Kyle Gordon | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: That is She Chose Me by Kyle Gordon. I love everything about that song. That is a perfect song. I think we have Kyle on the line, Kyle are you there?

0:09 Speaker 2: Can you hear me?

0:10 Speaker 3: Yes?

0:10 Speaker 1: Yes, welcome to the show, my friend. That is so good. I love that song so much. I love everything about it absolutely.

0:18 Speaker 2: Yeah.

0:19 Speaker 4: I haven't heard it in the Wow it's sounding good.

0:21 Speaker 3: Yeah.

0:22 Speaker 1: Yeah, you got a little bit of a like in the chorus there. You got a little bit of a motown thing there. I love the so that guitar solo is perfect. Everything about it. It's just it's a perfect song. There's there's nothing you could do to that to make it better. It's it's perfect. I love it.

0:39 Speaker 2: Well.

0:39 Speaker 4: That means a lot, thank you. I had very little to do with that solo. I was I was blissfully out of the room when that happened, my very good friend. Yeah, yeah, I'm not I'm not like a I'm not a great musician. I'm just more of a songwriter.

0:53 Speaker 3: Okay.

0:54 Speaker 2: Yeah, So when we were in.

0:56 Speaker 4: The studio that was this is this this album that for the first song off the album is the first time that I ever got out of my own way to not do all the instrumentation on a song. All I'm doing on that song is the drums and the guitars, I'm sorry, the acoustic guitars. I'm doing all the singing. Ye, but my very good friend Nick Whitson is doing the bass and the guitar, and then Chris, my friend Chris Simsen, is also doing some bass.

1:20 Speaker 2: So a lot of that.

1:21 Speaker 4: Instrumentation is just so beautiful and I'm I'm proud of it because I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

1:29 Speaker 2: Yeah.

1:30 Speaker 4: Man, I think that's that's when collaboration, you know, is at its finest. So yeah, thank you so much for playing it, and I haven't heard.

1:37 Speaker 2: It in a little while, and I really enjoyed it.

1:39 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really good. Do you uh? Do you perform that live? Do you play out?

1:46 Speaker 2: Yeah?

1:46 Speaker 4: I play out, but not as not as Kyle Bordon yet. My career is kind of been a weird.

1:51 Speaker 2: Yeah. As right now, I'm.

1:53 Speaker 4: Playing under two names, Mama Bear and Anthems. Okay, I'm going this new Yeah, this new project, Anthems is it's fantastic. It's a rock project. But the Kyle Gordon stuff kind of represents songs that I write that that don't see the light of the day my rock and roll projects.

2:11 Speaker 2: Okay, so because I write all.

2:13 Speaker 4: Kinds of music, man, so this to me what I like about the Kyle Gordon project. It's a lot slicker and a lot more refined than all my other projects. And a lot of that, again has to do with the fact that I'm not doing most of the instrumentation anymore. Okay, I just yeah, I come into a studio with a song idea, I record what I think is the song, and then when we're done with it, it's almost it's almost unrecognizable. And I know you and I have never really spoken. You don't really know anything about me.

2:41 Speaker 4: But I've been making music for twenty five years. I'm sup yeah, and I'm super proud of this album because it represents something I've never done before. And the whole maxim was is the only rule was we can't do what we've done in the past, right, you know, Like there's like no big, huge, booming electric guitars, you know, or so I'm not screaming every point.

3:07 Speaker 2: I have to make a lot more.

3:10 Speaker 4: Crooning and stuff like that, and just trying to flex muscles that I've never flexed on a studio before. So yeah, man, it's a I got a lot of really cool songs to show y'all. This is just the first one, and I'm so excited. It's nice to meet you.

3:25 Speaker 2: How's your dad one?

3:26 Speaker 3: Yeah?

3:26 Speaker 1: Very well, very well, thank you. No, I've been looking forward to talking with them because, like I said, I love that song so much. Is it important to you to because you've got other projects too? Is it important to you to have multiple things where you can kind of explore different genres or different different approaches to creating music.

3:45 Speaker 2: Yeah.

3:45 Speaker 4: Yeah, I like to compartmentalize things, like Mama Bear is my little indie project, okay, and I'll always I'll stick like two artistic songs on it, but the rest of it's just like a very indie garage rock project. And then Anthems I'm creating with my very good friend Houston B, who was in a band called Heavy Mojo and they were very popular, kind of like this rap rock thing. And B is such a good songwriter, So he and I are doing stuff with Anthems, and it's like we call it industrial strength.

4:18 Speaker 2: R and B.

