Achieving Longevity Within the Music Industry | A Thousand Horses

Some things are hard to commit to, like learning how to surf. Or saving for a family vacation. But one commitment that's easy, switching to FIO's home internet with a five-year price lock guarantee. That means five great summers of fast, reliable internet at the same low price. All with the FIO's one gig internet plan. Plus no hidden fees or equipment charges. Call 1-833 Verizon to switch today. Price Guarantee applies to face monthly rate only for new and existing my home customers. I think that's what keeps us going in the inspiration behind it. Because we've had plenty of opportunities to not and throw in a towel or just not be inspired. But you always got to show up, like you said. There's mountain tops and then there's life that hits you in the face. This is right about now with Ryan Offord, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over one million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You're ready to start snap and maxing cash and checks. Turn it up. It starts right about now. What's up guys? Welcome to Rad about now with Ryan Offord. I am your host and welcome to our newest show. Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, we love you for making this number one. In business and marketing on Apple. And you know what? Look at some of my favorite guys in today. The music's good. But once you get to know them, you don't want to leave. Graham Deloge, Michael Havi. A thousand horses. Hey, what's up, man? Hey. Jiva Egas, baby. Here we are. In the studio. Here we are. A lot of memories. Glad to be here. I know. Love having you. Told Michael's like, oh, we did it again. We're getting you in the studio. Oh, yeah. I knew when I hit you. I was like, I'm going to make a trip whenever he gives me the green light. I told him that was our deal. Yep. Exactly. So Graham came with me. Yeah, he was like, hey, I need somebody to ride. Come on with. They almost like sending me down here. I was like, you know what? This is going to be my podcast. We're not even talking about you. Yeah. Hey, we'll get Graham on the board too. Yeah. Get him on the board. Get him on the board. Get the wall of fame here. Yeah. Behind it. You know what? It's the wall of fame, but it's like my wall of favorites. Hey, hey, hey. Obviously feel good. Yeah, man. Put him somewhere like the bottom corner. Yeah. Very unnoticeable. Yeah. Where you got to really look. Yeah. I will say this. So you guys came in. These guys come in the back door. We got like the luxury intro for them. They slide in the back door like a true band. And now, but the funny thing is. And you guys, if you're listening, you got to go watch the YouTube. This is what rock stars are supposed to look like. I'll talk it. I'm like six, four to half, six, five with some boots on. He's got to stroll in. And I'm like, I don't know. I knew Michael was. But Graham, long hair, looks like a rock star. Michael here. You guys are. Yes. Yes, carry the part. Oh, thanks. Oh, shit. We've been dressing this way for most of our life. Yeah. Try to. No. You're looking good. Thanks, man. I will say this. And I don't say. I don't want to say to say anything. I don't want to say. Nobody says anything. We've come buds. Yeah. But I have become a true thousand horses junkie. Oh, man. That would just say. If you went, you got to Spotify, like playlist thing, like the end of the year, like your favorite bands or whatever. Yeah. It was like the name of the playlist they gave to me was a thousand horses and these other few songs you listen to. No. That's so killer. I'm serious. It was like literally. It was like, how many times have I played X number songs? Because what happens is, and you guys know this. And you guys have been playing for a long time. And everybody knows you have the wonder hit of all time, fastest charting number one with smoke. And, but you guys have this whole other set of albums, like a five, six, seven albums that are out there. And it's all fucking good rock, like country music. There's the stuff that I like to listen to. But it's like, you don't know what you don't know. Yeah. I know you're hit. Right. So, Jared and started digging into it. And I'm like, this is my jam. I mean, I grew up loving all that kind of stuff. So, I'm a digging man. Thanks man. Thank you. Yeah. We've been doing it a while together. We got a lot of music out. And more on the way out. Yeah. Which is exciting. So, yeah, it's been fun. What's the guiding inspiration these days for you guys? I feel like, we may have covered a little bit of this, Michael, the first time, but I feel like I'm a graham here and having perspective. You get to the highs of the high. We got to the mountaintop. Yeah. In the business. And then you grow up a little real world, it's actually in the face, but you're still making good music. But what's the drive of these days? Man. Okay. We're doing this together. You're doing it one. Yeah. The man. Yeah. Yeah. The drive for us is really the love of music and the love of playing music. And I know that sounds a cliche thing to say, but that's the truth. It's inside of us. And it's even when we don't want to do it. It still feels like the right thing to do. It still feels like the right thing to do. And I think that's what keeps us going in the inspiration behind it. Because we've had plenty of opportunities to not in throwing a towel or just not be inspired. But you always got to show up. But it's not always like you said. Like there's mountain tops and then there's life that hits you in the face. And for us, we love to play music together. And we love to write music. And we love to listen to music and go see music. And it's been our part of our life since we were kids. That's how we became friends when we were 11 and 12 years old. Was listening to each other's records that we liked and trying to learn how to play those records. And then talking about songs and trying to throw house parties together. Who's parents around town? Yeah, exactly. But that's really what it comes down to for us. We couldn't stop if we wanted to. But it's like a blessing and a curse at times. I heard someone say use this term. They were like, we all knew who all the lifers are here. And they call us lifers. And I feel like that. I'm like, we don't we can't do anything else. I think we're just we're in this. We're doing life now. We're using to damn deep. You know what I mean? Yeah. Right. You know what? Irony is for me. And it was it struck me like first started to get the know you Michael and listen to the song. It's like you had a lot of establishment like you've been playing and doing stuff before smoke y'all. And so an established band. But then you had this meteoric rise. So everybody