 Hello and welcome to the Podcast I am your host Jesse Kennan and today I'm talking to Barty's strange So there's a reason I wanted to do this episode I have been friends with Barty's for a while as you'll hear in this and I thought his journey from somebody who Literally just over a year ago had zero monthly listeners to now being one of the most critically acclaimed artists has pitched work best Hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners press everywhere Literally made Rolling Stones spin all these best album lists and just has one of the most explosive Records of the year under his belt now I thought it'd be interesting to talk about the journey because his journey is actually, you know people would think oh Wow, that just happened overnight. He just made a good record. No, you'll hear in this episode He did so much smart strategy to get him where he is today And really just worked so hard doing the right decisions and doing little Incremental steps that got him there and we detail every little bit of that so that you can get an idea What goes into it? And you know, I'm always talking to you guys about community and how community is what builds an artist up This is one of the best tales of that and you know, I've been lucky to be in a community with Barty's for a long time and Truly he built up this career from who he knows in the community and we're going to get all into that So I hope you enjoy this conversation. If you haven't heard live forever his record I highly suggest you fix that immediately and other than that if you enjoy this video please like and subscribe and Make sure you get notified because we're gonna be doing more fun stuff like this on the channel. Hope you enjoy this here We go. So thank you so much for doing this, buddy I was we were just saying before we aired you were literally one of the last people I saw before we were confined to our house It's uh, we both recklessly went out and did one last show. Yeah, we did we did It was good to be here and thanks for having me and maybe that show shouldn't have happened, but it's okay We are we are here Everybody has a last show you were buying and that's the thing and yeah, you know, everybody's alive And that's what what matters definitely definitely So what I wanted to have you here today to talk about is I keep talking about you And I guess it's always weird to pay somebody big compliment is I talked about how you believed in yourself And you kept pushing for this record that has now gone on to a damn good amount of acclaim and success and Even though when you started out like, you know, I can remember looking get the page But it wasn't three digits of monthly listeners on Spotify and now it's a lot more digits than that And I wanted to talk about your journey so that people could understand kind of what went on to build this up To get where you are so I guess the first place to talk about is where you would I bet because I think that's even an interesting thing Is that you were in another band you? finished your record and Shortly after that records out. You're like, you know, I believe in what I'm doing in a different way And I'm gonna pursue it. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, it was a very scary Oh, it's really a scary thing for me to do. Yeah, I played in a band called stay inside Which is a great band and it's also gone on to very do great Do great things But yeah Me and Chris the lead were one of the guitarists and singers in that band met on Craigslist and I worked with Britton Vishnu at MakerBot and we were all loved the same type of music and thought it'd be a good idea to start a band And it was a great band and we did some really cool things and they've gone on to do great things But yeah, I played in that band We recorded that record at your studio after we cut that record We played a little while and but at the same time I was always making all of these other things and I was also playing in like three other bands like I was playing in the country band Like I was playing for Melanie Charles. I was playing for this dude Stefan Marcellus who like got we played at the Apollo a couple times So like I was starting to kind of see like okay There's like so many layers to playing music like being a guitar player being an engineer being a producer Being the lead singer booking the show like I was learning all this infrastructure that I didn't really understand Existed you were really curious to like that was one of the things that really impressed me was that There's a lot of people who do that, but they're just like doing it to fill the time you were trying to find the answer I felt like yeah, well, I was like, how does this actually work? You know because I remember watching, you know, honestly, I saw so many great bands put out great music and nobody heard it Yeah, you know like it was just like over and over and over again bands And I thought we're just like ten times more impressive than me who had way more money than me even Who I thought were way more connected and then there were bands who I thought had really made it and now I'm realizing They really didn't make it They were just like the cool kid at the moment But in the moment everything felt so big and I felt so overwhelmed by music and the music industry I was just like I got to figure this out and so that kind of led me to play in all these bands and ask all these questions and and You know played a big foundational part and where I am right now Yeah, so you go out on your own and it's not even yet a different moniker. Yeah, right? Yeah So you're making this jump what I think one of the things people have trouble