Matt Connarton Unleashed 10-10-26 hour 3

0:01 Speaker 1: WMNH.

0:02 Speaker 2: Rip the knob off.

0:05 Speaker 3: We're back from the break. Matt Connerton Unleashed.

1:28 Speaker 4: Thank you.

3:06 Speaker 3: What a cool sound. I love the vibe on that. That is Stevenson Ranch Davidians. The song is Mythos, and we're going to be speaking with Dwayne Seagraves from the band in just a moment. But welcome, everybody. We have entered our number three Numero Trace of Matt Connerton Unleashed, and we are live from the studios of WMNH 95.3 FM in glorious Manchester, New Hampshire. And of course, you can stream the show from anywhere. Go to mattconnertonunleashed.com for all your live streaming options. social media links, contact info, shows, archives, et cetera, et cetera.

3:39 Speaker 3: But right now, let's go ahead and bring this up. And we've got Dwayne Seagraves with us via Restream. Hi, Dwayne.

3:48 Speaker 1: Hey, how are you doing?

3:49 Speaker 3: Good, good. I love the sound of your band. It's so cool.

3:56 Speaker 1: Well, thank you.

3:57 Speaker 3: Absolutely. Absolutely. I was reading that. So this collective, if we can call it that, actually started in Southern California. Is that correct?

4:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, we started there, I don't know, 20 plus years ago and kind of been doing it since off and on. We've taken some some pretty large breaks here and there, but.

4:19 Speaker 5: Yeah.

4:19 Speaker 3: Okay.

4:20 Speaker 1: We just became active again really two years ago.

4:23 Speaker 2: Oh, wow.

4:24 Speaker 3: Okay. How long was the break between reactivating two years ago and the previous iteration of the band?

4:35 Speaker 1: So basically once COVID hit, that put an end to just about everything.

4:40 Speaker 3: Gotcha.

4:40 Speaker 1: So we just stayed gone for, I don't know, two or three years.

4:45 Speaker 3: Oh, wow.

4:45 Speaker 5: Yeah.

4:46 Speaker 2: Yeah.

4:47 Speaker 3: Um, yeah, a lot of, a lot of artists, you know, continue to make music in some capacity during that period. But it sounds like you just, I mean, did you do other projects that were more, um, amenable to that, the sort of isolation that was necessary or, or did you just kind of stop completely for a while?

5:06 Speaker 1: We just stopped completely for a while. I mean, we'd done that before. We'd taken five year breaks in the past 20 years. So yeah. Yeah, I don't know. It's just one of those things. I can't explain it at all. But, you know, we're back now. We're making music, putting stuff out, and we've got a new record made and it's being mixed. So we're looking forward to doing more in the future here.

5:30 Speaker 3: Oh, fantastic. So I mentioned your roots in Southern California, but you're currently, are you in Hudson Valley, New York? Is that correct?

5:37 Speaker 1: Yeah, we are.

5:38 Speaker 3: Oh, okay. Okay. I've heard a lot about Hudson Valley from a podcast host who speaks of it often. But yeah, I mean, is that, what was the reason for the move?

5:54 Speaker 1: Um, let me see. I think, uh, COVID probably has something to do with that too. You know, being in LA at that time wasn't the greatest thing in the world.

6:03 Speaker 5: Yeah.

6:04 Speaker 1: We decided to go a little more rural and we had visited, uh, you know, Hudson Valley on a previous trip to New York and kind of fell in love immediately and just, uh, yeah, got a house out there and, uh, yeah. So the whole band followed us up basically several years later.

6:20 Speaker 3: Oh, that's amazing. So, um, and in the band, so of course you're the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and you're the songwriter, correct? You write everything or you're the principal songwriter?

6:31 Speaker 1: I do.

6:31 Speaker 6: Yes, sir.

6:32 Speaker 3: Excellent.

6:32 Speaker 5: Excellent. Yep. Yep.

6:33 Speaker 3: Okay. Um, and love, light, beauty, and truth, which we actually played earlier in the show. I, I, I snuck that in, in the second hour, uh, give kind of give people kind of a preview, but, um, that was, was that originally recorded pre pandemic? And then that's why it didn't come out until recently.

6:54 Speaker 1: Are you talking about mythos?

6:57 Speaker 2: No.

6:57 Speaker 3: Um, love, light, beauty, and truth. Was, was that, was that pre pandemic?

7:02 Speaker 2: Oh, that one.

7:02 Speaker 1: Okay. I'm sorry. You're breaking.

7:05 Speaker 7: Yeah.

7:05 Speaker 3: Yeah.

7:06 Speaker 1: All these songs we're releasing now were, uh, pre pandemic recorded.

7:09 Speaker 2: Oh, wow.

7:10 Speaker 3: Okay. Okay. Interesting.

7:12 Speaker 5: Um, yeah.

7:14 Speaker 2: Uh, yeah.

7:14 Speaker 3: Okay. So it's probably, probably feels good to finally get these out into the world because that's obviously, that's a long time.

