Tim DeLaughter of The Polyphonic Spree

26:45I think so. There were friends and family. My niece was 14. Andrew was 16. Who played the strength show? Anyone who you knew who could play anything? I didn't know any of the symphonic players. I knew the rock people. My bass player, Mark Piril, was in the spree and Brian Wakelin was playing the drums from Tripping Daisy. Then going out to find the symphonic people was the biggest challenge because I didn't know anybody. It wasn't in that world. It was from the rock world. I would go this dude that was playing at the mall. It was playing shallow. Would you like to... I didn't know. I lived 40 minutes from U &T in North Texas, which is a huge music school.

27:31I didn't think anything about it. It's got amazing musicians, which a lot of them, inadvertently, became spree members. But I was just going to anybody to get the play. And that's when I also realized that just because they play those instruments doesn't mean everybody improvises. I thought everybody that played an instrument can improvise. And that's not a very common thing, especially people that are classically trained. They read music and they play to charts and things like that. And when I would find people, do you improvise? They're like, well, I don't know if I can do it. What do you mean?

28:09I'm like, well, I'm just going to play something. And then I just want you to play along with me. Just follow me. Whatever feels good, just play. And I found a couple people that had never done that before. And they had like this thing like, oh my god. I didn't know I could do that. Just real, real proper. You know, they just stumbled on something. And I was like, that's it. That's all it is. And that's great. You'll work. This is fine. Like, oh, good. Okay. Cool. And so that's basically how the band was built. There was 12 people in the choir. And it was just. How do you get the choir members?

28:49It was all people, friends and family. Do you sing? Can you hold a note? I didn't really care. It's like it just wasn't looking for professional. Before the energy of a bunch of people singing together. Yeah. Exactly. And just kind of like doing my best also, we're talking like three weeks to form the polyphonic spree, which is a task. You know, but it was done. And, you know, it was. That first group was so it was so special. It's something else I learned about the community of that many people playing music on stage and live performance. There's a whole other aspect that I never thought about.

29:26And originally I wasn't even going to be in the band. My idea was to put it together. I was going to be in the audience, watch it, maybe somewhat conductive hand signals here and there. But I just wanted to hear the sound. I wanted to experience this thing I've been thinking about. But in order to express the songs, the dynamics of the songs, the emotion of the song, I found that I had to be ultimately, I had to be a part of it. So I was playing a tar in the beginning of polyphonic spree. And eventually I ended it over to someone else because my old self kicked in. It's like, I need to be expressive.

30:01I need to engage with these people. These guitars holding me back. Like I said, it's just a tool to write. I don't use it to perform and play and all that. And so that's where it happened. But that feeling that you get with that community of different human beings playing music, some that have only been air -tromboning in their bedroom or air -violinning in their room. And you know, now in a rock band on stage playing for the first time. And it was, there was nothing like it, that feeling, that I wasn't even thinking about. You know, I'm thinking about the music. Well, what about this whole other spiritual side that happens when human beings get together and all land on the same page?

30:45And they're all like, we're all in the current together playing this music. And then they're dealing with their own feedback that they're getting from it. And that gets like kind of addictive. And you want to be kinetic and all of a sudden you're just this force. And it wasn't even, it's just like, that's where it came about. It was like, my God, what, where there's something else going on here is much more than the music. There's something that's being conveyed and people picked up on it. But. What did it feel like the first show? Tell me about that first show. You know, it was partly I was, it was nerve -wracking, you know, because it was like I'm playing the song's live and it's the first time.

31:23And you know, it is so different what we were doing. We're wearing white robes and - Tell me about the robes. Well, there again, it was, you know, my deal was to, I knew I wanted to close the band because I thought the street clothes of 20 something people would be way too distracting. And people are so like quick to judge and some people up by what they're wearing and see this and that. And it's just, I wanted to spell that. I neutralize everybody. Totally. And I thought if we could cover the band and I thought the robes would be the cover from head to toe. It's something inexpensive. And we can achieve that, you know.

31:59Put some - And it's something choir still. It's like it's a - Exactly. You know? Driving crew method. Yeah, it was an image I saw too. And it's like I just see this beautiful image. But at the same time, it's like we're so we're white and I can project images on it. So the first show we were projecting images on the band and it was more of my, my love of film and art and texture being shot on us. And ultimately that kind of faded away because the band became the visual and became all you needed, you know. And but that's where it happened. And how do you audience response? They freaked out. I think they were kind of like - I think they were like what the fuck is this?

