Otherwise Returns to Louder Than Life and Embraces Independence in the New Era

0:04 Hey, 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. Adrian Patrick from Otherwise. And Ryan Patrick from Otherwise. Nice. Good to see you, man. Good to see you. And fucking louder than life, man. I know, dude. Twelve years later. We played the very first one ever. And now we're back, dude. I think I probably interviewed you at that one. That might be one of the ones I've interviewed you at.

0:46 Yeah, yeah. You know? Damn good time. I know. Wild, right? It's been 12 years. 12 years, man. My oldest boy, my firstborn, he was a week old. Wow. And now he's about to turn 12. So wild. It goes quick, too, when you have kids, right? Oh, my gosh. It's like one minute, you're thinking, oh. It's going to be a long time before they're older. Next thing you know, they don't want to hang out with you anymore. Yeah, he doesn't want to hang out with me anymore. He's got all his buddies, and they're always online. Dad, I'm busy. I'm doing something. I'm like, you're not doing anything. Come hang out. Now, is he into music?

1:26 You know, it's funny. I didn't try to force it on him. My brother's tried. He's shown him some things. uh, you know, ukulele, but I mean the, both kids, they can, both my boys can just like play the piano and I never taught them the piano. Wow. Yeah. They can just play it. It's, it's, that's, yeah, that shows that whole genetic makeup thing. Well, I can't even play the piano. So where'd you get that from? I know. Right. Like where, maybe somebody in your family did, or it just like transferred through the generations from other instruments to that. Right. Yeah. Right. So, What's it feel like to be here 12 years later at Louder Than Life? Feels pretty good.

2:12 No, it's exciting, man. It's redemption. We haven't... Like you said, 12 years is a long time, so, you know, we've definitely wanted to come back, and it's worked. Out that we're here, so we're ready to rock, man. Big bourbon stage. Five o'clock. I love that. Five o'clock, 5 p.m. on the big bourbon stage, man. I actually really love that stage. That stage is amazing. You know, when I saw, you know, the offer, you know, I was like, oh, okay, we're going to be playing on one of those... Side stage is basically a drum riser. Right. But that's a legit... It's a legit stage. It's beautiful. And it gets packed in there. Yeah. And the time you're playing is like a perfect time. I know, man. We're very blessed. It's even more righteous for us now because we're newly independent again.

3:00 Nice. No record label, no management, no booking agents. The only person on our team is our lawyer, our entertainment lawyer. And he's yours. And he's ours. That's the point, right? You know? Yeah, exactly. You have control, creative, artistic control, which with all those other things, sometimes bands do not. Oh, man. Most of the time. So many times, it was like too many cooks in the kitchen, you know, too many chiefs in the village kind of a thing. And now it's just, you know, my brother and I are just, it's liberating. It's also a little bit, I would say, I don't know. Not that we're scared, but we haven't been independent artists since we were both kids.

3:44 Right. It's almost like you've never done it before because you were kids. Right, exactly. And when we were kids, we didn't know what the hell we were doing. Right. But now we've been through the ringer multiple times, and hopefully with my brother, he's got his... his 5013c life by music we're hoping to like pass that the knowledge on to the next generation you know i love that younger kids you know i'm like hey It's the same thing I tell my sons. Look, whatever you're thinking about doing or whatever you're thinking about, I've probably already thought about and done it. So just talk to me.

4:25 But they never listen. It isn't until now that I think of some of the things my dad said, I'm like, oh yeah, he was right. The old man was right. The old pipe man was right. I know, like, fuck me. I want to hear about your organization. Yeah, man. That's more important. Yeah, no, no, no. It's kind of, it blossomed from, you know, the ashes of all the crazy things we've been through. Yeah. And, you know, our mission is to get instruments and music resources to at-risk youth and veterans. So we put together instrument drives and music courses, and we teach veterans how to write songs. And to date, we've donated over 800 guitars. We created a ukulele and guitar magic, which we take to young kids, like first through third grade.

