Matt Connarton Unleashed 7-5-25 hour 3

0:00 Speaker 1: Wmnh rip thes.

0:07 Speaker 2: Was it easy being greedy? Did it ever cross your mind to think I want? Might be pacing, waiting on the phone, the ring and you kiss me so you miss me? But I can tell that something has changed. There's a sadness, calous pain that's driving you away.

0:30 Speaker 1: You breathing now you're leaving.

0:32 Speaker 3: It's the last time you walked down my door, and now I'm crying in my bedroom? Was it I just something I fell for?

0:41 Speaker 1: Afraid that awake up?

0:44 Speaker 3: And just like that, it's all the memory breathing.

0:49 Speaker 1: Fol used to be this.

0:52 Speaker 4: We're over enclosure, But I still hope you think about all the good times, the late nights walking through that old beach town gottapunder. If your murther ever asks about how I'm doing now?

1:09 Speaker 1: Is she happy? Are you happy?

1:12 Speaker 3: You're feeling like the big man now?

1:15 Speaker 1: Pleading my feelings because.

1:18 Speaker 3: The last time you walked on.

1:20 Speaker 1: My norse was crying in my bedroom? Ho it U just something of a bar braying shame in just like that?

1:34 Speaker 1: I never be what didy very great.

1:53 Speaker 5: Across your heart and thy easy, very greed?

2:47 Speaker 2: Was it easy to love me? Was it easy to touch me? Was it easy to leave.

2:57 Speaker 1: Me.

3:00 Speaker 6: That is catchy as hell. That is Greedy. That's the name of the track. That is Cammy next, and we're going to talk with Cammy in just a moment. Welcome everybody. This is Matt Connorton Unleashed. We have entered our number three New Marrow Trace on this Saturday, July five, twenty twenty five. Thank you all for joining us. And Jenny is here, of course, is at the news table, presented accounted for. I think I almost at news Desko seeing old school. It's a table and uh let's see Campy here. Bring Cammy on here, Cammy are you there?

3:31 Speaker 3: Hi? Yes, I'm here.

3:32 Speaker 6: Welcome to the program. We just started using Google Teams recently, so it's still a little bit of an adventure.

3:39 Speaker 3: So okay, cool.

3:40 Speaker 6: So I'm always relieved when the guest is connected and everything's good. Welcome to the show. I love that song Greedy. It's very very catchy.

3:47 Speaker 3: Thank you so much, and thank you for having me.

3:50 Speaker 6: Absolutely absolutely. Uh So, where are you from?

3:54 Speaker 3: Originally Columbus, Ohio, but I live in Nashville.

3:57 Speaker 6: Now, okay, okay, what's it like living in Nashville? Because you know, we've had we've had a lot of guests on the show who have traveled there, but you know, maybe to spend a weekend or a week there. But I don't think we've had anybody on the show who lives there currently. And obviously Nashville known for being for music. I mean, is is it a lot of pressure there living there and being a part of the scene there or what's that like?

4:22 Speaker 3: It is definitely interesting, there's a lot of pressure, but more so I just say it's very saturated, so it's really really difficult to get your foot in the door. But at the same time, because it's so saturated, there's so many people to work with and so many people to network with. Yeah, and it's such a good community of people, but it is very tricky to kind of get going and get a name for yourself.

4:49 Speaker 6: Yeah, I would imagine. I would imagine it is. But that's that's a great place to be for what you're doing, and it's it might cut against some of the ideas, some of the preconceptions too that people have Nashville, because you know, a lot of people when they hear Nashville, especially people not in the industry, they think of country music. But it's more than just country music, And obviously you know what you're doing is in country. I don't know if you have any country songs, but but really, I mean there's all kinds of music happening there, and there's all kinds of connections you can make and people to work with.

5:18 Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, definitely. I think it has the stigma that it's country music because that's what it started as. But it's really any in every genre. And it is more so just the music city, as people call it, and this is where everyone comes to record, even non country people. They all record in the studios here or work with people here, or have session players from Nashville. Because these people are very talented and they can play any genre. They can do anything. So yeah, it's it's any genre really.

5:50 Speaker 6: Absolutely. How long have you lived there?

5:52 Speaker 3: This is my sixth year living here.

5:55 Speaker 6: Oh believe, Oh you've been there a long time? Okay, great? Great?

5:59 Speaker 3: Ye I went to college here, So I moved when I was seventeen.

6:03 Speaker 6: Oh outstanding? Okay? Was greedy? Was that recorded there? See? It was?

6:09 Speaker 3: Yeah?

6:09 Speaker 6: Okay, okay, very cool. Now what about so you started pretty young? I would imagine you're from Ohio. Originally you said, right, yes, were you involved in music before moving to Nashville. I assume. I mean, I know you moved there for school, but growing up you said, was a Columbus, Ohio.

6:27 Speaker 3: You said, yeah, Columbus, Ohio. I grew up there and was definitely involved in music, and specifically musical theater. I did a lot of that as a kid in like growing up and in all throughout my life in high school everything I was known as like the musical kid in my town. And I ran all the music programs. I was the president of all these different choirs and small ensembles, and I did all the community theater shows and this, that and the other. So I was definitely musically inclined from a very young age and that just kind of became my thing.

7:03 Speaker 3: And I didn't really do sports. It was always just music. And so I made the decision to Originally I was going to go to college for musical theater because I thought that I liked that, but I then quickly realized I just liked the singing part of it. I didn't care about the acting or the dancing. I just wanted some like someplace to sing in front of people. Sure, So then I pivoted and moved to Nashville to do music.

7:28 Speaker 6: No, that makes sense, but yeah, I mean doing music that was clearly inevitable, you know, given you your background and everything that you did growing up. So so that's that's great. Now, how many? So you have several singles out? I know, have you have you recorded an album or an EP yet or is that on your radar?