comes to know you as that song. And maybe a flash in that moment. But then when people like really get underneath you guys to see that. This is a rock band like they're in it. Like it's a contrary to what is the normal flash in the pan, which is someone that just hit it. Luckily. And maybe aren't that in it or aren't that great. Yeah. And but the reality is there's so much more depth to you guys that I think becomes like this gym of a surprise for people that gets to know you guys. Man. Yeah. There is a lot to there's a lot more to a thousand horses than just smoke. We that's such a huge part of our story. And that's that's a major highlight. But yes, like you said, there is so much more beyond that albums and just so much life lived in this band. Yeah. And to be lifeers in it. And not it's the exact opposite of one hit. It's like right. And you had other hits and you've got it's way more than that. And it's but the assumption that it was just that when no, these guys are like you said, if I knew you are in it. But we've been doing it together for 20 years. Like when we like playing in a band before a thousand horses like we were in another band together. And just cutting our teeth trying to figure it out. And you're right. Yeah. Smoke was like a commercial success. And that that opens a lot of doors and to a lot of people's ears. But and that's by far in our career like our biggest commercial success. But there's other successes underneath it. No, because you're career musicians. You're career artists. That's what I'm saying. Like a lot of people that hit this. This is they come in and they do the blip and they hit it. Whatever. But you guys, this was going to be a career no matter what. Yeah. Right. We're going to do the damn thing. You just happen to have what a lot of people would love to have. Whether it's once, five times, a thousand times. Like it's right in the middle. Yeah, we always say we rang the bell. You know what I mean? It is. And. But it probably gets it. You know, we we didn't just track a little bit Michael. But I think I got to do a little different spin on it. It probably becomes unhealthy. There's probably been healthy and unhealthy moments of trying to do that again. Or thinking about it too much. For sure. 100%. Yeah. I would just think over thinking. Yeah. And getting in your way sometimes. But who doesn't do that? You know, anyone who's trying to who sees a goal, who knows, knows their path. But they just got to figure out how to get there. You're inevitably going to have those times. I think where you at some point you're going to get in your own way. And you're going to learn from it. But I think the music shows. If you really go listen to these guys, the albums and the. Consistently good music. You start to realize that you got that out of the way. And at some point you just got to play the damn good music. Yeah. And that's kind of where we're at in our career now. Because you're right. You start chasing. Yeah. You chase that feeling again. You chase. You. It's a good feeling. And there's a lot of. Yeah. I remember human beings. The mecca of everybody. And yeah. And the influence. There's a lot of influence on you. And there's a lot of pressure on you to do it again. And then you get confused as an artist. I think that happens to a lot of artists that get caught up in the. Business system side of it. That. They lose. Focus on what actually got them there that made them unique. And made it successful. And you get tossed around a little bit. And. We've just we went through that. After smoke. And then just now with the new music that we're releasing and the last record we did. We're coming out of that because we're able to do what we want to do. And really what? It's like looking back and like, why do we get in this in the first place? You know what I mean? To make music that we love. And we hope other people love it. Yeah. It's it's a fascinating discussion. I just I think. Thinking about them. The business. We've. We tried some of this track. We talked. I like to do this guest come in. And we end up shooting the shit at the bar for a little while. We've done the whole interview. Yeah. We're talking about all the business and everything else. But. In Michael, you and I talked some of this. But I think we can go even deeper now. Like thinking about. How different it is. Because even even myself knowing it. I'm friends like you that tell me about it. And then seeing. The business from afar. I sit there going. When's the album coming out? When's the new album coming out? And it's it's coming out. But. People will just want the next single. Right. It's what's the. That's. We're in a singles world. Yeah. We are, which takes it back to back in the day. The music started. That's what it was. History repeats itself. But it's almost being in this business for. It is long as we have been in it. And as young as we are. Still. And still in it. It's. It's. We can see it now. In our position of like how many times it's changed over the. The course of that. Yeah. We've seen a lot of versions. We've seen a lot of versions and a lot of. It's like you get right to the goal line. And you're like, all right. And then they move it. You know what I mean? And like very. And that sometimes you get ahead of it. But it's going to catch up to you. It's our analogy towards it. And things change. And what was important. Then is no longer important now. And there's a new thing that's important. And then you got to wrap your head around. What the. What does that even mean? Because you're wired. The old way. And. Yeah. And you're always. And. The technology changes now. Because in the day. Okay. We radio changed the game. Yeah. Years ago. And then that was the thing. And I guess CDs did. You've got the. But now the technology was streaming. Changing the game with the iPod. Yeah. Yeah. Like that started it. Steve Jobs. Yeah. He knew what he was doing. Yeah. And. So you've had that. And then you've got smartphone proliferation. And all the apps. And then now. TikTok. Yeah. There's all these different mediums that kind of come. That seemingly come up overnight comparatively. When the technology cycle used to be. 10, 20, 30 years. It's now. Yeah. Every two years. Or less. Like what's going to be next? Yeah. And it. It just adds more. Responsibility to your plate as an artist. Because now you haven't. You have a new job. That is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you have a new job. That is like a content thing. And then. A engagement thing. And that didn't exist. Even when smoke was out. Like. Streaming was brand new. We it was something that we really weren't allowed to support. By the situation that we were in. And then like overnight. It was like everything that we had to support. So you see the confusion. And then. And that was only eight. Nine years ago. Yeah. Now. And then now it's everything. And then now there's TikTok. Like he said that. That's. That didn't. I mean, I think Instagram just had come out when. Yeah. We're starting to get warmed up. Yeah. It was just started in a nine. But it didn't hit mainstream until. 