5:17 We've reached a couple thousand kids doing that. And we've worked with a couple hundred veterans also. So it's all about spreading the power of music in a positive, educational kind of way. And I love that because... Like, thank God you're doing this at a time where they keep taking art out of school. Oh, yeah. Like, what the fuck? Less funding, yeah. You need that well-rounded thing. It can't just be algebra. Like, you have to have arts. Like, I remember I went to school. I did wood shop class, metal shop class. I don't even think they have that anymore. Auto shop. Yeah.

5:58 I was at Agora High, and we actually literally had a mechanics garage on campus there. You know? And that's how I was able to drive around because... I couldn't have somebody else fix the car. I didn't have any fucking money. So I could fix shit myself. But if I didn't have that, I wouldn't be able to do that. Like the good old days of a screwdriver to the starter or pouring some gas in the car and shit like that. You could do stuff like that. Nowadays, even with cars, man. You can't even find the dipstick half the time. Right, exactly.

6:38 One of our tenets is making sure the instruments are in the hands. Feel the vibration of the guitar when you're playing. It doesn't matter the notes, whatever. There's many different ways to play the same chord. There's no right or wrong way. Just get the vibrations going. Feel it in your hands. It's visceral, and that makes the connection. Speaking of, like, right or wrong way, perfect example of that would be Black Sabbath. We wouldn't have metal today if it weren't for him having to figure out a different way to play. Yeah, yeah. So true. Like my brother said, there's no right or wrong. It's inspiring to instill that in kids and veterans. A lot of these kids have been through a lot of shit.

7:26 You know, and obviously the veterans have been through a lot of shit. No doubt. You know, and so to sit there with them. And, you know, my brother and I, we found ourselves, you know, we fought and clawed our way to be in a position. to use that knowledge and experience to try and, you know, again, inspire other people, you know? Yeah. And now that we're independent again and Life by Music. Has really literally... We used to say it like as a thing. Oh, dude, we're living a life by music, you know? Me too. That's like what I'm thinking the whole time. I'm like, my life is by music. Yeah, right, exactly. And to be able to get ourselves into a position now where... Yeah, we got the gold record.

8:11 We got hundreds of millions of streams. All that shit. But this is what... This organization now is... It's so much more rewarding than just like being. A rock star. You know what I mean? And music's the best therapy. And so the target markets you're with, at-risk youth and veterans, they need that most of all. And they're not getting that. Right. You know? And... Listen, there's a reason they say music calms the savage beast. You know? Two examples of that right here. Right? And for me, like, the mosh pit has saved a lot of people on the outside from me kicking their ass.

8:54 There. You know? Get it all out in the pit. Yep. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So speaking of stuff like that, okay, as siblings, how the hell do you play in a band together? Because I would never play in a band with my siblings. I probably would kill them. Yeah. Well, I've been very blessed. My younger brother is, you know, he's a better man than I am. I'm the one with kids, and he's more responsible than I am. You know, so it's a beautiful thing. Again, it's family, it's love, it's blood and sweat and tears, you know, like it's... it's a righteous thing. I'm, I'm, I'm so, I'm so blessed. You know, like our cousin is here, you know, kind of like acting like our tour manager right now.

9:38 Nice. You know, so it's like, we're keeping this, we're keeping it in the family, but we have this extended family through life by music and through otherwise, through the band, through the songs, the message, you. Know, like we're not up there. Bullshit, man. You know, when, when we're on. Stage, like what we're singing about, those aren't, we didn't just fucking write some stories like we're we lived it you know we're living it now you know so we're hoping that authenticity comes through you know obviously the people are going to be in front of us today at the bourbon stage bourbon bar stage um but the kids and the veterans and anyone who wants to look you want you want to live a life by music Well.

