Matt Connarton Unleashed 5-2-26 hour 3

0:00 Speaker 1: W m N h rip the nobles.

0:05 Speaker 2: We're back from the brains.

0:20 Speaker 3: And sing your sister lately on commercial road which you

0:27 Speaker 3: trade first sas for money whispers stand the phone. But

0:36 Speaker 3: that's not your business man, So what's your disease? You

0:44 Speaker 3: can't stand for nothing but your names stand told by

0:56 Speaker 3: five Range, Strange choging fad.

1:04 Speaker 1: Fa Range.

1:08 Speaker 4: Can you see a compent baby, a commercial boat? We're

1:15 Speaker 4: allicly thespigs who what fanacy bloats?

1:24 Speaker 1: So what's not your business? Baby?

1:28 Speaker 5: Carry out to say.

1:32 Speaker 3: You don't see nothing of your names? Strange joy fad.

1:44 Speaker 6: Fada Range, Strange jo the fad fad selling Range, Strange,

2:04 Speaker 6: old in five thizle the range, Strange old fast salimage

2:20 Speaker 6: double down two and buy a commercial world to bagels

2:28 Speaker 6: as wind salting the dub wains.

2:32 Speaker 1: With both goals no billion five fast.

2:38 Speaker 3: In stems, sacred billion boats dublendillions again.

2:51 Speaker 1: Strange old in five.

2:56 Speaker 6: Fizo Range Changel Range.

3:15 Speaker 1: Strange.

3:42 Speaker 2: I love it. That is called commercial road, and that

3:45 Speaker 2: is the noise who runs. And we're gonna be talking

3:48 Speaker 2: in just a moment with Ian Pickering from the noise

3:51 Speaker 2: who runs. Really looking forward to this. I love this

3:52 Speaker 2: project but welcome everybody. We have entered our number three

3:56 Speaker 2: New Marrow trace of Matt Connor toon Unleashed and we

3:58 Speaker 2: are live from the studios of w m n H

4:02 Speaker 2: ninety five point three FM and Glorious Manchester, New Hampshire.

4:05 Speaker 2: And of course you can stream the show from anywhere.

4:07 Speaker 2: Go to Matt connorton dot com, slash live for all

4:10 Speaker 2: your live streaming options, social media links, contact and Fosho archives,

4:13 Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera for our live listeners. Today is

4:17 Speaker 2: Saturday May two, twenty twenty six, and let me get

4:21 Speaker 2: this mic up here. And Ian Pickering has joined us

4:23 Speaker 2: to be on Microsoft Teams. Hello Yan, Hello Mat, how

4:27 Speaker 2: are you good? Good, Welcome to the show. I'm very

4:31 Speaker 2: very excited to talk with you. I love I love

4:34 Speaker 2: the noise who runs and I was a fan of

4:37 Speaker 2: the Sneaker Pimps too. Do you does that project continue?

4:42 Speaker 7: Is this?

4:42 Speaker 2: Is this an addition to that or has I don't

4:45 Speaker 2: know if Sneaker Pimps is still active or.

4:49 Speaker 7: I don't know if I don't know if there was

4:53 Speaker 7: there was the Square in the Circle album in twenty

4:56 Speaker 7: twenty one. Yeah, Sneak Pimps. Yeah, I don't know. Uh,

5:01 Speaker 7: that's always that's always the decision of Liam and christ

5:04 Speaker 7: with the sneakers. Sure they're doing something, you know, then

5:10 Speaker 7: then I'll happily get involved in the project again anytime,

5:14 Speaker 7: you know, right right, But I don't know if that

5:17 Speaker 7: was a line drawn under it. And then they went

5:19 Speaker 7: back to doing their own separate things again. It was

5:23 Speaker 7: a nice moment. I thought it was. It was nice

5:27 Speaker 7: to work with everyone again and do that. But the

5:31 Speaker 7: ball is not in my court, if you like, I'm

5:33 Speaker 7: not the I'm not the brains behind the operation.

5:36 Speaker 2: Understood, understood? Yeah, well I love I love this, I

5:40 Speaker 2: love the noise who runs I listen to the whole thing.

5:44 Speaker 2: Of course, the album read gen X, this just came out?

5:49 Speaker 2: Did this just come out on the eighth or it's

5:51 Speaker 2: coming out on the on the eighth rather, I'm sorry, Yeah, absolutely,

5:55 Speaker 2: it's coming coming out on the I'm experiencing some time distortion.

5:59 Speaker 2: I think.

6:01 Speaker 1: It's like that.

6:02 Speaker 2: But what's the response been over there where you are

6:06 Speaker 2: to this so far? Because it's not it's not a

6:09 Speaker 2: light listen in the sense that I mean it's light

6:12 Speaker 2: in terms of the production of some of the songs,

6:14 Speaker 2: and you know, it's electronic, it's sort of some of

6:17 Speaker 2: its sort of poppy and whatnot. But the lyrics are

6:20 Speaker 2: not light. I mean there's some you're tackling. You're tackling

6:23 Speaker 2: heavy stuff with the lyrics.

6:26 Speaker 7: Uh yeah, I mean I came to music from the

6:30 Speaker 7: angle of the lyrics. I think for me, that's the

6:33 Speaker 7: most important thing. That's the thing I like first and foremost.

6:38 Speaker 7: I'm a writer. Yeah, it happens to be songs. I

6:42 Speaker 7: don't think that makes any difference. It could be poetry, novels,

6:46 Speaker 7: it could be journalism. You know, I'm a writer and

6:51 Speaker 7: music is the way I do it because that's always

6:54 Speaker 7: what That's just always how it's been. And even when

6:57 Speaker 7: I try and do something different in a different form

7:00 Speaker 7: of writing, music comes back within three months or a

7:04 Speaker 7: year or two years and it wants something from me.

7:07 Speaker 7: So I'm stuck with it, you know, right, Really it's

7:11 Speaker 7: a pleasure. But you know sometimes it's like it's always music,

7:16 Speaker 7: isn't it. I just happened to do it in three

7:18 Speaker 7: four minute pop songs, and you know, and not.

7:22 Speaker 2: Only that, but so tell me if I have this right.

7:25 Speaker 2: So you're you're a songwriter. Obviously you're a vocalist, but

7:28 Speaker 2: you also play multiple instruments.

7:29 Speaker 7: Correct, I play multiple instruments good enough to make a

7:36 Speaker 7: record because I can. I can retake and retake and

7:42 Speaker 7: I can I can do the guitar parts and cut

7:46 Speaker 7: them up, you know.

7:47 Speaker 2: Sure.

7:48 Speaker 7: No, I have to learn to play live, you know.

7:53 Speaker 7: I have to learn the songs like a session musician. Again.

7:57 Speaker 2: I write very fast, okay, I.

7:59 Speaker 7: Record fast, and then I start to mess around with

8:04 Speaker 7: everything else about it. You know. So if I I

8:09 Speaker 7: want to take the project live now, I really do,

8:12 Speaker 7: but I'm going to have to learn everything again, just

8:14 Speaker 7: like everyone else who comes into the project, you know,

8:17 Speaker 7: right right, that makes sense, play a little bit of everything.

8:22 Speaker 2: Well, that makes sense because it's it's sophisticated. It's not

8:25 Speaker 2: you know, you're not in a three chord punk band here,

8:29 Speaker 2: you know, where you just go out and jo just

8:31 Speaker 2: go out and wing it. And it's not that there's

8:33 Speaker 2: anything wrong with that.

8:34 Speaker 7: I mean, you know, yeah, No, I had training as

8:38 Speaker 7: a child on piano, and Chris Corner really he taught

8:42 Speaker 7: me the guitar more than anybody else really. Yeah. Yeah,

8:47 Speaker 7: when we when well when we were still teenagers. Yeah,

8:51 Speaker 7: you know, but I didn't really develop any brilliant virtuoso

8:57 Speaker 7: skill on any instrument. No, okay, I'd stuck with a

8:59 Speaker 7: lyric all the time. That was always my thing.