40, 15, 16. Yeah. And then. Now TikTok. But like. Back to. The social thing. Like it's. You think about like. When you used to create solitude, create music video, right? And that was the video content for the man. But now. People want. There's a desire for. What's the band up to? Show me your rehearsal. Yeah. Like the life. The thousand horses is the TV station of. Behind the scenes. Everybody wants. Yeah. There's like this voracious appetite. For as much as you want to give people. And it's both the. Blessing. And it is. It is. And they don't care. They don't just care about. Seeing rehearsal. They want to see what you ate for breakfast. They were. Like people want to see everything now. It's crazy. It's like totally wild. And we didn't get into playing music in our garage. When we were kids thinking one day. Okay. We're going to have to be like. Quasi influencers. Slash like content creator type thing as well. But. And you don't want to get lost in those things. But they. In the same sense that it's. You said it's a blessing in a curse. It really is. It's. It can be an amazing tool. For you to use. And it's a way that. Now you have direct access to the people that care about. What you're doing. No matter what you're doing. Which is. Amazing. You can create your own ecosystem. Yeah. You can create your own thing. And that's where I feel like a lot of people. Fight it. And a lot of people are mad at it. And a lot of people have. There's all kinds of feelings towards it that we've talked about. But. It really is. I'm just feeling sometimes. Yeah. We all do. Yeah. I can carry my face all day. And I think about it all. It's an incredible opportunity for independent artists. That's the new thing. Like independent artists now. I feel like for music. In this time and music have. The best opportunity that they've ever had. To really. Do their art. And play their music. And. And. And build an audience. It's actually like sustainable. And also can provide for them. A lifestyle. And. I think that's the. The silver lining of it all. It's. But it. That comes with. Lots. Like. Is a lot of noise with that as well. Navigate how to cut through. And when you and I were talking about like how. Yeah. You just never know when that moment's going to happen. And the art. The irony again is. You guys have the savvy. And the repertoire and the ability musically. Because you've got all this experience. You've got to hit. You've got multiple hits. And. But yet the new generation is more. Adept to these new channels. And it'd be comfortable. And it was exactly how to activate it. So I'm sure for guys like you that it's all about the craft. Having to. Learn and want to take on those things. It's probably like a daily. Like you embrace it. But it's not. Yeah. It's like a lot of challenges. Yeah. We played pick up the Nintendo when we were like 20 years ago. That was easy as natural. Because I was like you're young and dumb and you do it. Instead of like a new artist is 21. It's just. That's the thing to do. Yeah. That's. Yeah. It's like natural. Yeah. Just like we used to go hand out flyers and hang up flyers. And then you know take a. A disc man with our CD in it and play it for random people in the street to see if they wanted to buy it or wanted to come to a show. Yeah. Like it was like street marketing. When we didn't seem to think there was anything hard or strange about that. We had a Myspace page. Like you had your music player or a website. And then we tore in a car or a van or whatever and we'd play anywhere anybody would have us. And that's how we were trying to get our music out. And now with the new generation they their version of that is is sitting in front of their. Their computer and playing and sending it out to the world like every night and being consistent with it. So it's just it's the same amount of effort. It's just a different you don't have to do that anymore. I would think I'm always I did this like last time I say her not a brainstorm can see there should be a total like thousand horses like. A great American country rock band like the telling of this story in real life because it's because you guys have. The credibility of the again the talent of the music. The five six album like how many ever albums how many ever songs yeah. So you have all this credibility and all these things that you've done to this professionalism. I find there's just a story to be had there in the professional journey of now. There is a lot to that story for sure. How much time you got. I can see that playing out is that's the content. Yeah actually that's the story. I don't know I'm seeing production here but then talk about let's talk about new music. Yeah. You guys obviously embrace the singles thing Michael shared a pre-release of the album like we talked last time. I've been jamming it and keeping it under wraps as long as possible was one single after that. Yeah you're just coming in it's coming. I appreciate that. But talk about the inspiration and what's the sound and where's where's the head space at now for what you're doing. Yeah we finished it yeah we did a new record with the producer John Randall who was the first time working with him. He's great and we've been rolling out songs from it since September and we got another new song drop in March first called summer. We're just rolling it out before our headlining tour starts and we had a lot of fun making that record we made it over the course of of a year. We do it in like spurts when we had time like the three song. Yeah to get together and we cut everything we cut on that record we wanted to cut and had been wanting to cut because you know a lot of people don't know is after smoke. We got stuck in this holding pattern that the business can put you in because we were coming out of that record deal which it takes a long time. And then you can't release anything and you can't do anything while you're in the middle of that. And then we moved right into a new one and this it was over before it started because the world was over before it started during that time. We'll 2020 we got held there and not by anything malicious by anybody it was just it was literally unnatural purgatory right you just stumble into some red tape and you get caught up in it for a while. And we had this record that we'd made the one before this new one that's coming out and by the time we exited from that deal