7:22 Speaker 1: Um, It does. It does. Now at the time, you know, we didn't really shelve them necessarily because of COVID. We shelved them because I wasn't really thrilled with what we had done at the time, which, you know, it's kind of strange, but because now I absolutely love them. So that just kind of tells you what a little distance and perspective does sometimes with, with music. So yeah, it's kind of a weird situation, but we're happy to be putting them out now. People seem to be liking them and, That's great.

7:53 Speaker 3: Absolutely. I listened to, well, you know, you sent us a few things and then I listened to some on Bandcamp as well. And no, it's just such a cool sound. I do have to ask you, it's also a cool name. I do have to ask you about the name and not everyone obviously will know the reference, especially, you know, some of the, some of the young people out there might not know the reference, but can you tell us, can you tell us about the name Stevenson Ranch Davidians?

8:18 Speaker 1: Yes. So it is technically the Stevenson Ranch Davidians. I like to clarify that.

8:23 Speaker 3: Gotcha.

8:23 Speaker 1: People leave the the off on posters and stuff like that.

8:26 Speaker 3: Okay.

8:27 Speaker 1: It's just better with the. The name came, so we actually lived in a town called Stevenson Ranch. It's north of LA, off the five up there in Santa Clarita Valley. And at the time, this was like probably... 2006, seven, uh, we were kind of really into the Brian Jonestown massacre, who I'm sure you've heard of.

8:48 Speaker 8: Yes.

8:48 Speaker 1: And, or maybe, yes. So, you know, the drummer in the band was an Uber fan and he, we were trying to come up with a name, could not think of anything. He comes up with this. I immediately said, no, that's crazy. That's too close to the Jonestown massacre, you know, and blah, blah, blah.

9:04 Speaker 3: Yeah.

9:04 Speaker 1: And they're like, okay, fine, fine. But we just went another month, man, trying to think of something, couldn't think of anything. And finally, it's just like, fine, let's just do this. We'll consider it an homage to the BJM. At least we're not copying their sound like all the other BJM clone bands are doing. So I was like, fine, whatever. But now it's stuck, and now I love it, and people seem to really like the name. It's a little hard to remember. You know, but whatever.

9:30 Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it works. It absolutely works. You know, part of the trick, too, of choosing a name, and I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but I always say you want to try to find something that somebody else isn't going to already have because it really sucks if you choose a name and you run with it and you're releasing music under this name and so forth.

9:49 Speaker 9: Yeah.

9:50 Speaker 3: And then you find out down the line, somebody else is using it. And you know, it's, it's just, it's good to pick something original and clever that nobody else is going to have. And you've obviously done that. And I think that's great.

10:01 Speaker 1: Absolutely.

10:02 Speaker 3: Yeah.

10:02 Speaker 1: Yeah.

10:03 Speaker 3: And it's, it's just, it's so cool. Now, um, now Jessica is your, uh, she's what your partner in the group, right? Because you and Jessica, you're the core of the band. Is that correct?

10:15 Speaker 10: Yeah.

10:15 Speaker 1: We're the two, uh, remaining, uh, original members.

10:19 Speaker 3: Okay, okay. Now, did the other members stay in California? The other original members, I should say?

10:29 Speaker 1: Well, we've had a few members in and out, not unlike the Brian Jonestown Massacre. We've gone through more than our share of drummers and lead guitar players, stuff like that. But the two longest standing members, aside from Jessica and myself, are Sarah and Misha. And they've been in the band for, I don't know, four or five years now.

10:49 Speaker 2: Oh, good.

10:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, they came out from, they were in Austin, actually. We were spread out for a while doing the band thing, too, which is crazy and kind of hard, expensive. But so they're there now, too. They're in the Hudson Valley and makes things a lot easier. And we have like a rotating lead guitar player, basically, slash pedal steel players that we kind of rotate depending on where we're going and who's available.

11:15 Speaker 3: Okay. Okay. Uh, no, that's excellent. And, you know, it gives you some, some flexibility too, obviously. Um, so you're in terms of the new music that you're working on now, did you say you've already started recording or you're going to be recording soon for a new album?

11:32 Speaker 1: No, we actually, in March of, God, I think it was last year now, we went to Shangri-La in Malibu. That's Rick Rubin's studio. We didn't work with Rick, but we were fortunate enough to get in there with a producer and we made what we think is the best thing we've ever done. We did that in like 10 days. It was all recorded live. Amazing experience. But a lot of drama surrounded that record. We had a lot of drama with people. and band members, and we've done two mixes of the record practically, so we're working on getting the third one done now, and we're looking for a label to properly release it.

12:12 Speaker 3: Okay, so it will be out. It's, you know, drama, not withstanding.

12:16 Speaker 1: It'll be out.

12:16 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's good.

12:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, we're looking probably summer of next year.

12:21 Speaker 3: Okay, okay. And then, did you guys, did you go on tour Europe? Have you done some European dates?

12:27 Speaker 9: Yes.

12:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Well, pre-COVID, we went out two years in a row for about four and five weeks at a time. And we toured all of Central and Eastern Europe, which was the time of our lives.

12:41 Speaker 2: Amazing.

12:42 Speaker 1: We're going to be getting, yeah, we'll get back there, you know, probably this coming spring. We're looking to get back over there. Focus on the UK because it's just a jump, hop, skip and a jump across from New York, you know. Um, it's closer than going to the West coast, which we're also doing the West coast thing with a band called elephant stone in January.

13:03 Speaker 2: Oh, excellent.

13:04 Speaker 1: Like four or five days, four or five dates over there. So yeah, we got things brewing.

13:09 Speaker 3: You do. You do. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, and then the, the singles that you've been releasing, are these going to, will these just remain as singles or, um, uh, mythos and, you.

13:21 Speaker 1: Know, yeah. We're going to put those into a release. We're going to have probably seven or eight songs. I guess we're going to call it an album. People don't like EPs as much as they like albums. So we're going to call it an album. It'll be seven or eight songs. This collection that was all recorded, you know, 2018 and shelved for various reasons. And so that'll come out fairly, I think maybe February, January, February.

13:48 Speaker 3: Oh, not long at all. Oh, that's great. Okay.

13:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, if we can get it together. I mean, we're kind of slow moving with some things. But at the latest this spring, we're going to put something out and we're going to do a good PR push for it. And just we're trying to get momentum going, trying to keep it going leading up to the Shangri-La session release.

14:09 Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that's amazing. Fantastic. Well, we look forward to that. I'm curious, too, about those European shows that you did. Because, you know, I almost wouldn't expect... Your sound, I mean, I associate it, again, you know, Southern California, in terms of your origin, made perfect sense to me when I was listening to your music. But were you surprised at all at how well-received? I mean, obviously, you did a lot of dates over there. Were you surprised by how well-received your music is in Europe?

14:40 Speaker 1: No, not really. Not really, man. I was really kind of surprised. specifically, but the Eastern Europe, I'd never even been to Eastern Europe.

14:50 Speaker 8: Yeah.

14:50 Speaker 1: Well, I have once, I guess, Slovenia, but just on a vacation. They are just all about it there. There's this really interesting vibe in that part of the world that's still, I think it's kind of like leftover from like, you know, the communist, the Soviet era, which wasn't, didn't end that long ago.

15:09 Speaker 11: Right.

15:10 Speaker 1: Some of those countries, you know, they were like Soviet satellites. And so they're just basically starving for like western stuff i think and it was really amazing i met some the most wonderful receptive warm people there and just great great fans and lovers of the music so we want to get.

15:28 Speaker 3: Back there for sure no doubt oh that's fantastic Good, good. Well, in a moment, we're going to play, you know, we'll close out our conversation with High Time. This is another one of these great tracks that you sent us. And I do want to encourage people, too, all the music is available on Bandcamp. And, you know, I'm a big proponent of Bandcamp. I love Bandcamp. And something that people don't necessarily realize, and I'm always saying, is when you get your music from Bandcamp, you get a higher quality file than Bandcamp.

15:56 Speaker 3: you know, say you're just streaming it on YouTube or something. So, um, I think it's great that your stuff is on there. And I, I did listen to all the tracks that are available on band camp and, uh, no, I just think you have such a cool sound. So I'm really, I'm really glad you were able to join us today, uh, Dwayne.

16:09 Speaker 1: Um, I appreciate that opportunity, man. Thank you.

16:12 Speaker 3: Absolutely. Absolutely. So we're going to play this track high time in a moment at the end of our conversation. But Dwayne, where should people go online? Where's the best place? Because you've got a lot going on. Where's the best place to go online to keep up with everything that the Stevenson Ranch Davidians are up to?

16:28 Speaker 1: I guess I would say Instagram, probably. Yeah, we do have a website and it's pretty well updated, but most of the latest news and stuff is going to be there. And plus, you know, we want to get our follower account up. So let's, let's send people there.

16:44 Speaker 3: Absolutely. That is a very important in the modern music industry. That is for sure. Uh, well, well, very good. And while it sounds like you got new stuff coming too, so, uh, we'll have to have you back on the show, uh, soon, but, uh, Dwayne Seagraves from, uh, of course the Stevenson ranch Davidians. Thank you so much for joining us today, my friend.

17:04 Speaker 1: Thank you, man. I appreciate it.

17:06 Speaker 2: All right.

17:06 Speaker 3: You got it. Take care. Bye-bye. You too.

17:09 Speaker 7: Bye.

17:10 Speaker 2: All right.

17:10 Speaker 3: Thank you. And we are going to hit this track. This is another great song from the Stevenson Ranch Davidians. And this is called High Time.

18:06 Speaker 12: Everybody's talking about the government It's always the same old thing I think we've had enough of it I know we're all sick of being told.

18:15 Speaker 1: There's only two ways this thing can.

18:17 Speaker 12: Go, yeah How long, how long can we go Pretend nothing's wrong I think it's time, yeah.

