Matt from Spoken Shares Stories and Surprises at Louder Than Life Festival

0:04 Hi, you're listening to Adventure on W4CY Radio. This is the Pipe Man here on the Adventure's Pipe Man W4CY Radio, and I'm here with. Matt Baird from the band Spoken. Nice, you're at louder than life. Slightly overwhelming. Huge. This place is enormous. I was like, hey, can I walk to media? They're like, no. No, that's not a good idea. I'm like, I don't know where I'm going. They're like, you'll get a ride. Nice. And now I see why. That's better, too, especially in the heat. Yeah.

0:45 It was like a four-mile cart ride or something like that. You were that far? It was all the way around all the festival grounds. Oh, wow. Man, I didn't even realize some of it was that far away. Four miles. Maybe an exaggeration, but I know I sat there awkwardly trying to talk to this guy in a cart for a long time. So I'm like, it's four miles. That's what we're going to say. There we go. Oh, sorry. I'm sure it is four miles. It's easily four miles. So how did this happen? How did this come about that you ended up getting invited to Louder Than Life? Something that started about, I would say, 20 years ago. Okay, so we did this show in Washington, D.C. The only time we've ever played downtown Washington, D.C. And there's this teenage kid was the promoter. And at the end of the show, we're standing on the sidewalk, and he's like, tell me what to do. Tell me what should I have done differently.

1:40 What did you like about the show? All this stuff. And we're just kind of hanging out, talking to this kid. And fast forward probably 12 years later, this same kid, who's no longer a kid, promoted a show for us and some other bands in Virginia. I'm like, this is crazy. And about four months ago, I got a message, a pretty long, detailed, because this person's very detail-oriented. Yeah. Hey, my name's. John Sykes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, louder than life festival. We had a cancellation. What is Spoken's plans during this time frame? We would love to have Spoken fill this spot, whatever. I'm like, I know that name. I know that name, whatever.

2:23 And then it just. It clicked that this teenager had grown up and now he's with Louder Than Life and every other festival in the world. So that's how this came about. Something that was a conversation on a sidewalk over. 20 years ago. That is wild. It is wild. And it's weird to even say it. Everybody grows up. You have no idea what someone's going to do a year from now, let alone two decades from now. You don't even think you're going to do anything two decades from now. You can't plan that far ahead. I can't plan tomorrow. I make plans. God is like, I don't think so. And then it's like everything that he has already set in motion kind of comes together. And to be here today is really crazy because I've been in a band for 30 years. And this is the most overwhelming situation I've been in. We've played some pretty big festivals, but this is a different world.

3:19 Yeah. And go back 20 years, music festivals in the U.S. weren't even nearly like this, especially for metal or rock. No. It was only Europe. Exactly. Only Europe, it would be that. And you would see pictures in magazines. You're like, no way, that's crazy. And.... To even be watching. Stuff over the past 10 years here in the U.S. and watching these festivals explode. And even this morning when I was coming in. seeing how early people were in line, thousands of people in line. And it solidified what I had seen on the news the other day, the first day of the festival, where there was a helicopter flying over, and it was showing crowds are starting to gather for the gates of Louder Than Life.

4:07 I'm like, what in the world? It was crazy. Right, right. It made it even more insane when I pulled up this morning and everyone's standing in line waiting for something that they love. Like, they love music. They love this community. They love being able to see new bands that they've never heard of before. They're meeting some guy that lives in the same city as them that they have the same interests. They're like, wait, wait, where do you work? Man, that's crazy. Oh, Spinelli's? I love eating there. That's my favorite place to eat pizza. You know, all this stuff. And it's, it's really cool to see. Yeah. And as somebody that's covered this festival and all the day women festivals from the beginning, what I've seen year after year, and I do the European festivals and the UK festivals and, Like, I know for a fact Wimera has gone over to, like, Hellfest to model things and bring proper festivals.

5:03 To the United States. Yeah, it's amazing. The word beautiful is what comes to mind. Someone had a conversation with me the other day, and I was telling them, as I said, this process of being confirmed for Louder Than Life... All of the follow-up and the consistency with everyone on the team. You're hearing from someone every day, making sure that details are in the proper place so that, one, the artist is not stressed out when they show up. But another, everyone who helps out with the event, they're not stressed out. I'm like, wow, this band didn't send in any kind of information. We have no idea what they're even driving. How are they getting here? When are they getting here?

5:43 I've truly never experienced something like it when it comes to consistency, planning, kindness. I'm sure I ask some really dumb questions. They're like, oh, yeah, no problem at all, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's been crazy. That's so important to me. I ask that question a lot. How do you as an artist get treated by Danny Wimmer? And it's the same answers like that. It's so important to me because I don't think people realize... how stressful it is for a band to do a festival more so than to just do their own concert or show. Yeah. Because you don't have your own people. You don't have your own sound people. Load in could be a nightmare.

6:25 Yeah. Sound check could be a nightmare. Like you said, the organization, like, Who else in this industry is that organized to have that kind of communication? Because that communication is key. Yeah. Like I said, we've been doing this. I've been touring for 30 years, and I've had the opportunity to play the worst situations 5,000 times. There's been a lot of them like, wow, that was actually kind of cool, right? That worked out. There's been some shows that were so much work to finally get figured out. You get everything in motion and then they cancel. Like there's this stuff. So there's that frustration or like, oh, what in the world? And so with being able to see this from the beginning as a 19-year-old trying to figure it out, like I have no idea what I'm doing. How do we do this?