with is Like a lot of time though is it's like, you know the fear that's going into that jump What got you past the initial thing of like, you know, even like I know so many people please stay in a bed Just because they don't want to upset people like what was driving you under there? Yeah, so I'm like the most non-confrontational person you'll ever meet Brian knows this Everyone like if people who know me know I don't like arguing I don't like confrontation at all and the last thing I want to do is quit a band that I pretty much started After we finished our first like like full-length record I was like mortified and I love them also They're my friends great people like I love them each of them a lot and believe in them You know and they believed in me and that was like why that band had it's still together You know stay inside because they really believe each other I felt like I was letting them down and I was really afraid I was also afraid that I would quit the band and they would pop off It is that funny thing is like it's just that the unlikely scenario that you both popped off, right, right? And I was like, oh my god, this is probably the worst decision I've ever made but I really but I had all this music and it was interesting like and I mean I actually liked it and I was like, you know, there's this like this bigger Statement I want to make with my music that I feel like I can only make with like like myself Like I have the clarity to do it now and I didn't have that clarity four years prior like people have definitely asked me like oh Like literally people have said, oh, it's a bummer that like you've put this record out and you're like in your 30s I'm like, you're not you and I'm like when the hell when else was I gonna be able to do this? Like I had to learn everything like get here and then to process it and to know how to say it and then Who to give it to and to know like, you know, it's like you can't you can't do that when you're 24 You know, it's a hundred percent true and like I think people often, you know Like when I consult with musicians so many times they're like, oh, I'm too old to do this I'm like, do you look at the average age of a lot of people who do well in this? It's not 22 It's often late 20s early 30s and cuz like especially if you're doing, you know, your record is Complex blend of influences. I don't think anybody on earth could take that away from you and you don't get that at 18 I would I am sometimes shocked by how complex some 18 year olds music are But it is the rarest thing on earth to be able to do that at 18. Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to make it at all but I another part of like that journey was I Found myself wanting to learn more about like engineering and production and like mixing and because I felt like most records I had worked on or bands that I'd been in I never was Completely satisfied with how the record sounded and I and I also had like a weird thing with my voice where I was like I was kind of struggling with like being a lead singer like I had never been one before and I it was almost like becoming a lead singer was admitting to myself that I Was taking music more seriously It was like a whole like journey to being comfortable being like this is my band and this is what I'm trying to do It was way easier to just be like a guitar player, you know and just be like, yeah I just pull up but um, yeah like all those things were happening at the same time as I got closer and closer to writing live forever and putting it all together I Mean, I can remember it'd be so funny is like for the audience I'm a producer who will get you know I'll do a hundred takes on one line if we have to and I can remember you did one take that was like a Verse that was just like flooring and I'm like dude. That's it and you're like that can't be it We didn't do it do all these takes and I'm like, no you just killed it And it was like the funny thing of like you watching you get the confidence to listen back like oh, I did it. Yeah That was a huge experience for me because I'd never been in a studio with someone who could like who was with an actual producer Who would work with vocalists and and I got good feedback, you know someone being like hey, you're good at this You know And like you get those every so often in life and I think it's important to like listen to those moments and really internalize it because most people are not gonna tell you you're good even if you are That's totally true. Sometimes especially if you are That's the even better point is like the weird penis sword fight shit that men go through especially in this business is like The worst thing and it really is like one of the better lessons is like learning how to tell people I get better at it still and I feel like as a producer you're a professional compliment giver Because if you're not you got insecure people exactly and I still feel like there's like I go through our for the audience's sake You've worked with Brian who works with me a bunch since then and it's like that thing of like I sometimes forget to say the compliment when it's really good like he sent me some music yesterday that I commissioned and I'm like Fixed this this this and I'm like that was actually really great. You're supposed to say the compliment worst I'm like, don't just say what needs to be changed first. That's not how criticism works Or how people's brains work, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you want to hear the good stuff first Yeah, if you want to know that it's something good And then I like after that session I kind of went on like a tear of like I'm gonna