32:40I know they were. And then it's kind of something that, you know, at the end they locked it. It was really well received. And it was special because it's like, I didn't let anybody know in the industry or anywhere that I had previous band tripping days is purposefully I kind of alienated everybody, my fan base and everything from tripping days. No one knew I was doing this. I didn't mention that band to anybody when I was trying to get gigs. That was another reason why I was using the music and the merit of that trying to get me in there. I didn't want to use previous, one of this thing to be on its own.

33:19Wasn't very smart because I alienated a whole fan base of tripping days. A lot of them don't like the spree and a lot of them came along and did and a lot of them discovered it later. And but it's, I kind of just, it was my way of, I wanted this to have its own - Just a fresh start. Fresh start. I wanted to have its own things, own identity. And so I think a lot of people were confused, gets head -known me from tripping days and all of a sudden they're seeing me do this. And this weird, cultish band with robes on and, but to me it felt so new and special. It's coming out of a post -grunge world.

33:56Nothing like that was going on. And it just, to me, I thought, this is such a beautiful image and the music's beautiful and I'm so glad I'm in this band. And it just, I just kind of worked that out. It's a very emotional, it makes people want to cry. It's a very emotional story. Yeah, the sprees a very special band, you know. It really is. I'm so fortunate to have the people that I've had around me that decided to jump in and be a part of this thing. And what happened next? Well, we played shows in Austin and did what we could, you know. And we played South -Bus, we didn't make South -Bus South with the first time.

34:38The second time we got one show and they had us opening the keynote speech in the banquet room at eight o 'clock in the morning. Okay. It's Robbie Robertson's keynote speech. So we get, we're like, fuck it, we'll take whatever we can get. It's the only show we had. So we get there, it's super early. We're literally in a banquet room with fluorescent lights. It's the worst possible place you could possibly be into play music. It just screams, it's sterile and not cool and it's not good. But we're like, man, I'm just talking to everybody. This is our thing. We can just turn this into our, let's just rock these people and take them with us and give them a little ride.

35:30So I got on fire, don't we go out there and we just do this thing. And it was kind of like that same deal where we finished and there was silence and then the place erupted and everybody was standing up and just going nuts. And this guy runs up to me and he goes, I'm John Parallelis with the New York Times. You realize what you just did? And I said, what? And he goes, you've got every journalist in the country in here on their feet. Because that's David Frick over there. And I'm like, he's pointing out all these different people. And he goes, look at this. I'm like, I had no idea. I thought they were just like industry people, but it turned out to be a whole room of every journalist because they were there for Robbie Robertson's keynote speech.

36:19So they just immediately blitzed it out to everybody. And then we started getting gigs. We played nine shows at that South by Southwest. Wow. Word got out and so we were playing in people's yards. We were playing a restaurant. We were playing in record stores at Waterloo. They just everyone kind of wanted to have us. And so it just kind of happened. And at that time, that was in 2002. There weren't bands weren't playing multiple like they do now. They do it. Everyone does it now. But back then, you were hopefully had one that we played eight to nine of them. And it was just, and the plyphonic spree going through Austin, South by Southwest with all those instruments and all of us getting navigating.

36:58You know what that place is like? We made a huge splash at that South by Southwest. It was amazing. So back to that gig, you know what seemed like to be the worst situation for something to happen and grow turned out to be the best thing that could have ever happened for us. Because in every newspaper the next day, they were talking about the plyphonic spree right there with Robbie Robertson all over the country. It was just like unbelievable. You couldn't believe it. And then from after that, like two weeks later, you get a phone call from someone in David Bowie's camp who David Bowie wanted us to come to the UK to play his Royal Festival Hall, a festival he was curating.

37:43And that in real life, wow, okay. They paid first to come over there to play this show. It's a lot of people in this band and they've been outside of Texas before. Much less go to the UK. Some people had never even flown before. And then we're going, the plyphonic spree's going to the UK. At the request of David Bowie. At the request of David Bowie, yeah. And then you end up doing a whole tour with David Bowie. Yeah, that could happen later, you know. It was, we ended up playing two festivals he curated and with a Highline Festival in New York. That was much later. But after that, then he was doing his reality tour, his last tour and he had us on that tour.