7:47 Speaker 3: It's not currently on my radar. I have four singles out right now, and I'm kind of just riding the singles wave because I think as a smaller independent artist, it's pretty difficult to put out an EP or an album and expect people to listen to the whole thing. Yeah, because that's a lot easier when you have a big following and people want to sit down and listen to it. But I would rather create singles and put them out one at a time and give them a bunch of attention or as much as I can, and that way they get kind of the spotlight for a second, rather than putting out like a forty five minute long album and hoping that people will listen to it.

8:29 Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that makes sense. It's a lot of artists it's very important to them to do to do albums, but there's I don't remember who it was we were talking to about this, but we had a guest on the show recently talking about how when you put out an album, it's like, you know, in terms of algorithms, like on Spotify, for example, you get that initial boost of okay, here's something new. You know, it might show up in your suggestions, here's something you might like, whether it be Spotify or even on YouTube or wherever.

8:58 Speaker 6: But yeah, but you get that big bump, that little not even a big bump, but you get that little extra push once with the album and then that's it. Whereas if you just release a series of singles. With every single, you get that little push algorithmically speaking, and so that ends up being a little bit of a more sustainable strategy. Although some of the guests too that we've had on the show recently, they've kind of inverted, you know, because the old approach, you know, sort of pre internet, was you release an album and then a series of singles to radio, and some artists now they release a series of singles that eventually coalesce into an album or any exactly.

9:38 Speaker 6: Yeah, but what.

9:38 Speaker 3: You're doing I think that's more than norm I think now as people putting out singles and then they release like an EP, but it's just all of the singles they've already put out.

9:47 Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Now in terms of you, in terms of your songs, the songs that you've put out, are these all written by you or do you have I'm really curious about this, especially given where you are graphically, because you have so many you know, you're just surrounded by all kinds of talent. So I'm curious about your process and who you collaborate with or maybe you do it all your own. I don't know, but I'm really interested in that.

10:13 Speaker 7: Yeah.

10:14 Speaker 3: I write all of my own songs that are currently out. I've some of them have co writers on them, so people that I worked with, but a few of them were fully just written by me. Start to finish, and then I have a recording studio in town. There's two producers there that I work with, and I bring them my songs, play it for them and see what they think, and then they help me bring it to life and make it what it ends up being.

10:43 Speaker 8: And we do.

10:44 Speaker 3: Everything in house. It's all real instruments, like we play. It's the two guys and then myself I play a few instruments, and so we between the three of us can play every instrument that we need for the track. We record it live and have real instruments, real players, everything, and then they mix and master it for me. And that's kind of been our process for a while. However, I have a single coming out in August, and it's the first time I'm releasing a song that I had no part in writing. I took a cut from some friends that I have that are professional songwriters, and I kind of started to explore this idea of I don't have to do everything myself.

11:29 Speaker 3: I can just be the artist or just be the performer. And there are many talented songwriters here, obviously, and that's what people in the real industry do. These huge, famous people are not writing their songs themselves. They have ten fifteen people helping them write songs, or they don't even write them at all, and they get these cuts from very talented songwriters. So I tried that out and I really liked how the song turned out. So my next single is fully just written by other people.

12:02 Speaker 6: Okay, interesting, was it hard to take that step? I mean, was that something did you? Did you go into that saying no maybe I will try this and see what happens. Or was it more like, like, did you have to be kind of coaxed into it? Because that's got to be because that's a big shift, right because, like you said, you were used to doing everything yourself, which gives you a lot of autonomy and control over your material. And to take that step and do something that someone else wrote, was that difficult or did it?

12:29 Speaker 6: Did it come naturally or what was that? Like?

12:32 Speaker 3: I think it really came naturally. It was my idea. I kind of put feelers out and let people in the industry know, hey, I'm open to cuts. If you have songs that you aren't going to cut or you don't have anybody to cut them, send them not my way, and I'll listen to them and if they fit my vibe, my overall kind of genre that I'm building for myself. And I took them to my producers too, and we kind of listened to them together because they know my style, and we decided which ones fit me, which ones didn't fit me, and then narrowed it down to the song that's going to come out.

13:10 Speaker 3: And I honestly think it wasn't that difficult because I grew up my whole life, obviously doing theater, and I was in lots of cover bands and things like that, so I grew up singing other people's songs my whole life. It really wasn't that different. And if it's a good song at the end of the day, I think that's all that matters. And yeah, it wasn't. It really wasn't a hard process. It kind of made it more enjoyable because I wasn't scrutinizing it as much as if it were my own songwriting. I'm much more like, oh, does this sound stupid?

13:43 Speaker 3: I wrote this, These words are probably dumb. But since somebody else wrote it and I very much enjoyed their songwriting already, I just sang it and liked it from.

13:54 Speaker 6: The start, that makes sense. So it sounds like it was kind of liberating in a way. Yeah, that's very cool. You mentioned too, So I noticed you went out of your way to put extra emphasis on talking about how everything that you do it's played by real people, real musicians. And it makes me curious because one of the things that we talk about on the show a lot, because we have a lot of sort of industry centric, shall we say, conversations on the show is we talk a lot about AI, the use of AI and music and whatnot, and I'm curious.

14:27 Speaker 6: I suspect based on what you've said that this might be something that you're concerned about, So I'd like to get your thoughts on that, or maybe there's another dimension to it. But I'm really interested because, like I said, you went out of your way to tell us you know, this is all real, so obviously there's no none of these parts were created by AI and any of your songs. So I'm curious if you have if you have further thoughts on that that you like to share.

14:54 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting because my kind of stance on that started even before AI I kind of joined the picture. I was always looking for what my niche was in the industry, Like I think everybody has their thing that makes them unique and their genre or it's their sound or this, that and the other. And I realized that I think what makes me unique is that our music is very commercial, it's very commercially successful, but it's all real. And in today's day, most music is not real. It's all done digitally or it can be done digitally.

15:37 Speaker 3: And I went to college here and there were so many people at my school who made full songs in their dorm rooms on their laptop and you would never know that they did it by themselves at midnight, just on their computer. And I wanted something that made us stand out. And I realized, like, hey, we play all of this for real, and I don't think a lot of people do that, and I think that's something we should emphasize and tell people, is like this is real. Like this there's someone sitting there actually playing the drums.