learn how to engineer my own stuff like I and I and that journey was honestly It gave me like the the real confidence Because I hit a point where I was like, I know how to make myself sound good. Whoo, like big Yeah And that's I think something people always also forget is like when they're like scared It's like dude every time you get better at controlling things That's what gives you confidence to believe in yourself a hundred percent and you know once that happened I I was like, you know, I had written like an acoustic album and I was playing and staying side I had the solo acoustic album. I was playing some country music for a band playing a few other bands and I just started quitting bands I had a buddy named Sam Stuckey who was like, yo, you should quit your bands and just focus on your own thing More and more people were starting to say you need to focus on your own thing and inside like I was like I've always wanted to try this like and I think I have something to offer and I also had like some bigger like Artistic ideas that I knew I couldn't actualize in any of my projects and so I was just like well I'm just gonna have to take a risk and quit all these bands and try this and see if people like it And so I was just doing my side project and playing and staying side The side project was literally so I could just get reactions to my music and like see if people liked it See if it was any good it built to build some confidence And I started realizing like just as many people were coming to my solo shows Is there were coming to like my full band shows and I was like, okay, I'm gonna Invest in this a little more so everything I did was incremental like I never made like a big Jump and I think a lot of people feel like oh if I'm gonna do music I gotta quit my job or I gotta leave my girlfriend or yeah That was the a big part of sorts is you're still working during a lot of this you move to DC Yeah, I was working a very full-time job as a political consultant and a comms director at a climate organization and like Like doing it 50 hours a week really really doing it and had been for like, you know the last 10 years like since I was 21 years old And so, you know, I just had an engine like I really wanted to do it and that was also why everything was incremental You know But I but it was safe and I think that was like how I needed to do it, you know, like step by step by step until now So next part of the journey you put out it's one song just did a cap at first. Yeah in a cab So what so what happens from there? Yeah, so as I kind of was getting demos together I mean me being I mean, I think I'm a kind of like socially savvy person And I understand that relationships are important to being successful in any aspect of life And so I started kind of looking around to see who was doing things bigger than me and a lot of bands I realized we're working with a woman named Jamie Coletta and I Just literally started following her on everything I sent her a bunch of music from stand side over the previous two years But she never really was into it She was always busy and she also had a job at the time But around the time that I was getting my demos together She had left that job and started her own firm and I wrote her like the magnum opus email of like, please believe in me I think I have something here and like sent her in a cab and she was like Okay, I can't commit to the record But I can work with you on this single and that was like kind of where it all started and like we did The single and I think she was even surprised by like the feedback she had received and she was like Yeah, we should work on the whole record together And I went and made the record and then like we started like she introduced me to an idea that I hadn't heard And it was an idea that I also read about in your book was like Building a team around your music and not thinking like oh cool. I have a few songs I need a record label like thinking more like, okay I have a few songs How can I best position these few songs to do? Well, even if I don't have a record label or a booking agent or any of these things like what are like the crucial pieces to getting me to like the next little baby step and Jamie like played a huge role in helping me like actualize that like getting these people incrementally over literally two years Until we release the record and that's another part people don't know. Yeah, that's that's what I really want to focus on Like you put out this first song some people start to notice you the numbers start going up I mean, I remember wanting to listen to the song again and hitting play on Spotify and be like, oh, all right You know, there's a lot more people tuning in but you so you go to make this record Do I remember you got like a a grant for the house or something? Oh, yeah So my buddy Carter his brother runs a nonprofit called thinkolio and they were they were just like Yeah, like you can cut the record like up here in the barn. It's a artist. It's your residency kind of thing But you know, they they helped us out They gave us a place to record and basically like Brian and I Brian D'Amelio We were like, okay Like I had gone on this whole thing about like, oh I got to find like a producer and I got to find like this fancy engineer and I did all this research And then I was like, hmm, I'm gonna do it myself with my friends Because I started getting a better under the more I recorded stuff the more I realized like the real thing You need to make a great record is time period like one great microphone and a bunch of time I could make literally anything and so like part of the recruitment philosophy Yeah, and I