38:26And then I was doing a duet with him on a night basis. I was crazy, man. It's so surreal. It is. And it's just, you know, all those things, this band has always had that kind of, like the banquet hall deal and playing the Royal Festival Hall, you know. We're in the middle of this show. It's the biggest show I'm thinking of our life and the power goes out in the middle of the set. And we're like standing on stage. Just as lone light just focused on me because all the lights in the stage went off, the power's off. And we're like, you know, what do we do? The choir everyone's so nervous, nervous energy.

39:05You had a full festival hall and everyone's just kind of like, you know, just who is this band, you know, Da -Da -Da -Da, really kind of summing, you know, summing this, summing us up. Like, what do you got? It was deathly quiet. They didn't, there was nothing. We, I felt like we hadn't really connected with the audience and the power went out. And after a few moments of kind of nervous energy, I just turned to them and I said, I'm just gonna sing Acapella, hold, oh, Diamonds off of together we're heavy. Don't fall in love, but don't or something. Yeah. And I just start singing it. And then I asked the other guys that are playing, you know, Violin and handheld instruments to just join in.

39:55And then the choir just is singing. It was more like a campfire, Dylan, hoping they could hear us, you know. And I start singing it and I'm feeling so alone, but it's closed my eyes and just owned those words and saying it loud and got, just was feeling them. Everyone, people started to trickle in and they kind of got their confidence up and we were doing it. And it's really quiet. You can't hear anything in there. You hear someone kind of cough or sneeze or something and you just hear these human voices and this human expression going on. And I kid you not, man. On the chorus, on the, right where the chorus kicks in, the power comes on and everyone's already playing and it just hits and it just like boom.

40:42And it could have come in at the perfect time and it just hits. It's the most emotional part of the song and it just boom and that place goes crazy. They stand up, start cheering and it's just like we had them and just rode the rest of the song out when the next one had the, and it was amazing. And that's all anybody talked about. After that show was they thought we did that shit on purpose and it was like, no, man, that was a complete accident. I almost shit myself up there. And they're like, that was dead at a dub but it was like those kinds of things happen, you know. The banquet room, all these big moments of things that just seem so like the worst thing could possibly happen turns up to be the best possible fertilizing of where I need to be going next, where this is gonna happen.

41:31And it pretty much, we had every label in that country wanting to sign the band and that's pretty much what happened. But listen to diamonds. Oh, cool. It's based on the story, do you wanna play it? I sure.

42:13works the song, Don't fall in love with diamond rings or tragedy, or somehow find its way in all that you hold true. Keep on amazed with your mild devotion to majesty, and some ill quoted face, and all that you hold true.

42:50What would you do if it all came up to you and love? How did you place to play?

43:05What would you do if it all came up to you and life? How did you place to play today?

43:25Holding on, holding on sunshine, keep the light on in your soul.

43:40Holding on, holding on sunshine, all day, keep the light on in your soul.

43:57On your own, on your own, the rest is good.

44:17What would you do if it all came up to you and life? How did you place to play? What would you do if it all came up to you and love? How did you place to play?

45:04See the superstar's tie -ways, I'm broken cards again, I'll be fine and high.

45:32What would you do if it all came up to you and love? How did you place to play? What would you do if it all came up to you and love? How did you place to play today?

46:30There are some trimmings, it's probably not music.

46:59It really gets to me.

48:01We had beginning stages and that's the one that put us on the map with everybody and got excited.

48:31How did that one come out? We came out together with heavy and they didn't like it. They didn't like the label. They didn't like it.

49:16They didn't like it. The record was coming from over there over here. Welcome to the house of Macadamias. Macadamias are a delicious superfood.

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50:44Before you went to the UK the first time, had you played other places in the country or just basically Austin? No, we didn't play anywhere in the States prior to going to the UK. That happened over there and we pretty much, they were ready. We want you to start touring and go. We spent three years. It's also easier to tour there if you don't have to fly. Exactly. Everything is just a couple of hours away. It's expensive still because at the time the palm was $1 .70. But as far as traveling, it was pretty easy to navigate. But we just lived at the Columbia Hotel over there and my kids were with me because Julie was in the band and my kids were on the road and we stayed over there.