9:02 Speaker 2: Okay, okay, Now on the album is this all you?

9:05 Speaker 7: Are?

9:06 Speaker 2: You playing everything?

9:08 Speaker 7: Yes, that's the first time that's happened actually, so yeah, yes,

9:13 Speaker 7: I don't know why that makes me so happy. I think,

9:17 Speaker 7: you know, it's it's just it's an achievement in itself.

9:21 Speaker 7: It is just to have done everything.

9:25 Speaker 2: So what what what led to that decision to take

9:28 Speaker 2: that on, because that's I mean, obviously I would think

9:31 Speaker 2: it would be a double edged sword. On the one hand,

9:33 Speaker 2: it's probably very liberating because you're in full control. But

9:36 Speaker 2: on the other hand, that's a lot of pressure you

9:38 Speaker 2: literally have to do everything.

9:40 Speaker 7: Well, it's quite arbitrary, weirdly. The decision to do it

9:46 Speaker 7: is I had stumbled across an artist, a Newcastle artist

9:52 Speaker 7: called The Blonde, maybe three years ago, okay, and I

9:57 Speaker 7: think she's amazing, you know, I think she's absolutely brilliant.

10:02 Speaker 7: Music she makes is stunning. And the last album she

10:05 Speaker 7: had she said, Oh, I'm really proud because I've done

10:09 Speaker 7: everything myself and that's the first time I've done it.

10:12 Speaker 7: And I thought, oh, I could do that, and that's

10:15 Speaker 7: the only reason I did it.

10:16 Speaker 2: Okay, okay, yes that was Yeah.

10:19 Speaker 7: I got influenced by some by you know, a young

10:23 Speaker 7: artist who I discovered as I just found out by chance.

10:27 Speaker 3: Yeah.

10:27 Speaker 2: So, as you're making the album, was there ever any

10:31 Speaker 2: a point where you thought, I don't know, I don't

10:33 Speaker 2: know if doing this all myself is really going to

10:35 Speaker 2: work out. Maybe I maybe I do need to bring

10:37 Speaker 2: somebody in for this part of that part. Did that ever?

10:39 Speaker 2: Did that ever happen? Or were you able to just

10:41 Speaker 2: kind of do this and just enjoy it and uh,

10:45 Speaker 2: you know, and and make something great just just sticking

10:48 Speaker 2: to your plan?

10:50 Speaker 7: Well? I did send. I sent the songs to a friend, Philip,

10:57 Speaker 7: who plays guitar. He's been playing guitar for project since

11:02 Speaker 7: twenty twenty, and I said, okay, do you want to

11:06 Speaker 7: do the guitars then? And he kind of listened to it,

11:09 Speaker 7: and after about a month he sent it back. He said,

11:11 Speaker 7: there's not really anything to do because it all sounds fine,

11:16 Speaker 7: which makes me sound like Donald Trump. Suddenly, I did

11:19 Speaker 7: it very well, brilliantly me.

11:22 Speaker 2: Many people are saying it, but yet and I just

11:29 Speaker 2: thought okay, and that was a bit.

11:31 Speaker 7: That's what. It took a long time for me to

11:35 Speaker 7: think about whether that was a good thing or not,

11:37 Speaker 7: because I thought maybe I should ask someone else to

11:39 Speaker 7: do it in that case, or but no, I just

11:42 Speaker 7: in the end, I just left it. I thought I

11:45 Speaker 7: played around with it a little bit, tried to do

11:47 Speaker 7: it a little bit better, but it's almost you just

11:52 Speaker 7: want some extra security for some reason. Sure, it's like

11:56 Speaker 7: having a security blanket. I'll send it, I'll send it

12:00 Speaker 7: to Colin and he can master it, and it turns

12:03 Speaker 7: out not good enough, I'll do it again.

12:05 Speaker 2: Right right, No, that makes sense. How long did it

12:07 Speaker 2: take to make the album? I would imagine this took

12:09 Speaker 2: a while or maybe not.

12:14 Speaker 7: Well, I think all the songs pretty much. All the

12:18 Speaker 7: songs are written by the end of twenty twenty three,

12:24 Speaker 7: but I have periods of big activity, so the album

12:29 Speaker 7: was there in all its form. It basically comes down

12:32 Speaker 7: to me recording the vocals, and I wasn't getting on

12:35 Speaker 7: with it because basically I wrote another album. And I

12:43 Speaker 7: keep writing rather than doing other things because writing is

12:46 Speaker 7: my big pleasure.

12:47 Speaker 2: Okay, okay, I've.

12:49 Speaker 7: Got a backlog of material, you know, really there's like

12:54 Speaker 7: four albums waiting, and I keep writing new stuff all

12:57 Speaker 7: the time. I'm always playing catch.

12:59 Speaker 2: Up, right, right, I mean it's a good problem to

13:02 Speaker 2: have in one sense, right, It's better to have too

13:04 Speaker 2: much material than not enough. Better better to have too

13:07 Speaker 2: much than to have writer's block.

13:09 Speaker 7: But well, well yeah, whenever, if I if I ever

13:12 Speaker 7: have writer's block, it's not really going to be a

13:14 Speaker 7: problem so much to say.

13:17 Speaker 2: There you go. It'll be a chance up.

13:19 Speaker 7: Literally, I'm going to be doing it till the day

13:21 Speaker 7: I die.

13:24 Speaker 2: So the vocal tracks came last, obviously, after everything else.

13:30 Speaker 7: Yeah. Yeah, I went back to the Northeast, Okay, back

13:33 Speaker 7: to the Northeast in it, back in England to do

13:35 Speaker 7: it for two weeks. I went to see my mom

13:37 Speaker 7: and my brother. You still live up there, so yeah,

13:41 Speaker 7: so yeah it was nice. It was nice, and I

13:43 Speaker 7: kind of wanted I kind of wanted to feel I

13:46 Speaker 7: wanted to visit my hometown where there'd been some riots

13:49 Speaker 7: and stuff the year before, Okay, so I just wanted

13:53 Speaker 7: to see that and get a sense of the mood, right,

13:56 Speaker 7: and that kind of helped. It's helped informed a bit

13:59 Speaker 7: of the vocals, okay, you know, giving it a bit

14:02 Speaker 7: of anger in there somewhere right right.

14:05 Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of that. I mean you can

14:07 Speaker 2: kind of hear that edge throughout the album. And I

14:09 Speaker 2: wanted to ask you about you know, we played Commercial

14:12 Speaker 2: Road the new single, and I wanted to ask you

14:14 Speaker 2: about that specifically too. What does that song represent to

14:16 Speaker 2: you lyrically?

14:21 Speaker 7: Lyrically, it's I mean, it really started off. I mean, firstly,

14:27 Speaker 7: it's a very old song and the title is very old.

14:31 Speaker 2: Okay.

14:31 Speaker 7: I wrote that in nineteen ninety six in Birmingham. Oh,

14:35 Speaker 7: but I never had any lyrics apart from having seen

14:39 Speaker 7: your girlfriend baby on Commercial Road. That's all I ever read, okay,

14:43 Speaker 7: And I just felt like it was I played it

14:47 Speaker 7: for no reason, you know, just one day on the

14:50 Speaker 7: guitar and I thought, oh, it's pretty good. I like

14:53 Speaker 7: the melody. I used to write better melody. And so

14:58 Speaker 7: I just started thinking about everything that's going on. And

15:01 Speaker 7: I think it was probably about the time that you know,

15:05 Speaker 7: they overturned Row versus Wade, you know, that was back

15:10 Speaker 7: in the news for some reason, and that had set

15:14 Speaker 7: me thinking, you know, about how people like Kirk Cobaine,

15:18 Speaker 7: he wouldn't be having this, would he'd be standing up

15:20 Speaker 7: against that instantly, and nobody's doing that much anymore, you know.