16:10 Speaker 3: Every single beat that you hear, he played it, and that's impressive. And I went to school with so many talented musicians, and I was starting to realize these people like won't be needed if we continue down this path. And I think there's something special about someone actually playing it, and especially live. You can't have a live show if someone's not actually playing the instrument, you know. And now it's turned to AI and it is insane what they can do and make, you know, a whole song or parts of a song.

16:46 Speaker 3: So yeah, that's kind of become my shtick and my nichees saying like, hey, this is real, so just keep that in consideration when you're listening to it. Like some guy sat down and played every note on that guitar that you're hearing. So I think that deserves some it deserves to be shouted out and you know, yeah, get the credit.

17:08 Speaker 6: And so even the drums are live.

17:11 Speaker 3: The drums are live, the bass, the guitar, everything. We usually stack it from the bottom, so he'll will record the drums first, and he does that fully with no other instruments, Like he sits down and will play the entire song from start to finish, just on the drums and with a really crappy demo that we made, and he can pull out an entire song on the drums, and then we build it from the bottom up. So bass, guitar.

17:39 Speaker 6: Yeah, no, that's great, and that's you know, that's how it used to always be done. Although the reason I asked Sid about the drums specifically is because I've been surprised at various points when you know, even even stuff that was recorded in the eighties that I assumed, you know, just you know, hard rock songs that you know, a little research, and I learned that you know, this was pre AI, but but obviously this was you know, we're talking about eighties even early nineties rock where it's like, oh no, they actually did that with a with a drum machine.

18:13 Speaker 6: Those weren't real drums, and it's like, wow, that's uh, you know, it's kind of impressive in a way that they were able to create something so real. But at the same time, it's like sometimes it's sometimes if you do a little digging, you'll be really surprised at how much was was not real drums. Yeah, and of course now you can do that with everything.

18:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it is. I think it is insane, you know, you would assume those things were all real. But yeah, drum machines were huge in the eighties, so a lot of those songs are just programmed and we play everything live maybe here and there they'll get he well, actually, I mean we use samples, but there's samples that they'll make themselves. So yeah, if a tom that he hit during the track wasn't strong enough, he'll go hit the tom one time, take that recording and put it right over the one that maybe he flubbed a little bit, so it's still him playing it.

19:06 Speaker 3: But oh yeah, yeah, that's how you like have to really fix stuff if it's real, you know.

19:11 Speaker 6: Oh yeah, yeah, you gotta do overdubs. I mean there's no get there's no getting it. Yeah. Absolutely, but that's just that's just part of the process. Has it been so has it been done that way with every all of the singles that you've released, it's all been done done that same way.

19:26 Speaker 3: Yes, everything I have out is real.

19:29 Speaker 6: That's great.

19:31 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's kind of we It kind of started that way on accident, and then I started telling people, Hey, this song is real, and then we were like, well, if we're going to keep putting out songs, maybe we should do them all like that and that way they kind of have a cohesive sound. But then also we can continue to tell people and showcase like this is real, Like these are real people that are have years of training and talent that they can showcase.

19:57 Speaker 6: Yeah. Absolutely, no, I think that's great. And then what's the live situation, Like are you playing these songs out? Do you play out a lot? Obviously there's a lot of I know there's a lot of places to play in Nashville, but it's also probably pretty crowded in some ways. But what's that like as far as the live scene and do you get out and tour or how are you doing with that?

20:18 Speaker 3: I this is my third summer that I am playing. I primarily play in the summers just because winter kind of slows down a little bit, and I use that time more so for recording and writing and getting stuff ready to release and whatnot. And like I said, I'm from Columbus, Ohio. All of my family still lives there, Like every single family member lives there. All of my old friends from high school and before all still live there. So I visit there very frequently. I've built a very good community of people and kind of a following back there, and so I go back there very very frequently and play festivals and fairs in the surrounding area.

21:07 Speaker 3: Just because I've created a good community and I have lots of good contacts back there, that it's easier, or it's gotten easier for me to get my foot in the door there rather than here. So yes, I play all my songs there and it's so much fun. I have a band that lives in Columbus, so I just go there and they're ready for me. They practice on their own and we kind of just show up and rip it, and then I head back to Nashville and work on stuff and then go back there. I definitely love to expand get out of just playing in Ohio.

21:44 Speaker 3: I've played in Nashville a handful of times, but it's really not that fun because it's so saturated. It's just not the same energy as going to Columbus and the people there are like, oh my gosh, this is readible music, like thank you so much for playing for us, or this is people actually stand up and are singing along and these people have no idea who I am, but they'll really get into it. So trying to expand, but it's one step at a time.

22:16 Speaker 6: Yeah, no, that's really cool. That's really cool. Have you done any videos for these songs?

22:21 Speaker 3: I have one video out, actually, I have a couple out. I love making videos. I love every once in a while I vlog like our shows that we go to. So when we play at festivals and whatnot, I'll bring a camera or a guy that will come in video kind of the whole process because it's just fun to have for memories. But then it also turns into like a fun little video for people to see what we do and what it's like to go play. And honestly, I started reaching out to radio stations because it seemed like a good way for me to kind of talk to people that weren't in Tennessee or Ohio.

23:04 Speaker 3: It is a way for me to kind of get myself started in new places.

23:11 Speaker 6: Oh yeah, absolutely absolutely. So Now what's the uh so the single Greedy now that's been out a couple months.

23:19 Speaker 3: Yeah, it came out in April.

23:21 Speaker 6: Okay, Now you're working on the next one already or are you? Are you focusing on uh more on other things or what's like, what what's the current trajectory? Because you did mention that other one.

23:32 Speaker 3: That Yes, yeah, I have a song. It's called su Venirs and it comes out August first, and that's the one that was not written by me. We're just kind of trying something new out.