4:20 Speaker 4: Interest is kind of like punk and R and B mixed together.

4:23 Speaker 2: And so and I grew up in Atlanta.

4:25 Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Oh, I just said, really that that sounds interesting. I want to hear some of that. Definitely.

4:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really good.

4:31 Speaker 4: In the middle of finishing an album and an EPA, they put out an ep last summer and we're torn around. We're going to go to England next year with it, and I'm super stoked about that.

4:39 Speaker 3: Excellent.

4:40 Speaker 4: But yeah, man, so I compartmentalize my music so that so the Kyle Gordon stuff is kind of like I look at indie pop thing. I guess you could call it, yeah, and I like, I like making pop music.

4:51 Speaker 2: Who knew? Yeah?

4:55 Speaker 1: What's the music scene like? I mean, obviously, so you're in Atlanta? Now, did you grow up there?

5:01 Speaker 2: I did?

5:01 Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, I did all my formative years here in Ato.

5:04 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, what's the music scene like there? I would imagine. I would imagine it's a lot of different kinds of things, which which is probably why you're into, uh, you know, making different kinds of music and compartmentalizing it.

5:16 Speaker 3: I assume.

5:16 Speaker 2: Yeah.

5:17 Speaker 3: Is that?

5:18 Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, growing up in Atlanta, you know, hip hop is very pervasive. I grew up in the early nineties, so I remember I remember hip hop, I remember R and B, and then I remember Nirvana. Yes, my mom raised me with the Beatles, and so I think all those like the the aggressiveness and the accessibility of Nirvana, I'm coupled with the brilliance of the Beatles, and then like just the rhythm, the rhythm heaviness of hip hop was a huge influence on me because I think if you're writing a song and people aren't moving around to it, then you didn't You didn't you miss the point, right, you know, Like it's it's great to connect with people through lyrics, it's it's awesome to do all that, but if they're not moving their body like that's unless it's unless it's classical, or it's not just to do that, you know.

6:04 Speaker 2: I think that's.

6:04 Speaker 4: What's cool about music is it just gets inside you. You don't know why you're moving, but you're just moving and it feels city I'm good to do it. So yeah, like Atlanta, the music scene in Atlanta has always been very vibrant, like you're talking about, and I'm sure every town could say the same thing. I don't think that Atlanta is better than the other town, but I do think Atlanta is very unique in the sense that when I was going up, like all kinds of bands blew up on a national level that I knew personally, you know, they were doing their thing.

6:34 Speaker 4: And so Atlanta has a very vibrant, rich scene. I'm currently I'm raising two little kids, so I'm kind of not in the scene anymore. Okay, Yeah, I'm mainly just recording and playing shows these days.

6:49 Speaker 2: But I mean there's those kids are still there.

6:51 Speaker 4: On there messing stuff up and breaking things in the.

6:53 Speaker 2: Right way they're supposed to do, and God bless them. You know.

6:58 Speaker 4: Yeah, you're only You're only in your in twenties for a short amount of time. So out there and find out who you are and make your name, you know, find out who you are and do your thing.

7:08 Speaker 2: So yeah, man, music is in Atlanta's.

7:11 Speaker 4: It's very important. Don here does Yeah, and a lot of a lot of people in the world listen to Atlanta musicians. They may not even know it, but right and in Atlanta's cool because it sucks. It sucks everyone in from a uh you know, you could say, there's a there's a cup around the math of Atlanta. And if you didn't move to Nashville, you came to Atlanta. You know, if you're in the Midwest, you go to Chicago or Nashville, but everyone in the South coalesces into Atlanta.

7:37 Speaker 2: I was the same way.

7:38 Speaker 4: I was a suburban kid. I didn't grow up in Atlanta. I moved down to Atlanta to be cool and be seen C and BC and et cetera.

7:45 Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, so yeah, Atlanta, Atlanta. Love Atlanta.

7:50 Speaker 4: Yeah, where you're you're up in New Hampshire.

7:53 Speaker 3: We're in New Hampshire.

7:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, Manchester, New Hampshire where it's a little little chillier by a.

7:59 Speaker 4: Bear in the white mountains of New Hampshire.

8:01 Speaker 1: When I was thirteen, Okay, please please sell, please, yeah, please tell that story because I'm very, very interested to hear this.

8:09 Speaker 3: Yikes.

8:09 Speaker 2: My dad.

8:10 Speaker 4: My dad was like, I got a man, this boy up and was like he was in New Jersey my whole life.

8:15 Speaker 2: Yeah, he's like a man, this boy up.

