. That's right. We went because we picked him and we randomly found him. He was a Bonnaroo-let guy and it hit everything that you and I like. Absolutely and we went hoping to meet up with some listeners to the podcast. I don't think we did. We just kind of wandered over but the thing I remember about that show is they were having so much fun. Yeah. It just it just reached out and grabbed you. You better because at that time of the day to see that's the slot that I'm talking about. Absolutely. That Davy midday hot as hell slot. Yeah. Where was it a Friday or is it a Saturday? Either way it was not fun and we'd already been there a long time. I know that. We had been there a while. I got in a fight with the lady that day. It was so we were everybody was irritable. There's just you got to be really good and you got to have a spine like steel to be able to stand on the who stage and that's why I like them so much and I think that's why I enjoyed going through this as much as I did because yeah I agree they did they did a really good job of finding pretty much across the board every genre they could find to put on that stage throughout the throughout the festival. We're gonna keep harping on the Davy thing but that started one of my favorite days ever at Bon Roos. Really? That was probably my best day. Because of war and treaty. It was a whole thing. St. Paul and the Broken Bones later. Well I know it was made of staples so it went like this so we wandered over there with a couple of our camp mates Mike and and Chrissy just kind of wandered. Such a positive vibe so much energy from those guys and then we're like oh let's go over here to this war and treaty thing we think we like that. Yep. And cried. Balled like a baby. Balled like a baby unashamedly. Left there went to Mavis Staples. Listeners walked up to us at the war and treaty show and we're just red faced and covered in tears. Like I don't know what to say to you right now. I mean it was so powerful. Left there went to Mavis Staples. She started doing Freedom Road right? I keep wanting to call them Redemption Road but it's Freedom Road. Cried again. Left there to see Niles Rodgers. Oh yeah that was your Niles Rodgers show. Who talked about being cancer free. Cried again. Three straight shows with actual tears. I'm really rubbing off on you. This is getting very strange. It wasn't just me it was Mike and Chrissy we went and I'll never forget. If you start wearing your hair like mine we've got a big problem. Niles finished and that was what not Muse it was something was it Bon Iver that night? Really? It was something big. Yeah and I can't remember the schedule but boy that makes total sense. Niles looked finished and Mike looked at me and he said I'm done. Well there is no way. We have a guy at camp that does this every year. He gets this show that gets him that strikes a record straight through to his soul and then he's like I'm out. We had four of them. And then he just leaves. He literally just leaves the Festival Drives Home. He said I don't there's nothing against whoever's next but there's no way it's gonna top. It did. The day that I've already had. It did. The Bon Iver double set absolutely f-ing did. Did you cry? A little bit yes I did and the first yeah the first go-around I did because I had I loved we talked about this last year I loved 22 a million so much and that album meant so much to me and then the the subsequent sort of super jam after that I was in a little bit different of headspace by then so it didn't hit me as much as the first show did but yeah I did. It was a good day. You're right about that. We went back to camp and decompressed and I think later maybe even went to see some of the EDM. I don't remember what. But it all started because you found a who's stage artist. Exactly. Then he got behind and that's what we want to focus on this week. We've gotten some of your suggestions via Twitter via Instagram. We put together some of ours. In a minute we're also going to talk to an artist that was added to the lineup Drax Project. Now I know you're not going to know much about Drax Project and nor did I when when I first was introduced to them but they're from New Zealand. It's a couple of guys that one guy plays the drums one guy plays the sax and then they combine their sound and made it Drax. So it's Drax Project. Then they added a couple other guys to it and became a foursome and then for some reason and you'll hear this from Matt's story in a little bit they start playing on the streets and then they open a couple of shows in New Zealand then they get on a couple of shows with Ed Sheeran and then all of a sudden major labels are looking at them saying hey we want a piece of this pie we think we can take you to America and that's when I got introduced to them and I brought them to my little festival here in town that I they organize. I'm not going to bore you with that but Drax Project one of the Thursday performers from the Who Stage will talk to Matt from the Drax Project here in a little bit but first we played I started everything out with I don't know how they I don't know how but they found me a brilliant brilliant Back to the Future reference. I think that I'm going to go from them into my first Who Stage artist that I want to show you and tell you about. The way that they do this a little background maybe pull the curtain back a little bit on the industry is there are essentially two types of artists that these festivals put on as sort of filler as to like make the lineup full and give you something throughout the day. One is the people the industry really really really want to break or they really need people to see so they can get some money back. There are some of those and the ones that you see on the Who Stage that are like that start looking at their other festivals and if they're playing other festivals it's mostly an industry thing. The industry are driving those things it's maybe not so much a Bonnaroo they went out and found them. I like the people that don't have any other festivals on the lineup. I really like those guys because those are the ones at Bonnaroo and AC and somebody in that office plucked and pulled and dropped right into your lap and I want to start there at a guy that you would never in a million years give a two cents to. You would never even try to see one of his shows because he doesn't have a funny name he doesn't go by a different moniker he's not the tallest man on earth or Boney Vare or he's just a guy named Patrick Dronie. That's it his name is Patrick Dronie. I know this is going to sound a little strange but would you in a million years go see a show by a guy named Justin Vernon if you didn't know it was Boney Vare would you just go see a guy named Justin Vernon? No probably not no but I'm not sure I would go see a guy named Boney Vare either because partly you know it's embarrassing to say it wrong you know it's not Bon Iver you know what I mean? This is pretty easy Patrick Dronie. Right right but there's so many of these that you read and I think you said noted the other day yes I didn't know that's how you pronounce yeah we have a band coming to town called noted N.O.T.D. N.O.T.D. I would have said N.O.T.D. The thing that I'm so many of those the thing is is like if you if you're just a regular guy right now you can't just be your name which is a very strange place music is in but it'll change it's already changed I mean maybe I guess but if you don't have like you know father John Misty as your moniker does anybody pay any attention to you I really don't know I know you you know remember it used to be everybody had to put a Z what's that you had to put a Z in your name everybody had to have a Z sure yeah that's gone away finally thank you well it was very strange originally my name was Brad Zdiner it was very strange so this is Patrick Dronie playing the Who stage I found him and I haven't stopped listening to his EP from Nashville Tennessee you know somebody from AC stumbled upon one of his shows in Nashville