 Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008. Lars Nelson, I make original blues rock music with a twist of psychedelic and funk. Mike Jacobs, bass, Ben Beaver drums, and Dan Fink guitar. And when did you first start getting into music? As long as I can remember, my dad recorded audio tapes with me singing and making up stories at the age of two. My dad's a choir teacher, so music was always in the house. I was able to differentiate between radio stations from a pretty early age. It influenced me incredibly. Was that led into starting to perform in front of audiences? Well, I think it was through primary school and high school. I was always in choirs and I was in community theater and musicals and stuff. So I was always approaching it from a bunch of different angles as far as the performance aspect. I always loved performing in front of an audience. So whether it be musical stuff or having my own band, I always approached it from a few different angles. If Grime Still Pays, that was one that I liked exploring a character and kind of coming up with this fictitious story about a guy kind of searching for his options in a world where he was having a tough time keeping a job and he was middle-aged and it was, you know, things that were in flux in his life and to what degree would he be pushed to maybe go any legal route and try something that's outside of the bounds of normal societal rules. And I enjoyed that. I've written a follow-up to that song since kind of exploring the characters further on after something like that goes down. It's kind of, it's a fun little creative challenge. What drew you to rock music? I think digging through my dad's vinyl collection when I was a kid listening to Sergeant Pepper and Stevie Wonder and things of that nature I always liked exploring into what those lives must have been like when you can open up Sergeant Pepper and see these guys and these cool outfits and like, you know, crazy facial hair and like it just, it looks like, well, what a cool job that must be and then these wild stories that take you very much out of your small-town upbringing I definitely think I was drawn to that. So what's performing like live for you? Like what's the performance atmosphere? Like what do you do to like prepare for a live show? Well, I usually end up, not even for gigs but I just end up singing most days like just in the car, in the shower, you know. I'm always hearing melodies are always, you know, in that kind of creative space. For shows I like to play a lot of music that inspired me so, you know, stuff that'll kind of get me revved, get me going, play some Chicago blues and Rolling Stones, you know, any number of things that just depending on the day, OK, what is speaking to me? What's going to get me to that place of, you know, energized to play out? And when you have a performance, do you usually come in with like, all right, here's the songs I'm definitely going to do tonight or is it kind of just an outline of what you might play but like if you feel like changing it up during the show, would you do that? Yeah, yeah, I mean, I usually have like a basic set list. I think my band members are more into having it really definitively laid out. I like having a little more flexibility of let's see how the audience responds because sometimes you'll have, you'll get a good flow going on, you get a dance floor and suddenly it's like, oh, I know what to drop next. That was much further in our set but let's put that right here because we have a dance floor, let's keep them. Hollywood Hills is another one that I wrote out in Los Angeles. I was auditioning for this. I got a callback for a TV show and the producers sent me out on their nickel to stay at a hotel and just being in Hollywood and seeing so many people in that area that are living that dream like or trying to live that dream. Your waiter is trying to be an actor. The person that's checking you in at the hotel is trying to be a singer. It's just like everybody's got a side hustle. Everybody's got, you know, this dream and that's what a lot of that's about is just all the different variables that go into late night television or film or, you know, there's so many people out there in such close proximity that are all chasing that dream that they've had since kids and to varying degrees of success. But you can see why there's been a lot of cool creativity that's come out of that area is just because so many people have to bring their best game because there's other people that would be very happy to take their place. Do you approach songwriting? Do you have like lyrics come to mind first? Yeah, oftentimes they kind of come concurrently. I have both lyrics and melody. They can't come at the same time. But sometimes it can just be like a rhythm. Sometimes I've had that from driving. You go over, you know, like potholes at a certain pace or where they'll fix the road and you can hear it. I'm like, oh, that's a cool beat. And you start singing over it and coming up with something around it. There's a lot of things that in nature that are rhythmic. So what do you do in those situations? Do you like have like a recording device with you? Yeah, oftentimes have a digital recorder with me. Okay. Or sometimes I'll keep it by my bedside because it's just like you never know when you have an idea, just when you wake up and if you go, oh, no, I'll get to it. I'll remember it. And then you go back to sleep or, you know, you do five or 10 minutes of your day and it's totally gone. So I like having it really a close proximity because sometimes those ideas are the best because you're not overthinking it. You're not trying to dissect if it's good or not. It's just like, oh, that's fresh, you know. I've dreamt a few songs before where I had it in my head and I can hear this melody and I'm like, wake up, record it. And I'm like, now have I heard that before or is that mine? You know, so it's sometimes the creative process is still going while you're sleeping. Well, thank you very kindly. I say this often during our live shows. You can be anywhere in the world tonight. You're with us. You're coming to see a performance. You've come to experience something, fissure or something that'll make you feel. And I always feel it's a great honor to have an audience that wants to explore some of the good time things in life. My chance, anticipate, now I shall taste how it feels. Use that to walk upon your dance to taste. Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008. If you enjoy watching Backroads online, please consider making a tax-deductible donation at lptv.org.