8:17 Speaker 4: Take him out of the mountains. So we go hiking. It's like six days and I'm like the most tenderfooted person you ever met.

8:24 Speaker 2: I'm so soft and so you know, I'm.

8:27 Speaker 4: Like a mess the whole time. We have a water filter. We've got this try free food. We're like legit camping, right, yeah, and so on, like the sixth day we land at this free walled cabin and I'll just never forget. It was the White Mountains of New Hampshire, god knows where. I guess that means something to you, yeah and or yeah. So anyway, this bear named Brutus was a black bear and there was a little polaroid of him above this clipboard. And I imagine the clipboard was there just to kind of, oh, you could leave a note for someone that you saw.

8:56 Speaker 4: Oh hey, I remember, I remember specific like Jim I beat you summer ninety five. Oh, yeah, you know whatever. Yeah, And then I saw things there's no Brutus.

9:04 Speaker 2: Good. Oh, I was like, what does that mean. I look up.

9:08 Speaker 4: There's a picture of a black bear and there's a little note saying this is Brutus. He's the predominant black bear in this area. He's never hurt anyone, don't see him.

9:16 Speaker 2: YadA, YadA, YadA.

9:17 Speaker 4: Later that day he chased three campers up onto that three walled cabin I mentioned earlier, and then he came right into our campsite ate our lemonade, chased me into a tent almost collapsed the tent. My Dad's trying to scare him off with these two little pots he brought to boil water.

9:33 Speaker 2: Yeah, and so I've never camped since, not once.

9:35 Speaker 3: Wow, that's intense.

9:38 Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, it was really intense.

9:40 Speaker 4: And the way I look at it now is like the bears, like they live in the woods, that's there Atlanta. Yeah, they get that, Like I don't. I don't go there anymore. Like that's theirs and they they deserve it, they should have that. And I don't go there anymore, exact because I don't want to travel with a gun. I ain't gonna get eaten by bear.

10:01 Speaker 2: No.

10:01 Speaker 3: I like that. I can kind of relate.

10:02 Speaker 1: I mean, I've never had an intense experience like that, But the lack of interest in camping I can relate to. I grew up here, but I've never But people are surprised when I tell them this. I've never been camping in my life, and I'm never going to go. I don't want to go out. I don't want to be in the woods. I don't want to I don't want to risk encountering something that could eat me.

10:21 Speaker 2: Uh.

10:22 Speaker 3: I'm terrified of deer ticks. Deer. You know, deer ticks are very common.

10:25 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you don't want that lime disease, man.

10:27 Speaker 3: No way exactly. Oh, I've I know so many.

10:30 Speaker 1: I've met so many people who have lime disease because they went out in the woods and came into contact with a deer tick.

10:35 Speaker 3: Yeah. So I'm with you on that.

10:37 Speaker 2: Yeah.

10:37 Speaker 4: No, I like hot showers and uh you know, like take out food.

10:42 Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, concrete and steel, concrete and steel, That's that's the way to go.

10:48 Speaker 4: But I will say this, I do recall the White Mountains being of New Hampshire if I refer to it.

10:55 Speaker 3: Oh, very much. So.

10:56 Speaker 4: Yeah, it was absolutely beautiful.

10:59 Speaker 2: But there's there's yeah, brutish. I wonder British is still alive. I don't know. I mean this is like like thirty years ago.

11:05 Speaker 4: Man, I don't know how long it was thirty years ago.

11:08 Speaker 2: It was nineteen ninety five. Man.

11:09 Speaker 1: Oh, just be just be careful with the We're on FM terrestrial radio, so just be careful with what you say.

11:15 Speaker 3: Oh that's okay.

11:17 Speaker 1: We're on an eight second delay. So I caught it, no, no problem, but yeah, got you yeah yeah, but uh yeah, so I don't yeah, I don't go into the woods. But did you always did you always live in Atlanta or did you live anywhere else in the US at any point?

11:31 Speaker 2: I was born in Texas.

11:32 Speaker 3: I went to Texas.

11:33 Speaker 4: My mother and father split when I was one, so my dad moved in Jersey. My mom moved to Atlanta, where she had like a family.

11:39 Speaker 3: Yeah.

11:39 Speaker 4: So I was either in Atlanta or New Jersey my whole life, Okay, but mainly Atlanta. Did all my schooling down here, so I consider myself with Georgia.

11:47 Speaker 3: Boy, gotcha? Gotcha? Now?

11:50 Speaker 1: So what is you know, you've got multiple projects going. Is there one that's kind of the biggest priority for you right now? Is that the Kyle Gordon project? Or I mean, you know, because you've got Mama Bear and you've got Anthems, and I mean it sounds like you're doing a lot.