23:46 Speaker 6: Okay, is that that one's all all recorded and ready coming out.

23:50 Speaker 3: It's done, it's up, it's uploaded, so it's kind of just sitting there waiting to come out. So so yeah, that'll be the next one, and we're starting actually, funny enough, we took a pause on making my music and we really want to do like a fun Christmas song in obviously like November December, but you have to start them so early. So we're starting a Christmas song next week, So we kind of took a pause. This other song will come out, and while that one is being processed and coming out, we're working on a Christmas song to do later and then we'll get back to the normal stuff.

24:32 Speaker 6: Oh, very cool, very cool, but souvenirs August first, you.

24:36 Speaker 3: Said, right, August first, Yes, very.

24:38 Speaker 6: Cool, excellent, excellent. Yeah, be sure to be sure to sound that to us too. You know, we'll spin it here. Absolutely definitely, I will absolutely absolutely, Now, where should people go online to keep up with everything that you're doing. Where's the best place to go?

24:54 Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say probably Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all those places I post every day. Yeah, my name's the Cammi Knicks t A G C, A, M I N y X. And then I also have a website, the Kammiinicks dot com. Yes, and yeah, I post everything kind of all over those places, just what I'm doing and where I'm playing and what's coming out and yeah.

25:21 Speaker 6: Very good, very good. Yeah. I encourage everyone to follow you keep track of what you're doing as you're releasing new music. And I was thinking, so we'll let you go in a moment, Cammy, but I was thinking about ending the segment. You know, we played Reedy to open up. I was thinking about ending with this track good Things, which is also very catchy. I really like this a lot. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely so. I was thinking, well, we'll close out the segment with this. But yeah, thank you so much for joining us today.

25:44 Speaker 6: Are you in Nashville right now? Is that where you're joining us from?

25:47 Speaker 3: Yes, I'm calling in from Nashville. I'll be here for I think two more weeks and then I have a show the third week of July back in Ohio, so I'll be heading out there. Yeah, and then back back to it.

26:01 Speaker 6: Oh. Very cool, very cool. All right, well, Cammy, I appreciate you joining us today. We'll let you go. I'm gonna hit this track good Things, but uh, Cammy Knicks, thank you.

26:09 Speaker 3: So much, Thank you so much.

26:12 Speaker 6: You got it. We'll talk to you soon. Bye bye bye. All right, very good. That was Cammy Knicks. And uh, if you're wondering how to spell her last name, it's n y X. And let's give this a spin. This is called good Things, another great track from Cammy Knicks.

26:32 Speaker 9: How do I put it? Tried but I couldn't once was the answer. Oh he's a stranger.

26:45 Speaker 1: Love with a net go.

26:48 Speaker 3: Loved with my eyes closed, kiss like aod.

26:53 Speaker 2: Devil herd, temperamental.

27:00 Speaker 3: Like my heart should have loved him from the start.

27:05 Speaker 1: Is it true? All good things for love? Pard? Is it good? Or is it bad?

27:14 Speaker 5: House never gave inside rama, Art.

27:18 Speaker 4: Made it look easy that you never thought that happy smile and riving turn fine Ryan never.

27:28 Speaker 1: Crossed my mind.

27:30 Speaker 5: Always said that I loved Blue, but jealous looks good on you.

27:37 Speaker 3: That's face.

27:38 Speaker 1: It's funny.

27:40 Speaker 3: Fools would have judged me.

27:44 Speaker 9: Artie was honest, the boy was I'm modest art it was true love?

27:53 Speaker 1: What the hell's true love?

27:56 Speaker 4: A boy full of secrets, never said I would keep them?

28:03 Speaker 5: It's pregnant. So the funding from the start, no one know those good things?

28:14 Speaker 1: Is that good? Isn't that I must get it? How bad?

28:21 Speaker 3: Benny's look easy?

28:23 Speaker 10: That you know?

28:25 Speaker 1: But it spilence trying to do it? Pray across my fine all they said that all the blue.

28:36 Speaker 10: Jay, let's get on you, Jo.

28:52 Speaker 1: Don't stuck the shock you bad now seems so calm.

28:57 Speaker 5: Blue pot cross good tver even links.

29:06 Speaker 1: Is it good? Or is it that you I ever had? Don't know who I even know only go.

29:18 Speaker 9: So don man, I'm kidding?

29:23 Speaker 1: Is that good?

29:24 Speaker 3: Is it?

29:25 Speaker 1: That I must not burying inside? Don't Bama by the easy.

29:32 Speaker 5: That's because having start, I'm trying to do him lie across a line, always standing on off you shall let me go on you.

30:06 Speaker 6: I like that bass note at the end there that is Cammy Nicks. That track is called good Things. And earlier we played Greedy, her newest single, and then we talked with Cammy joining us from Nashville. That was very cool. So look forward to keeping up with everything that she's doing. Souvenirs coming out August first, and we might get to give that a world radio premiere. You know we like those absolutely, I do absolutely. If so, welcome everybody, of course if you are joining us alive on Saturday morning.

30:35 Speaker 6: It is July fifth, twenty twenty five. Matt Condorton Unleashed, and I think we should talk about this an interesting story that took me by surprise. So there's Lord who's she's been around for a while. I think, right, yes, she's got a new CD. And this is from the Verge dot com. So you know, some times, when releasing physical media, people like to come up with cool gimmicks, you know, like back in the days of when vinyl was was well. Of course, vinyl has had such a resurgence over the past decade, but you know, sometimes with Vinyl, people tried to do cool stuff, release limited edition vinyl.

31:20 Speaker 6: I remember, I still recall when Dan of Dan Randall and the Randlettes some people will know, when he showed me he had bought the the Kiss single for Unholy that came out in ninety two, and it was they put it out on limited edition white vinyl. It was so cool.

31:39 Speaker 11: Anyway, my favorite was a Stix album that I think it was Paradise Theater that actually had the theater in the album like the visual. Yeah, you had to hold the album a certain way to see the Yeah, to see it. But yeah, I mean I always love stuff like that.

