Lessons
Lesson Info
Segment 1 - "Peace"
I don't want to find a way want to get to shore they don't sam door running way track this time can wait wait say can I just make you will see wake me want to be everybody needs a face somewhere that's warm safe shelter from this crazy world way rain inside way place hide I'm sorry that a major pride way make this right way good night way wait wait I want you want me now one p thank you for that welcome back to the c l stage my name is chris jennings and as you can see, we're joined today by the band o a r we're also going to be joined by their manager bruce floor now bruce is the executive at red light management whose company represents artists such as the dave matthews band tim mcgraw, alabama shakes and of course o a r so we're going to cut over to bruce to tell us a little bit more about the band and their upcoming new album e I feel bad that I'm interrupting your music that sounds amazing should see the lights change back here too but it's beautiful I think what we should do is j...
ust set up a residency here and just filter in the audience just play here that this could be my new apartment yeah, we'll just live here it's fantastic that we could do a show on home decor so today's today's show is going to be a rather unique in the sense that you're going to be talking to a band who's on the verge of putting out a very important record in their career and it's important for a lot of reasons that's important because as a band you're always trying to strive for success and have your music reach a larger audience but it's also important because the band is kind of a turning point in their career, so we're going to talk about that turning point. We talked about the creative process what went into this record and kind of see what they're excited about but also what scares him a little bit all right, so I want to start with this record and why this one felt and was different than the other ones you had to create in the past. Sure, I mean, I think the key when you when you start making records right when you're sixteen seventeen or in our case at that age when you can't help but be honest, you're you're sixteen seventeen everything you see you interpret and then you talk about and you just put your spin on it but you're doing it from such an honest place because you haven't been anywhere yet, so everything is reaction there, you know? Everything is wow this made me feel this way someone write a song about it you're not sitting there and thinking about how people perceive it, you're just writing what you feel and that happens in the earlier stages, and then when you get in the middle of your career, you're making albums, basically, you think you're doing what you did when you began, but really, at this point you're you're subconsciously, I think writing songs and albums that you think people might like, right? You started off not giving a two craps about what people like, and then I don't care who you are, you get in that zone well, with this album, we've been through a lot of real stuff in the past three or four years in life with health, serious stuff, you know, business rials, stuff in business, being in a limbo with no label with, you know, trying to figure what to do with management, trying to figure out what to do with life with family, all these things that we had no choice but to write an album that was from an honest place because we don't care anymore, we didn't care to impress anybody anymore. We just wanted to impress each other. We were we done it long enough where we felt like we could do that, we felt that we deserved respect amongst our peers in the community, that we didn't really need to please anybody. We just needed to make an honest record, and that was the only way we'd continue our career is if we made an honest record and if we talked about the things we were going through and so we did that and the reason we did it the way we did it was because nobody wants to hear you moaning for ten songs, so we kind of brought in the positive connotations of home, right? The positive things that come out of tough times, so turbulent times lead to good things, that's the experience, right? That turbulence breaks and you get a smooth sail smoothly along. So it was our goal to utilize our hometown as a catalyst to bring back all those good feelings that we had when we wrote our first albums, and we didn't want to try very hard either. We just wanted to be, and that was how this album was made. It took a year to make it because it took a year to live through a lot of the things we were living through and it's an important record for us in the sense that it's just who we are, take it or leave it I mean, we're not trying to please anybody or our fans, we only want to please in the sense that we hope they enjoy it, but I'm not sitting here writing songs, saying like you know this is for the ones who you know this is for this part no like this is therapy for us so we can only hope people relate so to answer your question the album is different it's new it's fresh in the sense that it's a lot like those first records home was the catalyst then that catalyst now jerry I'd like to talk to you because each guy in the band has different functions it's very much it's a family but it's also a business and jerry you've kind of been the guy to help steer the ship in terms of where the band's going from a business standpoint can you talked about the history of the band and how long it's been because I have a theory that most rock bands that we all love the ones that we all you know worship for a long time it's about a ten year gestation period from the minute they started the in the garage to the minute folks like us actually there on our radar screen it's ten years before bands like this go oh this might work can you talk about that later we're we're way past that gestational period that's for sure you know the great thing is is that this ban is together you know these guys grew up together uh mark and chris lived down the street from each other and richard and benj didn't live that much farther down the road you know, so I grew up in youngstown, ohio I think I think growth with these guys but it's that same kind of feeling that I had with my friends in the garage band that I was in you know? I mean, I think everybody out there was may be friends with somebody who was in a band that was rocking in the garage in high school you go see those shows you go hang out in the basement when they were playing and things like that I did I was in that van and it was awesome it was that feeling that mark was talking about that how that sound? I don't know what I mean like you just can't hear a damn thing or anything like that but it's the greatest moments of you know, last night on stage I still was chasing that, you know? So we had a great opportunity to get started early the boys had that had the band they were in high school they put out the first record the wander when they were senior senior high school they took that ohio state mark is one of the first guys that I met at ohio state of freshman orientation we were buddies I hung around eventually I ended up in the band we went through a hive state playing together being being boys and just having a great time and towards the end of that ohio state time two thousand one or so we were looking each other going weaken, we can make a go of this. This could be a career this could this could be what you dropped about it being when you were five, ten years old or something like that. So, you know, to be eighteen years into it and still feel like we haven't even really hit the top of our game, I think is a pretty extraordinary situation to be in. I actually want to talk about ohio stakes. I've never heard of a band that picked the location of college based on what was best for the band. Chris, can you talk about why ohio state? Absolutely. Uh, I gotta be honest. First of all, at the time, it was a lot of states, an amazing school, but at the time, it was definitely place we could all get into, and we chose it because, well, one fact I remember is that there were eighty one bars in a square mile radius of campus, and they had, like, a thriving music scene. We thought we were going to go to ohio state. We're going to just get into the scene, start playing the clubs, playing the circuits and everything like that, and, of course, we got there and it, like we hit a brick wall and we show up and where the new kids from out of town, we didn't have any management. We're young, we have no touring history, so no one's going to let us play in their club s o we had to start figuring out how we could bend the rules a little bit. I think that very early on kind of spark something ah, that's still here today I was just wanting toe really? Um just there's there's this drive and ambition that we have that we're gonna you know, if if if there's a door close, we're going to find another way toe, you know, to get in so, you know, we basically had to go and rent out rooms rather than get booked in a traditional way by a promoter, and at the time napster was happening, and so our music was spreading all over, so a fan base was building and that oh, was not on anyone else's radar in the business, and so we would rent out a room and hundreds if not thousands of people will start showing up. And then it was great because that kind of led to us having a little bit of leverage and then when we started, you know, doing this a little bit more of the traditional way it's ah, it really kind of kicked off