7:13 We're trying to talk to people. We're trying to talk bands into letting us play a show with them. All this stuff. And so when you play all of the worst of the worst of the worst of the worst over and over again, then you'll play a lot of really cool things, and then there's more worse, and then they're all mixed in together. When you get an opportunity like this, you're kind of like, man, all that work that you did to just make a show possible, all the things that you learned through all that, when you get to something like this, you're like, cool, you just play. You just jump up and play. And then you hang out with people. And that's better for us because if you're not stressed out, if you have everything working properly and you can sit there and just have fun, then we have fun.

7:57 Yeah. We're not going to have fun if you're stressed out. And a lot of times, if an artist is stressed all day, they get on stage, they're stressed. They might be stressed with the guitar player. They might be stressed with the drummer. They're annoyed. They're annoyed at their tour manager. They're annoyed at whatever. There might be a little bit of feedback in their monitors driving them through the roof. And then they take it out on the audience. It's not the audience's fault. They're standing there. They made the effort. to spend their hard-earned money to be standing there in front of you, they're the most important person in the world at that moment. Like, you make it about them. Yeah. If you have a bad attitude, stay in the van. No doubt. Don't get out. And I've had to say that in the past. I'm like, hey. until you're kind of out of this mood just be here we're gonna go do our job we're gonna go hang out with people we're gonna go make sure the promoter knows how thankful we are that they let us play anybody that's helping push a guitar cab hey thank you very much the person that has to do with catering like hey i made you spaghetti i'm like i love spaghetti let's do it you know hey we got you some little caesar's hot and ready it's like i'm in let's go they've only been sitting here for.

8:59 Four hours because you guys are late i love it thank you I love it. None of us deserve to be in this situation. Right now, I don't deserve this cool breeze to be blowing through while I'm talking to you. I'm so grateful for it. It feels so good. I was thinking about that while you were talking. You're like, man, I wish you'd shut up, but I can enjoy this cool breeze. It feels so good. Like, so I just, none of us, none of us deserve any of this. And to be able to be here in any capacity. It's awesome. Because these people will never forget it. Yeah. Whether they're helping pick up trash, whether they're shuttling people around, whether they're helping move gear, they'll never forget it. And therefore, it's important for whoever they're working with, the artist, the tour manager, whoever it is, treat them with kindness.

9:40 Treat them with respect. Yeah. Just be nice. Man, we get to be here today at the biggest festival that most of us have ever even thought about looking at. Right. And I love that you say that because... That's so me. Like, I see a lot of people that maybe media, maybe something else. Giving security a hard time. Like, you're an idiot. That's what I say. Because, like, the security, I always am, like, super nice to them going my way. They hold the keys to the kingdom. They're sitting out there in the sun with no shades. No water, no food to make it possible for all of us.

10:20 Yeah, totally. I had a conversation last night with someone. Because in between spoken shows and spoken tours, I travel as a solo acoustic artist. And so I have some really cool opportunities to be able to just sit with people much like this. A lot more so than it's full band. It's go, go, go, go, go. It's load up. It's get something to eat, get done, hang out, go. So it's much more of a, hey, I'm coming to your house. We're going to sit down and have a meal together type thing. And so last night, just talking, I'm like, hey, I'm so excited to get there. And make sure that I have my wife in my mind the whole time. Because wherever she goes, whoever's there, they're the most important person in the room. And I'm like, okay, I have this Tiffany mindset.

11:03 I'm like, get there. Make sure that you say hello to. Every person that you have the opportunity to make eye contact with. It doesn't matter who you are. You're nobody. You're just whatever. They're important. They matter. Because this would not happen without them. And, like, it's... I don't know. I just... I'm very grateful, again, to be able to be here, and it's really cool. And we haven't played yet. I want to do a good job there, too. You know what I mean? I want to be able to get up there and play well, sing well, hang out, and be available until everyone's like, hey, I'm leaving. I'm tired of you talking to me. There you go. Well, I love that, and I love your passion about everything. And to go back to something you said in the beginning, also so important throughout your life, You never know at what point in your life who you're talking to. So just have kindness always because you never know when 20 years later that may show up. And like even me, I'm sitting with you here today because I used to go to this, when I was a teenager, this record store in the valley in L.A., Oz Records. And there was a record store clerk there that used to show me all this different music and shows to go to.

12:16 And that's Brian Slagle. I love it. You know, like, who would imagine? They cultivated that interest that you had. It turned into a desire. They walked with you. They mentored you. Whatever it is, whatever title you want to put on it, like, hey, they showed me the ropes. They showed me why to love this stuff. And, like, when you look at music and how it affects everyone at different moments, like, there's a different chapter in your life. You need a different band, a different set of songs that are going to help. You through that. No doubt. Like, it's always these chapters and seasons. And so often we're like, man, I'm ready for this season to be over. This is tough. Like I, but then you have those moments. My wife calls them glimmers of hope. You know, you're like, Oh, I needed to hear that song today. You know, like I needed that conversation today.

13:01 I needed that moment. And it's what has brought us to right here, right now. And what are we going to do with it? And spoken at louder than life. Yes. Thanks a lot for being here. Do you have any other final words you want to let the listeners know to look out for or anything we didn't cover already? I just thank you for the opportunity because you reached out to me on an email. I'm like, wait, who's this? This is awesome. And then it's like trying to figure out when we could do it, how to make it happen, whatever. You took the time. You made the effort. This is because of you doing that. So thank you. I truly appreciate it. Well, thank you for that. And for me, it's like, Every part of this wheel is an important part of the wheel, no matter what. So you are definitely an important part of the wheel here on the Adventures of Pipe Man.

13:54 Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man on W4CY Radio.