10:19 Here we are to try and share some of that, you know? Yeah, totally. And the authenticity is so important as far as I'm concerned. Because I can tell, just like every other person in the audience there, if you're just going through the motions, dialing it in, or if you really are having fun and really believe in what you're putting out there. Yeah. We just want to be... I mean, it's not what we want to be. We are real, you know? There's no bullshit behind what we do. You know, we don't sing to a backing track, you know? There's, like, the vocals aren't... What a concept. Yeah.

11:01 You know? So, it's... And, you know, when you get done with shows like this, it's so fulfilling. And that's what we're trying to share with the nonprofit, with the message. Really, without the music, We wouldn't fucking be here. Exactly. None of us probably would. Speaking of music, you're dropping some new music next month, right? That's right, man. We just actually released a single. We recorded this music during the pandemic in 2020, during the lockdowns. We had a live stream acoustic performance. And we just, from the archives, pulled these songs out. And a cover of Don't You Forget About Me.

11:48 Oh, I love that song. We just dropped that this week, a couple days ago. And then the rest of the collection of songs is coming out October 23rd. So it's From the Roots, Volume 3. Volume 3. Nice. Yeah, so we've had three, obviously, three volumes now. This is our third. All acoustic stuff, but it's exciting because it's live. You can feel the energy. You can feel the angst of the lockdowns. We didn't know when we were going to be playing again. And you can hear it in the songs, in the recordings. It was a really special moment. And now for us to be able to share it six years later, I know that our fans, the wise ones, are going to really, really appreciate it.

12:28 Yeah, and I've said for a long time, if you're going to take a positive out of the pandemic, It allowed artists like you to jump off the hamster wheel and just do whatever the fuck you wanted to do and go back to your roots. Yeah. You know? Yeah. When you first were like really passionate about putting out this new message and you're where you are. Like, cause are you now where you were when you started? Obviously not. But you go on that hamster wheel all those years, you got to get stuck back here cause you don't have time. And it's just, just keep doing what you're doing. And that's what's going to be beautiful about this new drop in October. Yeah, man.

13:09 It's, it's, you know, again, it's, it's live, you know? So we're there one take one takes, you know, it's like, So you could feel the energy of a live show and, you know, hear the crowd cheering. It's our first live recording that we're doing. It is actually our first live recording. You're right. Wow. Yeah. It's very exciting. And, again, you know, the whole, like you mentioned, Pipe Man, like being independent and doing what the fuck we want to do now. You know, we don't have to, it's like. No man we don't have to answer to anybody you know like we started a rock band for that reason of not like not wanting to have to answer to. Like a boss quote unquote exactly. But then you get into the hamster wheel you get into the system the machine and you're.

13:53 Like oh wait I gotta answer to this fucking guy you know like it's. Not what the whole reason like it's flying in the face of why we started the band in the first fucking place right so now to be free to be independent and You know, put this music out the way we want to do it. It's so awesome, man. Absolutely. And I always say, too, like, I don't mind the business people being in the business, but do the business stuff. Let the musicians do the creativity. You should start your own label. Right? You should start a label, dude. There you go. That's a good thought. Pipe Man Records, dude. Oh, my God. You heard it first right here. I might, after Louder Than Life, have to go, like, okay, here I go.

14:36 Let's do it, man. Nice. And you could be the first band I handle. Not a signing. It would be a distribution deal. Exactly. That's why I said handle. Let us do that. Whatever you want to do, and I'll just help you. With that journey. There we go. Pipe Man Records, dude. That's the whole concept of Pipe Man Records. All right. Artists do their thing. I'll help you on the journey. There we go. I'm kind of like your guardian angel. We need those. Right? We need those. Especially in this industry, man. There's a lot to guard from. Oh, dude. Man. Yeah. Well. Well, Pipe Man, thanks for having us.

15:18 Thanks for letting us talk about this new era of Otherwise, Life by Music, from The Roots Volume 3 coming out in October. We're very grateful to even just sit here and chat with you about it. Well, we're grateful to have you at Lighter Than Light, and I'm grateful to have you here on The Adventures of Pipe Man. Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pipe Man. On W4CY Radio.