51:36You say it was a family band, it sounds like a family band, family and friend. Yeah, it was very much like a family band at first especially at the beginning because my niece was in the band. She was 14 at the time and my other niece was part of it and kids were group on the road with us. I had Stella, Oscar and Julius, Felix wasn't born yet. So Stella would be singing in the choir with her little robe on and her protecting her ears, ear muff, things and she'd be with the choir if they're doing her thing. And then Oscar would be kind of running around using sticks to play on something or I'd look over and he's sleeping in a harp road case down there in the middle of a rock show.

52:21They would just kind of go until they'd just collapse and Julius would haul a guitar around wherever he was going, would be playing a guitar while the show's going on. So it started with friends and family at the beginning. It was kind of like whoever you could get in the choir. It was like can you sing and we're singing in unison at this point and if you've got the spirit for it you could be a part of it. So at the beginning you're just kind of starting to grab whoever you can get and my kids were, you know, I have four kids and so it's like they were the first to be a part of it. So cool. Yeah.

53:00So you make that album? Yeah, make that album and then we come back over here and... So this came the same way like... Totally unconscious. Totally. It's just how I write. I'm not very good at all about, oh that's a good chord progression. I'm going to write a song or I've got these lyrics I want to talk about. I'm going to write to that. I can't do that. It's got to be completely improvised and I've been doing it for so long now that it's just my go to... In the studio or do you improvise to get the song and then you bring that into the studio? So most of the time I would improvise to get the song.

53:38I'll craft it when it's time to go and think I'm going to go make a record. I'll do a pre -production. I'll go and record and kind of work on arrangements and get that. But I've got the core, the essence of the song there and then we start kind of working on it. We'll do really... It's almost like that demo. I kind of do those kind of demos. You know, sometimes... You know, I've sent you some stuff a long time ago. You didn't really like it. I was searching. I was not even doing what I was supposed to be doing. It was in between. It was right after together we're heavy. It was on the heels of that.

54:17They're kind of pushing me to make another record and forcing that kind of thing. I'm just going to get in there and start jam with everybody and improvise and jam. A lot of fun and some good stuff you would stumble on to. But nothing of like... This is going to... Oh, this is a good idea. It's going to turn into something.

54:39But when it went to do... Together we're heavy. It was the same thing. There was no pressure between beginning stages and that one. I'd been living with beginning stages. So we'd kind of write live. I'd write in a sound check and I would do this and it would either be there. It wouldn't be there or it would kind of be off of my own. And then I'd come in and I'd got this thing. We'd work on it through sound check and we kind of came up with the record. When you would work on it, would you work on it with 28 people? Would you work on it with a smaller group? So sometimes if we had the time to be able to like, I'm just going to mess around here and let's just see what happens.

55:16Sometimes that would happen. But most of all, it was just me kind of off on my own by myself. And then coming in and saying, I've got this idea going to play and let's see how we can build on it. I encouraged everybody in the beginning back in those days. It was almost like a kitchen sink. I listened to that song, Diamonds. I hear, you know, me, I'm trying to get everybody in there. And it's like, you know, out of me feeling like I need them to be able to... I don't want to leave them out. I want them to be able to have be on the part of it and like come up with something. And going down looking at the list to record, oh, we don't have this on there yet.

55:58We need to just kitchen sink. And I really wasn't... It was all about trying to make people feel inclusive and be a part of it, democratic. And it's always kind of been like that. And then I would have some regrets sometimes when I'd go back that I wish that hadn't had been... I wish I had created a little bit more space and not just done that to kind of play Kate a situation. Not that those songs are great and everything's fine about them. I just hear personal stuff that I would have made different choices. And that's what's so different about this record and the previous stuff is that made a conscious...

56:33there was an overwhelming feeling that this record needed to be very specific musically. And so it became completely different. Like, you'll hear songs on there. It's just like a acoustic and maybe a flute. That's it. And maybe an upright bass, but that's it. And just rather than old time, well, everybody's not on there. You can find your space, even if it's like here, like that. But there's very different experience. Do you have a favorite song on the new album? You know, I'm if I told you this, but I did these... When I finished the album, I wanted people to hear it as a whole. So I did these listening experiences where I got rented a spinner van and rented a sound system.

57:25Like 12 QSC speakers on tripods. And I traveled around in pop -up listening experiences where I had moving blankets. And I came out to the West Coast for a month and just traveled around. And I found a spot I could possibly do it that I didn't think I'd get busted. And then I tweet, I want to be here at this time. If anybody sees this or wants to be a part of it, calling out, it's free. And it was my way of wanting people to hear this record as a whole. Very real self -indulgent there. But I thought if I've got a captive audience, I can make that happen by... I'll just kind of force them to do this.