18:28 Speaker 2: It's high, high, high, high, yeah It's hard past hard times.

18:50 Speaker 6: Yeah, we did something right.

18:54 Speaker 12: I hear some people talking about fighting and righting all these wrongs before.

18:59 Speaker 2: It's all gone. Don't you know there's a war going on? You're gonna have.

19:04 Speaker 3: To choose which side you're on now.

19:07 Speaker 2: How long?

19:09 Speaker 12: Did you think you wouldn't pay for the things you've done now?

19:13 Speaker 2: We've had it too good for too long. Now the time has come. It's high past high time. Thank you. Bye. Bye.

19:48 Speaker 6: Bye.

21:10 Speaker 2: I think it's high five, guys.

21:46 Speaker 3: Right now on Matt Connerton Unleashed, we have the world radio premiere of the new single from Awaiting Abigail. This is called Backstabber.

21:57 Speaker 2: You are listening to WMNH 95.3. World premiere.

22:13 Speaker 13: I thought.

22:19 Speaker 9: I knew, knew better than that. Give me what you want, don't.

22:23 Speaker 2: Say I didn't. First time I think, oh, you act different.

22:29 Speaker 8: I thought I knew, knew better than that But your smile and my face talk behind your back Gave me what you want, don't say I didn't.

22:37 Speaker 2: First time I seen girl, you act different Dead end, going back on what.

22:41 Speaker 11: You used to say then Heard you call me what you used to.

22:48 Speaker 2: Call them I don't really.

22:51 Speaker 11: Understand the problem You're the problem.

22:57 Speaker 2: I used to trust you. Wish I knew that you've got issues.

23:02 Speaker 13: Knife behind your back, guess I was blind.

23:06 Speaker 2: Secretly jealous of me the whole time. Your two-faced needs to get your story straight.

23:12 Speaker 10: I got the screenshot, but you won't say it to my face.

23:15 Speaker 2: When you see me, it's a different energy. Try to test me. I had.

23:21 Speaker 8: I thought I knew, knew you better than that But you smiled in my face, talked behind.

23:27 Speaker 10: Your back Gave you what you wanted.

23:30 Speaker 2: Say I didn't First time I seen, girl you.

23:32 Speaker 8: Act different I thought I knew, knew you better than that But you smiled in my face, talked behind your back Gave you what you wanted, say I didn't First time.

23:45 Speaker 13: I seen, girl you act different Dead.

23:48 Speaker 2: And going back.

23:50 Speaker 11: On what she used to say Then heard you call me what you used to call them I.

23:55 Speaker 2: Don't really understand the.

23:57 Speaker 7: Problem You're the problem.

24:02 Speaker 10: Didn't think I'd hear What you.

24:09 Speaker 2: Did My own.

24:40 Speaker 10: Going back on what you used to say then Heard you call me what you used to call them I don't really understand the problem, you're the problem That's.

24:52 Speaker 7: All I knew, knew you better than that But you smiled in my face, talked behind my back Gave you what you wanted, say I didn't First time I seen you, you act different.

25:06 Speaker 2: I thought I knew you better than that. But you smiled in my face, talked behind my back. Gave me what you want, don't say I didn't.

25:15 Speaker 11: First time I seen.

25:17 Speaker 5: You, you act different.

25:19 Speaker 3: That is brand new from Awaiting Abigail. The track is called Backstabber. And you heard it here first on FM radio right here on Matt Connerton Unleashed. And we are live from the studios of WMNH 95.3 FM in glorious Manchester, New Hampshire. Of course, you can stream the show from anywhere. Go to mattconnertonunleashed.com. And a couple things in the music industry news that I thought were interesting is And we'll see how I do with these because, of course, I've been sick. My throat keeps drying up, but we'll see if I can get through these.

25:53 Speaker 3: I have been hydrating, of course, with lots of water. But this is from digitalmusicnews.com. Kanye West. We haven't heard much from him lately, probably just as well. But it says here... It's a new story here. Kanye West tries to remove pages of his extreme anti-Semitism from a copyright court battle. Federal judge shuts him down. Yeah, you're not going to outrun that stuff, dude. It says here a federal judge has rejected Kanye's attempt to strike references to his past anti-Semitic statements from Alice Merton's copyright lawsuit against him.

26:27 Speaker 3: Now, I didn't even know about this copyright lawsuit against him, so sounds like there's a lot to this as I take a gulp of my water. My throat is in rough shape. Might have to go play some more music. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how we do. Kanye West, the disgraced rapper. Again, this is from Digital Music News. The disgraced rapper attempted to strike references to his past anti-Semitic statements and behavior. as well as German artist Alice Merton's family connections to the Holocaust. See, I didn't know about this.

27:08 Speaker 3: From the copyright lawsuit she filed against him last year. I mean, I knew about the anti-Semitic stuff. I didn't know about this, the Alice Merton thing specifically. But on Thursday, a federal judge rejected those efforts, ruling that the references are relevant and explain why Merton... denied the clearance request in the first place. Merton sued Kanye West in March last year for allegedly using an uncleared sample of her song Blindside in his track Gun to My Head. She had explicitly denied clearance because she is a descendant of Holocaust survivors and Kanye West has a very well-documented history of anti-Semitism.