12:03 Speaker 3: Is there a hierarchy to priorities?

12:05 Speaker 2: Is the most important to me?

12:06 Speaker 3: Okay?

12:06 Speaker 2: Yeah?

12:07 Speaker 4: Anthems is the most important because it's a it's a it's a functioning band.

12:10 Speaker 3: Yeah.

12:10 Speaker 4: The you know, there's four of us. We were all writing for it, like we all creator and parts for it. Whereas like Mama Bear is Mama Bear. I created Mama Bear in twenty thirteen after yet another one of my bands I believe in broke up, right, Oh, and that back then there wasn't internet radio, if you you know, if you didn't other than my Space in early Facebook, you know. So these bands, I'd be in this band for two years, we'd make an album that we all really believed in. It was frankly really good because I have I like to think of myself as artistically intell like, and there's integrity in it.

12:50 Speaker 4: Like I'm not just banging out stuff to be heard, because that's not the point, like I want to. I want to enjoy it myself, right, So, like I'd make an album with these guys and then the band would break up and it was like it never happened. And so after a while, after like the third band breaking up, and this is like seven eight years of my life, I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna make now by myself the way I want because I can play every instrument to some degree already. So I formed Mama Bear to just be an outlet for my songs.

13:20 Speaker 4: Yeah, And the reason I chose Mama Bear was because it's a it's a word or a phrase in the lexicon of every Western speaking person. Everyone's heard the term mama bear. It was easy to remember. And then two it was also kind of cheeky and sarcastic because I'm not making soft music right so I but I also think it was kind of it kind of worked against me too, because like even my father would be like, there's a terrible name. I'm like, you just don't get it. But so anthems means the most to me because it's a it's a functioning, living organism where Mama Bear.

13:55 Speaker 2: I haven't really recorded.

13:56 Speaker 4: Anything under the name of Mama Bear since I got back from England and twenty three and so the Kyle Gordon project is kind of I'm just like, I've been sitting on these songs for a little while because I really liked them and I wanted to do it right. I wanted to promote them correctly, and I hooked up with some people in Wales, Ian and Ange of we believe. Yes, they're a husband wife's team and they are just the salt of the earth's best people. Ian's Ian's one of my best friends in the whole world, and they're they're the one the reason you and I are talking is because of them.

14:31 Speaker 3: Yeah.

14:31 Speaker 4: So they They've been a huge Mama Bear fan. They've toured me around the UK twice and then they hooked me up with Big pr which hooked me up with you.

14:42 Speaker 2: So I'm just I'm just.

14:44 Speaker 4: Thankful, man, Like I just I don't even remember your question. I think I've just been wandering off.

14:49 Speaker 3: No, that's my words. No, that's okay.

14:51 Speaker 2: No.

14:52 Speaker 1: I was curious if there was a sort of a priority or a hierarchy in terms of what is most most important right now.

14:58 Speaker 2: But I just thought.

15:00 Speaker 4: On the success if I get me. You know, all the projects have something cool about them. Yeah, and I believe in all three of them. And the Kyle Warden project is is the newest in terms of just like in my world, the sexy thing because it's new and outside of my wheelhouse. But one thing, I want to make a piano album next. Really, I think that'd be really fun. Yeah, make like a piano like Sunday Afternoon music. And then I met this guy that plays really awesome jazz in Atlanta and I were kind of messing around, like, Okay, I got to make a job.

15:35 Speaker 2: It's just while I'm alive.

15:36 Speaker 4: I want to make as much music as I can before I'm gone.

15:39 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good policy, definitely.

15:43 Speaker 2: Yeah, I get I get morbid like that. I'm like, no, I got this idea in my head.

15:46 Speaker 4: I got to get it out. What if I die? You know, I just it may not be the best idea in the world, but I believe. I believe in it's that girl, that's beautiful.

15:54 Speaker 2: I'll be done in that.

15:54 Speaker 3: Okay, that's okay, no worries.

15:58 Speaker 1: I'm curious, what was your first instrument, because you mentioned, because obviously you play multiple instruments.

16:03 Speaker 3: What did you start with?

16:05 Speaker 4: I started with the trumpet in really sixth grade class, and I wasn't I wasn't inspired or very good. It's just it was what I started with.

16:14 Speaker 2: Yeah.

16:15 Speaker 4: I grew up listening to music with my mother, and I remember, like it's.

16:21 Speaker 2: Kinda step outside.