was like, well, I'm gonna give myself the most time possible Which means I'm not gonna pay anyone and I can't pay anyone a ton of money because if I was paying a ton of money I'd have like four days in a studio to cut all this music and this way I had like 10 days plus unlimited time You know, it's my friends and I'm giving them points anyways and whatever like that's just how that's gonna rock Pay to pay them what I can and give them points. And so yeah We all we hauled all of our gear up to a safe New York Put it in this like little like converted barn like studio apartment that they Airbnb at sometimes and it was like Me and like every person I've been music with over the last like preceding six years And when I think back I'm like no wonder the record was so good because it's like so much love in the room It was like all the people who had taught me how to engineer like Brian and Nick rapidly all the people I played with in every band previous like it was just like the who's who of my musical life It was like coming through in and out of this room as I was making the record and yen and Brian And I just like captured it like Brian was running the session I made most of the producing choices and then you know, I don't know. It was a great 10 11 days so you finish up the record and This is like two years like we mastered it two years ago or like summer Mm-hmm. So what happens in all of that time? And why did you wait a year and a half to put this record out? That's I think that's the big chunk of it is that like Yeah, that's for an artist. That's torture. That's literally like having a the sort of Damocles coming closer and closer You're just like I have this amazing record and a lot of we should also say one of the other Torturous things I think about it is that everyone around you has heard this record is like this record is fucking incredible Like I can remember I'm mastering it and I'm like what in the fuck did y'all do it? I had even known a little because Brian had sent me some mixes to be like Can you put an ear on this it's one thing when you believe in a record So another thing to want to just leak it when everybody's telling you it's fucking incredible So talking about sitting on it and what happened at that time. So Yes, oh my gosh It was literally two years ago in like this month that I had that I left Was saying and was done like recording that chunk of the record But no that two years was is like the crucial part of all of this Like when we finished the record Brian and I took a bunch of time to mix We probably shot upwards of 15 to 20 versions of songs back and forth I can remember him being like is this okay that we're doing this of like complex music got to do that sometimes Yeah, and well and I had to Brian's like credit and his patience like I had a vision You know like I really knew that wanted it to sound like and I had never had that before and I had never known how to do it So I was kind of like I was gonna like make sure that it at least sounded like how I wanted it in my mind in my brain And that was why I wanted to do it with me and Brian like because I was like, okay I'm gonna I'm gonna have like hands on this and I'm gonna get to really approve mixes and really be like I like that I don't like that. I want to bring this in, you know, like it was good It was a great thing for me to do at that point in my little engineer mix life Yeah, after that we got the record mix you did a master on it We had something and I remember taking it to Jamie and a Jamie liked it I think I was afraid of the record because I don't feel like I was always like does anyone really like this like this is crazy Sounds crazy This is overwhelming but Jamie was like we got a we got to start sharing this record with literally everyone in the music industry That we've ever talked to she was like we cannot put this record out until we have like critical mass Like everyone has got to be bought in the second it comes out because no one's gonna know how to process this And so I was like, okay, that sounds like a really hard thing to do and I've never It's like point again about okay, we're gonna go climb that yeah And I was like I've never climbed a mountain before like what do you do and she was like well Oh, it'd be great if you had a booking agent. It'd be great if you had a manager It'd be great if you had a publisher it'd be great And she starts naming all these people and I start to kind of see the game slow down, you know Like I was like, oh, so like if I get a great publisher I don't necessarily need like this other thing that I think I need like and kind of see that success can happen in so many Ways, but Jamie like really stepped up and that's why she's one of my managers now Like she introduced me to my first like booking agent at the Feldman agency. I'm Stephen Hilmelfarb Who was like He also looks like Orville Peck and a number of other wolf parade and a number of pop great bands And I was like shocked that he wanted to work with me I had like one song out and nothing else and he was excited to work with me And I remember being like, whoa, this is different Like people are reacting to this in a way that no one's ever reacted to my stuff And and we were also shopping it to labels Tons and tons of labels and we were just kind of building a case for myself for like, okay Cool. We've got this booking agent. Cool. Like that's gonna help us. We talked the labels As we're talking the labels we met AJ Toby at rough trade Who's another friend of Jamie's and like for the publishing side and then I had like a publisher and a booking agent And I was like, whoa, I don't have anything out, but