58:06You know, I'll like set the sound system up under the stars. How do those experiences... They were incredible. People loved it. Everyone was... every experience was different. Such a cool idea. Some people would get up and start doing yoga while they're listening to it. Some people would just have these emotional experiences. You know, you have to... This was... people are coming out of COVID. Being outside, being away from that. Being away from your phone for 45 minutes. Forsening yourself to just look at the stars and take a break from life. Mixed with that music, accompanying you through this process.

58:49Yeah, it's... you have some overwhelming aspects on people. People loved it, you know? Like, oh my God, you don't know how bad I needed that. And it's like not just the music. Put the music to the side. Just... just taking a break from life and laying down on the ground and just looking at the sky for 45 minutes. And not having to think about anything. That in itself, when you're... when you just choose to do that, is an experience that, you know, everybody should... What? It's going to have an effect on you, you know? And I think that is just as much of what was a success. As much as it was the music navigating that process.

59:30But it was awesome. I loved it. I'm going to continue to do them. I'm actually taking a step further. We're making a film for Planetariums where... I've been working on this for about six months now, but it's going to probably come out in February. With my friend Scott Berman, who did visuals for us before, we're making a different animators in live action, creating film to the record. People come to Planetarium, look at the visual... Visual while they're listening to the record. So it's kind of... it started, you know, doing the listening experiences, and now it's moved to that. And we've lined up, you know, like 12 different Planetariums that will move regionally kind of all over the country that will play the record.

1:00:19And that's kind of another way of... You know, my way of playing the record, and people hear it as a whole, as opposed to diving into the jukebox on their... Let's listen to the next song. Okay. So we listen to the first song on the record. Let's listen to the last part. Okay. Cool. We can also listen... If you want, we can listen to the whole thing. I don't want to do that to you, but... I'll just... I'll play another one. Then we'll play the last part. I just kind of want to give a... a general idea. Yeah. This is... we'll do shadows on the hillside. Why does it start with section 44? Um... Those are...

1:01:04Okay. When I first referred to the songs, I was saying, we're going to go from this... This is the very beginning of polyphonic spree. They weren't song titles. They were sections. Because it's like, we're going to go from section one, this section into this section. And I was always referring to them as sections. They weren't even numbered. It was just... I was just, you know, that's how I describe it. So we're going to go this one section here in this section. It never was song titles. So then I was like... Then I put... they were... Have you think of the album as one thing? And then... So the reason you recommend to sections is that...

1:01:39They're pieces of a whole... In a vertically... yeah. I didn't realize that I was doing that. But I... and I thought at the time, it's like, you know what? This is the first section of the birth of the polyphonic spree. So that's the 44th section of the polyphonic spree. It's a 44th song for, say, of the record. So the sections in every title and every record have ever put out. That's what it is now. But at the beginning, it all came from referring to them as sections. But, yeah.

1:02:42And then... So the first section of the story was... Violently squeezed. Fade all those past lives. Think yourself a renegade. Just leave. Cause thoughts only flow when the wind goes away.

1:03:30Save all the sadness. Take yourself out to sea. Please, please. While the stars politely relieve.

1:03:52You gave up the last time. Try your best to pry away. Just be. Cause thoughts only flow when the wind goes away. Reach out and fall far away. Finally, wish you can't fly and dream.

1:04:24Dream.

1:04:28Shout out this on the hillside. What you found were the wings to go. You just set yourself free. Shout out this on the hillside. What you see is my time. What you have is what you need.

1:05:01What you need.

1:05:30Cause thoughts only flow when the wind goes away. Reach out and fall far away. And finally, wish you can't fly and dream. Dream. Shout out this on the hillside. What you found were the wings to go. You just set yourself free.

1:06:10Shout out this on the ground. What you lost can be found. What you have is what you need. What you see. What you see on the ground. On the ground. On the way you can follow me. On the ground. On the way you can follow me.

1:07:10You can feel your funny story. Reach away and say you follow me.

1:07:26Party your future, always waiting. Reach away and say you follow me.

1:08:06So beautiful. So cinematic. And it takes you to another place. And it's something to do with the sound of the words. And the sound of your voice. And the choices that you're making. The structures never, the thing that happens next is never what you expect. Interesting. It's always taking you somewhere new. And there's this sense of discovery that keeps happening. And I guess that's what's happening in you when you're experiencing it. Totally. And we get to have that same experience. It never gets formalized into a regular song. Right. You know, it's like we get to experience your mystical experience.

