Code Orange at Louder Than Life: Earshot’s Will Martin Shares on Passion, Performance & Letting Go

0:04 Hey, you're listening to The Adventure on W4CY Radio. This is Pipe Man here on The Adventure's Pipe Man W4CY Radio, and I'm here with. Will Martin from Earshot. Nice. With the Pipe Man again. My favorite. I know. My favorite, too. Like, at first... I didn't request because we just talked and then Maria called me and I'm like, sure, okay. I like doing them. I just didn't want to double dip. But let's double dip. Why not? Right?

0:44 Double the pleasure. And what the hell is this? We're in code orange now. We're going to be in code red. Did you do this? Oh, you know, so we were originally slated to play at 2 o'clock when we got booked on this festival. Then, a week ago, they moved us up to 3.30. Yeah. And then we got here today, and then they had the code red. And then we played at 6.30. So, I don't know. It's working for us. For us. For you, yeah. Because... We had an interview earlier because of your set. I was evacuated. Yep. And I'm like, oh, I wonder if this is going to happen. Like, oh, well, their time socket changed, so be whenever after. I'm like, okay, I'll stick around. I don't care. I'll stay all night.

1:32 Now, after this interview with me, all bets are off. They might shut the whole thing down. Exactly. Right. Exactly. I love your shirt, too, because it's been a long time since I went there, man. So a buddy of mine, a good friend of mine, saw this shirt, because we joke around. I was watching the decline of the Western Civilization Part II. Right. That was my life. Come on, everybody. Odin. That was my life. That's like home movies when I watched that shit. And my favorite line from Bill Guzzari was, they're not foxy, they don't play my stage. Yep, yep. Oh, my God. So me and my friend joke about that line all the time. So he saw this shirt online and he... He just sent it to me a few days ago.

2:13 That's badass, man. Those were the days. You know, I only went to Gazzari's, I think, twice before he passed away and they shut it down. Yeah. But awesome venue. I used to be at all those venues back in the 80s. And I think about it because I used to go into the rainbow at 13 years old. 13 years old. I'm like. I was there at 15, 16, so I'm with you. And I'm thinking. Maybe I saw you there. We might have been hanging out. We might have been competing for the same girls, maybe. Exactly. The overflow of crew and Ron Jeremy and Lemmy's, the ones they didn't take. Right. And I think about it now when I go by the Rainbow, I'm like, man, how did I ever get in there at 13? Oh, that's right. I walked in with Motley Crue to go hang out with Lemmy and Ron Jeremy. And it was like, 13-year-old boy, I'll take their overflow, what they can't handle.

3:05 Even their overflow was hot. Yeah, it's true. It was happening back then. Thank God we didn't have social media. Well, when I try to explain to people that weren't able to experience that, You almost can't put it into words, can you? Like, you can't. Like, it was just a whole different community. And if you remember the Sunset Strip in the 80s, you weren't really there. Yeah. Yeah. And there are definitely parts that probably I think I remember but don't remember. And I remember when the 90s took over. Right. When Grunge entered and, I don't know, it got a little funner, I think. See, I left and went to college in... In New Jersey during, and so I wasn't there for the 90s.

3:46 That explains why the uptick in more girlfriends that I had probably went away. Exactly. Now it's all making sense. I'm glad I did this interview today. Meanwhile, today I was hanging out with Josh and he was showing, you know, Mia Strauss' husband. Yeah, yeah. Josh, yeah, I saw him earlier. And instead of Us back here partying. He's showing me pictures of his new baby, Anita, and all that. I'm like, times sure have changed. Yeah, yeah. Boy, these kids missed out. But thank God we had no proof. No internet, no social media. I don't want anybody knowing what I really did.

4:28 Well, and you had to go out and live life. Exactly. You had to go out and live life. And that's why I'm here today. Listen. I grew up in Jersey, 1980, 12 years old. My dad says, meet your new mother. We're moving to California in three days. I was pissed. Little did I know that was the best thing to ever happen to me. We wouldn't be talking right now if that didn't happen. Everything happens for a reason, they say. It's true. It's true. Just like we're still here. The longest Code Orange ever. Christine just told me that. The longest Code Orange ever. Usually it's Code Orange, Code Red. Again, it's because you're here. This interview is meant to be.