things are lining up, you know And this wasn't like a two-month thing like this is like now nine months after the record probably that I have now Shared my record with like dozens of labels Dozens of booking agents dozens of publishers until I found the right people who are actually excited about what I was doing and Believed in me and we just like kept looking for the next person the next person Yeah, and there was a lot of nose in there as well infinity Still feel like I am getting them like it's like I can't even express to you how sure I was that the record was horrible Because of like how much run-around people gave me on like if they wanted to find me Oh my like seriously nightmarish situations of labels being like, oh, yeah, we like you But we we're gonna go with this other person and it's literally like a black guy with an abusing guitar You know, I tell people like the getting the call us to know is Three-fourths of the game like and I always tell the story like I can remember sitting backstage It was a really weird thing I watched the killers get turned down for a U2 tour and They're huge at this point like one of the biggest bands of the world and they're still bummed and they still move on Yeah, everything was fine and they kept going because even the killer's posts Sam's town gets turned down for a tour Yo, I mean that's it but shit like that. It's good to hear and like yeah Remember going through that and thinking like it gave me like a brazilian It gave me a fuck you to making music like because I realized I was like, okay, if nobody's gonna like it But me cool fuck y'all I know it's good like I think you know and I immediately was just like I think I have better tastes than these people Yeah, you're supposed to feel that way. Yeah, I had to like create that feeling because in the beginning I was just like damn like boomer. It's throwing people off like I gotta take it off the record like it's too much Wow, that's crazy. Oh, we should know for the audience that doesn't know you this is your number one song on Spotify Yeah, it is. Yeah, it's like the song that people asked me for a song that I Almost didn't record because I thought it was too much Like I remember hearing like writing the demo and being like this is like a weird owl Version of a rock song like it's like it's like a medley of like 90s and early 2000s rock and hip-hop And I thought it was weird, but Brian D'Amelio was like, oh, no, we are definitely not leaving until we record that like Like that was all Brian. But yeah, anyways I was like second-guessing everything like you would anyways after making a record, but I had two years to do it But anyways, like the nine-month mark I went on a meeting with Alec Bemis who works at Brassland records and I was pitching him on live forever and and I was like, yeah Like, you know, we should say Brassland is the national sleep Yes, it's owned by Aaron Destner and the national put out their first three records on it or something like that There are four records and those records are still on that catalog Crazy which Alec manages so I was like looking for label for live forever and Alec was like Sorry can't help you because we're working on this band called the nationals record right now That was like a light lift. Yeah, and I was like, oh, yeah, okay got it got it got it And I was like out of literally nowhere Jesse I was like, oh well thinking about covering a bunch of their songs like I made it up Like I had the idea for it But I didn't think I was gonna actually do it and he was like, oh send it to me And I immediately left that meeting and called like Brian Graham Carter It was just like we got a right like five songs like like now And they all came over and we just started working on them and When we finished that little EP we decided to put it out before live forever We were going to put live forever out, which was which was a I mean, I remember talking about this decision I was like this could go a lot of different ways Yo, really could have but I at that point had like maximum clarity Like I was like live forever is super ambitious And I think that people need an on ramp Like people need an on ramp for like the message that I'm trying to like get out Which is this bigger statement on like black people in rock music And like where we fit in and how we deserve more space in that world And I was like what better way to show that than to cover what is probably my favorite band But it's also like a quintessential staple of the genre that I want to be a part of and like kind of take what they've done and be like This is cool. But why aren't there more people doing it that look like me? Like why aren't there more bands that have had this level of success that look like me? And and that was something that I didn't want to necessarily talk about the whole time live forever without But using say goodbye to pretty boy to talk about it felt really appropriate And like a great way to introduce myself to like the broader world and the national have a huge fan base already So national fans love national fans And I thought this would be like a really great way to like build a fan base With people that already like similar sonic things and then you know bring them into my world when the time is right So yeah, and I remember there was a discussion of like should you wait to put this out After live forever or before and I was like I remember I like I could straight up say like I was on the scared side when you and I talked about it And I was like, oh, I wonder if this like makes you too much of a fan than a real artist Like I was definitely like I hope I hope this is the right step because