one day and said oh my god this kid's got it and he does he's an amazing songwriter his voice is terrific you know he just has one of those branding issues that if if you don't if you're not caught by the name are you gonna go see that show are you gonna go see him and two o'clock with that kind of sound in the dead of summer in the hottest place maybe in America in that moment I want to because I think it's gonna be a nice really chill moment on Sunday Patrick Dronie on the Who stage yeah I've got a another Nashville artist too is he playing any other for this person playing any other festival by the way didn't look I didn't think to look I was gonna ask you did all of your picks how did you pick them I mean did you have a system no I listened to all of them did you yeah I just listened to all of them and I saw and I just wrote down a couple that I just stuck with me yeah um because I could probably go through all of them and talk to I would talk about this all day honestly I would talk about every artist playing the Who stage if I could I guess it's a podcast we could do that if you wanted to but that's a little bit too much like you know what wrestling guys do right but I don't I could do this all day with them I don't really have a system I literally just whenever I hit I didn't either I just randomly picked me too names that interested me and then played music and I liked it it's fun to listen to these with that Davey discussion that we just had in mind how is it gonna play on the farm what time of day do I see them blowing up type of thing you know will they be bigger I just like I said this is a lot of fun to me this is it's funny that you say that you you wonder if they're gonna be bigger while you're listening to them or seeing them on the Who stage when I asked you that the other week you said no I don't think about that I don't remember okay I don't I don't I'm not denying it um you mean when I'm picking them no when you're when you're seeing them on the Who stage do you say to yourself man these guys are gonna do something oh yeah no I don't I guess not no okay I just was um I know I don't think so has there been an artist that you've watched at Bonnaroo that you said oh my god this is them on the ground floor this is gonna be Courtney Barnett for sure yeah Courtney had a little bit of heat though when she did that Thursday night show yeah you're right we that was she was probably underbooked if that's the right yeah sure right word yeah Thursday night headliner that was not the spot for her and everyone was already talking about her but that show definitely Leon Bridges would be another one uh I had occasion to speak to him this week because he's coming to town next week yeah that show at Bonnaroo as we talked to all of these artists who have done it once was huge for him uh but he felt like that that show and that particular tour was sort of coming of age for him absolutely I mean I bet but that was an amazing show that was you know he was already hot too like you said but that was one I thought yeah this is this I mean I bet there's somebody listening right now that saw the Lumineers on the who stage and probably looked at him it's like they got it all they got everything they got that sound they they're gonna cut right through the noise to to to radio to pop music to cultural zeitgeist it's gonna happen yeah I don't recall any small ones that went I'll give you one or the middle you know like avid brothers I remember I'll give you that uh that stage act Adele oh yeah yeah Adele I spent five minutes at I was like see you later wow she's she's got it and I'm leaving I don't need to see any more of this I got it again we could do an entire show on uh wish I'd been there yeah shows but uh let's go let's start off because it's Nashville let's do Republican hair who's Republican hair I picked this uh this is a guy named Luke Dick he's a Nashville guy it gets better boy it gets better the irony is already open up the door let some of this irony out I know Republican hair I thought that's either gonna be terrible or kind of good this guy uh used to be a professor uh he ran a forklift and then he's a documentary maker he made a film called Red Dog that's about uh his childhood spent hanging out at topless bars okay and uh now same way I grew up he writes he's written songs for Dirks and Eric Church and Miranda Lambert man that's uh that's really fun is the rest of the stuff like that is that sort of irreverent and pointed in the songwriting the other one that I that I was able to listen to this morning yeah really I think it's worth walking by and checking it out it's that is not my style that's not something I would pick but that's part of what I like about what we're doing well that it sounds a lot like an artist that I had and I'm gonna play it it was actually a suggestion from a listener um but if you want to uh here I'm gonna play it and then the second that you get the artist that you think this person sounds like stop stop me just wave at me I'm gonna stop the song the second that you identify what artist that he sounds like right this is Sago hope I can do it this is Sago Barry's got it Beck Beck nailed it yeah that's exactly right yeah we got this suggestion Sago from a listener I uh and I'm so glad that he did because Sago is great I mean he is so fun and boy if you are I have a feeling somebody in AC or whoever decided to to book Sago also booked Republican hair because boy they are right in the same lane aren't they probably and they're both gonna be fun right they've a lot of fun that was that that's your own different days aren't they if we look at the schedule Republican is uh Saturday okay and I don't know when Sago is oh I guess I should probably be more prepared than huh hey I'm sure you're looking at a schedule I was ready for the quiz do the work for me later this is the what podcast a podcast for Bonarovians by Bonarovians another artist that's playing the who stage Drax Project now Drax Project we talked about him a little bit earlier today they're just now getting to the states they're just now coming to America they were nice enough to do my show at the radio station that I work at I'm putting on this little event called the running of the Chihuahuas which is like this dumb dog race that I do every year 12 years deep and it's been copied across the country city after city have been copying this idea well eventually early on we decided to add some music to it because my bosses kept screaming at me that we needed to sell more beer I had to add you are a radio station not a kennel that's what I've been doing so wrong in my career so we decided to add music to it and then so year after year I have to find bands that will just come play a dog race for free that is not an easy thing to do so when I found Drax Project and they were nice enough to to to show up and play the race I just had one request I'll pay for your hotel I'll pay for your back line I'll pay for your food I cannot pay for your airfare I cannot get you from here to from New Zealand to here I can't do it so they were nice enough to come and build a tour around the states and around our show and they're doing radio shows up and down the east coast and around the country that that'll take them and then they decided to jump onto some festivals too I don't know how Boderu found them but I'm pretty excited for Drax Project Matt joins us now hey Matt Matt how are you man welcome I guess to America have you played any American shows yet well thanks so much um well we've played um two or three shows kind of low-key things but um nothing nothing as big as uh some of the things that are coming up started off as a um busking busking duo kind of playing um covers so Sean the singer was on saxophone and myself I was playing the drums drums plus sax equals Drax that's how we got the name Drax Project but um then we've yeah we've added Ben on the guitar Sam on the bass over the last of maybe four years ago we did that and um from there we started doing