16:22 Speaker 4: I remember like listening to music with her, and you know, now we call it the hook or whatever that part of the song is they grab you. I remember as a little kid, I I couldn't wrap my head around music, and whenever the songs felt really good, I would I'd feel it really deep, and I asked my mom, what is that? Why does that feel so good. Yeah, and I thought that every song utilized the same thing. Oh, it's just that feel good part. So I think music just kind of struck me like it was intriguing. I couldn't wrap my head around it, and in particular twelve Silverhammer, when I would listen to that song as a kid, I was like, this sounds like a cartoon.

17:07 Speaker 4: It sounds like, you know, like Saturday morning cartoon music. And so, you know, just just this idea that something you can't hold, taste, feel or see it has such an impact on you, like never really left me. Yeah, And eventually, I guess I started playing trumpet just as an extracurricular thing from school. It wasn't like, oh, I'm going to be the neck where the big trumpet guy is at showing my ignorance right now. It wasn't like that. It's more like something to do. But my my real first instrument was a guitar, like every other jerkey, just figuring it out.

17:48 Speaker 4: And I was terrible for a long time, and to this day I'm just I'm kind of okay at it. It's insane how I've been playing guitar for a million years now and I'm i consider myself a very middle guitar player. I don't make it scream.

18:06 Speaker 2: That ain't my job.

18:07 Speaker 4: My job is to I was always really intrigued with the songwriter of the band. You know, it wasn't the it wasn't the front man, or it wasn't the good looking girl that could sell it, which God bless her, we need her, we need him. But I was always intrigued, Like I love Oasis, but I'm the no guy, Okay, who wrote the song that makes you, that changed your world? Forget who sung it, but who wrote it. I'm a big I'm a big fan of the writer of the bands.

18:35 Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that makes sense. That makes sense.

18:37 Speaker 1: And then so you also play it turns me on you mentioned too, you play drums, and I assume you play bass.

18:44 Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I play all I play all that.

18:45 Speaker 3: And keyboard, I assume, right, yes I do.

18:49 Speaker 2: I bought it.

18:49 Speaker 4: I didn't buy I got a piano off Craigslist about three years ago. It's simering my sun room. I sit around and I'm yeah, and I knew how to play, you know, first position major and minor chords, up and down the keyboards because it's just twelve notes, right. But now I'm learning second third position. I'm trying to get some separation between my right and my left hands.

19:09 Speaker 3: Yeah, I go.

19:12 Speaker 4: While they had their hand go. And so I'm trying to learn all that and it's a lot of fun. I love to just sit there and tinker on the piano.

19:19 Speaker 2: It is.

19:20 Speaker 4: It is very liberating.

19:22 Speaker 1: I've heard so many, uh so many music professors and instructors say that whether you're just starting out or whether you already play other instruments, you know, being at least somewhat proficient on the keyboard will help you with literally everything else that you play.

19:38 Speaker 4: Oh dude, Yeah, Well it's so linear, you know, like with the guitar, it's slightly metaphorical. You've got half steps as a.

19:46 Speaker 2: Fret, whole steps, two frets.

19:47 Speaker 4: Okay, my mind's already kind of bobbled by that, and then the B string is half step off, so then you got that one key little string. Now the keyboard it's just ABC des all the way down the line, repeat, repeat, repeat, And so yeah, it's very linear. And when I play the piano, I play it much differently than I played the guitar. Yeah, and it's just because I've developed the style of the guitar, and so now I'm trying to figure out what's my style on the piano. Yes, and it's intriguing and it's fun, and I wish I had learned twenty years ago.

20:15 Speaker 2: I had taken it.

20:17 Speaker 4: Way more seriously, because I'm way more artistic on the piano than I'm on a guitar. Okay, So, but the good news is I hopefully I still got some life left in me and we'll get something out of it.

20:27 Speaker 2: Sooner or later.

20:28 Speaker 4: I said I want to make a piano album. I'm just I got to learn how to play the piano.

20:33 Speaker 3: Right, right, of course, of course.

20:36 Speaker 4: I guess I got to learn to walk before I've run.

20:39 Speaker 3: Now, what is the So you mentioned an album?

20:41 Speaker 1: So you're going to do a full album of Kyle Gordon of that project specifically.

20:46 Speaker 2: Okay, it's already made. It's done.

20:49 Speaker 3: Oh, it's done. Can Oh excellent?

20:51 Speaker 4: Do you have any kind of an I'm going to put out each song individually.

20:55 Speaker 3: Oh.