it had been three years like with that record. And then we put it out on our own you know because they we have it and then started the next one which is the one that's coming out now and that's where we feel like that's where there's such a gap in our catalog like not that anybody notices that there's a gap but from the first record suddenality to the broken heartland folding record but how many years was that too many yeah I don't know the nowhere years but too many because I've been looking at the album covers so much it's three it was like three years I think yeah it was a long time and and that now that we're out of all that and we're clean and we're independent we do it ourselves we have our own label and we have a distribution deal and our own team of people we have turned on the music faucet for our band to make up for the music. We have a band to make up for the last five six years and we're just not going to cut it off and it seems like the best time in the world to not cut it off because now that is what is that's what you got to do we think yeah and that speaks to the single thing that you're talking about I think really the goal there is just to consistently release music like the faucet that he was talking about we just want to go and never stop because we got a lot of time to up music. I'm like you know we had a little bit of a roadblock and it's let's just let's learn from that and let's just not ever do that again so just constantly release music is what do you classify like the style of the newest music and now and then I want to talk about some fighters we all like the style country rock and roll. As we grew up on rock and roll music and country music but also we when we met each other it was led Zeppelin the black crow's Tom Petty Graham was really into the Ramones and the sex pistol bill was into the Beatles and Oasis and incubators and incubus we come from like a rock real rock background that happens to be southern because we're all that was what was around us growing up South Carolina in Georgia we all know the type of music that comes out of here. And it's just naturally what like comes out of us it's time whenever we try to to mold ourselves in a different box it just it's like we're in two left shoes. We always say we're like man it's it can be this hybrid it can be country it can be rock and roll computer and we're like we're just an American band yeah that's what I call it the mayor there was a song about that yeah exactly. Yeah I was hearing it as you were saying it I think it is I was to it not play for people that maybe I've heard you guys and it always comes back to that country rock southern rock something like that and it's very endearing and I think it summers very endearing song that was it's got I don't know there's a brightness to it and then there's like just that Americana yeah like totally bring you there mm-hmm yeah we get the Americana thing a lot but I think that's in our songwriting yeah it's like the style of what we want to sing about the honest yeah try to be as truthful as you can when you write you're when you tell your stories when you write your lyrics and try not to cliche it up with what you think that's another thing too it's like writing like what you feel and what you like or thinking about what you should write that you think someone else is going to too long I think that and you get tripped up very easily that would that would drive me like that crazy but that would always be about yeah but you got to sing it every night and you got to live with it when it's really your expression of your art so I would go on that I would say yeah I subscribe to the Rick Rubin philosophy he's like you have to truly make something for yourself and when you do that it just so happens to connect with other people because it's authentic yeah I'm like that's it man that's it the latest single it's so it's ironic I'm going to tell story I played a lot of the new album and I started catching it like in my favorite song when I'm still waiting on it's coming it's coming I mean to take a yeah like in my kids are waiting on it I have a day you know when we can build play on the Apple music yeah and daddy and I have to pull it out of his files on his head yeah yeah you had a drop box yeah drop box is a playlist yeah it's all good I at least get to listen to it but the food fighters I was like yeah your voice always had a little bit of that ring to me so when the new thing came out I was like yeah I made sense so my hero yeah yeah we my hero was it was something we were just messing around with and we'd play in sound checks and we jam acoustic and we love the food fighters yeah and we love that song we love so many other songs and they were a big influence on us growing up and we just started going down that road of learning it and how we would want to do it and we loved it and we loved it and we so we went in and cut it live and we're like man let's we've never put out a cover like we've never been allowed to do something like that so why wouldn't we and it's a great song and I feel like the band and everybody did a great job and I mean who doesn't love the food? yeah they've been like the soundtrack to our lives from when we were you know kids all the way up until now and I'm like why not do something that we love that means so much to us and then just have fun with it and that's what happened how does it work putting out a cover song that someone else's and you release it so how does that you have to ask permission do you have to can you just do it they just they wrote the song so they get the that's their songwriting credit we can you can record anybody's song yeah we release it and so they would get they get a portion of some proceed or something yeah it's a songwriter credit yeah absolutely talk about that I think that's stuff people are like for a business don't understand like songwriting yeah you think about every dollar made where does that dollar go they may make a few bucks off that yeah I hope so I hope they do I hope so yeah so it's divided up publishing and writing if you write the song you on the publishing and and then there's recording side which is like master side and whoever pays for the recording of that owns that master essentially and that's just the recording side of it in that part yeah you produced it yeah it's our thing and it's their song so any royalty distribution off its streams or plays or placements or whatever I mean it's goes pretty much to them and we retain the recording side of it what so like for the dollars and stints standpoint if that thing blew up a billion down like like I would have but out of dollar how much goes to the band versus the writer like a percentage like another you know it's still then