our own writing our own music because when we were busking we're just playing covers so whatever we could do to get people's attention um and yeah so once we had the four of us started writing our own music did a whole bunch of shows we've done so so many shows around New Zealand our home um so to be out in America is really a dream come true we've we've like we've always liked pop music we've never made like a conscious like effort or decision sorry just to be like yeah we are going to be a pop band we just kind of write the music that and play the music that we I don't know it's all of our favorite influences into a melting pot and then the four of us stir that pot around and when it's all cooked up you get Drax Project so we're fans of all types of music I know that's generic but like it's actually true like we'll be listening to I love listening to like Chris Stapleton and then I'll put on Young Thug and then I'll listen to like Eva Cassidy and then Sean's over in the other room he's listening to he's listening to like Count Basie like old old school jazz like crazy stuff but yeah we're music fans and I think yeah our music is just a big melting pot of everything we like for a long time here anyway we like to try to keep people in certain lanes or whatever and but now it seems like people are more like you are we talked about this on our lap last episode I might do just the same it might be you know it might be country one song followed right next with a EDM song for me so I understand but is that kind of a cultural thing or just you guys I'd say it's probably a bit of a cultural thing back in because in New Zealand we're we're kind of isolated and we're looking out to the world a lot and we're taking in a lot of different music from around the world because we're such a small country and we're we're influenced quite a lot by it's particularly American music so we get a lot of that well it's interesting that you say you look out into the world for American music I don't think that there's been a time at least on the top 40 charts or in pop music in general that we've had this much international derived artists I mean Ed Sheeran in and of itself you guys went on tour with Ed Sheeran so it's odd looking out from the window in New Zealand and seeing it as American music in America we see nothing but an influx of international stars coming into us Dua Lipa five seconds of summer you know and you guys doing doing so well and then I realized that New Zealand has sort of a and correct me if I'm wrong a hometown music problem I think I remember this correctly there was a thing that happened maybe a decade or two decades ago where there was like this voluntary program that pushed New Zealand radio stations to play a certain percentage amount of New Zealand artists it was voluntary because it was hard to find New Zealand artists so what are the some of the guys in around your country that you look to right right right um wow some of the people that we look up to who they're actually from our hometown of Wellington which is quite a musical little city um I'd say Fat Freddy's Drop is a band that we we all love even like Lord I know it's like oh yeah classic but Lord is pretty special how she um she kind of paved the way for for people other people like us I guess to it just showed that like people in New Zealand can actually crack it and the world is your oyster um you can actually get out there and do it thanks to the internet a lot but um also that it's possible so that was cool to cool to see her do that there's a lot of great producers and I mean outside outside of like Lord I mean if the only ones that really come to mind from New Zealand is like Crowded House and Flight of the Concords yeah like those are the two that that come to mind yeah yeah yeah I don't mean to I don't want to insult your home country but I just I was stunned that New Zealand hadn't produced more international stars than that there's got to be a reason right there's got to be something something about it yeah I don't know I mean like we're a country of four million people um maybe we're just so far away from you guys yeah I don't know yeah it doesn't it feels like all of the barriers have broken down right now in terms of international like looking out as I said before we're looking out um all the time and we're taking in a lot of other music and that's inspiring and influencing us like we've always aimed very high we've never thought oh let's like let's be a New Zealand band and try and take over New Zealand or something like that you know we've always been we want our music to stand up against the best artists in the world and like the top artists and that's always been our philosophy anyway first of all it's how you guys got your name right he was drums and sax so you put it together and got tracks but also when you're performing on a street like that you have to play songs and material that resonates that connects with the music that connects with people right I mean yeah they'll walk on by if they don't like what they're hearing so I'm guessing that kind of helped influence the diversity of what you guys perform that's a very very excellent point yeah that's totally how that's played a big part in us figuring out sort of like what people like what people can connect to and also what's fun for us to play that connects to people and that's yeah that being the foundation of the band has been really important because we've I mean we've played a lot of shows where we're performing musicians firstly and recording artists that they're kind of developed over the last couple years off the back of being a live act so now that we're we're getting our recording recorded music out there and it's so wow we're that's cool to have that um the backbone of playing live so we're not intimidated by any crowd size or um I mean we've played as you said before opening for Ed Sheeran that was just a mind-blowing experience of it was 50 000 people three times so three nights in a row we were just as nervous for that as a 300 person show in our hometown but we we um we back our uh performance because of yeah we've just been doing it for so long and um yeah yeah but yeah it's been great to there's some covers that we still play to this day that we used to do when we were busting like that Crimea River song um Justin Timberlake that that that that that that that that that we still play that um that every show pretty much um and I don't think we'll ever stop playing I feel like there'll always be one cover at least in our live set because you can just see it like it's you can see it in the crowd when when they recognize something yeah face changes it just connects instantly you're playing on the streets of New Zealand and then you uh put some stuff on band camp in 2014 and then you start adding some pieces to the band at what point did people start calling and saying hey we want to we want to do something with you we want to make this into something did one of those wheels start moving when you get off the streets is what he's asking yeah all right yeah well it's it's funny because it seems to be like a very natural progression so we went from busking on the side of the street to bar managers walking past and saying hey come and play in our bar tonight for this amount of money so we weighed it up hmm should we do it instead of busking yeah let's do it so we start doing that and then some people at the bar over time will be like oh why don't you come and play at my friend's 30th birthday all right cool let's do that and then we're at the 30th birthday hey why don't you guys come and play at at my company's um you know Christmas function oh yeah cool let's go do that and then from there we start playing a lot of um kind of private corporate stuff and at the same time we're writing music um and then we're making we made an ep in 2014 the one that you said on bandcamp and so that allowed us to do our own show so you know charging tickets for people to come to our own shows and off the back