5:09 I think so. So now, after all this, and after Wetter Than Life, what's your shot doing next? So we have about a three-week run of shows. Clubs, small clubs. We just put out a new single called Love Left. And so we're out, you know, promoting that. Nice. And there wasn't really any tours available for us to jump out on. So we weren't really planning on doing any headline runs at this point. But it was either that or sit at home and let the single just kind of die out on the vine. Yeah, yeah. So I don't know how it's going to turn out.

5:50 You know, I think it's a little early for us to be out headlining. But, hey, life's a gamble. But you know what, though? I think you're going to have a lot of fun because, like, Sometimes it's fun to go back to those club shows. Oh, no, I love the club shows. The problem is that if you're not ready to get out there, the awareness of us touring, I don't know if it's at a level yet where people are going to buy tickets because they don't know we're back out yet. So when that happens, it becomes an expensive thing. proposition to tour if attendance is a little light. We'll see what happens. We have fun playing music anyways. We'll make the best of it.

6:32 That's all that matters. If you're not having fun doing that part, this is the wrong industry because there's a lot of not fun. You might as well have fun creating and playing music. My good friend Johnny K once said, You have to love making music more than you hate the music business. Totally. Totally. Two words. It's like even with what I do. I love music so much. I love this festival so much that I put up with all the bullshit. I put up with no sleep. I put up with 100-degree weather. And I put up with evacuations and. Lightning.

7:12 19-hour days. Yeah. You know? And long drives. Exactly. Hotels. I had two hours sleep last night. Yeah. Doing interviews all day. catching a little Maiden, catching a little Pantera, catching a little Megadeth, and then spending all night getting my interviews ready to get edited by my engineer. And people don't realize what you go through and what anybody goes through to make this happen for them to enjoy these festivals or shows or anything like it. You know, that's really the best part of playing shows for us is to see people light up. When they hear a song that they love that we play and just see them get so excited to hear it and sing along. It's not the vanity of it. Like, oh, people are singing my song. It's literally the excitement.

8:06 It's the wow. Like, holy shit, how do they know my song and the lyrics? Yeah, and just happy to play them something that they're wanting to hear. And watching them just release a bunch of shit. And forget about everything that's happening in life. Which is why music is more important than ever now. Because I have no clue right now what bullshit's happening in the world. And I don't care. And that's the problem today. People have too much access to that. And that's why they're all anxiety ridden, stressed out. Like, turn the shit off. Go to a show. And you know what? The world will still be there.

8:46 It ain't going anywhere. Who cares? But the world will still be here. Exactly, you know? And listen, it's the best therapy there is for you, the artist, because it's cathartic to get that stuff out of your system. I was just talking about this earlier with the Butcher Babies that it's like it's much harder to talk about the things that bother you than to sing about it. Yeah. That's true. It almost takes the realness away in a sense. And then you have these people out there that are your family, your rock family out there that are joining in on you with the therapy because they're on the other side.

9:28 And your words, whether it means the same to them as you, doesn't matter. It means something to them, changes their life, and allows them to escape the worst parts of this world and life. And that's the beauty of music. That's what it's all about. And, yeah, like I said, just, you know, watching people light up and get so excited to hear a song is just such a cool thing and an honor. Best feeling in the world, too, I'm sure. It's a great feeling. You know, because artists are also their own worst critic. Yeah. So, when you create it. Yeah, no, I, you know, like, for example, today, like, I got so excited seeing people's excitement, you know, to the songs. I went a little extra hard in the paint and toward the end started to lose my voice, which usually doesn't happen.

10:16 Right. But I was just so, like, excited and And I just wanted to give people their money's worth, their experience. You know what I mean? I know what it's like to go and see a band that you like or love. And you want to feel that. You know what you feel. You want to see it mirrored back to you in a way. So no, I love it. That's my favorite part of playing shows is people. And that's what I love about you and Earshot because... Not all bands are like that. Not all bands get the juice off of it. Some of them go through the motions. Some of them just play the music. They don't really perform the music. And I think that's what live music is about. It's the performance, the entertainment, the putting on a show... And the interaction and the connection between you and the audience.

11:10 That's it. That's what it's all about. I mean, if you're not doing that, what are we doing here? Exactly. Now, if you had to do all over again before you even started this whole musical journey, would you still do it? Still be doing it. And that's the thing. Like, you know, someone asked me today, that was a longtime Earshot fan, and they were telling me, like, man, so glad you guys are back. Like, and. One guy asked, he said, so what made you decide to jump back into it again? And I said, well, it's what I do. Exactly. It's in your blood. Yeah. It's just what I do. And that's what makes you a true artist, in my opinion. Because you do it for the love of it and no other reason.

