Lessons

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Segment 2 - "We'll Pick Up Where We Left Off"

We're going to hear another song for the man, but just a reminder that we can take questions from you folks, which means you don't listen to me speak better, but also weaken take questions online, so when we come back let's, see if anybody in the room wants to ask the van in question and mark, would you do us the favor and let us know a little bit about the roots of this song? Yes, yes, absolutely. So the first thing you heard was piece, the one you're about to hear is called will pick up where we left off. Both of these songs were written in a basement in nashville in much of the same type of situation. We wrote our very first songs in the basement on dh when we were sitting on the couch. I remember, um, writing this song with one thing in mind, and it became the entire envelope, the entire album with a feeling an emotion of the weekend of thanksgiving, when everybody returns home and you go to depending on the age group. But you go to someone's house basement, probably, and you're ha...

nging out right? Drink, sir, are happening. People are out on the deck doing what they do in the deck, everybody's doing their thing, but there's a level of comfort there and the people that are there aren't the ones that going hey, man, why don't you text me back and why didn't you call me? Where have you been? Like we have no time for that. I just want to be around people that don't ask me where I've been it's just picks right back up like we all know those people, right? You have those certain awesome, amazing people who you can wait five years and you see them and there's, no catching up, no explanation. You just pick right back up. So that was a wonderful feeling. We wanted to capture that at the time we were trying to talk about. Well, we have friends who have come home from, you know, afghanistan, iraq a time when we were coming up, you know, friends of ours were in korea, they were all over the world, they were coming home and you could pick right back up with and we thought that we have parties when they left, when it came back. Well, then it started making more sense. Well, people go away to college, and then they come back, so this party was set. It was that thanksgiving weekend, then became the emotion in the entire album, and this is what it's called we'll pick up where we left off somewhere party tears tonight it's more than just hanging now we're making every second count a lot is good letting go I don't mean to that is show I was fine until I saw your suitcase by the door wait fill my glass handsome miles cameras flash like tomorrow just another day and never have to go wait along it wait telling stories making jokes no gonna miss you most time we'll bring you back to me like I never skip skid be singing way that's the way our tell you you know, I've been doing this for a long time and I know a good song when I hear one but when you were writing that when did you know that was going to be a good song? I don't want to sound like a butt head butt all right? So for both those songs we'll pick up where we left off and peace same element, same room um after piece was written I felt like three years of you know, everything lifted off my shoulders like pain all the all those things and then when we did this song next it was joy. It was pure joy, so when we're finished writing it, I mean we all looked at each other in that room and we said we're going to be playing this for a long time and it's a song we can hang our hat on and that's, the thing with this song is that I just want to play it for a long time and I love it so I kind of knew something was there well, we're gonna bring a friend of years in our bass player benj ladies and gentlemen could not find a place one of the things that's special about today thanks to our friends that created live is that for all of those online who are, uh, paying to view this, all of that money goes to the band's foundation, her the world and binge drives a lot of that charity and a lot of the philanthropic, philanthropic, philanthropic um parts of the band so like him just to really quick give you a brief overview what they do well, we all contribute a lot to this it's something we're all part of so heard the world it basically takes a dollar from every ticket we sell concerts and this is a special thing going too, but it focuses on youth and education programs over the years, you know, we've we've found it a ton of them I mean there's so many out there and been lucky to just kind of associate and help with so many different organizations and, you know, in the country and abroad to that's it in a nutshell awesome, I'd like to have you have you guys address um how fear how being scared plays a role if any in the creative process well there's a couple different types of fear I think when you're when you're writing songs and I think one of them doesn't matter which is the fear of what anyone like this and that doesn't matter once I had kids I really understood that when I kept telling him you know, you just be you be yourself don't don't you worry about anything you know my kid goes to school and rain boots the cape and like a fireman hat you know, face pain I don't care you know? So he sure as hell doesn't care what other people think and that's really something I wanted give him but that's important in music, right? So that fear needs to go right out the door. The other fear though, is the fear of like being being open and honest and since we began this band I mean, I remember doing shows closing my eyes when they begin when they started and opening when it was over and it was two hours of just emoting on dh just being just getting it out, getting it out, getting it out and there's a fear there of being exposed, you know, exposing yourself maybe weaknesses and how tired you are and how you know you're you're losing your voice, you can barely talk but you know should be afraid teo mode in front of all these people I don't even know that's a fear that is a driver, right? So some people coil, some people get so scared they start telling stories like shit, they don't even stuff they don't even know about and start making so nonsense on this, which is totally fine because that's entertainment that's awesome but that's not the business we're in we're in the business of you know, they're a pew tickly writing songs, so because we can't help it, we love to do this, so the fear of being exposed needs to be kind of harnessed and that's what we've we've done, we've learned from bands and people like, you know, bruce springsteen is out there giving it all crying when he has to doing what she got to do to get it out because if I bottle this stuff up, I mean, I'm a wreck as is if I brought it up, I mean nobody's safe, you know? So I use the fear to my advantage. Jerry, talk about what you've seen, how mark in your opinion has evolved as a songwriter from the way he wrote a song in the early days to now and some of the experiences that you've seen with him working with guys like nathan chapman great wattenberg absolutely I mean it's been in I mean that's what people connect to the most is the stories, the songs, the lyrics and things like that it's funny people come up to me after the show hey did great job, the great sex. A lot of people don't leave shows go on him in the sex unprotected editor. Now they they connect with lyrics and they connect with the songs, and if that didn't exist in that connection didn't exist, we would be up on this stage earlier on, I think mark was telling the stories and the experiences