of you know busking and playing playing these little random things that there are enough people who had seen us and were interested to come to these shows um so then yeah it builds from there we release more music um maybe a couple songs make it onto New Zealand radio that puts the name out a little bit more but you know we're always playing shows through this whole process um refining the live set we start getting some opening slots which is which has always been really cool so we we did Brian McKnight he's like an old school wow that's a weird combo yeah that's that was when we heard that we're like we're like what really um so that was cool that was a bit of a test a test for us i mean like four white guys walk out um and you can just tell the room was like oh yeah what's gonna what's gonna happen here but um it actually went really really well and then we get other opening slots like the Ed Sheeran one which was a well the Ed Sheeran one came off the back of of woke up like our single which we dropped right which is where late 2017 back in New Zealand which is where i wanted to go next with with the song woke up late because this is a very interesting um to me that this song is is a lot like what's happening in the industry if you if you're paying attention it's happening a lot around the industry in that a song will be released and it'll have a little bit of life to it and then it'll go dormant for a while and then out of nowhere a insert person here will pick it up uh like it maybe put their own voice to it or just push it out in their social media and all of a sudden boom the song's got new life again and uh woke up late is exactly that story because you guys had a pretty nice little single and woke up late by yourself then Hailee Steinfeld who uh a Nickelodeon star she's had some hits here on the American radio she picks the song up she puts her voice on it and now all of a sudden it's back and it's hitting the American charts and it's bringing you into America in a way that you never had been in before all because your song decided you know somebody wanted to give it another another go wanted to give it another go around totally yeah and that's just crazy i mean because we we wrote that song in Ben's bedroom our guitarist in 2017 we released it in November and it goes straight to number one on the Shazam charts for about three months straight in New Zealand so it's just like people are just like who are these guys who are these guys but it's quite interesting because we've already developed a little a nice little fan base from all the live shows and a couple of ep we had a small following there but the that song just went straight to mainstream radio and just started slamming all over that back and back home that was kind of the the tipping point like this is this is like we're going somewhere now with Woke Up Late we did a tour with Camila Cabello around Europe um opening for her that was crazy because that was our first time out of New Zealand as a band traveling around Europe and all these crazy places that was a real real eye-opener for us we're forever grateful for to Camila and her team but off the back of Camila Camila's tour because at that level everyone is friends with everyone someone from Camila's team knew someone from Hayley's team they showed someone from Hayley's team the song Hayley heard the song she liked it wanted to get on on it and then now i mean it's hitting American radio which is something that doesn't happen a lot for a for a New Zealand artist watching and learning and enjoying the ride like it's pretty pretty crazy to even be talking to you about is pretty cool Matt I'm curious about something you said earlier about you guys always dreamt big or thought big I wonder how all of this might be different had you just sort of you know your your goal was to be a pretty good bar band or a pretty good local band I'm just wondering right professionally mentally whatever how how you think it might be different and how important that has been that you you have thought big all along yeah well that's that's a really good question um the the whole journey is up until now um it has really just been a natural progression and I mean we've worked hard we've played a lot of gigs and stuff obviously but yeah looking looking outwards a lot and not getting too caught up in the in like the New Zealand thing well not even a New Zealand thing but just like a that's a hard one really everything just feels like it's happened naturally and then we've released a song that we really like and it's connected with people all around the world and I mean yeah that's cool you go from busking in New Zealand on the streets and now you're doing American dates including a Bonnaroo which is where star after star artist after artist have just begun and exploded their careers in basically these these small little stages on the sides of Bonnaroo if you want to find a American success story you can probably find 30 of them starting on the who stage and starting the cafe acts from Bonnaroo band after band after band made their money made their careers doing starting exactly where you guys are starting in America on the who stage of Bonnaroo Black Keys Portugal the man uh Avett brothers they all started in the same exact place that you guys started in front of you know 50 to 200 people and you guys get to now do that in in the summer of Tennessee now do you know anything about Bonnaroo firstly no pressure that's so cool to hear so so what do I know anything about Bonnaroo I know a lot about the lineup and it's pretty overwhelming okay and to be yeah I mean this is like a legendary festival that's known around the world so I mean yeah that alone is is so cool I mean like Post Malone, Josiah, Casey Musgraves, Childish Gambino I think is playing the same day that we're actually no we're on the Thursday we're on the Thursday you're on Thursday that's right yeah I mean like we're on the we're on the Thursday that's right but I saw that Bulo is actually playing the same day as us on the who's stage and I literally discovered well I heard one of her songs um for the first time maybe three months ago and I was just like man this song is crazy that this is so good and now we're probably hopefully going to meet her and um I want to tell her how good that song is she's so good man she's so good that's all when you go through the the lineup that's that's pretty interesting that you're already looking forward to seeing people that you want to to actually see at Bonnaroo are you planning to stay the entire weekend and experience the festival I think yeah I think that will be the plan for sure yeah we've got to we've got to see some of these there will be people on this lineup that we cover like we we play them we've got to go see that live how to do it properly if you play it right you know the way the Bonnaroo works you could find yourself out into GA camping playing somebody's campsite our friends from repeat repeat in Nashville last year they literally played at a bus in GA because you know they were invited to play out don't limit yourself to any experience at Bonnaroo that's our that's our that's our professional advice after doing this between each other 30 years I'll do it all do everything see everything and say no to nothing we might have to do a little busking sit hey if you guys now look you're going to come to the running of the Chihuahuas on May 4th and when you come to May 4th of the Chihuahuas me and Barry will we'll go ahead and get your uh we'll plan for you guys to come back to our camp backstage at Camp Nut Butter which is a uh a camp in the woods with 600 square feet of carpeting we've got our own podcasting studio setup giant cartoon heads on sticks it's basically a playground for all things Bonnaroo backstage so you guys can come back yes it is yes we're slumming it we're slumming it Matt it's it's another thing for your resume too running of the Chihuahuas Bonnaroo and the short set at Camp Nut Butter yeah come on by come on by to