31:55 Speaker 6: Yeah, pick picture discs they call him, yeah, and those are cool. And you know, some artists have tried to do things unique and innovative with CDs as well, not just vinyl. And Lord's new CD is transparent. You can see through it. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you know, you can always go go find a picture of it online. It's interesting, it's completely clear. You can see right through it. What a cool idea, right, Yeah? Actually, well there's only one problem, and this is from the Verge dot com.

32:29 Speaker 6: Lord's new CD is so transparent that stereos can't even read it. Oh god, that's so terrible. And there's only one version and it doesn't work on most players. So this is from the Verge. It says Lord fans are clearly struggling to play the CD version of her new album. Consumers who purchased the special edition of Virgin, released on a transparent plastic disc are reporting on Reddit and TikTok that many CD players car serios and other sound systems they tried to play it on or unable to play it. The transparen CD promoted it as being fully recyclable, is currently sold out on Lord's web store and was the only disc variant available for the Virgin album.

33:16 Speaker 6: So, in other words, if you don't want the clear CD, if you want something you can actually play, you can't even get it. Nope. So that may have come as a that may have been a welcome compromise for fans, given the singer opted to forego a CD release entirely for her twenty twenty one album solar power over waste and environmental concerns, but little comfort to customers who can't purchase alternative options. One Reddit user said, quote, very cool looking and I'm not going to return it, but doesn't work in three of my top players.

33:46 Speaker 6: PC was able to rip, but the files are not great. There's distortion and clipping. User unquote. User reports indicate that older hardware is less likely to work with the CDD than devices with newer sensors, So you know, we should just stress that so people know. It's not that it doesn't play at all. You just have to have a new, a very new CD player apparently that is able to actually read the data on it, because as one person pointed out, and this isn't from the article I saw this on. Uh, I saw this on another post.

34:23 Speaker 6: Somebody said, Hey, you know it's completely clearer. There's no silver coding, but isn't the silver where the data is stored. God, that's true. Yeah, yeah, that's true. So apparently it's so so if you have a newer CD player you can play it, but older ones car serios won't play it. Uh, it's it's you're just sol it says here. One TikTok user demonstrated that her car CD player was an unable to recognize the disc and said that forcing the CD inside resulted in automatic ejection, mirroring similar reports made and Reddit comments.

35:02 Speaker 6: Uh this redditor said, quote, whoever decided to design this as an idiot? Cars can't read the CD. Walkman's can't read the CD. You need to create CDs that are fit for purpose of for the medium in which they are played on, which is older technology. Unquote.

35:21 Speaker 11: No, you should update your technology, but that's your it's your fault.

35:24 Speaker 6: You didn't update your technology. Right here the greatness of the desk. If you're a true Lord fan, you know this reminds me of a There's a podcaster who we know who always complains about people not listening to his podcast on good quality equipment and expects everyone to upgrade their equipment when they listened to his amazing must spend Yeah, yes, how he how he knows how people are consuming this content?

35:52 Speaker 11: I have no idea, But what I don't get is like didn't they test it out on They must have like only played it on the very best.

36:01 Speaker 6: That must that must be what happened.

36:02 Speaker 11: Yeah, nobody bothered to go, hey, let me go see if this will work in my car.

36:06 Speaker 6: That that's probably what happened, it says here. Lord has yet to address any of the issues raised about the transparent Virgin CD. The official came uh. The official cause of the playability issues also has not been confirmed. It's certainly striking. It's certainly a striking disc. CDs with even partially clear designs are uncommon uh and can be a hit with collectors, but the lack of functionality in this example has been a bitter experience for some Lord fans.

36:34 Speaker 11: Yeah I can imagine I got a pretty disc.

36:38 Speaker 6: Yeah, I can't play it. One TikTok user said, quote, seems like they didn't account for this pretty disappointing. I know it was for an aesthetic, but at least press it on normal CDs too. Unquote. Yeah, that's the other weird thing. It's like, why wouldn't you also put out a non clear addition because they thought that it was going to play and everything. Well, I also wonder if they thought that people might.

37:07 Speaker 3: This.

37:07 Speaker 6: Wow, there's a picture here in this article two of the disc of someone holding up the disc and yeah it's very clear. Yeah, I'd be pretty skeptical. Like if someone handed that to me and said, here, play this, I'd be like, uh, what is this? Is this actually a CD? What are you giving me here? Yeah?

37:24 Speaker 11: It looks kind of it doesn't You're right, it doesn't look like any disc that you've seen before. Yeah, but it's cute and it's quirky, and if it had played on everything, it would have been great.

37:35 Speaker 6: And that's probably why they didn't print regular ones.

37:38 Speaker 11: But then maybe they should go back and do that now and like offer people, you know, hey, you bought this disc, it's great, but here's one you can actually listen to, right, Like that would be great to do for fans, Yeah, that would make it better. Yeah, But to spend the money to buy the thing and you can't play the music, that's It's not just about aesthetics.

37:56 Speaker 6: I mean, you want to hear what's on it. Unless they also made the calculation, it's possible that someone made the calculation that people weren't going to buy this discs to play it, but people are going to buy this disc just to have it. I think that's silly. Well, here's the thing. The only reason I think someone might have thought that is because you know, my theory about vinyl. I've said it all the time that when artists release new vinyl, you know, because some of the guests that we've had on the show, for example, they'll they'll do vinyl, And I always say that My theory is most people who buy new vinyl don't even have a record player.

38:32 Speaker 6: They just buy it because they want to have it. Like, they never even necessarily open it. They just want to really support that artist, so they'll buy it just to you know, maybe put the artwork on the wall or something, or just just to have it because they want to support that artist, not because they actually have a record player at home that they're going to play it on, you know what I mean. I do know what you mean.

38:52 Speaker 11: But I honestly think in this instance, it's just not the equivalency.

38:57 Speaker 6: Yeah, No, I'm just I'm just wondering if someone maybe had that theory though, Like, maybe somebody had a theory to my theory about vinylin the I thought it would have.