1:08:52Yeah. It's awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much. It's just so powerful. Thank you. And it's nothing like it. Thank you. I love it. Thank you. I'm so happy you're doing it. Yeah, me too. I'm glad it happened. Yeah. At the time when you didn't think you had it anymore, I was really scary. I remember you made an album where you guys looked different, looked kind of more militaristic. Oh, yeah. And I remember it felt like the energy was different. It didn't feel like you were connected to the spirit. That's a fragile army. It was kind of birthed out of political climate where you're in the George Bush, the war and all that kind of stuff.

1:09:34It was kind of had that sense to it. Sense of urgency and angst to it in a bit. But at the same time, there's... Yeah, that record. There's a lot of great songs are kind of all over the place, you know, but they're completely different experiences. Some good songs on there, but it's just different. And you're right, it's not of that world. It's... Yeah, this is something different. This is a lot like beginning stages of, I think, as far as the feeling for me... Does it feel like a new start for you? It does. You know, like I was telling you, I've kind of discovered some melody in parts of things I've never experienced before, of feelings and...

1:10:23That feeling that you get with melody and song when it's coming through and all that. It felt new to me. And that was what kind of gave me the energy to like, oh, God, this is great. And now I've had something to reach for and grab onto. And yeah, and that's really... So fortunate.

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1:12:17When you said earlier, when you imagined BAM before it existed, you imagined a flute playing here or an orchestra here or a choir here. Where do you think those influences came from? Well, I think they came from what we were talking about earlier, the sunny kind of pop music that I gravitated to as a kid. The Roke Pop, I think it's old. And just kind of Walt Disney Storybook records. I had all those. I never heard those. There's like of the movies of Robin Hood or the Ristikats or Song of the South. Whenever I'd get sick enough figured this out like if I got sick, I'd get a record. But they would give you these in the pharmacy, they'd sell these records that have storybooks in them with records.

1:13:10So you would listen to the record and then follow the pages of the animated drawings or whatever they've got going on. And those songs were always had instrumentation like symphonic mixed with a little bit of guitar bass and drums, but really low, mainly symphonic. And so they would, you know, a rabbit, a rare rabbit hopping down the trail, you'd hear the flute. You could visualize this stuff. And as a kid hearing that, it gravitated and made a lot of sense to me. So I think the spree was totally pulled from that world mixed with that 70s FM pop that was happening at the time. What type of music do you listen to in general?

1:13:57I'm really weird listener. Like I've got this one song that I repeat constantly, but I'll just drive around for hours and it's just on repeat. And I stumbled on it. It's called a gap. It's from the Beal Street. I don't even know the artist. I can even tell you, but I just stumbled on this song and I listed it over and over. I listen to instrumental music, Percy Faith Motivani. I listen to elevator music. I really like that stuff. There's one song in particular that I, you know, some people who can hear this are going to laugh because they know that this song means a lot to me. But it's Ennio Maricone.

1:14:39It's called The Strong. And it's from the Good and the Bad and the Ugly. It's a very short piece of music. But I've probably listed that music, that song. And I'm being, you know, maybe a few thousand times I've heard this song. I just play it over and over and I'll listen to it for days. Can you play me the first song you mentioned? Yeah. Okay, it's from a movie called If Beal Street Could Talk. And it's by this guy, Nicholas Bertel. I just stumbled on it and I freaking love it.

1:16:09I just want to say something.

1:17:09I just want to say something.

1:17:39I just want to say something.

1:17:57Beautiful. Yeah. In the reason why I like it so much, I mean, because it sounds a lot like the Ennio Maricone track that I've just, this, that song, I got to play it for you. Please. It's a real short, small piece of music. But it's the same thing. This track resonates with me big time. And this a gait song, when I play this, you know, you're going to go and make sense why he likes that.

1:19:06You know, I just want to say something.

1:19:29You know, I just want to say something.

1:20:00You know, I just want to say something.

1:20:32You know, I just want to say something.