11:55 I don't. You know, I've done a lot of work over the years. Like, I don't do it for validation. I don't give a shit about that. I don't need anybody to tell me I'm good. You don't need it anymore. I don't need to hear it. I just really love, you know, giving back to people and helping people if I can in some way, you know. Not that I can save the world, but, you know, if I can help make someone's day a little better or give some insight. That's what counts. That's what it's all about. And you know what? That's another thing too. When you get to this stage of life, you do have that thought process. Like when you're a kid, teenager. you're out there to impress your friends and, you know, look good and all that. Then you become a young adult and you want to impress bosses or people you work with, your parents and all these other people. And then you get to our stage and like, you don't have to prove shit to anybody and you don't care about who else you impress except yourself.

12:55 Yeah. I, you know, I mean, I know plenty of people that have done it for all those reasons you mentioned and I never did it for those reasons. Good for you. It's a byproduct, for sure. But even if none of that existed, I wouldn't care. I would still be doing what I do. I just love what I do. I love creating. I love writing. The art of it. There's no words for me to explain, really, other than that. And no matter what anybody does in life, if you wake up in the morning and you love what you do, it's not a job. If somebody doesn't like my music, I'm okay with that. Genuinely. I understand that everybody's going to love or like what I do. I know there's people that are going to hate it. I'm okay with that, too.

13:39 You can't please everybody. Except yourself. Yeah. I always say, if you please yourself as an artist, you'll get your try. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's why I'm blessed and honored that the music that we create and that I help write is able to reach people, you know, in a way that not a lot of other music does. And we both know there's a lot of music out there. Absolutely. And it's rare for songs to come along that stick with you. Yeah, totally. That means something to you that you can apply to your life in a really meaningful way.

14:21 No doubt. And, you know, a lot of that just comes down to being vulnerable, you know, as an artist and as a creator. And I think that's what people relate to when they hear it and they feel it. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. And that's why, in my opinion, you're one of my favorite artists. Oh, thank you. Because you love it so much, and you do it for the love of music and the love of helping people and nothing else. 1,000%. So thank you for being at Louder Than Life, bringing this storm to life. We are a storm of sorts. Exactly. But it's really the storm of earshot because the storm...

15:02 We weathered the storm and did the interview. We're going to be okay. You know, earlier, so we got here, and we had to take a shuttle from the stage we were at to here, and I laid my phone down on the table, and the shuttle came, and it wasn't until I got here and sat down in catering that I realized I left my phone. So my friend was calling it nothing, nothing, and, you know, 20 years ago, My hair would have lit on fire. I would have rushed out, been in a bad mood, pissy, and then probably not found it. And then I would have not eaten or had a phone. Yeah. But today, I just went, there's nothing I can do about this right now. I need to eat. I need to go do some things. And nobody's going to die. And in the worst case, I'll just have to scrape up another $ 1, 200 to buy a new phone and life will go on And as I left to go back, literally okay with that.

16:07 As I went to go back, I got a phone call from someone over here that said, we have your phone. Someone just brought it in. Wow. Unbelievable. Humanity. There's still humanity in the world. There's humanity. That's what I get from that. And also, me getting upset wasn't going to bring the phone back. Exactly. Exactly. Roll with it. I always talk about people spend so much time worrying about things that may or may not ever happen. And see, you got to eat, you got to do some things, you got to chill out, and you got your phone. And it doesn't always work out that way, but I was genuinely okay if I hadn't found it again. I love that. I made peace with it. It is what it is. What do I got to do?

16:55 There you go. Yeah, man. I mean, listen, if I thought... I heard a really good quote, and it's blanking on me who said it, but they said, if me worrying would end world hunger, I'd gladly worry. If me feeling bad enough to have world peace, I'd happily feel bad to bring world peace. But the truth is, it doesn't work that way. No. It's not going to change it. No, not at all. Why do it? Exactly. Easier said than done. It takes practice. It does. It takes work. But you know what? Let go and go to live music. We're here at a great festival. Awesome festival. Just like at Incarceration, I'm really impressed with the community of people.

17:45 That's been built in both places. It's amazing. Could you have imagined that back in the 80s? I don't imagine this happening back in the 80s. I didn't even want to listen to music that went on the radio at that time. And here we are, 100,000 of our closest friends. There we are. Our big family. 100%. And you're a part of it. And you're part of my family. We're a part of it. Yes, sir. And thank you for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Dude, always, always, always. Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pikeman on W4CY Radio.