like honestly, you know, there's a lot of decisions where you're like If I get enough data, I could know it. There's no fucking data to know whether that was going to work Yeah, yeah, but it felt like uh, yeah, it felt right. Mm-hmm. And you were right Yeah All right, so that record comes out and you get a lot of acclaim for it people love it. Yeah I could remember Literally being on the street running into a friend not far from where I live now and somebody's like, you know, have you heard this record? I'm just dying laughing like hell. Yeah, that's that's that's what you want to hear You know, that's dope. Oh, man. But yeah, no after that came out. I remember thinking Oh, shit, everyone's gonna expect me to make stuff like this. They're not gonna like what I have, you know Like that was my the next thing I was afraid of But it opened some doors And we finally found a label Will yet talk about this story about how will you pierce it because this is really interesting? Yeah, well, I think how did he initially hear it? Isn't it that you play to show with that band? That's the band now. Okay. Yeah, yeah Don't they bring it to oh my gosh This is hilarious Yeah, because I you know like I often tell bands about that your community is the most important thing This is like the epitome of one of those stories that it tells you exactly why your community is so important. Yeah Actually, okay, okay. So this is a funny story because now we're all friends Like me and the car car guys are like homies like the uh, we were playing a show here in dc at the pie shop and uh, The drummer was like, oh, yo, like you're barking strange. I'm like, yeah And he was like, oh, I love the national. We're all like a big national fans. We love your record And I was like, yeah, like and I sent him I think I sent them live forever before the show And they were like, yeah, like, you know, look forever is dope. We loved it. We listened to it the whole time I think it's going to be a little too lo-fi for will though if you're looking for a label I can't believe they called it lo-fi. I'm like, listen people don't know how to describe music It's not a lo-fi record. It has a lot of color There's a very big difference like guided by voices early records where you hear like the hum because they recorded it on a fucking car battery Like that's that's one thing. This is a colorful record. People just don't know how to call it that Yeah, I was like, it's character rich. Yeah. Yes. Yes. There we go. There we go Character rich recording but um, yeah, oh my god, I took that so many ways I tell people, you know, it's like it's also like one of the hardest things like I can remember You and I had this discussion is people freak out when they hear distortion on their voice at first Yes, and I can remember being like you love Distortion on everybody else's voice take that with a thing and if you don't like it, I'll turn it down But everybody hates distortion on their own voice and loves it on everyone else's voice So real and now I saturate my voice all the time Yeah, I so like literally tell myself not to I have a saturation bus That is just literally screaming on all my doubles Stupid and anyways, but afterwards like we stayed in touch Jamie also reached out to will and like he loved the record and we really hit it off But I think it was a large part because like I played with the car car folks They've definitely shared my record with will like Jamie shared it with will and will it clicked with him and like will and I Homies now and like and so we should we just for the audience doesn't know will yip Is a producer of a bajillion bands and he has two different labels one through run for cover one through Warner and uh called memory music and that's the one you ended up on yeah I'm totally yeah. Yeah, I want memory and it's a great like they service the record Immaculately and I don't think I would have got that level of attention or like care anywhere else like will literally made it like his personal passion project and like paid money to make everything work like Paid for a radio promoter paid for a like not only did he pay for Jamie to do pr But he also paid for someone to do pr in Europe like paid for the vinyl paid for the merch like really Went in and was really fair on the master split like really solid like a situation that Both people don't get for their first album And it was something something he said to me like a right when he signed with me If he was like I thanked him. I was like look like thank you for being so flexible With this deal and he was like dude I make money off of making records like I'm making this record with you So that in a year you pop off and you have A bidding war for you among the labels like he was like literally that's what we're doing Like we're gonna we're building this campaign over the course of the next year And now like it's a year later, and I'm literally like doing exactly what he said So it's like it's awesome like well like I will not I cannot like I will never take for granted like the impact that he had On this record big impact now We're like on our sixth pressing of like our sixth like thousand record pressing of the album Awesome, so but so in that interim when you meet will there's still a lot more time That happens through that and you get some more of a team, right? Yes, so Um, I meet will and at this point like I've got a publisher I've got a booking agent I've got now jamie is my manager and she brought on a friend to help co-manage because jamie's never managed to Band before and so she was like, you know like I want to manage but if I do it I want to have a close friend who's