PipemanRadio Interviews Simon Says at Aftershock 2024

0:04 Hey, you have done too sensu for Wow, crazy young Ro. Whyke up America, It's time for. The Adventures of whipe Man on W four C why dot Com West pomp Beach is number one Internet radio station. Here's your host, the hip Man. Want to serve this you canther Meke just s gonna love f this one to sor.

0:53 Ro. This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four C Y Radio. And I'm here with. Zach from Simon says, how you doing. Oh, I'm doing amazing because you're here at after Shock. Yes for a shock badass. This is amazing. Yes, And I can. Tell you I think I've only seen Mike wear two or three band shirts ever. Yeah, and today he's wearing your shirt. He is. I couldn't believe it. He's wearing a shirt that he got from our label, like twenty years ago. Is that amazing cool? I was like, Wow, that's awesome. Yea. So speaking of which, yeah, how cool is that? Like twenty year hiayus for real? Right?

1:37 And here you are at after Shock. I'll be honest with you, like this was I mean a year ago when we kind of regrouped. This was not on the radar. I had no idea, you know, and we. Just got to go to the We're like, oh well, let's try to see if we can get our because our record was never released online, and when we parted ways with the label that we were on twenty years ago, oh four, it was like the internet wasn't what it is now, right, you know, phones weren't world totally different world, right, So our record was kind of lost in that transition from CDs and media to digital, and since we weren't, we didn't have relationship with the label anymore. I think it was like no pay no mind, you know what I mean. So when we finally.

2:19 About a year ago, got it, got it re released, they were really cool and they were worked it out and they re released both of our albums, and then it's just weird. A year from now, from a year from that, we're playing Aftershock and it's just amazing, Like this is it's been really cool year. It's your hometown show. Yeah, and since Sacramento, which is our hometown, right, yeah. Speak of like shirts took a I think you have some of the coolest shirts in your merch store. Oh, thank you. I'm going to give myself credit for that, Thank you very much. I was the merch guy. Yeah. One of them had the Sacramento in there. Yeah, that Harley Davidson one. Yah, yeah yeah that one was cool. Yeah. Yeah, they're I think people need to go to your mercht, yes is what I'm saying, or they can't listen to my show.

3:02 Well, they can go to Simon says merch dot com and order whatever you want. We got lots to choose from. Yeah, so that twenty year hiatus, Yeah, basically you all grew up over twenty years, big time. Totally different story now as a band, I would think, right, yeah. When we kind of span a little bit on it. So like basically what happened was like just what you probably already would imagine. Like we were young at about when we about two thousand and one, two thousand and two, we were all of twenty three, twenty four years old, and it was kind of weird. Our album, our second album on the label we were on, Hollywood Records, came out in like late July of one. A month later, we were what they call sheld where they were not going to put any more money into the album. They felt like we wanted to go back and make another one.

3:52 But then a month later, nine to eleven happened, and so what was really strange was like, at a total coincidence, we were in this weird spot of like we're kind of in limbo lamb with the label. Nine to eleven happened, so no one knows what's going on, right, everybody's kind of panicked and shook up, and it was like we went to war, and so everything kind of changed and our attention just kind of just fell by the wayside, you know, and it happens, it happens, you know. Yeah, so the band kind of that we just we disbanded. We just kind of said, you know, look, we've given it as far as we can take it, but we're never gonna be able to make up this kind of deficit with unless we get either.

4:33 On another label or whatever. And so I think we were emotionally spent at that point. Yeah, and so we kind of disbanded and then we didn't really talk much. Like Matt the singer and I are still to this day best friends. And that's good to hear. Oh yeah, we're all. We're everybody's cool. We just you know, kind of went on to do our own things, and you get busy. You're an adult. We're all like twenty four to twenty five years old that point. By the time we got it all worked out and off the label, and you know, it takes time, and then like it was, look, you know, we've got to figure this out, you know, and. What are you gonna do? So anyway, fast forward about twenty twenty or so, Matt had brought it up to me and a couple of the other guys and then we kind of got around a jamming, but we didn't really get it. We didn't really like make any moves on it until a couple years later, and we was like, why don't we just do this? Is like fun and no one cares, and we're all grown out of like being uptight about everything, you know.

5:25 And being like, okay, so I know when I was that age, I was an arrogant, cocky phok. Yeah, man, I think now there's not a lot of expectation. For instance, like we don't you know, I would love to do this as my livelihood, but I'm not, like you know, I mean, I have other things I do for my livelihood Musically, so Simon says, is like a gift. Honestly, it's a gift, like the fact that we got to do what we did back then, still have a reputation and fans, and then just get to pick up and regroup and then here we are, like really, I. Mean after I mean there's. Friends. Yeah, it's like there's work involved, but it's like it's all good, like we're it's really a gift, Like I feel like I'm lucky to be here, Like no one gets to do what we're doing, especially not after a twenty year break.

6:14 Yeah. I love hearing that too, because you would never if somebody had said to you twenty years ago you'd be playing after Shock twenty twenty four, you probably would have not been your out of your fucking moment and not in Simon said, so yeah, yeah, I mean, because it's like I do music for a living, but most of my living is done in a studio. I do a lot of hip hop stuff like that. So it's like this is pure candy. This is like a gift, you know, like to play guitar with the Simon says, we started when I was fifteen. I've known all these guys since sophomore year of high school, and it's just strange, like we're like here we are, so there's no we have nothing to lose, like, yeah, you know, so it's like who cares that? Fun Yeah exactly. Well it's funny because that's kind of how Stone Sour came about because I was there ray May Orgon Ray May on the tour bus when they first came back out.