15:25 Speaker 7: And I've done that all the time, and now it

15:27 Speaker 7: seems like people are catching up. But it's basically just

15:32 Speaker 7: about the complete exploitation of women in all countries under

15:36 Speaker 7: all guys. Is equality is not complicated, you just do it.

15:42 Speaker 7: So that's my main angle, you know, and then it's

15:45 Speaker 7: just got a lot of other stuff thrown in. It's

15:48 Speaker 7: a snapshot of it's a snapshot of capitalist society falling apart,

15:53 Speaker 7: right right?

15:57 Speaker 2: Fair to say that that's kind of a theme throughout

15:59 Speaker 2: the album.

16:01 Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think things are reaching. We're definitely

16:06 Speaker 7: in an end game situation. The whole ball game has

16:12 Speaker 7: actually changed. And I guess Generation X so the last

16:17 Speaker 7: people to straddle the analog and the digital.

16:21 Speaker 2: That's true. I say that all the time, Yeah, because

16:24 Speaker 2: I'm Gen X. Yeah, you know, our generation is the

16:26 Speaker 2: last generation to grow up without the Internet.

16:30 Speaker 7: And so is it that it's just hard to understand

16:33 Speaker 7: the generations who would never have gonna known anything other

16:38 Speaker 7: than social media. I don't know whether it's us, What

16:42 Speaker 7: do you think is it us not able to understand

16:46 Speaker 7: that this is just the evolution of how it is

16:48 Speaker 7: or should we rightly be very afraid that this is

16:51 Speaker 7: control and manipulation on a massive global level. Yeah, billionaires,

16:58 Speaker 7: Oh of course, yeah it is.

17:01 Speaker 2: It is easier than ever for that mass manipulation to happen, absolutely,

17:07 Speaker 2: and and in the grand scheme of things, any technology

17:09 Speaker 2: that you know, it's not that the technology itself is bad,

17:13 Speaker 2: but it can be used for nefarious purposes obviously, and

17:17 Speaker 2: there's always bad actors who will do exactly that.

17:21 Speaker 7: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and that is that is, isn't it?

17:24 Speaker 7: You just it's it's not just fundamentally you cannot get

17:29 Speaker 7: the balance is everything?

17:31 Speaker 3: You know.

17:32 Speaker 7: Yeah, if we don't like it, it doesn't mean it's

17:35 Speaker 7: not part of the beauty of it's you're good and evil,

17:38 Speaker 7: right right? So yeah, I guess it's like that, you know,

17:42 Speaker 7: it's it is it a early for philosophy? And men?

17:50 Speaker 2: Have you have you written things like this before? Like

17:54 Speaker 2: get well, let me put it this way. Have you

17:55 Speaker 2: done a project like this in terms of the lyrical, uh,

17:59 Speaker 2: content and concept prior to the noise? Who runs prior

18:04 Speaker 2: to this project? Or is it is this kind of

18:06 Speaker 2: the furthest you've gone in that direction.

18:10 Speaker 7: It's the it's the it's the hardest it's ever it's

18:14 Speaker 7: the most overtly kind of socially where that it's ever been.

18:21 Speaker 7: It's more, it's more direct, and this album is more

18:24 Speaker 7: direct again, you know, yeah, I think but it was

18:29 Speaker 7: it almost existed in the sneak of Pimps. It existed that.

18:33 Speaker 7: You know, a lot of it was that Splinter was

18:36 Speaker 7: about the troubles in Ireland. You know, my mum's background

18:40 Speaker 7: is Irish. You know a spin Spin Sugar that was

18:45 Speaker 7: originally it was supposed to be a sonnet, and it

18:48 Speaker 7: was an anti capitalist sonnet. And everyone thinks it's a massive,

18:53 Speaker 7: like sleezy sex kind of son which is which is yeah,

18:58 Speaker 7: that's because but no, I think there's always been a

19:02 Speaker 7: love kind of politics there. But you can take everything

19:06 Speaker 7: two ways with my lyrics. I think Sneakers particularly is

19:12 Speaker 7: that you can look at it very personal in terms

19:15 Speaker 7: of a relationship, or you can look at it as

19:19 Speaker 7: a sort of a social thing in terms of a

19:22 Speaker 7: section of society. And I think I'm becoming X with Sneakers.

19:27 Speaker 7: It was very much it was I think us more

19:31 Speaker 7: than anyone else in trip hop. The lyrics nailed the

19:35 Speaker 7: kind of the under barely culture at the time. You know,

19:40 Speaker 7: it was sneazy because that was what life was like.

19:43 Speaker 7: You know, I was on the dole im Portsmouth at

19:46 Speaker 7: that point, right in those lyrics, you know, have to

19:49 Speaker 7: finish in a journalism college and not being able to

19:51 Speaker 7: get a job.

19:52 Speaker 2: Oh wow, Yeah, it was like that.

19:55 Speaker 7: But everything was you know, you're young. Everything was you know,

19:59 Speaker 7: try everything at least twice, three times, four times. Yeah,

20:04 Speaker 7: I think it was very It was just like that.

20:08 Speaker 7: But you could see where politics was and you could

20:11 Speaker 7: see where it was going to go.

20:13 Speaker 2: Mmm.

20:15 Speaker 7: I think becoming X quite it's quite a preemptive strike

20:19 Speaker 7: on what happened to the world. Okay, people people said

20:23 Speaker 7: it was cynical. I said it was, But no, I

20:27 Speaker 7: don't think it was cynical.

20:28 Speaker 2: I think we were right right right, No, that makes sense.

20:32 Speaker 2: That makes sense a couple of the other And when

20:35 Speaker 2: we in a little bit, when our conversation concludes, I

20:38 Speaker 2: am going to play the other two singles on the

20:40 Speaker 2: show today, Bang Bang, and I'm particularly fond of the

20:43 Speaker 2: bodies are under the Bus again and the Yeah, the

20:47 Speaker 2: anti war theme of that. But I mean that was

20:51 Speaker 2: that song? When was that song? Written because in some

20:55 Speaker 2: ways it seems so especially relevant right now. And yeah,

21:00 Speaker 2: you really could have I mean, you could really write

21:03 Speaker 2: an anti war song anytime, because there's always war. It's

21:08 Speaker 2: sort of absolu you know what I mean, there's always war.

21:13 Speaker 7: No, No, you're quite right, yeah, no, no, I wrote that.

21:17 Speaker 7: I think that was twenty that was twenty twenty three

21:23 Speaker 7: four certainly the Yeah, the music was done and I

21:31 Speaker 7: had the idea the bodies are under the bus again. Yeah, yeah,

21:34 Speaker 7: that's yeah. But it's just basically how it is. I

21:38 Speaker 7: think maybe it was. You know, there is a lot of.

21:43 Speaker 3: It.

21:43 Speaker 7: There's a lot of trouble in the world. I don't

21:48 Speaker 7: really know what it is. It's just it just seems

21:52 Speaker 7: like there's always an exploitation. Nothing is ever genuine, right,

21:57 Speaker 7: And it just seems like there's billions of us. So

22:02 Speaker 7: why isn't Why don't things run the way we want?

22:05 Speaker 7: Why are we still sitting here like the peasants revolts

22:08 Speaker 7: under Richard the second and we get promised something and

22:12 Speaker 7: they steal it back.

22:13 Speaker 2: You know, it is remarkable when you think about it

22:16 Speaker 2: that way, how we don't learn much, you know. And

22:22 Speaker 2: and war, I mean it's it's so obvious, you know,

22:25 Speaker 2: to those of us who are conscious and thinking about it.

22:27 Speaker 2: It's it's a business really, but uh, but we just

22:31 Speaker 2: keep letting it happen because there's I mean, I know

22:33 Speaker 2: here in America. You know a lot of people here

22:36 Speaker 2: love war. You know, they they see it as patriotic

22:39 Speaker 2: and they believe what they're told and they don't question anything.