that he had the people around him had, and his close knit circle, and there was characters used a lot because there wasn't a lot of life experience. We were fifteen, sixteen years old, a lot of the concepts that the band talked about, it would be hard to really had that experience it now going through life and things like that, the center is still the same. The core is still the same mark writes about what happens in his life, his family's life, his inner circle and things, and through those experiences he's able to tap into some very universal of emotions and themes that that that connect with people in a big way, uh, piece is a great example, it's not necessarily peace in the world, but that just finding your piece. In this world hitting that restart and getting a second chance that things and I think that's probably the biggest evolution of the writing is it's less about third person it's mohr first person narrative uh but the central universal themes of the same all right, I think I'm gonna give you guys a treat let's see when you start a band fight in this studio chris what do you think the worst song mark of a road is wow um it's probably not one you guys have ever heard to be honest, what I love so much about this group is that, uh we really are a band and everyone has a voice and can speak up and while I might not be a guy who sits there with the guitar and come up with the court and I might not sit there with a pen and paper and come on the lyrics I definitely have a voice when mark bring stuff table and there's been plenty of times when I just haven't been a fan and it's not because it's not that I'm tryingto hurt him they're trying to disrupt the creative process is just because we all want the best possible music out there so there are songs that haven't even got a name yet or not even had really lyrics yet really this is better point I are another point ok, well here's a perfect example er sometimes our opinions totally skewed, like like just like anyone else, what? Um I'm not necessarily a fan of the way we recorded a song called daylight the dog, and we have since then changed it to do what we d'oh live a completely not a completely different it's not night and day different, but it's a different version and it's one that for me works and when that song comes up on the set list, I have no problems that diplomatic enough. I called you out, but you're not calling me out. This is this is a great point because this is another thing back to the song writing it so it's all relative, so if you if you're in a room with songwriters, right? If me and him are sitting here or nathan's there who? Nathan chapman, someone who we worked with for peace and we'll pick up where we left off in some other songs on just friends and stuff, but if you're in a room with writers and you can't handle someone going, I hate that you need to get out of that room with writers. I mean, honestly, if you can't take it, because then all you're going to be trying to offer up his stuff like god, I hope nathan really likes this one and then you've just lost it so I mean, listen, we've had yes thomas the songs you don't like five minutes before you guys got here we were talking about a plate like this don't play like this play if you take it personally there's the door because like you got to toughen up I mean, look this this music business is like, you know, it will tear you down you know, it's a wonderful business it has all the perks and all the great stuff about being able to pretend you're eighteen and you're in a band for the rest of your life is great you don't have thick skin and you got to be able take it and that because every day someone will say something to you even a fan will come up to him go I love uh your old stuff and your new stuff sucks and you're supposed to go thanks so much, man, I love your hat, but I like your socks, you know? So anyway that's it it's a great point mark, we actually have some questions coming in from online now a reminder for everybody out there. You can click the button below the video window to join our chat room. If you have questions for o a r if you're on twitter, use the hashtag o a r live and we'll be monitoring that for the rest of the performance, so keep those questions coming. We got one that came in from the chat room. This is from right on time thirty one and they say, how tough was the song selection process for this album that's coming out? Did you have a lot of difficulties selecting the final songs for the album? Absolutely not. We did, we didn't have a tough time. This this process was a year long, so piece was written in january of two thousand thirteen, and then along the way, we created twelve songs. We knew we were going to record twelve songs, we had a lot of demos flying around hundreds of demos and ideas and all these things flying around, but we committed to songs we committed to creating an album that made sense that was a a snapshot of our lives in our time, so it wasn't difficult to select them at all times. It was rise of the time in parts and everything I mean, like I think, if there's one thing that the band's really good at is the diplomacy and just the democratic, a selection of songs of when the song's good it's good and it gets done when I mean, if it's not good it's not, and it gets it goes on the shelf and we wait yeah, and I know that his follow up will probably be well, why didn't you record this old song, this old song? Because I think a lot goes in a lot more goes into record writing, arranging, producing, editing, mixing, mastering so it's a really big commitment. Um, and we choose the songs because we're going to be in the studio x amount of days, we'll get drums and they were going to do this. We're going to this? Oh, yes, so we can't just record everything we'd love to, but we choose songs because we know we're going to follow through with them aa lot of bands do have the money to sit around a record thirty five songs that's awesome! We're not one of those bands. We got money to make twelve songs that's what we're gonna do, we do have a follow up question similar along lines of the hits that you mentioned, like playing those old songs. This question comes from alex glass, and they say as a band who's known for their live shows when you're playing live, would you prefer playing the old hits everyone loves or showcasing the brand new songs? I know today we're playing a lot of new songs, but love to hear your opinion on that it's it's really is a blend like I'm excited to play new stuff because it's unfamiliar in those unfamiliar waters are kind of fun you can discover kind of little bit some new stuff and you know it, the clay's, you know, I mean, the forms there, but you could do a little bit of touch up and stuff, and I enjoy that part of it. I enjoy trying stuff out live to see what works and what doesn't but also nothing beats someone, you know, sit in the front row and you going on and they go, yes, on they get really excited about it and like to be able to provide that to somebody is probably as therapeutic as is receiving absolutely, I mean, we love bill, we love the old stop, we love it probably more than anybody else. I mean, someone asked me that what's your favorite song to play, I'm like that was a crazy game of poker is my favorite song to play and it's one of the first songs we ever had, I mean and it's still my favorite to play, so I love it. I love testing new songs because it's sink or swim piece worked from day one red rocks, it worked, write some songs, don't work, you play that thing and it's quick it's, and you're like somebody impact to the trial court