27:52 Speaker 3: Judge Fernando L. Anil Rocha I'm sure I butchered that. My apologies, Your Honor, wrote this, quote, The court finds that the allegations concerning Merton's background of Kanye West's alleged remarks are not unduly prejudicial and may have some bearing on the litigation, including potentially at trial, to explain plaintiffs' rationale for denying defendants' use of plaintiffs' songs. The rapper's career took a nosedive following his rampant descent into anti-Semitism beginning in 2022. He engaged in years of public hate speech, both in interviews and posts on social media, sold swastika merchandise on his website, praised Hitler, and proclaimed himself a Nazi.

28:40 Speaker 3: West's attempt to erase his years of hateful statements and actions by issuing a lengthy full-page apology in the Wall Street Journal hasn't had the effect he intended. It's a lot to come back from, dude. He blamed his behavior on his bipolar disorder and the brain damage he allegedly suffered from a 2002 car crash. Nevertheless, he has been denied entry into several countries and venues while promoting his album, Bully. We did talk about that on the show, too, some of the issues he was having in terms of touring internationally because of that.

29:17 Speaker 3: He wrote, I guess this was from his apology, quote, I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state and am committed to accountability, treatment and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an anti-Semite. I love Jewish people, unquote. However, he has still... played to massive crowds in a run of stadium shows this year, including Englewood's SoFi Stadium, San Antonio's Alamo Dome, and Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. I'm actually surprised by that, that he's even able to do that, because who would want to work with the guy?

29:59 Speaker 3: Um, because even, you know, if you accept his apology at face value, and I'm not even saying that you shouldn't, uh, or that you should, um, uh, but I'm just saying, even, even if you do from a business perspective, do you want to risk that? He's just going to go right back to that. And then, you know, just blame his bipolar disorder or something. By the way, I have known other people. I've certainly had people in my life with bipolar disorder, um, I don't know of any of them suddenly deciding that they were Nazis.

30:34 Speaker 3: Maybe that's a thing. I don't know. To hear him tell it, it is. I'm just saying I personally haven't seen that. There can be challenges, certainly when dealing with someone who is bipolar, but, you know, not like what we saw with this guy. Just an observation. Again, you do, you know, take his apology how you want to take it. But, and apparently some people in the music industry took it as legitimate, I guess. They were willing to do business with him. I'm just surprised that, you know, you don't just get to go play a stadium without making the people you're doing business with at every level feel like you're okay.

31:24 Speaker 3: And that you're contrite, I guess, right? So I'm actually surprised. I didn't know. I mean, I knew he'd been active. I didn't know he'd been doing these massive shows. Okay. Anyway, so that's the latest on him. Let's see. Throat's holding up okay for the moment. Also from digitalmusicnews.com, Olivia Rodrigo. apparently has this festival, Daisy Chain Fields Festival, has gone into damage control after vendors say they were not paid. Festivals, you know, we talk about festivals a lot on the show because whenever one of our guests mentions that they've been playing festivals or that they have festivals coming up that they're going to be playing, I tell everybody, Festivals are the best opportunity you could ask for, because not only is it a chance to get you in front of audiences, large audiences that would not otherwise have seen you or know of you, and you can really expand your fan base, but also the connections that you make at festivals, the people you meet backstage at every level of the business.

32:28 Speaker 3: It's the best networking opportunity you could ask for. The thing about festivals, though, is, and we've talked about this has come up on the show before, too, What was it? The guys from Legion of Solace, when they were here, they were talking about the Blue Ridge Rock Festival. Is that what it was? Where they had a very negative experience? There was a country festival a couple of years ago where they tried to put this huge festival together in just a couple of months and the whole thing kind of fell apart at the last minute.

32:56 Speaker 3: Festivals can be very difficult in terms of... logistics, and actually turning a profit. And there's a lot of risk. The concert promotion, the business of concert promotion, is inherently very risky. Concert promoters lose money all the time. And I feel for the lower and mid-size, mid-level promoters who really struggle with that. I've seen a lot of that up close and even experienced a little bit of it. Um, I don't feel sorry for live nation when they lose money on something because they're live nation, whatever, who cares?

33:34 Speaker 3: But, but I do feel, you know, I, I, I do feel something for anybody who's trying to do a festival and something goes wrong and you end up losing money. It sucks. Um, but apparently this went very wrong. It says here, at least two vendors claim that Olivia Rodrigo's Live Nation-produced Daisy Chain Fields Festival not only failed to pay them, but also issued costly fees. Let me take a gulp of water here. Olivia Rodrigo's inaugural Daisy Chain Fields Festival, so this was the first one that explains why I haven't heard of it, was a major success with its charitable focus on reproductive rights, fighting gender-based violence, and its all-woman lineup.