1:20:47Whatever reason, man, that song just kills me. I love it. I love it. It's a scene where Clint Eastwood and the Civil War is going on and all this carnage and stuff. And he's bald up and hit behind a rock or whatever while this is going hoping to get through this war. He realizes he wakes up and it's all done. There's no one around, just destruction and everyone, all the soldiers laid on the field. It's so, he's by himself. There's no one around. He's just looking at all this that's going on. That's why you hear the little kind of taps, trumpet kind of thing going on in the background. It's representing what soldiers saw at Army and all that.

1:21:31And the war at all. And he's like just looking at it and it's so quiet and so he's taking it in like what a waste. And then he finds this lone soldier that's hiding out in this bunker, leaned up against the wall and he's on his dying. And Clint leans down and gives him a drag off his cigar. And the guy takes the hit, drag off of it and smoke leaves and the guy dies right there and you're looking and it's like so beautiful. I just love that one scene but that song for whatever reason it just puts me there. So I would listen to this song just all day. I would leave for today, put it in and it would be on repeat.

1:22:20And that's kind of how I do music sometimes. Do you think if you hadn't seen that scene, the music would still have the impact on you? That's a good question. I don't know if it was... Is it bringing you back to the movie or is it something else? No, it's something else. I've made it my own. It's a place for me. There's a lot of sadness in that track but at the same time there's like this kind of lifted up part in it too. I get that in your music too. It's like that combination of like there's an ecstatic energy. And there's a real heaviness. Yeah. And that was what's kind of weird at the beginning of the spree was that people were getting this happy, clappy, surmising the band as that.

1:23:09But those songs and the lyrics are coming from a very different space. It's a very melancholy record. But what I was telling you like what we discovered as a group in the live setting in the community of playing the songs, there was this certain amount of zeal that came with it. And then it started to exude itself. And then it would have... You could take something that was so sad and it would... It would kind of almost be uplifting in a weird way. And all those songs kind of have that vibe to them. This is... You can kind of be there but there's also a transition of like, you know, morphing into what's coming and trying to get there, you know.

1:23:56And then once you get there, what that feeling's like, it's more of a treasure map if you will. This whole record of like being specific about how to get to this point. You have to be very specific. I think that might be a key to what your music does for me is that it comes from a place of heaviness but breaks through to this other level. And it's that yearning. Yeah. Yeah, man. I think that's it because thinking about it makes me cry. So it's probably true. No, man, it is. It's that what you've got to have, what I've got to have, you know. For me personally, yeah, I never even thought about it.

1:24:52You know, it's like when you're a band and you're doing your songs and you're... I'm folding these stuff out there and you don't realize but you don't really think about what it's going to do. You're thinking, are they going to like this? And you reach a point where you don't even care about that anymore. It's just kind of like, yeah, you wanted to like it but you don't really know what their experience of the record was going to be for them of the music. And then you find out through the process of playing live and speaking to people what it means to them and then you're doing interviews and you're talking about it and it's like, wait a minute.

1:25:26This stuff that I'm singing about for myself and what I need to have happened for me, some other people are feeling the same way too and they're getting that. I never even thought about that. That seems so naive to not think about that. I never thought about it either and I've been listening to you for 20 years. Yeah, I never thought about it. Yeah, you just kind of... I just know that the way it makes me feel is very powerful and I can't think of anything else that hits me in that particular way. That's great, man. And that's something that's discovered. It certainly wasn't the agenda. It's just kind of like I said, the toe goes in, it's like he's either there, it's not there and I'm able to...

1:26:13I'm Tim. Much more, it seems like more interesting on my music, my output of that than I am in real life. I'll listen to that. Kylie, you said that, where did that come from? It's like you kind of like, wow, even on my best day, I'm not able to articulate something like that. That's when you know it's coming from something, that's say mystical, but there isn't an element of that. Do you grow up with any kind of a spiritual background going to church or anything like that? Well, my grandfather was a preacher, it was church of Christ, very staunch kind of serious religion. And my mom was always searching for some sort of spirituality and she still does.

1:27:01I had to also wear the experiences of a kid, you know, when one point my mom was into this Baptist church in Dallas and she took me and... It was like, you want to get saved or whatever, you kind of buy into it because they would bring you in with this music. And this music was like, it was big part of the church, it's great bandwidth, it sounds like the spirit in a sense. But they would like, summons you to get you into the spirit and then they would kind of bring you down and you know, if you want to get saved or whatever. And it's like, yeah, let's do this and I'm a kid. And I remember going backstage and there was a room full of people like myself just sitting at these tables with these kind of guiding preachers that are in there and trying to get the Lord to speak through you.