39:04 Speaker 11: If that was the theory, why would you print only discs that you can't listen to?

39:09 Speaker 6: Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. Yeah, Yeah, So it's pretty strange, and apparently it's not being addressed. I guess it just came out because this story just broke a couple of days ago.

39:19 Speaker 11: I'm sure that she anticipated that the disc was going to work, you know, I highly doubt that it was sold to her as Hey, we want to print millions.

39:28 Speaker 6: Of your desk, but we don't want them to be able.

39:30 Speaker 11: To necessarily play unless you got expensive equipment.

39:32 Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, unless you have new equipment. It done work. That's right, that's right, and that done not good? So well, hopefully everyone learns something from this.

39:43 Speaker 11: Yes, do not make it clear unless they find a better material to use to make them on that can actually be read.

39:51 Speaker 6: They kind of need the silver part. Yeah like that. One person wrote, absolutely, so another thing that happened recently. Oh and this this will probably be a surprise to you because we didn't discuss this, but this popped into my head. I wanted to say something about this. So long time listeners of the show, and of course people who know me personally know that Kiss is my favorite band of all time. You knew that, right? I think

40:20 Speaker 6: Kiss is mile time. Why there's Kiss all over your office? That might be yes, Kiss ornament hanging off your light? Kiss is my favorite band. Kiss Paul Stanley said something recently though that I found rather shocking really, and I just I just wanted to address it for the for the you know, a lot of guests that we've had on the show too, or like Kiss, so you know, this subject comes up. But as Paul Stanley said something that really surprised me, I was quite taken aback. He said in an interview, because he's doing a lot of interviews these days, he and Jine Someone's both are now that Kiss is you know, they're not touring anymore.

40:56 Speaker 6: They did their the End of the Road tour, they're doing the Hologram tour. They're still doing some stuff that's coming later. They are doing a thing and they're doing a big event in Las Vegas where they're going to play. So they're you know, they're still active, but they're not going to play. They're going to have No that's something that's something else that's coming later. No, Kiss actually is playing there. Yeah, so they're they're still going to do some things here and there, but but just not like a full tour.

41:22 Speaker 6: That was the last actual getting on the road, going on tour. They're in their seventies now. Oh yeah, Paul Stanley said in a recent interview that he feels in hindsight, because he's doing all these interviews talking about, you know, looking back on Kiss, he feels that, in hindsight, it was a mistake in nineteen eighty three when they took the makeup off, because those those four characters that they had created are so iconic and and uh and and you know, he didn't think that. He didn't think that anything that they did could could ever live up to that, And so on hindsight he feels that that that might have been a mistake.

41:59 Speaker 6: What do you think, Well, I was shocked that he said that, because because it was a complete one eighty from everything he's ever said on the subject, because everything else any other time, in any interview or even in his book. He talks about it. In his book, he talks about it a lot. The decision to do that, the reason they did it at the time was because, you know, the makeup on a business level had run its course. It had seemed Kiss had gone from being one of the biggest bands in the world to having a couple tough years where in the United States, you know, they had really kind of fallen down and they needed to change.

42:35 Speaker 6: It was time for a drastic change in the band. And so it's like Paul the way Paul talks about it in his book. For example, in his autobiography, he talks about the conversations he had about it with Gene because he had to talk Gene into it. It was Paul's idea, oh, and he had to know that, and he had to talk Gene into it. And he said to Gene, he said, we have nowhere else to go. We have to do this. Because both when they took the makeup off and three and when they put it back on in ninety six for the reunion tour with the original lineup, in both instances, Paul had to talk Gene into it.

43:07 Speaker 6: In both In both to put the makeup back on. To put the makeup back on, he had to talk Gene into it too. Both times he had to talk Gene into it. It was it was Paul who really wanted to do it, and you know, and obviously he did talk Gene into it. And the thing is, so Paul felt they couldn't continue on at that point in eighty three with the makeup. They had to make this change. And Paul was like, you know, not only will not only will it kind of refresh the band, it's sort of you know, it'll it'll also proved to everybody, you know, the haters, the doubters, the critics, you know, that that were more than just the makeup and the flash and all that, and that were there were real band of course, of course, so they took the biggest scambal of their career.

43:50 Speaker 6: They actually they because they were rolling the dice. It was a scary time for the band, and and Paul talked about that a lot in his book too. It was a scary time because this was a big risk, a big gamble, you know, and they did the unmasking on MTV and whatnot. Turn turned out, And this is part of why it's so shocking to me that Paul said this recently turned out it was the right call because it did it. It brought them back, you know, they they'd had a couple of tough years, but they take the makeup off and that first single, no Makeup, lick it up ended up being a big hit, and they're back, you know, they're on MTV now and the songs on the radio and Lick It Up goes platinum, and you know, so it really brought them back.

44:33 Speaker 6: Now, granted, during that non makeup era of the band, they were never as big as they were during that original makeup era where they were one of the biggest bands in the world. Yeah, but they were still doing really well. That was a successful period that all those albums went platinum. You know, they were still able to do the arena tours, the big arena tours. They they didn't have to scale down and play clubs or anything like that. So this is a pretty successful period and so but they had to do it, like they had to take that risk.

45:03 Speaker 11: Did he qualify his statement as to why he thinks it's a mistake.

45:06 Speaker 6: Now, He just said he said that, you know, looking back on it, he thinks that, you know, they should have maybe it would have been smarter to stick with that iconic image that they had created and not tamper with that. But he's never said that before. And I was just so shocked because he's always maintained up until recently that it was the right decision because that's what they had to do to save the band, and it worked, It did save the band, and so it's so I was so shocked when I saw that when he says, you know, in hindsight, I think it was a mistake.

45:38 Speaker 6: It was like really interesting, very shocked.

45:41 Speaker 11: Did you get older you change your perspectives on how you see things? I mean, yeah, I can look back on my youth and go, oh god, you are so ignorant.