34:20 Speaker 3: But at least two vendors alleged they suffered poor working conditions, costly fees, and late payments. Both vendors have now confirmed that they have received their payments since raising the issue on social media. Well, that's good. At least they got their money. Mary Chacon? owner of Ugly Oats Kitchen, one of the vendors who had not been paid, said, quote, Two Daisy Chain Fields executives reached out to me to discuss our experience. They were kind, apologetic, and genuinely interested in addressing our issues.

34:56 Speaker 3: They are looking to implement changes to improve the experiences of vendors next year, unquote. Okay, that sounds positive. But just a day before, Chaconne took to Instagram to share her company's festival experience. explaining that their point of contact for the event, DLS Events, had only provided piecemeal information on setup, didn't tell them about a free staff food area, and said the festival would fine them if they ran out of food for guests. Now, I want to stop on that for a moment. Because that is a common tale.

35:39 Speaker 3: Whenever we talk about things going wrong at festivals, and again, you know, because I know a lot of industry, music industry people listen to the show, so you'll know this. What inevitably almost always comes up when we talk about things going wrong at festivals? Communication. Communication sucks. That's, again, and, you know, I keep thinking about this, when the guys, Bruce and Malcolm, from Legion of Solace were here the last time for Swarmy Fest. They were talking about that was their experience at the Blue Ridge.

36:10 Speaker 3: I can't remember the exact name. Blue Ridge Rock, Blue Ridge Mountain Rock Festival thing. The communication was just terrible. You know, there was a lot of information that the promoters never shared with them that they should have known because they were sponsors of the event. Because again, Legion of Solace, it sounds like the name of a band, but it's not the name of a band. It's the name of a promotional company. And, um, they were one of the sponsors of the event and there's a lot of things that they were not told so that they would like to have known.

36:45 Speaker 3: Uh, but that is such a common problem. And again, it's, it's, it happens with festivals because, uh, First of all, human beings in general aren't that great at communication. But, you know, and you've got creative types trying to do business. You know, you've got to have business people doing business and letting the creative people do the creative part. There's a lot that can go wrong when art meets commerce. But communication, communication breaking down is not only is it super common, but it's probably the number one origin point of everything else that goes wrong, not just at a festival, but in life, right?

37:30 Speaker 3: Miscommunications. It's what causes a conflict and misunderstandings and everything that goes wrong in life. So, so I guess what I'm saying is, and I hadn't planned on making this point, but it, it just seems so salient. So I'll go ahead and say it. Uh, festivals are a microcosm of life. There you go. There you go. The pearl of wisdom. Such that I should just stop the show right there. There's nothing I can say after that that will be smarter or wiser than what I just said. Festivals are a microcosm of life.

38:06 Speaker 3: No, maybe not. What did I say to Ricky Mapleton last week when he was here that he really liked? I said, everything is all things and all things are everything. And, you know, that resonated with him. Okay, so.

38:23 Speaker 3: Getting back to this so this this company this vendor ugly oats what was it ugly oats uh something ugly oats ugly oats kitchen which is a fun name they're one of the vendors let me reread this paragraph Chacon took to Instagram to share her company's festival experience, explaining that their point of content of contact for the event, rather DLS events, it only provided piecemeal information on setup. Didn't tell them about a free staff food area and said the festival would find them if they ran out of food for guests.

38:57 Speaker 3: She explained quote, ugly oats is a micro bakery run out of my apartment. I, as a mom investing my own money, have no extra funds to, I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be present at a historic feminist event, unquote. Yeah, that's a thing too. If you are running a festival, you don't want to be pushing your vendors around, threatening them, we're going to fine you if you run out of food and stuff like that. Don't do that. That's not necessary. It's not as though the vendor is showing up there being like, hopefully we brought enough food, but if not, what's it matter?

39:48 Speaker 3: You know, they want to show up prepared because they want to make a good intention. They want to make a good impression. They're trying to expand their customer base by being a, it's the same reason that the artists are there performing. The artists are there to expand their fan bases. The vendors are there to expand their customer bases. It was not like they're showing up like, ah, if we run out of food, who cares? No, they want to, they're there to make money and build their businesses and Why would you threaten them like, we're going to fine you if you run out of food?

40:21 Speaker 3: GTFO with that. That's not cool.

40:24 Speaker 4: It says here, the custom fortune cookie company, Por Suerte, which I'm sure I didn't pronounce correctly, which is the other.

40:39 Speaker 3: vendor that reported payment issues and a less than ideal experience at the festival also shared an update confirming that executives from daisy chain fields had reached out to them Quote, DCF organizers were very receptive to feedback, unquote, they wrote, noting that they had since been paid in full. Now that, okay, so credit for that. You know, they didn't try to blow it off. They didn't try to ignore it. They dealt with it. Obviously, it should have been handled correctly the first time, like anything, but they did handle it.