22:43 Speaker 2: And I mean obviously not everyone, but there's there's a

22:46 Speaker 2: large swath of the American population that is like raw rah, yeah,

22:49 Speaker 2: let's go, let's go kill some bad guys.

22:53 Speaker 7: I think that's true, all right, that's true all around

22:55 Speaker 7: the world. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, Yeah, I think it's yeah,

23:01 Speaker 7: it's it's a business. Uh. But I just think in

23:04 Speaker 7: every way, like you know, yesterday was what it was,

23:07 Speaker 7: International Workers Day? Yeah, no, And I understand there's a

23:12 Speaker 7: lot of activity with the unions in the U s A.

23:15 Speaker 7: There is you know, uh, which which which is which?

23:20 Speaker 7: You know, which is how it's meant to be? That's

23:21 Speaker 7: what America is all about.

23:23 Speaker 2: I think should it should be?

23:26 Speaker 7: Yeah, I think that's the point. It's just on every level,

23:31 Speaker 7: on every level, the majority gets stiffed and it just

23:37 Speaker 7: doesn't make any sense.

23:38 Speaker 2: Right, but we accept it.

23:41 Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't know how we keep doing it.

23:43 Speaker 2: It's it's yeah, it's it's it's pretty frustrating. So so

23:48 Speaker 2: that raises a question, Uh, like, what what's the response been.

23:52 Speaker 2: I mean, from from what I've read, it sounds like

23:54 Speaker 2: the response uh to to these to the singles and

23:57 Speaker 2: again the album comes out May eighth, but it sounds

23:59 Speaker 2: like the response so the singles has been pretty positive.

24:01 Speaker 7: Right.

24:01 Speaker 2: But but I'm wondering, I mean, when when when people

24:04 Speaker 2: tell you they like it, I mean, are they do

24:07 Speaker 2: they just like it sonically? Are they connecting with the

24:11 Speaker 2: messaging of it. I mean, I imagine it's a mix.

24:14 Speaker 2: But I'm curious what kind of feedback you're getting.

24:18 Speaker 7: Uh, most of the feed most of the feedback is

24:21 Speaker 7: about is kind of about the lyrics. And I'm always

24:24 Speaker 7: very I'm always very I've always very touched when people

24:28 Speaker 7: like like the songs musically. So you know, a lot

24:32 Speaker 7: of people, a lot of people are really really enjoying

24:36 Speaker 7: the bodies are under the Bus again, which I'm quite

24:38 Speaker 7: surprised because it seemed quite lightweight and out of place.

24:43 Speaker 7: You know, it seems so very electronic and pop. It's

24:46 Speaker 7: the only one where there's no guitars, right, I think.

24:49 Speaker 7: But I've had a lot of good a lot of

24:52 Speaker 7: good sort of feedback about little bits and bobs of

24:55 Speaker 7: the music in all in different songs. Oh I like

24:58 Speaker 7: this bit synth, I like this big keyboard. So that's

25:02 Speaker 7: always It's always really nice when people like the musical parts,

25:08 Speaker 7: or they see something or they hear something and it's, oh, yeah,

25:11 Speaker 7: I did do that. It's funny. But all these things

25:15 Speaker 7: just happen naturally, don't they true? But yeah, I mean,

25:21 Speaker 7: I think I'm just people have been really positive. I

25:24 Speaker 7: think it. I think it's probably I think the production

25:30 Speaker 7: and everything about it is very tight on this record,

25:32 Speaker 7: so I think it's more accessible because it's just everything

25:36 Speaker 7: has been done very well, possibly for the first time

25:40 Speaker 7: in the hole of the Noisy Runs. Yeah, No, I know, yeah,

25:44 Speaker 7: I think. Yeah. Everything else has been a bit shambalic

25:47 Speaker 7: and a bit schecky on my path. You know, I've

25:50 Speaker 7: been in a rush. I've got balls. I'm just going

25:54 Speaker 7: to use the drums like this, and no, no, I

25:57 Speaker 7: make atrocious decisions.

26:01 Speaker 2: Well it's ourd I mean, you know, it's certainly not

26:03 Speaker 2: supposed to be perfect, right, No.

26:06 Speaker 7: Yeah, no. I think this time. This time it was

26:09 Speaker 7: everything seemed to be like a like a well oiled machine,

26:13 Speaker 7: maybe because I just did it and pleased myself.

26:18 Speaker 2: Any plans for a follow up? I mean, obviously you're

26:21 Speaker 2: writing a lot of music. Do you have any plans

26:23 Speaker 2: for a follow up to this? Specifically, will you continue

26:26 Speaker 2: to release music under the name The Noise Who Runs?

26:29 Speaker 2: What's kind of your your long term plan or do

26:31 Speaker 2: you know?

26:34 Speaker 7: Yeah? Absolutely, yeah, The Noise He Runs is basically is

26:38 Speaker 7: basically my kind of like a non de plume, So

26:42 Speaker 7: I go under this name regardless. That is now the

26:44 Speaker 7: project I do is Ian Pickering my thing when it's

26:48 Speaker 7: not Sneakers or it's not Ryan for someone else. Sure

26:53 Speaker 7: there is a follow up album? Yes, Oh, it's pretty

26:56 Speaker 7: much done once again. I've got to do the vocals.

27:00 Speaker 7: That is called Signals in the Static.

27:03 Speaker 2: Okay. Oh, that's an interesting title, and I.

27:06 Speaker 7: Think it's kind of like a follow up to this.

27:11 Speaker 7: It carried on, the writing carried on and spilled over.

27:14 Speaker 7: But it's very bizarre at the moment. You know, I've

27:19 Speaker 7: done things with guitars that you shouldn't do.

27:22 Speaker 2: Okay, that's intriguing, that's intriguing.

27:27 Speaker 7: And basically I've also just finished writing some songs with

27:33 Speaker 7: a French guy, a French guitarist who just happens to

27:38 Speaker 7: write songs and kind of make up words over the top,

27:42 Speaker 7: and so he comes with guitar and a melody and

27:45 Speaker 7: we just wrote some songs. So I'm thinking about what

27:48 Speaker 7: to do with them, okay, And basically I really want

27:52 Speaker 7: to play live, So that is my immediate plan is

27:57 Speaker 7: trying to figure out how to put that together so

28:00 Speaker 7: that maybe next year I can do some shows.

28:04 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely, Do you have any idea? I mean,

28:07 Speaker 2: would you just try to put together a full band

28:09 Speaker 2: to play these songs live? Or would you use loopers?

28:12 Speaker 2: Or I mean, do you have you thought that far into.

28:15 Speaker 7: It or I've thought about both ways. At the minute,

28:20 Speaker 7: I thought about whether I could do it just by myself,

28:23 Speaker 7: whether I could do it as two people, three people,

28:26 Speaker 7: and then you get into the point where it's I'm

28:29 Speaker 7: going to have that many people, I might as well

28:30 Speaker 7: have a betend and an orchestra. But so I do

28:36 Speaker 7: like it very stripped down. I like the kind of

28:38 Speaker 7: two three people using a bit of technology, you know.

28:42 Speaker 2: One hundred person I think it kind of.

28:45 Speaker 7: Suits the next for the project. Maybe I don't know.

28:48 Speaker 2: Well, by the way, so I didn't ask you the

28:50 Speaker 2: obvious question yet, What does the name mean? The noise

28:53 Speaker 2: who runs? What is the meaning of the name for you?

28:56 Speaker 3: H ah?

28:58 Speaker 7: Well, in there's a it's a French phrase that means gossipy. Ah,

29:09 Speaker 7: so I think it's a breaky cor breeze noise. And

29:15 Speaker 7: basically there was a restaurant called this that we went

29:17 Speaker 7: to once when I first arrived in France. My girlfriend

29:22 Speaker 7: took me to this restaurant and I said, what's the name?