like been trying to get me into managing and it was tim Zahatsky Who like, you know, we're with the men's singers and tons of humongous rock bands Great guy great dude and has like a really great attitude and a great like way of doing business Watching him work has been very like educational because he's like been in it much longer than me So then all of a sudden I had like a squad felt like I was like, okay Like we can kind of do anything now, you know I had like all these people advocating for me in all these rooms that I Didn't have access to and that's ultimately like what you want It's like as an artist three or four people who believe in yourself so much that they're like Literally telling everyone they meet about you and like it literally it starts from there It's kind of funny. Like I never thought this is a dumb thing to say But I think something a lot of people will understand is like I never appreciated how important it is To have music. That's actually good I always thought that people just kind of popped off because they were connected Or they had like a lot of money and that was kind of what I had seen in brooklyn There are a lot of people that pop off and you're like this makes no sense Then you're like, oh, they went to nyu and their mom is an actress and They do this and their dad is a lawyer who works with so-and-so. We are going and that's how it happened. You know, it's like It's the funny thing You know, what you're saying is the thing I've I try to tell people But you know like my parents always said this thing of like, you know, like I was a very bad kid They're like, look, you have to learn your own lessons You're gonna have to put your hand on the stove and get burned and one of the lessons I think you can't always teach musicians until they see it is how many people get money And connections thrown at them and it goes fucking nowhere And you know, like my two and a half years working at Atlantic Electra the amount of people I saw them throw at the wall and put money big budget videos and it's just like all those connections They're working hard. They're doing things and it's like wow They have less lessons than my friend's bands who like get a hundred people on a show. Maybe It just doesn't work. It's like the good music is if it's it doesn't matter if you have that major label record deal I think good gets a little bit risen up But like great You've got to be great if you're gonna really have the doors open and you made this amazing record that Everybody who gets it really feels something with and that's what opens a lot of the doors That's what definitely opened those doors because at some point Like someone has to decide has to pick you like someone has to be like, oh, I like this music Like before it hits thousands of people through a Spotify playlist There's like normally two or three people who have to like it And that's who you're playing for and um, they won't choose it if it's not good because they already have A list of 50 people that they have to choose Because they paid for it Yeah There's that but it's funny and there was like, oh well, what if I'm one of those people paid for it? It's like well people don't add it to their own playlist or go back and listen to it It doesn't fucking matter like there's a million people out there who get added those playlists And they have the 200 000 monthly listeners for five days because they're on that playlist and then it never happens again Yeah, or they don't have any actual fans Like they just have like plays which is very prominent like that's real Like I know a lot of people like that. I produce now for a lot of people like that If you just have tons of plays and like they don't play shows, you know Yeah, well the funny thing is we are in that weird world right now where it's like, well, no one plays shows again yet But there's a lot of demand for when you come out and play shows again, which is great I'm excited about that. But yeah, and so anyways, sorry, I keep getting sidetracked. But yeah Hey, well, it's a complex story. It's it a lot happened Like it's like so the summer league after like say goodbye to pretty boy came out. It was in march We played at wnyc and we played a show at the Sultan room And then that was literally like the last day of earth Like there was like lines around the block at the key foods I felt like I was in a contagion like to movie And I forgot that that's your record release show that we're at right before corona. Holy shit Yeah, that was the say goodbye to pretty boy record release show the next week We were driving to south by southwest for like our first like decent tour. I forgot. Holy shit Yeah, like yo, I was like riding the high and I was like, please god let me get to do this and it didn't work out Everything gets canceled and I was kind of bummed and I was like, oh no like this record is no one's gonna remember Say goodbye to pretty boy. I was wrong everyone bought the shit out of it and it worked out great And everyone played it and I met a lot of cool people and then we it was a summer came and I felt like every band Was like, do I release my record this year or not? Like do I wait till the next year to do it and I remember talking to jamie and tim and being like, I don't know what to do But my calculation here is most people will need a lot of things to make music Like they need like a producer. They need a big studio. They need all this shit But I don't need any of it. Like I can make good stuff at my house all the time I do it every day. So like I'm just gonna keep making music And let's put this record out and if it flops, I'll just put out another record like And