20:55 Speaker 4: I don't know if you're aware of this, but people don't buy music anymore, so I'm just going to put out singles and then eventually I'll just put them all out under the name, under a name, and the goal is to get back in the studio. I've already got a my buddy, and I've already got a follow up song, a couple of follow up songs to the album. So it's mainly just like governing what project gets what very few finances I have at the time. Sure, and as of right now, Anthems is a functioning band. We just played a show last week.

21:30 Speaker 4: They went really well and and uh we're recording that, so kind of like my my, what I have financially right now is going into Anthems.

21:38 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, understood, understood, But uh, but I do look forward to hearing more of the well, I'll check out the other stuff too, but I look forward to hearing more of of the Kyle Gordon project.

21:48 Speaker 2: Yeah.

21:48 Speaker 4: Man, it's it's I mean, I really believe in it, dude. I've been sitting on it for a few years because I've wanted to. Uh, I wanted to be in a mental place where I could just focus on it. And I guess it doesn't make much sense, but what I mean is, uh, like I just knew I had something kind of cool and different, and I'm not And to answer your question earlier, I'm not playing it live because I would need like eight people, you know, to reproduce that sound on stage. So I have done a few solo Kyle Gordon shows where I just show up with an electric guitar and I was saying and all that, Yeah, and.

22:26 Speaker 2: It's cool, it's cool.

22:27 Speaker 4: But I'm not like a I'm not like a super stellar solo guy.

22:31 Speaker 2: You know.

22:31 Speaker 4: I have a lot of respect for Ed Sheeran. For example. I don't like his music, but damn if I don't respect darn if I don't respect him.

22:38 Speaker 2: Like.

22:41 Speaker 4: I could say the D word, that was okay, so because yeah, he can sell it.

22:46 Speaker 2: I don't like what he's saying.

22:47 Speaker 4: But but man, I got respect because I've tried to do it and it ain't easy. So yeah, it's not my bread and butter. I'm much better with an ensemble. I can lean into stronger musicians than myself. In fact, I have a maxim and it's if I'm on stage, I have to be the least talented person, and if I'm the least talented person on stage, We're gonna have a great show.

23:07 Speaker 3: There you go. I like that. I like that a lot.

23:09 Speaker 1: And by the way, I agree with you on Ed share, and I feel the same way about him. You know, I respect him. I respect the hell out of him. You can say hell too, but uh but I don't.

23:18 Speaker 3: But I don't know.

23:19 Speaker 2: I don't like what he says.

23:20 Speaker 4: But yeah him, if he's not really good at doing it. I don't buy into the whole Oh he's not cool. I mean screw that stuff.

23:28 Speaker 2: Like, I don't.

23:29 Speaker 4: I dipped out on that whole like cool scene a long time ago, because cool just means insecure, you know, it just means you're so insecure. You're gonna let everyone know how insecure you.

23:40 Speaker 2: So.

23:41 Speaker 4: Let Ed Sharon be Ed, whatever the hell's name is. Let him be him. He's not in your way, he's not hurting you. He's just crushing his short life. You have a problem with that because you have a problem with yourself whatever.

23:53 Speaker 3: Yeah, well said, I agree.

23:56 Speaker 4: I don't care about the cool stuff like that. To me, it's I've got two kids right now, and they're very young. They don't understand anything I say yet, but I'm teaching them that like cool is actually just understanding quiet wisdom and acceptance. That's what makes you cool. Not saying a bad word because you think bad.

24:17 Speaker 2: Words are cool, big kids say bad word.

24:19 Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, Like, I know, I'm kind of breaking it down, But it's the same with music and the whole identity people put into music. I feel kind of diminishes the power of the music. Like forget your suit. You know, Oh you're a metal guy, so you dress like a metal guy. Okay, cool, I get it. What you only listen to metal or this or that?

24:38 Speaker 2: And right? You know?

24:39 Speaker 4: And another reason I really don't like pop is because it's so unreal. No one's cool. Everyone, everyone smells bad, everyone wakes up feeling weird, like no one is cool.

24:49 Speaker 2: Right.

24:51 Speaker 4: This image we're pushed on with pop music and the sleek side of music is so false and so fake.

24:58 Speaker 3: Sure, so absolutely, yeah, Okay.

25:01 Speaker 4: I'm gonna get off my soapbox. I'm sorry.

25:03 Speaker 3: No, No, it's good though. No, No, it's good though. I like.

25:05 Speaker 1: I like what you're saying. Absolutely In terms of in terms of the Kyle Gordon project, I mean, are you does is there an image that will that will take shape with this.

25:17 Speaker 3: Or or or are you?