I'm not profit but now 50 or is it the royalty structure with streaming is still a little like confusing to me like what goes where and what is made I think it's a confusing to everyone because there seem to be moving it obviously make my I'd be just to be clear like if someone does a cover they make money themselves yeah 100% but you're splitting it with the original songwriter or some level they get the song running royalties yeah which whatever the streaming rate that those companies pay I don't know what they pay so it's different on everyone yeah that's this bad world that we live in there for after for you guys like it's a crazy thing you probably know if you put a CD out to the penny every CD that sold you knew right yeah it's like 10 bucks and you have what you had invested in it and you got your percentage of that yeah on Spotify I know that the amount that gets paid per spin even varies from what country it's played in so it's all just split up comes from a million different ways so it's so when it's an account at nightmare I would imagine but and it's not why you want to and we rely on these things because they give you out outlet to play it and they pay you mm-hmm versus the direct route and they're trying to go that route's difficult now because everybody wants their playlist on Apple or Spotify so you got to be there yeah it's a it's a lot less yeah it really is it's a crazy time that's a great way to put it it's a lot of us yeah it's I'm loving the my hero he doesn't have two fighters they need you when you win and you knew you're new acoustic the best way they make it your own way and to be honest with you we're just trying to meet Dave girl yeah yeah you're watching this Dave yeah we want to meet you really that's all we want you can make that happen he can call me and tell me it sucks and then make my day yeah you know it'd be the best day ever so that's all that's really why we did it we just we want to meet you Dave yeah y'all open up for the food fighters wouldn't you apps in a minute like are you kidding me that'd be a great fit too I'm feeling yeah yeah that's another reason why yeah is get a little tour coming yeah we got the highway sound tour kicks off March 21st and Madison was constant let me just say this okay I know I have my friends on but let me just tell you I love you Michael but if I didn't like your music I wouldn't play it up so I need to say that Astrid you don't know a band a rock country band to see them live so Nicole and I went down to the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach and proceeded to we took a couple of our best friends and went down there and I don't drive 4.5 hours for many people but I was like I'm going to go support Michael the Bay in their in town and I hadn't seen y'all live ever I'm like I'll be good I'm sure you got I'll be decent yeah yeah yeah I was like and I don't get all the albums but you don't yeah absolutely it's about a fucking great concert dude y'all rocked it was awesome like the first song down to the blazer glory is now the most played song on my playlist like of all of them yeah that should have been a fucking hit can we go backwards can we yeah sure yeah that's the beauty of the world it can go let's go backwards you guys go stream blaze or something go stream it yes you need to yeah it is definitely my most on my Instagram stories used song for my post like with the story with the background music yeah that's so rare so but I'm serious I don't I would I would have just not brought this topic up but I'm so confident now that you would need to come go see you guys because it's you felt like you were in a country concert but you really did feel like these guys are fucking rock band bad asses you guys are fucking good thank you very much like Michael had more stage presence that I knew that he would have dude getting fucking close he's the front he's all over the place but then the music it just I never and I grew up around me too my dad played in a band they play eight instruments I know a fucking good music sounds like you think you're gonna hear something off it's live right yeah not a fucking beat missed at least the at that show yeah you guys fucking crushed it man thank you very much I want people to hear that because it's just that good live it was thank you yeah and I have I don't know what to say but I wanted to say that because that was it they need to know let's talk about the tour so where are you going oh man we're going to kick soft Madison was constant yeah we're playing Nashville Tennessee towards the end playing hometown show in New Brace South Carolina then we're going to Philadelphia Omaha Detroit St. Louis I mean there's anapolis yeah we're doing what maybe 18 shows something like that 16 16 16 or 18 just in that region this is the first leg of it and we talked about this in our bar talk earlier we're gonna have to get a micro we're gonna get a mic at the bar for when we have guests in because that's getting behind the scene yeah he's not like okay sure man more to do but I want to be a list yeah all right we're gonna mic in the bathroom hey we gotta get all about it's about content baby yeah hey we're walking to their car bar talk right there 100% bar talks the real talk but getting up for shows and you guys are toured enough like that's the you think about the rock and roll band like you think about touring and they write things it's cool but then you get worn out but then you learn I don't know but you all get excited about it so we do yeah we do get excited about it I mean it's you know we have families and stuff now so it's a different right animal but I know that yeah we do man playing live is what we love we've been doing it for so long it really is that's where the hard work and everything you feel it you're in it but it's not a ticker on a computer screen it's like real life in person you feel what you it's a vibe right yeah you're feeling the direct connection to the people that pay attention to what you're doing and it's such a special like we live in this digital world in there it was streaming and everybody's on the phone and all that IRL in real life that's it's a lost art to be able to play and hold a captivated audience which is what you guys do and just that experience I don't know I don't know what post-COVID and all the stuff that's happened now when I go to show like I'm like heaven like that experience and I think having a band that we in a world where there's just not enough good old rock band that they just play it's just a lost art oh yeah people need to find the argument I know there's nothing that can replace that there's been a million ways that people have tried to simulate it and but I'm like nothing can give you that experience except