that was like a I'm really glad I felt that way. I'm glad I felt like I could just make another good record You know, I think a lot of people are like, this is the one. Yeah. Yeah get too precious about it for sure Right, but I'm like, this is like not the one This is like a good record and I can't wait to make a million five more great records But you did take some songs off. I did I shortened it by like four songs. Yeah, which was really smart Well, yet again rick rubin message. I tell everybody it right two and a half records put out one Yeah, well, I'm in the process of that right now. I'm like looking at like, yeah, but anyways And so we decided to go for it and then came the problem of like, well, how do we develop content? like Now like how do we make music videos and stuff to promote the record? Which led to many like pretty complicated zoom slash my iphone video Like videos that turn into music videos that that have all of them have done really well and were great But yeah, like after we put out our first single I got a call from tom windish And like you wanted to be my booking agent. And so That's that's what happened. That's it's age Yeah, so I was like, yes, let's do that And that was like after like boomer came out or something And so that that and then label started calling like before the record even came out And I was like, damn like we had a meeting with island records and I was like, okay This is wild Get rave reviews from every outlet tons of year and top 10 50 records Yeah, the record came out and it really jumped off and I remembered Like right before the record came out. I was still nervous. I was still like just gonna really work They like mustang, but that's kind of like the most straightforward song on the record We'll see how it goes And I remember getting the whole band together and being like, let's go to main for a couple weeks And start pre producing the next record just because I know after this record comes out I'm gonna be a different person and I kind of wanted to like Capture as much as I could as that person right before the record came out. That's very smart Yeah, and I'm glad I did like Like a great record there and I have that record now That's awesome And I have another one that I've written since then And so so now I'm like, okay I've got like eight months to record these two records and that's what's happening Talking to labels and figuring out what I'm gonna record these are this this next batch of music So that's one incredibly juice because obviously I wrote a whole book on how Expectations of your music is actually what fucks it up the most and being true to yourself is what makes it right Knowing to do that is incredibly intelligent because it's tough when people like you for something and you got to go At least next songs aren't that big you already went through that once with that ap I guess I did That's good to remember I forget that People are like, oh, this is your sophomore album. I'm like actually no live forever with my sophomore album Yeah I mean That is the thing and I think that maybe that is you know I wanted to do this to get some good through lines for people to learn from it It is that funny thing is like, you know, you've put yourself out there and it's set you up for good success continually by being pushing yourself a little bit past it and particularly to like that that thing of all those Nose and putting yourself out there and just continually trying to find that team like that's fucking tough, man And i'm so glad you did it and a lot of people are because they love this record Hey, i'm so thankful soup. I'm so grateful like I every day I I mean, I don't have a full-time job anymore. I just do music and I produce I produce for artists I've been working on records since like like full-time since august You know two records a month pretty stably like which is nuts I'm stoked because i'm like, yeah, like I didn't get to record my records as fast as I wanted But like I in the next year to two will have like multiple releases Um, which I think it's going to be really cool a cool way to like add to what I can do, you know So i'm excited about it. Well, I think that's the story. Do you want to tell everybody where they can find you? Yeah, um, you can find me on instagram twitter. Just look at barti strange facebook. It's the same I'm not on tiktok yet, but I will be at some point soon So i'm also barti strange on tiktok. Um, but you can stream my music on spotify and buy it on bandcamp Am I missing anything? Is there any other way you would have done this? I need to know your questions and what no one else is telling you since I want to answer them So leave them in the comments since I answer every comment in every post I hope you like this video And if you did please like subscribe and get notified and i'm gonna be breaking down the concepts in this video Along with how to promote your music and how to make songs you're happy with in the future I have a facebook group linked below that is only helpful information No playlist or con artists only artists having helpful discussions allowed if you want to learn more about me Work on a record with me or check out any of my books podcasts or anything else I do go to jessecanon.com or at jessecanon on all the socials one last thing There's two playlists here One is on how to grow your fan base from zero to ten thousand fans And the other is on how you make songs you're more happy with And the other is on how you promote your music with spotify And the other is specially chosen to match this video or you can hit the subscribe button below and stay tuned as I have tons of tips for musicians