25:20 Speaker 1: Are you just completely not worried about that part and it's more just about just putting out the songs putting out the music.

25:26 Speaker 4: Okay, when I heard your question, what I heard was I I pictured like, am I gonna go full Zeggy Star does this? Or something like I don't have any plans. Yeah, Like at this point, I'm very comfortable with who I am. Yeah, I'm a very flawed person, and I bring those flaws onto the stage. Yeah, and I think that's what makes me relatable.

25:49 Speaker 3: Yeah.

25:49 Speaker 4: Yeah, And so no, I don't really have any plans with the Kyle Gordon project because I'm not even sure it's ever getting heard, you know what I mean, Like at this point, like I stopped making music videos about five years ago, really says for one, yeah, I for one, I hate making them. Two it's a lot of work, a lot of time. And then three, no one really cares.

26:13 Speaker 2: And that's fine, Like, you know, I get it.

26:16 Speaker 4: You know, they upload like seven million things a day on YouTube. We're just going to get lost of that. And if you're not willing to give a billionaire a few extra bucks, you're just going to get buried in the UK. And then so once I realized that there's a gatekeeper society with music, it's all been monetized to the point where you can't even do anything anymore. No, I don't have any projects and any idea on how I'm gonna sell this thing other than the fact that I'm just going to slap my face on it and be honest.

26:43 Speaker 4: Yeah, I've got a really good friend named Ben Underwood that lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and he makes the most delicious creative collages. Like the stuff he comes up with is so cool, and he's been so nice to create two covers for me. Yeah, I just send them a batch of like selfies I took, oh my hair looks good today clip, So I send him that and he just slaps my face onto one of his collages. And that's what she chose me as one of his collages. And yeah, so in terms of the presentation, I'm gonna go with that kind of look.

27:23 Speaker 4: Yeah man, No, no star in the eye. I'm not gonna stuff as stock in my pants. I'm just gonna go out and and I don't even have any plans to play it live. It's who want to and there's a demand, then I'll figure that out. But you know, like, uh, the like she chose me as actually getting more radio play than I've gotten in years, but my day to day hasn't changed in the least, you know. I mean, like, yeah, it's it's it's still just a wonderful It's Saturday, right, It's a wonderful Saturday, you know, And so if something comes of it, then you know, I'll put a little more effort into it.

28:00 Speaker 4: But yeah, in terms of the way I look at it is I just I really want to make a follow up to it, to be honest with you. Yeah, so right now I'm just kind of like writing songs with anthems, coming up with ideas of my own, and just kind of dreaming.

28:16 Speaker 2: You know.

28:16 Speaker 4: This is like the this is the part where things are slow and you're just kind of figuring out what's next. Sure, and then get in the studio and then that's the real magic is just watching a song evolve in the studio. Is It is an intoxicating feeling. I've never gotten tired of.

28:32 Speaker 1: It's cool that you like that, though, because not everyone does, you know. I mean a lot of musicians love being in the studio, but a lot of musicians too, as as you know, are like, oh, I just want to be on stage and they and they actually dread being in the studio, you know, So it's cool that you're able to embrace that, because not everyone can embrace.

28:49 Speaker 2: That kind of like, that's that's your that's your right.

28:53 Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, it's kind of like camping.

28:55 Speaker 1: You know, not everyone can embrace it, and uh, you and I do not embrace that, and people think we're weird for embracing that.

29:02 Speaker 2: But I've worked with a I work with a really great guy down here land.

29:06 Speaker 4: I mentioned him earlier. His name is Chris Sampson. Yeah, and he's worked with everyone from the Beach fifty two's to me, and he's very well known. He's extremely talented, and he's like, he's not gonna lie to you.

29:19 Speaker 2: And he and I have known.

29:20 Speaker 4: Each other for a long time, so we're very close friends as well. So when we're recording, he'll be like, that was terrible. You can do better and just shoot it straight at me. And I really have learned to embrace like the vagueness of the studio.

29:35 Speaker 2: Yeah.

29:37 Speaker 4: The songs I can't stand that I wrote the most are the ones that I had all planned out and then I executed them exactly how I planned.

29:45 Speaker 2: And then I got exactly what.

29:47 Speaker 4: I wanted and I hate it.

29:48 Speaker 3: Oh wow.

29:49 Speaker 4: So yeah, with the Kyle Gordon project again, we just came up with a few rules in the beginning. It was like, for one, we're just going to try it. We're not going to do anything we've done in the past. Yes, and that's very liberating. That means I'm no longer tied to the things that I didn't enjoy in the past, which opens up the door to all kinds of cool opportunities and new ideas. Sure, but they never even like, never even fathomed. So with his push that oh you can do better.