1:27:51And you know, I had his hand on my head and real close to me and it's like, let the Lord speak through you. And I'm kind of just listening and I'm kind of weirded out by this. The whole thing, I was intimidated and weird but I am listening to some people like mumbling like tongues kind of stuff. So in order just to kind of get out of this situation, I started to kind of mimic that. And then he started to translate what I was saying and it just crushed me. I mean, that was like crushed me. I just looked at it as, this is a total scam, sham. And I was so, I was so young but I was soft through it and it was crushing.

1:28:37And I looked at my mom differently and how she saw religion. It was, it was devastating. I remember walking out there thinking I saw something, experienced something. I wasn't supposed to see. I felt bad that I knew this. I'm looking at this congregation filled with all these people and what they're doing. And it was rough. And so it's always been, spiritual, he's always been a kind of a question for me. And so I've found it in my own life and through my experiences of making music and through my experiences observing mother nature do its thing. And I find it in that. I've, you know, I've talked about this about, you know, the grass that grows up in concrete on the streets.

1:29:18It's like it's the worst possible environment. But yet there's grass growing there and breathing and living and not even thinking about that shit that's around it. I draw that or the tree that grows and absorbs the chain link fence that it happened to be buried by. And just absorbs it and owns it. But it still continues. That's where I started to get it from. And then I found it in my process of creating music and all that. So I'm finding my way, you know, and I found it like that. But it organized religion was about, and I hate it. And maybe it's fortunate that I found it so early age, you know, for me that what works for me, you know.

1:30:02I think it was another song you're going to play for me. Sure. This is the closing song on the album? Yeah, it's actually three parts that were written that I had to break them up into three different songs. But they're really kind of one piece. You're going to do it. Yeah. Okay, cool.

1:31:03Yeah.

1:31:31Yeah.

1:32:02Yeah.

1:32:31Yeah.

1:33:04Yeah.

1:33:44Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

1:33:58Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

1:34:08Yeah.

1:34:16Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

1:35:00This is the morning sun I built the stairs. Just the morning sun coming up. yeah.

1:35:24In the morning sun. I am awakened From all of the fire that's born in the sky In the morning sun, my dreams are saving The moments that found a part of my life So alive, so am I Yeah, yeah, in the morning sun, the trees are singing Oh, I'm in their sound, talking to clouds In the morning sun, we hang on the seasons Lift off is the final step to goodbye So alive, so alive, so alive So alive, so alive Yesterday finally moved me, I built stairs Tomorrow makes a thousand new reasons, I want to share The up and down, back and forth feelings gives me a ride Smiling at the goddess of evil, I learn to fly I learn to fly The more than I become a new reason, I want to try Yesterday finally moved me, I built stairs Tomorrow makes a thousand new reasons, I want to share The up and down, back and forth feelings gives me a ride Smiling at the goddess of evil, I learn to try Yesterday finally moved me, I built stairs Tomorrow makes a thousand new reasons, I want to share The up and down, back and forth feelings gives me a ride Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Beautiful, thank you This is the soundtrack for the wonder of the natural world Morning sun, I built the stairs, and that's a little nod to Eno Marconi with the opera voice of the gender for a job Which is one of my favorite parts of the whole record when she comes in, it's just like, yes, so good, I love it It's just like, mmmm Morning sun, I built the stairs such a beautiful, two beautiful phrases put together, so beautiful There's one song we had to, you know, in a while, but it plays through obviously on the record Another reason why I want people to hear this as a whole, it's an experience, it's totally meant to be heard as a whole And, um, so when you play it live, you'll play the whole Yeah, like we're playing...

1:41:26For album in order Yeah, like recently we've been playing like seven songs just to, but we're playing them from the top down The best we can, and then the idea is to play the whole record, it's 43 minutes and you know, moves to the neck It's so tough when you've got 20 years of music prior and you're coming out with a new record and you know, how do they balance and watch the stones do what they do There's no right way, you know, there really isn't any right way to what feels right If you do the show that you want to listen to and that you want to see, there's nothing better that you can do Right, yeah, no I know, you're right, it'll play out how it plays, you know, but there's something about this record that's just so special, you know I forget that For all of us, it's for me personally, it's...

1:42:30It's one of those things where I go, man, yeah, you know, my whole life, I've kind of feel like I've been waiting for this one to happen, you know We need this Yeah, we need this You You