for going and seeing the live show and we love that I still like feel like we're in the garage like turn our amps up to 10 and just play it it's still so exciting so I encourage people to go and see any live show live music is incredible I we went and saw show the other night and I left I'm inspired we went to Clint black who was amazing it was like his 35-year anniversary of the killing time record that came out in 89 which is two years after we were born yeah but I remember that record growing up I have Clint black these days awesome better than ever I mean it was it was an incredible show and I was talking about like musicianship and like a show in entertaining and he like his his the way he talked in between songs and the way he described things until stories but you would approve you would be like dude this is great like it was captured like a couple of hours how long did he play for two and a half hours yeah is this a national yeah and just hit after I think you guys live in a national man like for my listening then you know nationals got and cool and all that stuff but like the amount of great like artists and music just still comes through there's unmatched isn't it yeah the rhymin that's where that's where he was at yeah which is an incredible venue but you guys played there yeah we did yeah yeah played there a few times but most recently on the last tour yeah it was he was great yeah Clint black thousand horses he was in the movie maverick yeah when I told my dad I was like we're going to see Clint black tonight he was like oh that movie maverick man that's good I don't like that's what you know him for that's but so many good songs so many great songs and I don't know we love it yeah we're just we're a big Clint black click kick right now if I'm doing the food fighters with my hero and they go download that guys for listening just go Spotify look up thousand horses my hero be their top single right now if you're listening to this in real time or the next month probably maybe another single I'll buy them but is it made you consider doing more covers yeah yeah yeah we've got to talk about it yeah some of our favorite songs from the 90s we grew up with that my brother played every day on the way to school that yeah molded our mind of music and what you found out what you were into and what you weren't so yeah we toured around a few ideas yeah yeah there might be something in the works potentially yeah nothing we can name for one of you no other game out of the back you know still got to figure out what fits us but if you got any ideas yeah throw more away I do we are we'll we'll talk off there all that one I got some thoughts probably ones have already crossed your mind it is just up to like Michael I hear Michael's voice and I hear the guitars and like what do you guys are stuff that I think probably fits with you guys naturally and that food fighter is perfect the and I got this great song yeah such a great song great song what so tour coming up more albums to come like what do you forward thing you want to stay out of the box of chasing something like going back to what we're talking about yeah but what is like that magical bus ride looked right what is the perfect tier I never I was thinking about this I wanted to ask this question because it's I think as an artist we always talk about it and everybody knows this you guys have lived this success is not a destination correct if it was we'd all stop and just be having joyous time there but yeah it's just the up and downs of life so it's a journey but is there like this perfect place for a band in a group like you guys that's like comfortable but it's where you want to be it's like where you don't we're gonna not chasing it but is it called what Kenny Chesney's doing or is it like something different like yeah I think is building an audience like a real large audience that bit you can release a record and tour and go see your people and just know you have a baseline yeah right a good healthy baseline of doing it that's like the goal for every artist and they have longevity with it that's exactly what I was thinking as longevity because this is it's so much fun and honestly it's a privilege to be able to make music and have people care about it like what a privilege it's incredible so to be able to do that for like the arc of a career what a gift so we work hard at it we take it seriously and longevity I think that's it we want to be doing this 25 years from now what's something about that journey or the business that would surprise people you know that I think there's enough like train wreck shows now that people know that superstar them and celebrities don't have it all perfect all the time but maybe what's a like one of the biggest surprises maybe for people for a group that's living their life making music the biggest surprise this is a good question I don't know if you've ever been asked this question or what people wouldn't expect and now I'm gonna give you a little teaser while you think about that because it's because we this is back to bar talk you talked about rehearsal and when you guys said that because we were talking about doing the new album on the show and growing up with the father that played in just local nothing bands but the host they have man they were her spoil our house would be rocking the Alfred house would be shaken to the core when dad had when they passed like two or three times a week and you got to saying that I was like oh you guys so we're hers of course you do but it was just like you have to hone the it didn't just come now it's the practice of the profession yeah you have to you have to build your show like it from scratch every tour starts over and every record it starts over so there's a lot of work and energy that goes into that before you ever play the first night and you rehearse and you learn what you recorded because a lot of times when you cut the song and you're done with it your it's that's it you're not in tour mode and you're not in rehearsal mode so you got to go back in and refresh yourself on on what you recorded luckily you can remember most of it but yeah the amount of work that goes into making records and writing songs and then rehearsals for tours it's a full-time job and now you throw content on top of it it's 24-7 always something going on for us we all talk with our team every day from like the time you wake up to the time you go to bed and it's always strategy and it's always what can we do here what can we try what can we be and it's besides the show I always compare the show is like a smoke break it work that's where you get to have fun that's where you get to cut loose and let it all out and then everything else is you're back in the daily grind but you're