45:48 Speaker 6: But there's no window. But yeah, we all make decisions.

45:52 Speaker 11: But it's you know, it is interesting because I mean, like you said, it kept them, It kept them viable, it kept them making money.

45:59 Speaker 6: Yeah, it gave them a whole new downsize already, like yeah, it gave them a whole new you know, I gave them a big boost, you know. Yeah, so that is interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

46:12 Speaker 6: And then and also too, if they had if they had never taken the makeup off the reunion in ninety six, when they put the original lineup back together and put the makeup back on, that wouldn't have meant nearly as much. You know, Yes, I agree, So I agree.

46:30 Speaker 11: It would have been like yeah, whatever, okay, well no, I mean it would have been the original lineup, so there's definitely something to say there.

46:36 Speaker 6: It still would have been a little bit.

46:37 Speaker 11: It wouldn't have been as dramatic putting the makeup back on right, right, except for what a decade?

46:44 Speaker 6: Yeah, take thirteen years. Yeah yeah, the non makeup era lasted thirteen years.

46:49 Speaker 11: Did you like the music better during that era or what's your favorite era of Kiss?

46:53 Speaker 6: I love every era of Kiss, but my favorite era is late makeup era, like you know, the first half of the nineties, when they were still out of makeup. That was my favorite era of Kiss. But see, I mean part of my perspective is when I became a Kiss fan, they were already out of the makeup for a couple of years. It was actually Tears Are Falling?

47:15 Speaker 11: Well, you were after the makeup? Yeah, yeah, I guess I kind of assumed you were in it from the beginning. No, no, no,

47:24 Speaker 11: you were a late bloomer.

47:26 Speaker 6: Well, yeah, when I really got into Kiss, it was the video for Tears Are Falling was on MTV. It was on in heavy rotation actually, and I still remember I was watching MTV one day after school and the video for Teers Are Falling is on, and my dad comes home from work and he kind of pokes his head into the living room and says, Maddie, who is that is that Kiss? And I said yeah, he said, I really liked this song, and I said, oh, yeah, me too, It's like my favorite song right now. And I guess he kind of made a mental note of that because then he got me that album for Christmas.

48:02 Speaker 6: He got me a Kiss Asylum was the album.

48:05 Speaker 11: And they Kiss Fan was born, and.

48:08 Speaker 6: Yeah, and that was you know, and I listened to that over and over and that was when Kiss became my favorite band. But yeah, so they were already out of the makeup anyway, So but yeah, and then and then Paul had to talk Gene into it in ninety six when, uh, because they did the MTV Unplugged where they were able to, you know, the two guys, the two original guys who were not in the band at that point, Peter Chris and Ace Railey, they were able to join in for a few songs. So that that kind of that kind of got the ball rolling, you know, well, maybe we should put the original lineup back together and do a reunion in full makeup.

48:44 Speaker 6: But again Paul had to talk Gene into it because Gene wanted to. He was skeptical and he was like, no, I like, I like the path we're on now, we should just keep going with this. And Paul said, now that the fans want this, and you know, and he was right. And he was right because that ended up being that reunion tour that summer in ninety six, Kiss and Metallica. Those were the two top selling tours of the summer. That's how huge that was. I mean it was massively successful. So true they did the right thing in the end.

49:16 Speaker 6: Yes, yes, So one other quick thing here. I think I'd sent this one to you. This is because we talk about it, even came up in our conversation with Cammy Nicks. We talked on the show a lot about AI and AI and music, and so this relates very directly to that. This is from the BBC AI claims and a hoax spokesman. Viral band confuses the world of music. So there's this viral band. Is this band is AI generated? Check this out. So a band called the Velvet Sundown has had its tracks played hundreds of thousands of times on Spotify since appearing several weeks ago, without anyone knowing for sure what it is.

49:59 Speaker 6: The band as a verified page on the music streaming platform with more than eight hundred and fifty thousand monthly listeners. It's a hit. However, none of the four named musicians in the band have given any interviews or appear to have individual social media accounts, and there are no records of any live performances. It is prompted accusations that they and their music are AI generated something the band, something the band denies on social media, not on camera, and the band did not respond to the BBC's request for an interview.

50:38 Speaker 6: This is kind of funny. I mean, it's scary, but it's kind of funny at the same time. Further confusing the story, Rolling Stone reported that the band spokesman had admitted The Velvet Sundown's music had been generated using an AI tool called care to Guess studio or sono so know the one, the one we've used, only for the magazine to st Uh to report shortly afterwards that the spokesman was himself a hoax. The spokesman was AI too. Yes, oh, I missed that part. The band, who goes by the name of Andrew frehlan Uh, said it was a deliberate plot to hoax the media.

51:24 Speaker 6: A statement on the band Spotify page said that the group has quote no affiliation with this individual nor any evidence confirming their identity or existence unquote. An account on x, which claims to be the band's official channel, is also fake, it added Professor Gina Neff from the Mindero or Mindaru Center for Technology and Democracy. Let's go with MINDERU because that's fun to say at the University of Cambridge says it points to a problem which affects much more than just one band. She said quote whether this is an AI band may not seem important, but increasingly our collective grip on reality seems shaky.

52:05 Speaker 6: The Velvet Sundown story plays into the fan, into the fears we have of losing control of AI, and shows how important protecting online information is. The Velvet sundowns indie ballads with guitar music and male vocals is fairly easy. If bland on the ear with lyrics such as eyes like film in in faded light dreams, walk barefoot into the night, ash and velvet smoke and flame calling out in Freedom's name, it could all feasibly be either AI generated or appenned by humans.

52:45 Speaker 11: Uh yeah, do you remember that happened with me recently?

52:51 Speaker 6: YAI band? An AI band contacted you that well? Were you contact contacted?

52:57 Speaker 11: The name is Interferre Yes, and I really liked the music yeap, and thought, oh, these guys are great, I'd love to have them on. And then I come to find out they are the creation of one human who created these other humans.

53:12 Speaker 6: That are not human.