29:25 Speaker 7: And she said, doesn't mean anything in English? It's the

29:28 Speaker 7: noise who runs. And I went, oh, I quite like that,

29:33 Speaker 7: because basically I took it to mean more like word

29:37 Speaker 7: of mouth spreading right right, which is I think what

29:42 Speaker 7: that's That's the one thing we have, you know. Ah,

29:47 Speaker 7: I'm not particularly interested in selling records. I'm interested in

29:51 Speaker 7: the world getting better, you know. So if I could,

29:55 Speaker 7: if I can do a show, and if I can

29:57 Speaker 7: put shows on for free, I would, yeah, yeah, more

30:03 Speaker 7: than you know, that's what I want. I'm not seleting dion.

30:05 Speaker 7: I'm not going to come back from the brink and

30:08 Speaker 7: then charge three grand for a ticket. What's that about? Right?

30:13 Speaker 7: Should be giving it for free? It should be grateful,

30:16 Speaker 7: you know, if only yeah, if only yeah, because ticket

30:22 Speaker 7: prices that's a joke.

30:23 Speaker 2: Now, Oh it's it's way way way out of control. Absolutely, absolutely, yes,

30:31 Speaker 2: So Ian, where's the best place for people to go

30:32 Speaker 2: online to keep up with everything that you're doing with

30:35 Speaker 2: the noise who runs or anything else that you're doing

30:37 Speaker 2: that you want people to know about?

30:40 Speaker 1: Uh?

30:42 Speaker 7: I guess, I guess the website is the best place.

30:47 Speaker 7: And band Camp band camp. Paul is band Camp order

30:51 Speaker 7: website Okay, she's just ww dot the noisweruns dot com.

30:57 Speaker 2: Absolutely, I'm a big fan of band camp, by the way,

31:01 Speaker 2: and I am looking at that you've got yeah, you've

31:03 Speaker 2: got the uh, you've got the album on there. Band

31:07 Speaker 2: Camp is the reason I I like to talk about

31:09 Speaker 2: band camp is just because not everyone realizes that with

31:12 Speaker 2: band Camp, if you get the music from there, you

31:14 Speaker 2: get a higher quality file than you do if you're

31:16 Speaker 2: just say streaming it on YouTube or even or even Spotify.

31:21 Speaker 2: You know, band camp you get a really high quality file,

31:23 Speaker 2: which is important. I mean it, or it should be important.

31:28 Speaker 7: See I didn't know that. I mean I'm sitting there

31:30 Speaker 7: uploading all the web files and everything, but I never

31:32 Speaker 7: even thought about that. Yeah yeah, okay, yeah, I should

31:37 Speaker 7: really direct people to band camp all the time.

31:39 Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, yeah. Yeah. I'm a big, big fan of

31:42 Speaker 2: a big fan of band camp. So well, Ian, this

31:46 Speaker 2: has been wonderful. It's great to talk with you. We'll

31:48 Speaker 2: we'll conclude our conversation in a moment, and then I'm

31:50 Speaker 2: actually gonna play. I'm gonna play the Bodies Are under

31:52 Speaker 2: the Bus again because we talked about it. But I'm

31:54 Speaker 2: also gonna sneak in Bang Bang because I think those

31:56 Speaker 2: are both both just great singles. Absolutely absolutely, and I

32:01 Speaker 2: want to remind people, of course. The album comes out

32:03 Speaker 2: May eighth via t n w R Records. What is

32:07 Speaker 2: that t n w R Records? Is that a Is

32:08 Speaker 2: that an independent label? There? Maybe that's your label, I don't.

32:11 Speaker 7: Know it basically my label. You have to you have

32:15 Speaker 7: to give it a name when you register the songs.

32:18 Speaker 2: Oh, I just realized I'm a little I'm a little

32:22 Speaker 2: slow sometimes. I just realized t nw R. The noise

32:24 Speaker 2: who runs it didn't even occurred.

32:26 Speaker 1: It didn't even hurt me.

32:28 Speaker 7: Yeah, I just had to give it a name. I

32:30 Speaker 7: think before that at some point there's Rogue Noise Recordings

32:35 Speaker 7: as well, which, oh that's a cool name. You just

32:37 Speaker 7: have to give it an arbitrary name.

32:39 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I like that Rogue Noise Recordings. But yeah

32:42 Speaker 2: then w R Yeah, I'm staring at those letters, and

32:44 Speaker 2: it finally dawned on me. Oh the noise who runs?

32:50 Speaker 2: Took me a minute. It's still morning here. I haven't

32:53 Speaker 2: had enough caffeine, I guess.

32:55 Speaker 3: But.

32:56 Speaker 2: But I got I got there eventually. But yeah, we're

33:00 Speaker 2: gonna play both of those, so we'll we'll let you

33:02 Speaker 2: go for now. But when the you know, when you've

33:05 Speaker 2: got the next single ready to go, if you're gonna

33:07 Speaker 2: keep releasing singles from the album after the album is out,

33:09 Speaker 2: please you know, we'd love to be kind of your

33:12 Speaker 2: your conduit into American radio here. Love what you're doing.

33:15 Speaker 2: It's a great project. And uh, I can't wait to

33:19 Speaker 2: hear and when the next album comes out too, I

33:21 Speaker 2: can't wait to hear that. So so all good stuff.

33:24 Speaker 7: Thank you, Thank you so much man, really genuine it's

33:27 Speaker 7: been a big pleasure. Thank you. I hope everyone has

33:29 Speaker 7: a good day.

33:30 Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, thank you so much for joining us Ian Okay,

33:33 Speaker 2: we'll talk to you soon. Take care, all right, thanks,

33:36 Speaker 2: by bye bye, all right. That is the great Ian

33:39 Speaker 2: Pickering of the Noise who runs. He is the Noise

33:42 Speaker 2: who runs. It is his project after all. And we're

33:45 Speaker 2: gonna play let's see. Yeah, we're gonna we have time,

33:47 Speaker 2: we can seek both of these in. So we're gonna

33:49 Speaker 2: play this. This is an important song and that's why

33:51 Speaker 2: you know we spend some time on it. The bodies

33:53 Speaker 2: are under the bus again, Uh, great anti war song.

33:57 Speaker 2: And we're also gonna play Bang Bang after that. Another

34:00 Speaker 2: great single from the album, which does come out May eighth,

34:02 Speaker 2: so it will be the full album will be available

34:05 Speaker 2: everywhere very shortly. But here it is. Check this out.

34:08 Speaker 2: The bodies are under the bus again by the Noise

34:10 Speaker 2: who runs.

34:56 Speaker 1: Maybe the pave the remains of it's.

35:03 Speaker 2: The first streets.

35:05 Speaker 1: The bodies are ruined, those boots to be on the

35:11 Speaker 1: next rise, and all was out of.

35:14 Speaker 8: The rooms, the town of streets, the bodies a run

35:21 Speaker 8: of the boats.

35:27 Speaker 1: And how come we don't call that murder?

35:34 Speaker 3: Not?

35:34 Speaker 1: How come we don't call that murder?

35:40 Speaker 8: The set I've been off factory and constituent standard standing

35:48 Speaker 8: the backbone of Christ time the left empty handed.

36:24 Speaker 1: Just be on the next to rise, and all the

36:27 Speaker 1: side of the bridge fell on the street. The bodies

36:34 Speaker 1: are round the folks, maybe on the leaf pad, but

36:41 Speaker 1: there were maids of beach, but a folk street. The

36:48 Speaker 1: bodies around the folks at street and out the best

36:55 Speaker 1: and tens and space to school.

36:57 Speaker 6: That's cold.

37:01 Speaker 2: While out in the wrote the children.

37:04 Speaker 1: Played in filter again, And how come we don't call

37:12 Speaker 1: that murder?

37:18 Speaker 9: Not?

37:18 Speaker 1: How come we don't call that murder?

37:23 Speaker 8: The kids must now as a confessed and best have

37:27 Speaker 8: been damaged like creative smoke screams and once sas with

37:34 Speaker 8: also all the language.