traveling you're flying you're riding sleeping places and it's all we love it so it's not a negative thing for us a lot of people may not be on board with that but it's where we thrive is in that lifestyle but there's a lot that goes into it I think that's probably it that they know that there's work involved but they don't know think of it as they probably think of it as a three-hour day and not a yeah oh no in their long days man and it's no one else can do that for you because it's your idea your creative vision so it's like from the from literally the ground up it had yeah you're a business owner yeah you run it like you run your deal but it's always on your mind it's always always those things and you can turn it off true entrepreneurs like you're laying in bed thinking about it even on vacation like vacation isn't vacation you're in a different place and you may not have any responsibility but you're looking for inspiration yeah looking for ideas you're writing things down and I think that's just an entrepreneurship really with the whole thing but you gotta it's a full there's a full team I know you guys have families and do stuff and I just I still think about like how the partying like on tours and oh yeah like how people hold it together for as long as they do or is it is it always just crash and burn eventually are there I was thinking about it because that's just what you think about with rock stars touring yeah if you thought the show was great you should have been you should have seen us on our party days right we we had that phase like we really got after it we're younger and yeah but then you start realizing oh man like there's a lot just eventually does it does the toil or the I guess the devil come a call on eventually that for paying for it like it starts impacting the work 100 percent without a doubt there's a lot of people's livelihoods on the line for what you do so you have to act accordingly and we talked about that word longevity if you want longevity you gotta think about that what he is what's more important and eventually it yeah man it catches everybody there's not a single I was about to say is there anybody that's just somehow ridden the wave for 20 years I don't know if you had a call in line I'd love to talk to you but yeah I think about the biggest part of it whether it's I don't know Jason Aldi or any of those guys they have they all just had their ups and downs of that you think I think assuming it I'm not saying you're speaking for them no but we have toured with a lot of legend legacy legendary acts and superstars and become friends with them and gotten to know them and them mentored us and like the one thing they're smart and they're responsible like you got to know when to cut loose and when not to and so they find their moments like there well everybody has there everybody finds their moment to have a lake day you know in a meeting and cut loose and have a good time just like everybody else says and that's my guys five shows this week no it ain't happened it ain't happened but maybe the last night because they got a four day five day break or something yeah man yeah everybody's hanging out by the buses after the show and having some beers listening to music there's a food truck or something like it's it's the same as anybody else like you you get out of off on a Friday and you're like all right let's go boys so most of the temptation of that I think would just be hard because of the nature because everyone's coming to your show to party yeah but you're not like me at work all day everybody's not necessarily here to party all day you know yeah we can make it feel like a party so you are everybody's Friday night every night of the week yeah and you just it's just being responsible really yeah I know that growing up we when we watch behind the music motley crew we're like that's what I want to be those guys weren't responsible yeah you just go crazy and that's part of the charm of it but the reality is not but do you eventually find joy in not doing that and the playing and the experience is better in in that world yeah you remove the lens of the filter of what it is and you actually experience it and you feel it and you enjoy it it's more pure and that's the joy of it yeah how much you really enjoy it and it's not about just getting fucked up all the time and running away from whatever problems you have it's more or it's more just the true energy and fulfillment of like a great crowd and a great show and like the camaraderie of the band and the brotherhood and the people that are there that you know and they also they spend their hard on money to come see the show right they didn't come to see you get drunk they came to see you put on a kick-ass show they came to see you and then get drunk that's what they want to do right so why would you who was who was the best part of your like big star or hug you hug out with it was like a lot of fun oh man everybody can we name all of them are we gonna just get down you know um I don't know I mean we have we had good nights yeah you can look up our touring history and without having this your imagination yeah but it was always like you said like last night of the three-day run or four-day run and that's when everybody got to see each other because you don't see each other a lot during the day yeah everybody's got their own shit going on and it was that was the fun part and in the tour was always that's the in the tour is like always the true cut loose it's all man we did it boys we made it it went well you know I mean and got on the other side of it yeah you got on the other side of yeah and you made all these new friends along the way and you're celebrating that it's like the last day of the school year when you get your yearbook signed and shit when you're like calm call you man I'll hit you up yeah that is fun everybody goes back to their world what do y'all make of the country music scene now everybody's coming country yeah I have a popular place to be with post balloons crossing over and he said reasonable like artist and songwriter I think even in his genre but it's still fascinating how he's a fan of country music yeah when I think a lot of people are when you get into music is your fan of music period you know I think post balloon coming I'm a fan of him and I think it's a cool thing like he wants to express himself and he's a fan of country music and it's like Darius Rucker but it's like he was in hoody and that guy can sing every word to classic he's a country music country album like encyclopedia call on me yourself god of boy yeah that's hard for your girl yeah look and you would never know that no you wouldn't if you didn't but he will school you on country music history and what thank