Camp Nut Butter and uh you can you can stop by and we can do the very first ever performance at Camp Nut Butter that would be amazing that would be I'm sold I'm sold I love it I wanted to ask how you guys heard that you were going to be playing Bonnaroo I just have to imagine that was a pretty big moment to get that phone call yeah well we've moved over to LA for a few months um and we've we're kind of just filling up our schedule a little bit and we're getting all these crazy crazy things happening so our manager um actually told us you guys are going to be playing at Bonnaroo and then showed us and we looked up the the poster and we're just like what the heck really so that was that was cool this was like our first you know big festival in America that we've ever done so yeah that is really really really cool so it's going to be something we never forget it's going to be one of those I feel like it's going to be one of those moments like you said before all of the the legendary acts have played the the uh the same stage that we're doing the Who stage um this is going to be I got a feeling in my gut that it's going to be um something special yeah I do too and that Thursday night has become uh Brad and I have talked about it many times on this show that Thursday night has become maybe one of our favorite it is my favorite it has a favorite because it's it's the first day of the festival uh just a different vibe that's because we're clean and we're clean yeah Morales Hikes are clean after after two hours we're still clean but it's everyone is just everyone is so excited to get started and the acts you know it's not the big the two main stages aren't up or and uh so it's just it just has I don't know it's a completely different vibe and and we we just really look forward to it and we've discovered some amazing artists that we you know weren't familiar with uh before Courtney Barnett was a Thursday night she was that's right was a great great show that people still talk about so it's a great opportunity for you guys to meet new fans and new fans or fans to find new bands so well thanks for sharing sharing your knowledge on it I don't know what your your catalog entails but if you guys have a street performer background uh you're gonna do just fine filling in the rest of the time you're gonna do just fine doing cover after cover of of artists that are already a Bonnaroo that that always plays well you're gonna do fine yeah yeah we've got it we've actually got a lot of um unreleased materials which we've been testing over um the New Zealand the New Zealand summer so yeah it'll be a it'll be an 80 to 20 split original to cover so um that's exciting yeah we're looking forward to it for sure Matt thank you so much for this and we'll talk to you very soon congratulations on the success thanks very much fellas great to talk to you see you soon the what podcast a podcast for Bonnaroovians by Bonnaroovians Drax project appearing Thursday night I'm gonna guess it's gonna be a Thursday night show at the Who Stage at Bonnaroov today the episode all dedicated to who stage artists that was a lot of fun nice guy he's a really nice guy and you know that was uh I think we now have the longest distance conversation in the history of the what podcast was it longer than first aid kit how long was that first I don't know my geography was first aid kit in Sweden yeah definitely definitely further definitely further other side right oh way on the other side yes Barry we are international I told you from the start we're big in North Korea okay how is that possible they didn't know the internet I don't know when we look at the stats we're big in North Korea wait thank you Kim Jong-un again I just sort of picked I just randomly picked names that interested me and I thought I recognized the name Soak So I don't or didn't Soak is actually the name of I don't know how you say this name now Breedy so it's just one guy it's a girl it's one girl see here we go again like I was telling you about the guy earlier how do you survive with just your name anymore you gotta be Soak Soak like Drax which is combined drum and sax Soak is soul and folk it's Breedy I'm gonna say it's Breedy I don't think it's Bridey B-R-I-D-I-E forgive me for not knowing Mons Watson she is a northern Irish singer songwriter man you uh you found you found somebody that may be this year's Bjork yeah she's got a Bjork edge to her doesn't she yeah yeah that's pretty that's a good Sunday uh Sunday coming down yes very Sunday coming down kind of that'd be my Bahamas yeah that is uh that has definitely got a very ethereal sound to it I wonder if that's gonna again we're back to does that work on a Sunday at two o'clock in the afternoon three o'clock in the afternoon you might want to be anywhere else but Bonnaroo right right boy that that Sunday morning is a is a really really tough one and by the way the Sunday morning last year is the year of the big storm we're literally just trying to hold camp together with everything that we have yeah that was one of those where we could have died yeah we have one person in our camp poor Barry I mean it's pouring down rain on Sunday morning and you know Barry is is camp dad you know he waits up for all the kids to get home under his blanket on the couch and then once the kids are all home and everybody's settled in bed that's when Barry can go to sleep uh also when when the house starts to collapse Barry's the one to fix it so the tents are coming down the rain is pouring in so Barry's you know it's like you had seven limbs you know you were trying to keep everything up meanwhile there are two people under the tent in which you're trying to keep from collapsing just falling asleep on their chair poor Barry is trying to keep them alive and they don't care one bit once they were out until yeah until the lightning hit and everything collapsed on top it hit a transformer yeah so I gotta imagine when you go through some of these artists are they playing other festivals are they plucked straight from somebody's playlist and put onto the Bonnaroo stage those are the ones like I said earlier that I really like a lot that I really want to at least champion and get behind and give a shot to and I think that I found this year you talk about Davey we keep coming back to Davey I think I found it this year I think I found this one I got one too that I really like they did soul really well last year they found some really good soul artists I think they might have found another one from Nashville I've actually had a friend of mine tell me about these girls a little while back and it didn't register to me until I saw their name pop up on the Bonnaroo playlist and I said oh my god that's them that's who he's been talking about check this out this is the new respect I'm going to shock and amaze you Barry three girls and a guy they were the kids of preachers what did I do as soon as that song started yeah new respects right I wrote it down I'm going home that's what I'm listening to this afternoon yeah so that song's really good it's a little different than what the normal stuff is I mean they go from sounding like they're from they're doing you know rock songs in church to Jenelle Monae they're really really fun so give them a look on the who stage this year and now Barry Corey what else you got it's got I like that it's got a little t-bone brunette it's got a little white stripes I like that a lot and this next band that I picked I think also has a little white stripes to it probably more than a little mm-hmm King Nun again I think I just picked kind of based on names there you go that's the problem what that's why you'll never pick Patrick Dronie that's what I'm proud of that's my problem with all of this like King Princess she's amazing but you know her actual name no no Patrick Dronie P drone come on dog let's find something else do let's let's do this let's brand you yeah I still went and listened to item a just because I like the name oh I can talk about item a all day it doesn't