53:13 Speaker 11: They are AI yes, and the whole band is is yeah, his musical creation. But in this instance, it's a big difference because he said every single lyric has been written by him, Yeah, for this particular band Interfury. So I don't know about the other person, but I know that all the lyrics to this particular music is claimed to have been written by the artist.

53:39 Speaker 6: Let's see, so they have us. I just looked up on YouTube. I want to I want to check out the music of the Velvet Sundown. They have a Velvet Sundown song called dust on the Wind. Not dust in the Wind, that that's Kansas. This is dust on the Wind. Interesting. Let's uh, I want to hear that and just see what it's like. Uh, here we go. Oh, it's got to get through these commercials. It is uh, it is monetized content. Let's see dust on the Wind. I say that's pretty smart.

54:25 Speaker 8: Dust on the wind, boots on the ground, smoking the sky, no peace found, rivers run red.

54:38 Speaker 1: The drums are also.

54:41 Speaker 7: Tell me brother, where do we go? Raise your hand? Doll Away sing how Loud may.

54:55 Speaker 12: Compaign, March mop Peace. Note for Pride, Let that Flag turn with the tide.

55:13 Speaker 6: M hm, well it sounds very pro war Let's fly.

55:22 Speaker 12: You think it's pro Mama praise while Young Manda.

55:28 Speaker 6: Sounds like it. Yeah, it's it sounds like it's we We still got time to make a stand. God time made stand. It's a it's a lyric video that I'm playing it from. That's why. That's why I know the lyrics.

55:43 Speaker 12: Look Away singing down Loud may compete.

55:50 Speaker 1: Much foppy.

55:53 Speaker 12: Note for Pride, Let that Fly Turn with the Chipe.

56:02 Speaker 6: I gotta say I love this AI generated voice. It's voice. Yeah, that's kind of an issue because all the ones I've heard so far, but actually really good.

56:12 Speaker 11: So that's that's kind of boo oh yeah, yeah, I want to I just want to know what is AI and what is human?

56:20 Speaker 6: That's what I want to know.

56:20 Speaker 11: Yeah, I think there should be a little disclaimer or something, yeah, like this is my creation, but.

56:26 Speaker 6: The band is magic, the Velvet Sundown. I'm curious if I can find anything else of there.

56:32 Speaker 11: Here, So you should check out that Interfury one.

56:39 Speaker 6: Yeah, no, you showed me that. Yeah yeah, yeah, oh yeah I did show it too. Oh. They've got a whole album called Dust and Silence, Dust and Silence. Yeah, let's see. This was the song though, wasn't it dust? Dust on the Wind, on the wind. This one's called let It Bird.

57:01 Speaker 13: Flicker, Lights on silver sand, marching ghos with no commands,

57:15 Speaker 13: velvet boots on mirrod ground, drums of thunder, distance.

57:28 Speaker 1: Promises in static blue.

57:35 Speaker 6: Yeah. I mean it is a little bland, but all right there it is the world radio premiere of The Velvet Sundown.

57:42 Speaker 1: No, we don't close your eyes and smoke these.

57:48 Speaker 6: I'm looking at these song titles. I do too. I'm looking at these song titles and this titles like Driftwood Soldiers, where War Remains? Oh yeah, this is all there seems to be a theme war debt yeh Crimson Parade. Oh isn't that a pretty image? Mm hmm. Yeah. There's a lot of stuff in the lyrics about waving flags and maybe the person making people pay.

58:18 Speaker 11: The person created maybe be a veteran. Maybe you like, do we know anything about the creator?

58:25 Speaker 6: No, we don't know anything about just that they're not real and there.

58:30 Speaker 11: And their contact isn't real either, right, spokesperson.

58:35 Speaker 6: The spokesperson was not real. There's an AI generated picture of them of the band. They saw that when I was looking at it. They look like, uh, but the one yes, but you can tell like at least.

58:51 Speaker 11: The one on the right hand side looked like he was AI.

58:54 Speaker 6: Yeah, they kind of. They doesn't look like he's not a They kind of look fake. Yeah. Yeah, Well yeah, that's where we are.

59:02 Speaker 2: Now.

59:03 Speaker 6: There you go, there you go. All right, well we'll begin to wrap up. We're almost out of time. Oh my goodness. Yes, I hope everyone had a safe Fourth of July.

59:11 Speaker 11: Absolutely, I hope you're stuff with hamburgers.

59:14 Speaker 6: And hot dogs. Oh and there is a new Tough Bumps up, Eric and I did it yesterday. Tough Bumps Episode ten is up. You can find that online. And Jenny, you want to You're always up to a lot of stuff you want to mention your website.

59:26 Speaker 11: Hi, you can always check me out at Jencoffee dot com. J E N N C O F f UI dot com. And I was told yesterday I have some things coming up, so stay tuned.

59:35 Speaker 6: Very good, very good. And if you want to know more about me and everything I'm up to Matt Connerton dot com and thank you again of course everyone who joined us today, Cammy Nix. And in the second hour we had a congregation x They sounded amazing. And in the first hour we had Shanna Trehan, author of The Anxiety Fix. That was a very interesting conversation. And if you miss any part of today's show it we'll be up in just a little bit at WMNH Radio dot org UH and at my website Matt Connerton dot com.

1:00:05 Speaker 6: And I also want to mention before I play the show's outro music that all the new music that you hear on the show, the bumper music, the new theme music, everything that is our friend Dylan Reynolds from Adam Bomb. Wait. I want to make sure I get this right because I think I said the name of his UH service wrong the other day. I want to look at the logo because I want to give you the website too, for anyone who's interested. Oh yeah, Dylan does great work. Yeah, so Adam Bomb is great Adam Bomb Artwork and audio, and the website is adambom Artwork dot com.

1:00:43 Speaker 6: Adam as an a t O m Adam Bomb and Yeah, Dylan's amazing. We love our friend Dylan Reynolds. So with that we shall bid you ado and and we'll talk at you all next week. Thanks everybody, Bye bye,