41:09 Speaker 3: After the event, Olivia Rodrigo shared on social media that Daisy Chain Fields was, quote, the greatest joy of my career and that the event felt like a collective hope that things can get better and a reminder of how much we really care about people at the end of the day, unquote. So not a terrible story. I mean, obviously things went wrong. But it was the first one of the Daisy Chain Fields Festival. Now, if a year from now we're hearing horror stories about the second one, then we might say, well, you know, get it together.

41:41 Speaker 3: But honestly, for the first year of that festival, it sounds like overall things weren't awful. And hopefully everyone learned something. Let's see. Will my throat hold out for one more thing?

41:55 Speaker 5: Okay.

41:55 Speaker 1: Okay.

41:56 Speaker 3: This is from music ally.com. One more music industry story. And then we're going to start to wrap up because, um, again, my, I'm sick and my throat keeps drying up. And that's why if you notice, if you're listening, if you keep hearing awkward pauses, it's me pushing the button and muting myself because I have to cough. Uh, so, and I know this is going around right now and there's a lot of people sick. So I'm sorry if, uh, if you're, uh, sick as well. I'm not, I'm not trying to whine. I'm actually feeling the best I have felt in, in the past few days.

42:27 Speaker 3: So I'm definitely past the worst of it. I'm glad I didn't have any in-studio guests today because I didn't have to worry about shaking hands with people and spreading my illness. But anyway, I feel like I'm getting... I'm in the last stage of it. So musically.com, this is a story that relates to Meta and TikTok engage in a tit-for-tat ad ban on their platforms. So if you're a fan. Of social media titans beef, prepare to record your direct-to-camera rage bait hot take. Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, has banned ads from ByteDance from running on its platforms in the U.S. as well as some other territories, including Canada, Japan, and Thailand.

43:15 Speaker 3: It follows TikTok rejecting ads from Meta from running on its platforms. This is like a social media Cold War. Those rejected meta ads called on TikTok and other platforms to also settle in that U.S. child safety lawsuit and were booted off TikTok due to their, quote, political content. Meta recently racked up nearly a billion dollars in fines relating to online child safety. In some ways, this is very normal stuff. Why would you advertise a competitor on your own platform? One interesting question might be, okay, but why did you accept their ads before now?

43:58 Speaker 3: But also, it speaks to the depths of competition between the two companies' platforms. ByteDance is the company that used to own TikTok in the U.S., but now. After TikTok's U.S. entity was forced to be spun off to local owners, netting allegedly a hefty fee for the administration. So while it doesn't control the app in users' hands, it still owns things like its brand rights, the underlying tech IP, intellectual property, and 20% of the U.S.-based joint venture itself. Meanwhile, as reported in Music Allies' Marketing Weekly newsletter, it is advertising week in New York.

44:39 Speaker 3: And seeing both Meta and TikTok have announced new agentic AI advertising features, it's fun to imagine that each platform's AI ad agents are currently arguing with each other somewhere. So there you go. All right, what we are going to do right now, because my throat cannot handle much more, we're going to play, I think, one more song from... the Stevenson Ranch Davidians, because I really like this project a lot. This isn't one of the ones that they sent me to play, but I'm going to play it anyway, because I just love this band.

45:19 Speaker 3: And then we'll come back and we'll kind of wrap up and say goodbye. But this is called Shine On. I've got everything from the Stevenson Ranch Davidians.

46:15 Speaker 12: It's a new day in a new age.

46:20 Speaker 2: It's the right time for.

46:23 Speaker 12: A new phase Got a lot of things going our way Got.

46:32 Speaker 2: A good shot.

46:34 Speaker 5: If we want change Get your head straight.

46:40 Speaker 2: Get your mind right Keep your heart full.

46:47 Speaker 5: Let the big light.

46:54 Speaker 2: Do you want to fight? Yeah.

46:59 Speaker 13: We're going to do this right.

47:04 Speaker 9: Do it right now.

47:06 Speaker 5: Yeah.

47:06 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.

47:07 Speaker 5: Yeah.

47:08 Speaker 2: Yeah.

47:09 Speaker 13: Shine on.

47:26 Speaker 2: In the distance.

47:30 Speaker 3: If we offer.

47:32 Speaker 2: No resistance.

47:35 Speaker 5: We got love.

47:38 Speaker 2: Yeah.

47:41 Speaker 6: We got life.

47:44 Speaker 5: Let it shine now.

47:53 Speaker 2: Shine on Yeah Shine on Shine on Yeah Shine.

47:56 Speaker 13: On Thank you.

49:02 Speaker 5: Shadow Shadow Shadow Let it shine.

50:10 Speaker 13: Thank you.

50:11 Speaker 2: Thank you.

50:38 Speaker 3: I love that band. That is so good. That is so good. The Stevenson Ranch Davidians. And thank you to... Geez, maybe we will play one more to close us out. Actually, maybe the universe is trying to tell me that, but yeah, another one started playing, but I do love them. And thank you again to Dwayne from the band for joining us today on the show. And of course, everybody, we talked to our friend, Charles Richardson from the Charles Richardson show. Always nice to talk with him. Let's see. Of course, Sticky, we talked to, or I did it again, not Sticky, Sickie.