I love them reflect what I thought it was gonna sound like you thought her name was item a didn't I just not what I was thinking I was thinking southern gospel oh it's so good but King Nun is a four-piece band and I guess Chinese medicine is the song that I picked little punk thing it's got a little surf thing it's got a little grunge raw I just like when I think punk and surf I think very portable you know when I hear that you know what all I hear alternative radio I hear that that could be any song on the alternative radio charts and a heartbeat any anytime you want to turn on alternative radio or serious alt nation that could be there yeah and if you listened to all of them and chose your favorites I just sort of randomly picked and liked what I heard so I'm saying that just because people listening out there may why didn't you do this one yeah you that one totally by random we could have this is so strange that you like we keep mirroring each other's picks it's like super bizarro world you choose something and then I choose almost the identical match to that because I put on my list Friday Pilots Club now okay so I can really get into stuff like this and I can get into the King Nun on occasion here's where I got it you got to be very careful for me the second that you start and make that imagine dragons 21 pilots turn that's when I'm out dude I so you you these guys walk such a fine line with me the minute that they go there I'm probably out for good fair enough fair enough but also consider a lot of these bands on the who stage are going to be new they're going to be young they're still looking for their voice that's right that's a good point they're transitioning from teenage hood to adulthood bar man garage band some of them in the very awkward 23 year old phase exactly they're still trying to figure things out but again for me that's part of the fun I love finding that's a good point and then watching them grow and you know that's a great point because if you watch that repeat or let's go back to our buddies repeat repeat Jared and Kristen if you watched that show last year on the who stage their album and believe me I've heard it that album that they did on the who stage if you think that that's what you're getting with the next album watch out yeah watch out it's just a it's a you grow and you you find new sounds and new lanes that you want to try as an artist you're probably right I'm probably I would probably give somebody not enough benefit of the doubt but I'm just so ingrained and hating that imagine dragon sounds so much so much that it turns me off almost like watching like a really hot chick smoke you know like this pretty often yes it takes the pretty off immediately it's exactly right I get it I'll go you I'll go you one further this is what again I'm you know name dropping but it's my job this was what Leon Bridges and I talked about this week here's a guy who kind of like we talked with Paul Jannaway of st. Paul you know he always had that part of what got him attention was that he did that 60s 70s soul thing sounded like Sam Cooke sound like Sam Cooke Otis Redding but then you get pigeonhole right and so that's what Leon and I talked about quite a bit his his last record to me works because it moves that forward and largely because it's a very personal record it's something he wrote so you know you identify with the the songs and one of the things that he said we talked about was and you and I have talked about it you know when we first started listening to Leon a couple years ago I said why not just listen to Otis yeah or Sam but I I get that you know you and I are what 10 15 years apart people your age and younger want their own Sam Cooke their own Otis I've got I've got my own Otis it's Otis Redding it's Otis Redding you know what I mean they I just don't mind I don't mind somebody occupying the same lane I don't mind that I totally agree that was what was my point why not just listen to but I think Leon has done that yeah I think he has taken that comparison I think Paul has too I think the last St. Paul album moves it forward well I I see what you mean but you know look I've got a high bar when it comes to that second album especially when you're in that pigeonhole space Leon Bridges Coming Home was such a like a monumentally important album because it brought that sound back to a place like for a guy like there's nothing but 60 soul like me I was ecstatic to hear something like this right and ecstatic that that that sound was now prevalent St. Paul's the same way both of them I would probably not say this to Paul's face because you know I love him too much but you know that those second albums he it's tough it's very they're not that good and sophomore it's the sophomore jinx and I didn't think the Leon I didn't think the Leon Bridges second album was as good as the first it's very difficult when you are pigeonhole like that and the other problem that Leon had is that if he's worried about being pigeonhole he did that to himself did you ever see the live show I mean when you when you sound like leon sound like Sam Cook dress like Sam Cook act like Sam Cook dance like Sam Cook I mean you're sort of doing that to yourself the gold standard for me when it came to this is Alabama Shakes they put out an album that you could very well be like I don't know where they go from here I don't know if they can expand on this sound and holy god did she do it as well as I can remember anybody in that vein you've got such an iconic sound how do you take that and then expand upon it the Shakes are really the only band that I can think of that did that it's really really tough and it's something that I I have talked for many many years with artists about and one of my favorite and I don't remember who it was I wish I could because it's such a great line what happens is you have that first album it blows up and all of a sudden you see nothing but the inside of a bus windshield you know the label is trying to milk every penny out of you that they can for as long as they can off of that album so too often the next album is written about life on a bus and I can't remember who I was interviewing but he says yeah nobody cares that your chauffeur's having a bad day that's a great line but that's what the albums become you know suddenly it's I miss my family I miss my home you know whatever life on a bus is about so you you miss some of that so plus you've got label people in your ear telling you it needs to sound like the first one and that's why that one's kind of tough but what if what if you're somebody that has written a bunch of really big hits maybe even number one song maybe even two number one songs then you want to break out onto your own and do your own thing do you think that's as difficult as somebody who's had a really successful first album and then has to write another one and get out of I don't know say the box that they're in which one's harder it depends on who the person is probably because it again it's you know you've had that taste of success you want do you want to repeat it do you want to completely undo yourself do you want to alienate your fans this is the conflict I mean this is what what I talked to all these guys and have for 30 years about and and it takes a confident well you know Leon is again one of the young guy he was what washing dishes he's a baby he was washing dishes in 2015 and then this thing blows up you know we've talked to you and I on this show talked to some of those guys that had AJR took what eight years ten years it's a whole different animal than suddenly your first song blows up yeah and then you got all these people in your ear trying to tell you what to do so well the reason I ask is because there's somebody playing the who stage that has written two number one singles and now trying to do it on their own and talk about it a formidable experience to write number one singles for Halsey and Zara Larsen and then all of a sudden find yourself in a Tennessee field in the middle