37:38 Speaker 10: It stands alizing, this always becoming, it's mas morizing, this.

37:48 Speaker 1: Also consuming lay left. Thanks can roll it out and

38:36 Speaker 1: take the quick down and bedsley.

38:39 Speaker 8: Away from nightmares to beat us quick quits too much caut.

38:46 Speaker 1: These cigarettes, happy attitude.

38:49 Speaker 3: Bets suspected me jerk cheap turks one down alone to

38:57 Speaker 3: fill a cue?

39:00 Speaker 2: Who I bring it back?

39:02 Speaker 1: Who I'm ringing back? I saw the lines, I smashed

39:08 Speaker 1: the mob. Who I give it back? Who I give

39:14 Speaker 1: it back? These days I always knocked the black cage man.

39:20 Speaker 1: You see the.

39:20 Speaker 3: Pump pancakes heat Waves, Quicks, milk Chicks, Mosla.

39:27 Speaker 1: Can you get running a lot.

39:29 Speaker 7: Of the tack?

39:30 Speaker 1: Looking at small messes? Oh club looks sick to baddons?

39:37 Speaker 1: Wh drawn to fall the juice?

39:42 Speaker 2: Why bring it back?

39:45 Speaker 1: Who I'm bringing back?

39:48 Speaker 2: I saw the lines, I smash the mo.

39:53 Speaker 1: Why give it back? Who I give it back?

40:20 Speaker 3: What?

40:20 Speaker 1: Troll the load?

40:22 Speaker 3: To fall the Cube?

40:25 Speaker 1: Who I bring it back? Who I bring it back?

40:30 Speaker 2: I saw the lights, I smashed them home?

40:36 Speaker 1: Who I give it back?

40:38 Speaker 2: Who I give it back?

40:41 Speaker 6: So the five in between the home each his best

40:48 Speaker 6: swatcher f.

40:50 Speaker 1: To loone on troll home to fall the Cube?

40:57 Speaker 7: Who I bring it back?

41:00 Speaker 1: Why give it back? What job? It's a fall a cue?

41:18 Speaker 1: W bring it back? Why bring it back? I saw

41:24 Speaker 1: the lights. Let's SMSs the.

41:27 Speaker 3: Mom Why give it back?

41:32 Speaker 1: Who I give it back?

41:57 Speaker 2: That is Bang Bang from the Noise Who Runs? One

42:01 Speaker 2: of the great singles from the album, re gen x

42:04 Speaker 2: from the Noise Who Runs? And thank you again to

42:06 Speaker 2: ian Ian Pickering for joining us via Microsoft Teams all

42:10 Speaker 2: the way from the UK to talk about this amazing project,

42:12 Speaker 2: and I definitely recommend the full album. I've heard the

42:15 Speaker 2: whole thing obviously already. It comes out May eighth and

42:18 Speaker 2: on streaming platforms everywhere. But I really enjoyed talking with

42:23 Speaker 2: Ian and I was glad he was able to join

42:25 Speaker 2: us today. A couple a little more, a couple of

42:28 Speaker 2: bits of music news before we begin to wrap up

42:31 Speaker 2: today's show. This is Matt Connorton Unleashed, and of course

42:34 Speaker 2: we are live from the studios of wm n H

42:37 Speaker 2: ninety five point three FM, I Heartmedia and Serious x

42:42 Speaker 2: M possibly merging. This is a big deal.

42:46 Speaker 3: You know.

42:46 Speaker 2: We've seen in the radio industry so much consolidation over

42:50 Speaker 2: the past twenty twenty five years, and it looks like

42:54 Speaker 2: there's about to be even more of it. If you're

42:56 Speaker 2: not familiar with Sirius XM, of course, I mean they

42:59 Speaker 2: had merged. Used to be at one time there were

43:01 Speaker 2: two satellite radio companies, Serious and XM. Serious Satellite Radio

43:06 Speaker 2: and XM, and then they merged and became Serious XM

43:09 Speaker 2: and now iHeartMedia, which used to be what did they

43:14 Speaker 2: used to be? Starts with a C clear channel, took

43:18 Speaker 2: me a second clear channel, ended up becoming iHeartMedia. They're

43:21 Speaker 2: the biggest largest owner of radio stations across the United States,

43:26 Speaker 2: so they're a big deal. They also have a podcasting platform.

43:30 Speaker 2: But iHeartMedia is in talks to be acquired by Serious

43:34 Speaker 2: XM holdings. I'm surprised it's not the other way around.

43:37 Speaker 2: But let's take a look at this. You know, Serious

43:39 Speaker 2: XM they've been in a lot of financial trouble for

43:43 Speaker 2: a long time because the thing about satellite radio and

43:47 Speaker 2: what was it, you know, early two thousands when it

43:51 Speaker 2: became a thing. The thing about satellite radio is great idea.

43:57 Speaker 2: You know, you've got you've got satellite radio transponder in

44:01 Speaker 2: your car, and then you've got all these different channels

44:04 Speaker 2: you can listen to. And of course the big draw

44:05 Speaker 2: for Serious XM is Howard Stern, the biggest draw, or

44:08 Speaker 2: at least was. I don't know if he still is,

44:10 Speaker 2: but but he very well maybe. And uh so you

44:14 Speaker 2: could listen to all this stuff uncensored because it's satellite,

44:17 Speaker 2: so it's not not controlled by the FCC in terms

44:21 Speaker 2: of regulating what you can say and can't say and

44:23 Speaker 2: the music that you play and in terms of profanity

44:27 Speaker 2: and so forth. So it's completely uncensored and uh commercial free,

44:33 Speaker 2: or at least when it launched. That's not the case anymore.

44:36 Speaker 2: But but you know, it was Uh, I don't know

44:39 Speaker 2: where that tone came from or if the if that

44:41 Speaker 2: showed up on the recording, that ding anyway, somewhere on

44:44 Speaker 2: this computer, something's making a noise, but regardless. So the

44:50 Speaker 2: problem though that satellite radio ended up running into that

44:53 Speaker 2: I guess nobody saw coming was the rise of streaming

44:56 Speaker 2: and podcasting. So the internet has kind of of I

45:00 Speaker 2: think for especially for younger and younger generations who are

45:05 Speaker 2: listening to terrestrial radio much less and less and are

45:09 Speaker 2: listening to streaming streaming platforms or watching streams and podcasts

45:13 Speaker 2: and so forth. That's why everything that we do, you know,

45:16 Speaker 2: the shows that we do here at WM and H,

45:18 Speaker 2: of course, just like every other radio station, they also

45:21 Speaker 2: are podcasts. They're streaming live as we do them. You know,

45:25 Speaker 2: you're not just listening into your car. Obviously, we have

45:28 Speaker 2: listeners all over the world because they stream the show

45:31 Speaker 2: and then after I get off the air today, I

45:33 Speaker 2: will upload the podcast. Then it becomes a podcast and

45:36 Speaker 2: you can stream the podcast on demand, you can download

45:39 Speaker 2: it whatever, so you can watch it online on social media.

45:42 Speaker 2: So you know, so the radio industry has had to

45:45 Speaker 2: adapt in that way. But it kind of the rise

45:49 Speaker 2: of streaming and podcasting really took a big bite out

45:53 Speaker 2: of the whole appeal and the whole point of satellite radio,

45:57 Speaker 2: right because now everyone streams in their cars. So well,

46:01 Speaker 2: here's what's happening right now. And I'm almost surprised that

46:07 Speaker 2: nothing like this has happened or been talked about sooner,

46:10 Speaker 2: at least that I'm aware of. But it says here,

46:12 Speaker 2: and this is from Music Businessworldwide dot com, which again

46:15 Speaker 2: is a great site. I read an article from it

46:18 Speaker 2: earlier in the show Great Side for Music Industry News.

46:21 Speaker 2: It says, iHeartMedia is reportedly in preliminary talks to be

46:25 Speaker 2: acquired by Serious XM Holdings in a deal that would

46:29 Speaker 2: bring together two audio giants under pressure from on demand

46:33 Speaker 2: streaming platforms. And again that's what I was talking about.