30:14 Speaker 2: You can do better or and.

30:16 Speaker 4: Then then the happiest one went is like oh yeah, and he starts getting real excited. I'm like, okay, now I'm cooking, you know, yeah, and we're going to focus on this thing now.

30:25 Speaker 2: So No, I love being in the studio. I love being on stage.

30:28 Speaker 4: The one the only thing I don't like about being a musician is hanging around a venue for like five hours way into play. Yeah, I hate that stuff. I hate it. I hate it.

30:38 Speaker 2: I hate it.

30:39 Speaker 4: I get so bored and it's like the whole hurry up and wait thing. That's that's one of my least favorite but when you're on tour, it's a little different because at least I'm in a place I've never run at and often or i'm revisiting, I can walk around the neighborhood, you know, like that's great. I love that.

30:56 Speaker 3: But no, I can relate though, so I don't play it more.

31:00 Speaker 1: But I used to be, you know, I was in a bunch of bands and whatnot before I decided to focus more on the radio and podcasting part of what I do. But yeah, I always I used to really struggle with that when you're when you're waiting for a really long time to play, it's like it's my.

31:16 Speaker 4: Least favorite thing absolutely, especially my own hometown, you know, like, yeah, it's yeah, so.

31:23 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's that's that's to me, the least favorite for it. But everything else is fun.

31:27 Speaker 4: I love the community, I love meeting people. I love the energy exchange between the crowd and the bands.

31:34 Speaker 2: And yeah, dude, it shows me. I didn't. I didn't.

31:39 Speaker 4: I had no idea this is gonna be my life. As soon as I got into it, it's you know, it's the only thing I really stayed on too, you.

31:46 Speaker 1: Know, yeah, yeah, well, uh, Kyle, the time goes quickly.

31:52 Speaker 3: We got to begin to wrap up.

31:54 Speaker 1: But before we do, and by the way, at the end of our conversation, I'm gonna play, I'm gonna cheat and play she shows me again because I love that song, dude.

32:03 Speaker 3: Like I said, it's perfect, It's just perfect.

32:05 Speaker 1: But before we do that, let's make sure that I want our listeners to know where's the best Where are the best places to go online to keep up with everything that you're doing, not just the Kyle Gordon project of course, Anthems and Mama Bear and everything.

32:18 Speaker 4: Yeah, the only, the only, like social media. I really play with his Instagram, Okay, I don't you can find all the projects I think across the board you were streaming on Apple YouTube or all the things Spotify, all the things. Anthems is spelled A N, T H M Z okay.

32:40 Speaker 2: And then Mama Bear.

32:42 Speaker 4: I don't know if it's an Atlanta thing, but all my bands are spelled on purpose. Mama Bear is one word M A M, M A D E A R. Okay there because Mama has two m's in it. I don't care who I'm Southern. I like to put in extra continents and sounds. So and then Kyle Gordon is just my name. So you can find me streaming down the musical rivers on the internet wherever you want to find me. And then if you want to stay hi or something, hit me up on Instagram. And I hope everyone has a great day. And I really appreciate your time.

33:13 Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

33:14 Speaker 4: Sorry for saying the word earlier.

33:15 Speaker 1: That's okay. Like I said, we're on a delay. It's not even a big deal. I caught it. It's no big tru trust me. You are not the first.

33:23 Speaker 2: It's good.

33:24 Speaker 3: It's all good, my friend.

33:25 Speaker 4: I didn't invent the word that cheers.

33:28 Speaker 2: Man.

33:28 Speaker 3: There you go, there you go.

33:29 Speaker 2: Well.

33:29 Speaker 4: I really really appreciate your time, man, Yes much.

33:32 Speaker 3: Thank you, Kyle.

33:32 Speaker 1: We appreciate you joining us. We will definitely do this in the future. And I can't wait to hear I can't wait to hear the next uh, the next Kyle Gordon song. Absolutely, but uh, we'll.

33:40 Speaker 2: Let you go. We're gonna hit the today.

33:43 Speaker 3: Okay, all right, you got it, my friend. All right, Kyle, take care.

33:47 Speaker 4: I have a nice day, everybody take care.

33:48 Speaker 3: Ye bye bye. All right.

33:50 Speaker 1: That was the great Kyle Gordon and we're gonna play this again if you missed it, and if you didn't miss it, you probably want to hear it again because it's so good. I love this song he Chose Me And this is Kyle Gordon