god he came and made a country record he brought his talent and his expression to our that genre and man I think it's great I don't come on Beyonce yeah come on she's a Texas girl she grew up and he's a little thousand horses Beyonce makes right there you go a little collab I like that's trying to be Beyonce you know exactly Dave Grohl Beyonce we're on yeah we'll do it that'll be a great way yeah post balloon can come in too yeah yeah so let's call borrowed interest baby hey you don't mind we don't mind getting a little shine from them yeah just put your room right we need their shine yeah they need your talent yeah but so I think it's cool man come it's you can't help but it's got to help the genre even the genres needed any help let's be honest it's taken over is the popular music in a lot of ways and opens doors for people that are trying to do the same thing that their doors have been shut I think that's the cool thing about it somebody's got to pave the way somebody's got to be a trailblazer when it comes to it it's hard those people are very influential and very powerful so when they do something they it I think it opens up a lot of doors for people and open up to see those minds to things puts more ears on the genre as a whole yeah is there someone this not but it's just in country now like if you were pointing out y'all love to tour with them is it like is there anybody now and obviously the food fires but I miss me I don't about like specifically that's yard digging what they're doing or feel like they're pushing the envelope a little bit yeah man I love what jelly rolls doing and we known him for a long time we don't know him like personally but we had some party nights oh yeah I'm down at red the red door you know there Nashville and Laney Wilson is another artist that I love what she's doing man she's such an incredible performer and her stage presence and it just attitudes towards the whole thing I think it's I find just badass you know it's those are two there's a there's a lot of great music coming out but yeah I would say people that we haven't worked with or toured with those are of the new he talked about breaking barriers jelly roll have you listened to like his old stuff but then now it's everything gold with him you know it's like he's an inspiration to people yeah he's yeah he's just like the last thing the person you think that would be crossing that line and but look the music speaks for itself right people like it yeah yeah he's doing it and doing good things for people I was gonna say he's doing it in such a positive way yeah he's doing good things for the world I think every chance he can get and his story's great you know where he came from what he went through and even looking back at the genres the music that he was doing and then what it's evolved into that's the beauty of an artist like it evolves into something you know how's the community you guys are in Nashville you know the community of month country music like you got the superstars and then the guys like you guys are great musicians put a lot of albums you've had the highs that lows but just steady is there a circle or like a bar that y'all hang out is that just a mythical thing someone's mind all these guys we see each other out on the road we see each other in events that's in that's when we get to hang but the community is definitely it's like a family man there's a there's not very many of us and it really even from superstars to new acts like there's never like an ego of hey man I'm such and you're gonna do that like every it's a real like you've never nobody makes you feel that way it's who can it's real they help each other everybody helps everybody in a nice way and I feel like it's like a it's a little community of people that we're all we're all competitive without a doubt that's just life but it's supportive yeah of one another the reality is wherever you guys go you've done something that millions of people wish they had ever done to make music your livelihood to have a number one hit yeah we're gonna have multiple hits to have you guys are living the dream yeah man it's a god thing always bring it back to that you got to follow where he takes you and it's important to keep that close to you as you travel through this crazy high and low business of things that's what we always bring it back to that but yeah we're very grateful very grateful never imagined what we've seen and done that's what we dreamed of when we were kids but it didn't look like it's like what you dream of and then what you experience and then what it really looks you know it's been it's been a awesome journey yeah awesome most of the time yeah most of the time working everybody stay in touch with a thousand horses and everything y'all have going on at a thousand horses on everything like a thousand spelled out horses and then a thousand horses dot com that's all our handles or that tour dates there tour dates are there links the music on every platform you can listen to music and yeah we're out in the world man we're on the big old world yeah yeah and on all the social channels thousand horses guys loved having you there thank you for having us thank you see you again man I know I know that's awesome what to do this regularly who knew when we met on jaren's bus we've become buddies and do this thing so but thank you for having us in and hey you got my seal of approval anything I can do to make the thousand horses star shine brighter thank you will be doing it here and your songs coming roll on's coming yay I'm telling you I'm going to say I told you I want you to tell me I want you to tell me that I'm looking forward for that for if nothing else it'll get played a billion times at all for the house and that's what's all that in my sons right I'll never forget I'm on the boat and played it for the first time and put my son Clayton's very studious and he's got dry humor whatever he's like played the song whatever what do you think he said that sounds like a hit dad he said I can see all the college girls playing that that's what that was his second comment that's a great comment and he liked it like because he's nodding and whatever and he's just a stoic kid but dry humor but like he was even joking you would just matter of fact so I'm so glad yeah this guy needs to get a job but thank you guys for coming in hey guys you don't find us online I'm at Ryan offer on all the social media channels and look go see these guys live in concert just send me a thank you note or two hit me up in the DM because you'll see the music playing all my stories we'll see you next time now to listen or watch full episodes of right about now on the web go to Ryan is right dot com or follow Ryan Alfred on all social media platforms