7:01 He's like, yeah, basically, just Corey and I just wanted to jam. We didn't want to do anything with it. We just wanted to jam and have fun. And we were having a good time playing at little clubs and you know, and that and then all of a sudden, boom, Yeah, there it is. I just think it's weird, Like I'm just thankful that, Like I think, what what for us? You could imagine like in that gap time period not having albums online made us kind of anonymous, like out of sight, out of mind. Yeah, And I think even to ourselves it was that way. It was like, oh, that was part of our past, and you know, what are we gonna do? And everybody's off doing their life now and should get everything. Regroup would be such a hard thing. Not really once everybody was like yeah, I'm down. It just kicked in and it worked, and I just, like I said, I think everything that we.

7:50 Get, you know, to do is is just lucky. I think I think the no pressure part of it, the no key other people involved, is what keeps you guys friends and make it heavy fun. Yeah, it's all that other bullshit that makes the business not fun totally. I can remember being like really uptight when like back in the day, like just because you know, you're young and everything is times ten yeah, and you're super sensitive and you're trying to hype your band and it's all this stuff and it's but I don't know. I look back on it and I go, we were kids. We were kids. You know, it's like weird and you don't think you are right that No, not at all. I thought I was, you know, I know what I'm doing, you know exactly. I'm twenty two. I know what I'm doing.

8:33 It's like when I talked to my kids and it's like, yeah, I was like that with my dad too, and you'll find out. Yeah, I just in fact, I just had a son about a year and a half ago, and it's like, oh, total total trip, yeah, total trip. Yeah, Now that's what that brings you to a whole different world. Oh yeah, I mean this is the first show I've ever had uh my like a son or daughter I don't have, he's only got one, so as the first time ever had my kids at the show. Like, that's whatever, which is cool. I was like, this is really strange. And it is kind of cool. Yeah, it's cool, man OOSI what's up? Nice? Yeah? Man? So and then you guys wrote new music. We got new music. Yeah, we have a new album coming out next year and we have a new song called Across the Fire that'll be released in about a month.

9:19 And it's awesome. In fact, I feel like the new record sounds basically like a combination of Jumpstart and Shut your Breath. And it's heavy, but it's like super melodic, a lot of singing, big choruses, arena rock shit. I love it. Yeah. So did you feel any difference writing with the guys now? You know what what I like. Now is like unlike before where we would really a lot of times jam it out in the room, you know. Yeah, but now, because like fast forward twenty years and all the things you can do with technology and stuff, we're all able to like we all write so like all of us are able to write and then demo stuff so easily on our phones are on you know, a little laptop or whatever, and then send it to each other so we can kind of get a head start so so much further, and then when we get in the room, it kind of like is almost like the last thirty percent, you know what I mean. So it's really cool, like and we never have to do that.

10:12 So it's like to us, this is like new again, you. Know, so say and that's the key too, like feeling that new again, because when you're a band, no matter how long you've been around, it's it's like so many things in life you're looking to recapture that oh yeah, whole feeling. Yeah, it can get redundant and get like you start writing the same song a few times, you know, and stuff, but you. Got to keep that fresh. You gotta keep that. You got to. I always tell people, like there's this guy who's a clothing designer and his name is Virgil Albro, and he always said, like I do everything for the seventeen year old's version of myself, you know, and you have to do that, like you have to, like rock and rolls about being a kid. Being like, screw you. You know what I mean, I'm gonna know what I want and so you have to remember that totally. Absolutely kids know and then you know you have so much more experience that. Oh yeah, the writing process, I think and playing even it's different because when you're younger, you think you're great, and now you know that you needed a lot of work then and you've done that work throughout.

11:09 Absolutely. I think it also like the time and you're and of course you know, maturing an age and stuff. Just it gave at least for me, it gave me a little bit more, like you said earlier, like confidence to kind of not care, like I don't care. I don't care what the A and R guy says, I don't care what and this is for me. This is for us, and that's it. And the more that attitude sunk in, the better it's gotten. So it's kind of weird. The funny thing is is it's like you're finally an artist now, whereas back then more of a puppet than an artist. But you almost like your partners because you're working with a bunch of partners. You know, Yeah, I've invested, you know, in you and so and now it's like, yeah, I don't I could do whatever I want.

11:51 Yeah, and you can truly be a creative artists opposed to having some record label say no, you need to do it this way exactly. Yeah, and you do it because you feared that's the only thing you can. You try to play ball and you're working with your partners. But then at the end of the day, you're right, Like the artist knows what's best for the artists. I say that all the time, like I'm a business person, but I'm also a creative. They're two different people, and I don't think the business people should be telling the artists. Oh man, amen to that. I'll tell you what. The one thing I learned this. Is absolutely is like I thought, I like because I was the guy in the band that was like the point person, and you know, I get all the calls and this and that, and I thought like, Okay, well, I guess that's my role. But I realized, like I'm not good at it. I'm not I thought I was, and I'm not. In fact, I belong nowhere near that stuff.

12:44 That's what also happened. I should just get old to being a guitar player and writing this stuff and let the people that we work with handle that shit, because like, even though I'm capable, I'm not. It's like a difference between being capable and being the one that should be able to It's like that. Book, you know, putting the right people in the right seats on the bus. That's how a company works, That's how a good partnership works. And I didn't, you know. I was a kid, so I was like, well, I could do everything. And now I'm like, no, I do this really well. So you do that, you know, and that's how it should be exactly. Yeah, But I didn't know that then. So we know, none of us do we all think we know? Everage twenty years to learn it, you know, exactly, and lucky you learned it that soon.

13:25 Absolutely right. I tend to take the long way around. Well there you go. Well you're here at after Shock. Now we're exactly bad. We're here. Who cares? Man? I love it. Thank you, thanks for being on the Adventures pipe Man. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. You got it. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Fate Man. I'm w for CUI Radio.