46:36 Speaker 2: On demand streaming has really just taken a huge bite.

46:40 Speaker 2: Obviously it's affected radio terrestrial radio AM and FM radio,

46:44 Speaker 2: but it's also had a huge effect on satellite radio.

46:48 Speaker 2: This is according to Bloomberg, which reported over the weekend,

46:51 Speaker 2: citing people familiar with the discussions, that the talks are

46:54 Speaker 2: still at an early stage and may not result in

46:57 Speaker 2: a deal. Representatives for both companies to climb comment to Bloomberg,

47:02 Speaker 2: Music executive Irving Azoff has been working with Apollo Globe

47:07 Speaker 2: Management on proposals to merge the two companies. The report

47:10 Speaker 2: said a combined entity would generate more than twelve billion

47:14 Speaker 2: dollars in annual revenue. According to Bloomberg on Tuesday, April

47:18 Speaker 2: twenty eight, iHeartMedia shares rose Well, I don't want to

47:21 Speaker 2: get into the numbers. I'm gonna skip down a little bit.

47:25 Speaker 2: iHeartMedia operates more than eight hundred and sixty radio stations

47:28 Speaker 2: across one hundred sixty markets. That's how big. Again, it

47:32 Speaker 2: used to be Clear Channel. Clear Channel used to be

47:34 Speaker 2: at the Giant. Then it became iHeartMedia. I don't remember

47:37 Speaker 2: how it became iHeartMedia. I don't remember if there was

47:39 Speaker 2: a merger and they needed a new I don't remember

47:42 Speaker 2: the details of that, but it just it used to

47:44 Speaker 2: be Clear Channel, if that makes sense. But again, they

47:48 Speaker 2: operate eight hundred sixty radio stations across one hundred and

47:52 Speaker 2: sixty markets across the country, while SiriusXM, which operates a

47:56 Speaker 2: satellite radio service primarily for in car use, although you

48:00 Speaker 2: can you can put the app on your phone or

48:02 Speaker 2: any mobile device, a streaming app, and the Serious XM

48:06 Speaker 2: podcast network reaches a combined monthly audience of about one

48:10 Speaker 2: hundred and seventy million listeners, So the subscriber base for

48:14 Speaker 2: satellite radio is still very large. I mean, one hundred

48:17 Speaker 2: and seventy million listeners is a lot. It says here,

48:21 Speaker 2: Bloomberg said, both companies, despite being the dominant players in

48:25 Speaker 2: their respective businesses, are struggling to attract new customers and

48:29 Speaker 2: compete with streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. To

48:34 Speaker 2: better compete with these digital service providers, SERIOUSXM in July

48:38 Speaker 2: twenty twenty five launched a new lower priced, ad supported

48:42 Speaker 2: tier called Serious XM Play, priced at less than seven

48:46 Speaker 2: dollars a month. That same two years after SERIOUSXM launched

48:50 Speaker 2: a nine to ninety nine a month Spotify challenger. The

48:54 Speaker 2: reported merger comes as more people listen to podcasts daily

48:57 Speaker 2: than to talk radio programming, Bloomberg said, citing Edison research.

49:02 Speaker 2: Both companies have tried to adapt, with Serious XM acquiring

49:06 Speaker 2: online radio service Pandora in twenty eighteen for three and

49:09 Speaker 2: a half billion billion with a b, introducing a new app,

49:14 Speaker 2: and locking up exclusive distribution rights to podcast like SmartLess

49:17 Speaker 2: and Call Her Daddy. iHeartMedia has also built on its

49:21 Speaker 2: own podcast operation, distributing shows like My Favorite Murder, The

49:25 Speaker 2: Breakfast Club, and Las Culturistas. The company's podcasting revenue grew

49:31 Speaker 2: twenty six percent in twenty twenty five, while radio revenue

49:34 Speaker 2: fell four percent. In December, iHeartMedia partnered with Netflix for

49:39 Speaker 2: an exclusive video podcasting partnership that includes all new episodes

49:44 Speaker 2: from the company's podcast lineup. The company carries about five

49:47 Speaker 2: billion dollars in total debt following a bankruptcy in twenty eighteen,

49:51 Speaker 2: said Bloomberg Waite, who's oh iHeartMedia. So iHeartMedia has five

49:57 Speaker 2: billion dollars in debt following a bankruptcy in twenty eighteen.

50:02 Speaker 2: And by the way, for anyone who's confused about the

50:04 Speaker 2: bankruptcy thing, bankruptcy doesn't mean you go out of business necessarily.

50:09 Speaker 2: It may mean that your debt becomes restructured, but you continue.

50:11 Speaker 2: There's different types of bankruptcy and so forth. For anyone

50:15 Speaker 2: who's puzzled by how can they have gone through bankruptcy

50:18 Speaker 2: and still be operating, it says here. The continued growth

50:21 Speaker 2: in the podcast business prompted other digital service providers and

50:25 Speaker 2: social media platforms to expand their presence in the market.

50:28 Speaker 2: In October, Netflix and Spotify struck a deal for Netflix

50:32 Speaker 2: to stream video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer

50:35 Speaker 2: starting this year. Earlier in March, Spotify partnered with hibe

50:39 Speaker 2: to put ari is that how you say that? Hybe

50:41 Speaker 2: hib to put I'm not familiar with it, to put

50:44 Speaker 2: original K pop video podcasts on their streaming platform. In January,

50:48 Speaker 2: Spotify launched a new podcast studio in Hollywood. Okay, so

50:52 Speaker 2: this is all this stuff they've been doing. But anyway,

50:55 Speaker 2: the point is this merger, it's very early, may not

50:58 Speaker 2: even happen, we'll see. But more consolidation, my opinion is

51:03 Speaker 2: more consolidation in the radio industry is not particularly a

51:06 Speaker 2: good thing, but inevitable. There's sure been a lot of it.

51:11 Speaker 2: And one more quick story before we run out of time.

51:13 Speaker 2: This is from Digital Music News. AI generated Taylor Swift, Rihanna,

51:18 Speaker 2: and Kim Kardashian scams are surging on TikTok, so beware

51:23 Speaker 2: if you are on TikTok, beware of AI deep fakes.

51:28 Speaker 2: And this is of course going to become a larger

51:30 Speaker 2: and larger problem. It says here and again. This is

51:33 Speaker 2: from Digital Music News. Online scammers are using AI deep

51:36 Speaker 2: fakes of celebrities like Taylor Swift and Rihanna to trick

51:39 Speaker 2: TikTok users into signing up for fake rewards programs. Over

51:44 Speaker 2: the past month, TikTok has experienced a rise in videos

51:47 Speaker 2: of AI generated celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Kim Kardashian,

51:52 Speaker 2: encouraging users to sign up for fraudulent rewards programs or

51:55 Speaker 2: other malicious services. Fortunately, this is synthetic celebs aren't very

52:00 Speaker 2: convincing and feature a lot of uncanny facial movements and

52:05 Speaker 2: a synchronious audio a synchronous audio sorry I added a

52:10 Speaker 2: syllable there a synchronous audio, meaning the audio is not

52:13 Speaker 2: properly SYNCD, but that doesn't stop scammers from baiting the hook.

52:19 Speaker 2: According to copy Leaks, besides just scammy ads, the deep

52:25 Speaker 2: fakes also include hyper sexualized ads promoting non consensual face

52:30 Speaker 2: and body swapping or digital undressing. Examples of the clips

52:34 Speaker 2: include a digitally altered Tailor Swift advertising a so called

52:38 Speaker 2: TikTok pay feature, and a similarly altered Rihanna pushing a

52:44 Speaker 2: views for reward program. Usually the celebrities appear in red

52:50 Speaker 2: carpet interviews or on podcasts or talk shows, where it's

52:53 Speaker 2: easier for bad actors to take real footage and manipulate

52:56 Speaker 2: it using AI. The clips have realistic sounding voices, which

52:59 Speaker 2: more easily trick users into believing the footage is legitimate.