of the summer on a Saturday at two o'clock in the afternoon this is DeLacy my man so can somebody like DeLacy make the transition from being an amazing songwriter and writing songs for other artists and then all of a sudden do it herself she's got a good formula I've heard that song before yeah called Jolene yeah you know she's got a good formula she knows exactly how she's gonna write a good voice too a lot of times those studio songwriters don't always have the they don't translate they don't translate they write well for somebody else but I like that I really like her a lot but again because she's a who's stage artist she's new she has one song I don't know what else she does we talked to Drax Project about it earlier you know how do you fill up a set when you really only have four or five songs gotten an amount of success really quickly and you're like what do I do now you know that's an interesting point and it's going to be the case with a lot of these bands right there again they're new they're young they maybe have the one song yeah they maybe half of the set maybe is filled out with what they were doing five years ago and like like Matt said earlier he said well we've got a lot of new material and I also have that busking experience which is you can play anything you can play anything anytime anywhere we you know we have that we have street performers here in town and and really just sort of picked up in the last couple of years and the more I talked to them the more I don't know it used to always kind of have that yeah yeah yeah that's what you do it sort of does still well no it's changed it really has because a lot of the the veteran local guys are digging it because hey it you know it's a decent little afternoon's worth of money for a couple hours work but they really do like that that experience of having to figure out how to grab somebody's attention it's a great point if you're like I'm sure there are like budding musicians that listen to this product right if you want to like get a good example as to how the the world works when it comes to this industry and maybe give you give you a game plan or a roadmap to where to go and how to do this boy listen that Drax project conversation listen to the AJR conversation they're telling you how to do it that's how they did it it's very rare that you're going to be a Bozzi it's very rare that you're going to write one song and all of a sudden go number one yeah just doesn't happen on social media and boom you're a superstar doesn't happen you know like DeLacy has the right you know number one singles and even after that she's still playing the who stage on you know a Saturday afternoon or you could be somebody that also is playing the who stage that I think is going to be the industry's next push I know for a fact that they they love her and the labels and the label loves her the labels trying to get her to a place I don't know where that is I don't even think they know you know she's one of these Billie Eilish sort of enigmas like do I put them onto radio do I put them into to festivals we don't know where she fits but you better see her now because my bet is if there's a star that comes from the who stage it's going to be there's some artists that you just know have it they just got to figure out what it is Bulo's got it and if there's one that I know no no is going to blow up at some point I don't know when but at some point there's just too much of the machine behind her for it not to at some point start connecting Bulo on the who stage. Let me ask you a question based on our last episode and something you just said and some of the comments that we got first of all thanks to everybody for sending all the great comments you guys are so nice number one but also the comments continue to get longer and more thought out right and I think people are enjoying the conversation that we're sparking and one of those based on last week this idea of the cross pollination of all of the different genres where do you think that's going and I'm asking you as a radio guy in particular you just you know we're talking about labels trying to pigeonhole people and as we said last week it's you and me and the labels that try to come up with all the the record labels that try to come up with all these genre labels. I find the labels to be a lot like dad in that you have to pull dads kicking and screaming out of their comfort zone to listen to something that they might not understand to begin with. You've talked about it a lot you've learned a lot about what is going on today because your kids made you listen to it. Right absolutely. The best example I can give is somebody like Billie Eilish they know they have something but they don't know what it is and they're too scared to put it out because they're afraid of failing you know there's a lot of money that they've invested in Billie Eilish they've got a load I mean millions and millions of dollars if they make the wrong call they're out a lot of money so they're too scared to go in one direction they're too scared to go into a different direction so most of the time they try to to ride the fence and do a little bit of both and that's when it fails the most. The ones that the ones that they're counting on there's somebody that they can ride the fence on and the public then tells them what the answer is and that's what's happened to Billie Eilish. There is not an artist that is more like bizarre for the industry at least my industry as to what to do with her because she sounds it doesn't sound right on the radio it doesn't flow correctly it's a totally different sound than we're used to it's way too dark but yet if you look at sales streams she's everywhere absolutely everywhere so the the public has basically forced the label into doing this that they probably wouldn't have done if it was just by their own devices. I completely understand but the labels have been that way forever what's changed is there are now so many different outlets like you said with the streaming and all of that does I mean our own Kane Brown who's from this area Chattanooga was very similar you know he was he was posting cover songs on social media and getting millions of likes and the labels didn't want to have anything to do with it because they didn't know where to put him because he sort of mixes that hip hop and country yeah um well but it became too big so you go i'll go you one step further Old Town Road right now from Lil Nas X right Lil Nas X is just a guy that started playing around on that app TikTok he he writes this bizarrely weird song in a minute and a half and now it is everywhere it's everywhere Bieber's tweeting about it the Jenners are tweeting about it i'm playing it on our radio station it is massive it's selling like crazy it's streaming like crazy on the chart it's like 38 is that the one they just took off the chart like yesterday on the country chart yeah because country had no idea what to do with it and then so who's i mean and then Billy Ray puts a remix with it so now it's back on the country chart is that a blank i mean is that do we do we fault the charts and the country folks and the labels and say you guys are just missing out you know quit trying to that that story is a little different because country radio and the country label industry they're very protective they do not like sharing their artists and the second that an artist goes to another format they write them off so like for instance the reason why Maren Morris is as difficult so if to pull the curtain back a little bit i really really want to talk to Maren Morris i like her a lot i think that she's i think she is she's got that Taylor Swift quality that the second that she wants to cross over and become major she can the problem is is that i can't get her right now because country late the the the cat what label is shown she's on republic right um the the nashville version of her label that she's on refuses to let her go and so the pop side of their label is like dude do you