51:14 Speaker 3: we talked to, uh, although it took a while to get him on the line with us because of a technical problem on his end, but he figured it out and we will have him back. And thank you to everybody who joined us today. Um, you know, we had a, we had a couple of challenges today, but, um, but it was a fun show. Uh, but I do think again, because my throat is, uh, not holding up as well as I'd like, and it is the end of the show. So maybe we will sneak one more in, uh, this song, uh, What's it called? I've Got Everything from the Stevenson Ranch Davidians.

51:43 Speaker 3: I think we'll sneak one more in to close us out, to end the show today. But if you missed any part of today's show, it will be up in just a little bit at wmnhradio.org. Of course, at my website, mattconnerton.com. And don't forget the new site, mattconnertonunleashed.com. Also, if you are listening live on Saturday, be sure to keep an eye on your social media because tonight after the WWE Money in the Bank premium live event, Eric Pilcher and I will be on with a special live stream of Tough Bumps.

52:15 Speaker 3: And Tough Bumps has been on a little bit of a hiatus, but we are back. All right, that's going to do it for us. I'm going to give my throat a rest. I'm sure next week I'll be back. Back in prime form. Like I said, I've definitely turned the corner. Feeling better. But not quite there. Let's go ahead and play this. This is called I've Got Everything. One more from the Stevenson Ranch Davidians. And I'll talk to you all a little bit later.

52:38 Speaker 1: Bye, everybody.

52:57 Speaker 12: I know you're getting tired of hearing me talking Hearing me talking I'm always going on about something else I know you're getting tired of hearing me bitching Hearing me bitching But the world has gone to hell I know you're getting tired of seeing me trying Seeing me trying.

53:41 Speaker 2: To keep this dream.

53:43 Speaker 1: From dying.

53:50 Speaker 12: I know you're getting tired of seeing me searching Seeing me searching.

53:59 Speaker 2: I know, I know, I know I got everything that any sane man should want.

54:12 Speaker 12: I got everything that any sane man.

54:15 Speaker 13: Could need But I'll always.

54:21 Speaker 12: Be looking I'll always be.

54:25 Speaker 2: Looking I'll always be looking for more.

55:01 Speaker 12: For all the little things I think I need.

55:07 Speaker 6: I know you're getting tired of seeing me searching, seeing me searching.

55:26 Speaker 2: Thank you.

55:53 Speaker 12: I know you're getting tired of seeing me dreaming, seeing me dreaming. If someone's got a dream, I've got.

56:07 Speaker 13: Everything that any sane man should.

56:13 Speaker 2: Want.

56:15 Speaker 12: I got everything that any sane man could need.

56:21 Speaker 2: Yeah. But I'll always.

56:25 Speaker 13: Be looking I'll always be looking I'll always be looking I'll always be looking I've.

56:43 Speaker 8: Got love, I've got life, I've got it.

56:49 Speaker 12: All, man But I'll always be looking.

56:54 Speaker 6: I've got love, I've got life, I've got it.

56:57 Speaker 2: All, man.

56:58 Speaker 5: But I'll always be lookin'. I'll.

57:04 Speaker 2: Always be lookin'. I'll always be lookin'..

57:15 Speaker 3: Quick thank you today to Xtrilly for supporting Matt Connerton Unleashed and WM & H. If you're heading out later and need a ride, check them out. Xtrilly is a rideshare service operating here in New Hampshire with simple booking and clear pricing. One clear price, no surprises. You can download the Xtrilly app or visit Xtrilly.com slash ride 953. That's X-T-R-I-L-L-I dot com slash ride 953. And let them know you heard about them right here on WMNH. And if you're looking to earn some extra money around your existing schedule, our sponsor Xtrilly is signing up drivers right here in New Hampshire.

57:56 Speaker 3: They offer flexible scheduling and weekly payments. So if you're interested in driving part-time, this could be worth checking out. Head to Xtrilly.com slash drive 953 to learn more and sign up. And again, Xtrilly, X-T-R-I-L-L-I dot com slash drive. Drive 953. Thanks to Xtrilly for supporting Matt Connerton Unleashed and WMNH 95.3 FM. You're listening.

58:25 Speaker 12: To Matt Connerton Unleashed on WMNH 95.3.

58:38 Speaker 3: Right now on Matt Connerton Unleashed, we have the world radio premiere of the new single from Awaiting Abigail. This is called Backstabber.

58:49 Speaker 2: You are listening to WMNH 95.3. World premiere.

59:00 Speaker 13: Ooh Ooh Ooh I thought.

59:11 Speaker 9: I knew, knew better than that Gave you what you want, don't say I didn't First time I think, oh, you act different.

59:22 Speaker 8: I thought I knew you better than that But your smile and my face talk behind your back Gave you what you wanted, say I didn't First time I seen all you acting friends.

59:35 Speaker 11: Dead end Going back on what you used to say then Heard you call me what you used to call them I don't really understand the problem You're the problem

59:50 Speaker 2: Secretly jealous.