53:03 Speaker 2: Many of the clips use TikTok branding and ad textured

53:06 Speaker 2: filter filters, seemingly to bypass the platform's AI detection tools.

53:14 Speaker 2: If users click on the videos, they will be redirected

53:17 Speaker 2: to third party sites that solicit their personally identifiable information

53:22 Speaker 2: that should be a giant red flag. The timing is

53:25 Speaker 2: notable since Taylor Swift recently trademarked to protect her voice

53:29 Speaker 2: and likeness from AI misuse following repeated incidents with deep fakes,

53:34 Speaker 2: but the problem is widespread and shows no signs of

53:36 Speaker 2: slowing down. Meta was recently hit with a class action

53:39 Speaker 2: lawsuit filed on behalf of the Consumer Federation of America

53:43 Speaker 2: with allegations that the company profited from Facebook advertising scams

53:46 Speaker 2: like the ones proliferating on TikTok. Similarly, the FTC noted

53:51 Speaker 2: that scam ads are one of the top methods used

53:54 Speaker 2: to push shopping related scams on social media, and AI

53:59 Speaker 2: is only making that problem worse, by the way, just

54:03 Speaker 2: to editorialize a little bit on that. If you are,

54:06 Speaker 2: that's the end of the article. But if you are,

54:09 Speaker 2: if you're on TikTok and you see a major celebrity

54:12 Speaker 2: like Taylor Swift, who's like the major celebrity, and you

54:17 Speaker 2: see her hawking some weird rewards program or something, that

54:23 Speaker 2: should be enough to stop you in your tracks, no

54:25 Speaker 2: matter how realistic it might look, because here's what you

54:28 Speaker 2: got to do. When you see something like that, The

54:30 Speaker 2: question you have to ask yourself is why would Taylor

54:33 Speaker 2: Swift be doing this? Is like, this is like a

54:36 Speaker 2: TikTok version of a paid infomercial like you used to

54:40 Speaker 2: see and maybe still do on cable television late at night.

54:43 Speaker 2: Why why would someone the status and caliber of celebrity

54:48 Speaker 2: of Taylor Swift lower herself to doing this kind of thing,

54:51 Speaker 2: to selling some rewards program. Well, you know, that's what

54:56 Speaker 2: you have to ask yourself. That's where you have to

54:58 Speaker 2: be really discerning. Does it make sense that a celebrity

55:02 Speaker 2: of this magnitude is doing this?

55:03 Speaker 5: Now?

55:03 Speaker 2: Apparently to a lot of people, it makes perfect sense,

55:06 Speaker 2: because that's how they get away with these scams, because

55:09 Speaker 2: people aren't questioning it and they're putting in their information

55:12 Speaker 2: and they're getting ripped off. But you got to ask yourself,

55:16 Speaker 2: why would this celebrity even be doing this? And if

55:19 Speaker 2: you have even the slightest question as to why a

55:24 Speaker 2: celebrity of this caliber would be doing such a low

55:27 Speaker 2: rent thing like selling memberships to a rewards program on TikTok,

55:32 Speaker 2: if that question enters your mind at all, then you

55:35 Speaker 2: must know this is a scam. Avoid close that tab,

55:39 Speaker 2: don't do anything more with that. So that's just my

55:43 Speaker 2: that's my advice, you know. And it looks too good

55:47 Speaker 2: to be true. It probably is and all of that,

55:49 Speaker 2: you know, all the sayings and adages and all of it.

55:51 Speaker 2: So anyway, that's my little public service announcement regarding that

55:55 Speaker 2: particular subject. That's it. We're out of time. I want

55:58 Speaker 2: to thank everybody who joined us today. Of course we

55:59 Speaker 2: hadcats in the first hour of today's show, and we

56:05 Speaker 2: had Ian Pickering in the third hour from the Noise

56:08 Speaker 2: Who Runs, And of course in the second hour we

56:10 Speaker 2: had Craig from the band A Blue Light Effect. Had

56:14 Speaker 2: a lot of fun today on the show with all

56:15 Speaker 2: of our guests, and we had some great world radio premieres,

56:19 Speaker 2: and I think I'm going to close out today's show

56:22 Speaker 2: with one more time. I'm going to play the new

56:23 Speaker 2: single from because Jay might be listening, Hi, j if

56:26 Speaker 2: you're listening to Jay Bellow from the band Chasing the Devil,

56:29 Speaker 2: because I love this song. It's called Wired, and I

56:32 Speaker 2: messaged him on Facebook yesterday and I told him, I said,

56:35 Speaker 2: the lyrics to this really really connect with me. I'm

56:39 Speaker 2: feeling this one, I really am. So I think we're

56:42 Speaker 2: going to close the show with that. If you miss

56:44 Speaker 2: any part of today's show, it'll be up in just

56:46 Speaker 2: a little bit at WM andhradio dot org and in

56:49 Speaker 2: my website, Matt Connorton dot com. You can go to

56:51 Speaker 2: Matt connorton dot com slash Unleashed for all the information

56:55 Speaker 2: about the show. And if you go to Matt Connorton

56:57 Speaker 2: unleashed dot com, a brand new website that we have,

57:00 Speaker 2: you can get access to the entire archive going all

57:04 Speaker 2: the way back to summer of twenty eleven when the

57:08 Speaker 2: show originally launched. And of course we just celebrated our

57:11 Speaker 2: nine year anniversary here at WM and H. We started

57:13 Speaker 2: here in April of twenty seventeen, so but there's been

57:17 Speaker 2: various iterations and permutations of the program over the years.

57:21 Speaker 2: And to those of you who have been with me

57:23 Speaker 2: through all of it, thank you so much. And of course,

57:25 Speaker 2: Matt connorton dot com is my website. If you want

57:27 Speaker 2: to know more about me, if you'd like to schedule

57:29 Speaker 2: a hypnotherapy appointment, it's you can do that all right

57:32 Speaker 2: through the website. And thank you all for joining us today.

57:35 Speaker 2: And we're going to close out with this once again,

57:38 Speaker 2: brand new from the band at Chasing the Devil. I

57:40 Speaker 2: love this song. This is called Wired. I'll talk to

57:43 Speaker 2: you a little bit later by everybody.

57:51 Speaker 5: Keep me love about the netings, reaching for something that's nothing.

58:00 Speaker 1: It's not so easy feeling sweet Hollo nowhere it's.

58:06 Speaker 7: So lone.

58:08 Speaker 1: Deepen.

58:09 Speaker 2: These eyes can't see it. I'm gone stop.

58:13 Speaker 8: Fighting from there.

58:14 Speaker 9: A long time ago, ya, this heartbeat would find.

58:19 Speaker 2: It sweet step one whole thing I can't give you shows.

58:26 Speaker 11: Any time and the rony so long, don't recognize the

58:32 Speaker 11: man I'll become, it said the time could.

58:36 Speaker 1: Kill these one.

58:37 Speaker 2: Suits don't should take me before ju down before.

58:47 Speaker 9: Love stand long crowd of a miserable, a strange time.

58:53 Speaker 1: No sound.

58:54 Speaker 11: I'm gonna tect your boss.

58:56 Speaker 1: You can't touch down this.

59:00 Speaker 11: My phone to them out fi.

59:05 Speaker 2: Lost, no crown, a street tun no sound. I'm protect

59:12 Speaker 2: some can't stop.

59:14 Speaker 11: Stream now with this ball, my ball for him. F

59:21 Speaker 11: row me along, I fefkick, find.

59:26 Speaker 1: Me inbody, come st tolls.

59:29 Speaker 9: I know I'm not good for you, so other feeling

59:36 Speaker 9: more supposed to do that time I've given up pill

59:43 Speaker 9: saying the truns off click.

59:46 Speaker 1: I know so much it stand