understand how much money you're losing do you understand what you're doing to her career but the countryside refuses to let their hooks out of her because they're so protective of their artists so the second that something like Lil Nas X happens they want it but then when we take it they're out they're completely out i i get what you're saying and it's not new but my my question is everything else is new does it continue or who's going to end up being the loser in all this i guess because i'm not sure i'm asking the question right okay but it sounds to me like if the fans want it they're going to get it they're going to get it one way or the other see this is where and i know people dog on pop radio and top 40 radio as do i most of the time but there's only one place that all of that stuff can find refuge there's only one place where that stuff can just live and that's top 40 radio because they're a catch-all for everything they can take anything they want to from any format and put it right there and and make it a thing so collectively as the 185 top 40 radio stations the country they can single-handedly as an entity make something make something happen which is why labels care so much about top 40 radio no matter what you think about it alternative radio ain't doing that because there's not that many alternative radio stations triple a radio is not doing that if you if you follow any of the data that that collects where the money goes the first place it starts is always radio and if you don't if you don't get that radio kick it's going to be very difficult for you to actually maintain and keep a superstar and and monetize somebody the way that they probably should be monetized i hear you i'm i'm going to make a prediction based on nothing just a gut feeling that a year from now it's going to look entirely different i agree now see here's where this is the only difference yes it's going to look a year different from a year now from now and yes it looked a different a year ago and a year before that but what's been the constant what you got radio yeah yeah that's been the constant since literally the 30s so um yeah podcasts will come satellite radio will come and there'll be there'll be great appetizers and there'll be great side projects for the for the main meal but if you don't have the radio play yeah it's going to be a lot more difficult now what we love about bonnaroo is that they position and program their festival almost in an anti public sentiment they they almost they program this almost like well i don't really care what's popular this is what we think are the tastemakers and what we like that's why i enjoy the product so much i agree and i and i think we've kind of touched around it danced around it i think that was a big game changer for me that that just that yeah they don't program it based on what that's right we used to always say here i mean we're a mid-market town so the shows that we used to get if it didn't play on the radio it wasn't going to sell a ticket and bonnaroo didn't care right think about that that was such a mind change yeah that's right so for me for everybody it was it the first thing you and i said today was i enjoy now more finding the bands i've never heard of 15 years ago that was not the case right i mean we might have said it because we were music snobs we're also in the minority in wanting new product and to absorb different things but i think that's what bonnaroo has created i think it's changed the whole industry i think people's podcasts now uh or not podcasts their their playlists are i don't know because your your radio station is different you play top 40 stuff and there are fans that listen to whatever you play so there are still people who are influenced by what they that you choose for them to hear but i know a lot of people are like you and i they would rather have 40 acts like this bonnaroo list than you know whatever i understand but you under but somebody still curated it for them right oh yeah and somebody still curated the spotify playlist and somebody still created their their pandora but it's just a different mindset it is a different mindset but that's why and i and i again maybe that's why i love bonnaroo so much is because i'm stuck in this world if something's been been chosen for me for so long or i have chosen for so long bonnaroo is there and what i love about them so much is it gave it gave the type of music that i really loved a platform and let that platform be its own entity and allowed you to survive and make a living just in that realm just in that it's like like somebody like cortney barnett i mean i like that story i like the ron gallo story i like the jurassic five stories people who are not going to get any sort of love in any sort of mainstream fashion can make a very very good living just just by doing festivals like i got bahamas sure i would have never never run across bahamas yeah while you were talking i was just thinking the last couple of episodes that we've done watching you react to bonnaroo let and then this you know when we stumble across an act where have they been you know that is a different thing and that to me is what's a lot of fun yeah well let's let's wrap this up this is a it's a long one today but it's a good one let's uh i've got one more you've got one more let's uh let's wrap it up with these two i've got item a getting closer i like item a a lot so um root c americana is that what you would call it yeah yeah chris i have a stephanie jean i have a tough time calling anything americana it's a very strange like description of a of an artist don't you think i always like y'all country yes it's nobody says that anymore i like item a a lot it's like shovels and rope if they had any energy whatsoever i know you're not a shovels and once shovels and rope wake up from their nap that's item a i like the harmonies are so good though so so good i like shovels and rope and and to me this item a is is really your wheelhouse that's about where Barry Courter lives most of the time right uh i don't know that i have a most of the time really no kidding no no see if i were to find a artist that i would identify most with barry it'd probably be something like that yeah i don't know why you know i don't not disagreeing but no um interesting i know you don't believe me but i probably listen to you know a bass nector more than you want to believe interesting that is it well if i if you would believe me yeah i know it would be hard to believe but if you would listen to me i probably listen to something like pinky pinky more often than i'm willing to admit an all-female garage punk band i'm all in on that yeah that is not what i picked that sounds like uh frankie and annette's uh rebellious children hey i'll take it that sounds like it a lot right down my alley hey the what podcast appreciates you you want to win some bonnaroo tickets to drop us a line the what podcast.com we got to do the drawing here i think in the next week or two uh next week we haven't done this this is going to be completely out of the box next week and i don't know how it's going to work and frankly i don't really care but next week we're going to try something completely different something completely different but still maintain our bonnaroo roots and talk about something that is essential bonnaroo quintessential bonnaroo the thing that gets overlooked the most the vendors i want to talk to some of the vendors and some of the food some of the the beer some of the people that sell some stuff some products maybe even if we can find a shakedown street person from years past i'd like to talk to them next week on the what podcast you got any suggestions you got ideas drop us a line the what podcast.com or the what underscore podcast on twitter or instagram we'll talk to you next week journey through the stories that define the artist playing bonnaroo who are they what are they what will you see the what which bands this year that matter with brad steiner and Barry Courter you
Listen Via:
