Matt Connarton Unleashed: Club Paradise

0:00 Speaker 1: I love that. I love that. That is so catchy.

0:02 Speaker 1: The track is called Years. The band is Club Paradise,

0:05 Speaker 1: and I think we have them via Skype. Can you

0:07 Speaker 1: guys hear me?

0:09 Speaker 2: Yes, suit we can.

0:10 Speaker 1: Oh, you sound great, wonderful, wonderful. Who do we have?

0:12 Speaker 1: Who do we have with us?

0:15 Speaker 3: We've got I'm Ryan, I sing and play guitar.

0:19 Speaker 1: Welcome.

0:20 Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm Nathan, I'm selling Ryan, I am I play drums.

0:24 Speaker 2: Okay, I'm Jackson and I play guitar, all.

0:29 Speaker 1: Right, all right? And are we missing anybody?

0:33 Speaker 3: Yeah, we've also got Harry who he plays bass. But

0:37 Speaker 3: that's okay because he plays bass.

0:39 Speaker 1: I know those damn bass players. I'll tell you the

0:41 Speaker 1: hell with them. No, I'm got a little bit of

0:44 Speaker 1: an inside joke. I'm a bass player myself. But that's

0:48 Speaker 1: all right, that's all right. No, I'm glad the three

0:50 Speaker 1: of you are here, and guys, I love your sound.

0:53 Speaker 1: I gotta say that right up front.

0:55 Speaker 2: You.

0:55 Speaker 1: Yeah, we actually so. You sent us two tracks to play,

0:59 Speaker 1: and we're gonna play the other one at the end

1:00 Speaker 1: of our conversation, but later in the show too, we'll

1:03 Speaker 1: probably play a couple more that I found that I really,

1:06 Speaker 1: really like that I found online. So you guys are awesome.

1:09 Speaker 1: Where are you from?

1:10 Speaker 3: Oh, thank you so much. We are from North Shields,

1:13 Speaker 3: which is just a little town outside of Newcastle upon

1:17 Speaker 3: Tyne in the northeast of the uk Okay.

1:20 Speaker 1: And are there a lot of bands there right now

1:24 Speaker 1: that that kind of sound like you guys? Because you know,

1:27 Speaker 1: we we have usually if we have somebody from across

1:30 Speaker 1: the pond, as we say here in the United States.

1:33 Speaker 1: I don't know if you say that there about us,

1:35 Speaker 1: but they don't sound quite like you, guys. I mean,

1:40 Speaker 1: you have such an accessible you know, like if I

1:43 Speaker 1: were hearing your music and had no idea that you

1:46 Speaker 1: were not an American band, I would assume that you

1:48 Speaker 1: were an American band because you have a sound that's

1:52 Speaker 1: very accessible in terms of American radio. Are there are

1:55 Speaker 1: there other bands there that sound like you or do

1:57 Speaker 1: you guys kind of stand out in that sense.

2:02 Speaker 2: In the sense of sounding like an American radio band?

2:05 Speaker 2: Perhaps not, but yeah, like that's also that's just a

2:10 Speaker 2: massive compliment we take that. So like we listen to

2:14 Speaker 2: a lot of American radio stuff. That's actually kind of

2:18 Speaker 2: something we say as well, like, oh, this sounds like

2:20 Speaker 2: it could be on us radio when we're making it.

2:24 Speaker 2: So we love we love that compliment. Not a lot

2:25 Speaker 2: of people from around here sound like us specifically, I

2:30 Speaker 2: would say, but there is a big music scene happening

2:34 Speaker 2: right now.

2:35 Speaker 1: What is it like? What is it like where you

2:39 Speaker 1: guys are, specifically in terms of are there a lot

2:42 Speaker 1: of places to play live or you able to get

2:44 Speaker 1: out and do a lot of shows? What's what? What

2:46 Speaker 1: is the scene like there where you are? Yeah, it's

2:51 Speaker 1: been it's obviously.

2:52 Speaker 4: I think it's probably similar to yourselves where post COVID

2:56 Speaker 4: everyone's still there's still some TEVN issues and everyone's trying

3:01 Speaker 4: to get back back to how it was before. But

3:04 Speaker 4: we find a lot of joy in and around where

3:07 Speaker 4: we're from, Newcastle, North Shields. We found we found a

3:10 Speaker 4: lot of joy over there, over the water and the

3:13 Speaker 4: likes of Sunderland and Millersbro which are of our small

3:15 Speaker 4: city small towns. But it seems like everyone's trying to

3:18 Speaker 4: support each other. We travel outside of the Northeast when

3:22 Speaker 4: we can. As Jackson said, there's a big, big music scene.

3:26 Speaker 4: It seems like it's starting a bubble up again.

3:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good.

3:32 Speaker 3: A bit of funny one after COVID though, because you

3:34 Speaker 3: had like this massive bottleneck of gigs that needed to

3:36 Speaker 3: happen that were postponing things. But I think now we

3:40 Speaker 3: start to see a lot of venues close, a lot

3:42 Speaker 3: of the smaller venues. So while Newcastle and and sort

3:45 Speaker 3: of Shields where we're from and all that sort of place,

3:47 Speaker 3: they have a lot of really good bands and a

3:48 Speaker 3: lot of good talent, it's kind of hard to go

3:51 Speaker 3: out and see people that you want to go and

3:53 Speaker 3: see as much now because some of those smaller venues,

3:55 Speaker 3: the ones that we would all you know, take hold of,

3:57 Speaker 3: they're all starting to or have closed recently, especially in Teaside,

4:00 Speaker 3: which is just the borough south of us, We've lost

4:03 Speaker 3: a lot of venues there and recently in Newcastle we've

4:05 Speaker 3: lost two or three here too, So it's getting tricky.

4:08 Speaker 3: But all that does, I think it is kind of

4:10 Speaker 3: fuels the fire for the existing venues for us to

4:12 Speaker 3: get in there and sort of, you know, everybody to

4:15 Speaker 3: gather around in a close that environment and really listen

4:17 Speaker 3: to each other as well.

4:19 Speaker 1: What is causing that these venues to close? Do you know?

4:22 Speaker 1: Is it the economics of it? I know here in

4:24 Speaker 1: the United States, the You know, there's a lot of inflation,

4:29 Speaker 1: but I think we're probably faring better than a lot

4:31 Speaker 1: of places. Is that it is everything just too expensive

4:35 Speaker 1: or is there something else going on?

4:38 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think inflation is definitely one big thing. I

4:42 Speaker 3: think people aren't sure if they can commit the money

4:44 Speaker 3: to a ticket so far in advance, So advanced sales

4:47 Speaker 3: is a huge part of that local scene for us,

4:49 Speaker 3: and you really don't really find out how many tickets

4:52 Speaker 3: you've got until maybe the day before, but even the

4:54 Speaker 3: night of. We did a show earlier in the air

4:57 Speaker 3: where we sold like, I don't know, twenty thirty t

5:00 Speaker 3: gets the week running up to the gig, and then

5:01 Speaker 3: on the night the venue was full and sold out.

5:04 Speaker 3: So this instability that we have with ticket purchases in advance,

5:07 Speaker 3: that's causing a lot of upset with promoters and venues.

5:10 Speaker 3: So the commitment is like the starting to lose the

5:13 Speaker 3: commitment of people who want to put those shows on.

5:16 Speaker 3: And it's just just change as well. That's just it's

5:18 Speaker 3: a natural change that I think people need to sort

5:20 Speaker 3: of adapt to and react with.

5:23 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's interesting about the tickets because we had someone

5:28 Speaker 1: here from the uh, Jenny, what are they called? Is

5:31 Speaker 1: that the New Hampshire Music Collective or New England Music Collective.

5:34 Speaker 1: John MacArthur, Yeah, yeah, he's a promoter from the area

5:38 Speaker 1: and he was here. We had an extensive conversation with

5:41 Speaker 1: him about this, and he was talking about how when

5:44 Speaker 1: he puts events, when his company puts events online, very

5:48 Speaker 1: often people wait till the last minute to buy tickets

5:51 Speaker 1: and that's been the trend post COVID and the problem

5:54 Speaker 1: that that causes is and he was kind of pleading

5:56 Speaker 1: with people, please, you know, don't wait till the last minute,

5:59 Speaker 1: because what ends up happening is, you know, an event

6:01 Speaker 1: will sell out and he'll be going. You know, we

6:04 Speaker 1: could have done this in a larger venue, but we

6:07 Speaker 1: didn't know that all these people were going to show up,

6:09 Speaker 1: because people have gotten into that habit of waiting until,

6:13 Speaker 1: you know, the day of before they make that commitment,

6:15 Speaker 1: and it causes a bit of a bottleneck. But I

6:19 Speaker 1: think part of that too is I don't know if

6:21 Speaker 1: it's if it has to do with inflation, people being

6:24 Speaker 1: more careful about how they spend their money, that may

6:26 Speaker 1: be part of it, but also to I think just

6:28 Speaker 1: the Internet has made it so you know, you guys.

6:31 Speaker 1: You guys look pretty young from what I saw online.

6:34 Speaker 1: I'm old enough to remember when we didn't even have

6:35 Speaker 1: an internet. So if you had to buy tickets, you know,

6:38 Speaker 1: you call up you know, ticket Master, or you go

6:42 Speaker 1: to the I slept on the sidewalk outside of tickets

6:46 Speaker 1: in order to get tickets. Yeah. But but back then,

6:49 Speaker 1: but back in the day, pre internet, it was the inverse, right,

6:52 Speaker 1: if you wanted to go to a show, you had

6:54 Speaker 1: to get the tickets early or you risk missing out.

6:58 Speaker 1: Whereas now, because you can, you know, just buy tickets

7:01 Speaker 1: online or you know, or risk just showing up, you

7:04 Speaker 1: can afford to wait till the last minute. And I

7:06 Speaker 1: think that's where that problem comes from.

7:09 Speaker 3: Definitely, we we have that memory. We used to go

7:12 Speaker 3: to venues. We used to queue outside and wait and

7:15 Speaker 3: buy the tickets. Yeah, when we were like in high school.

7:17 Speaker 3: That was good fun. Yeah, and it's so cool here

7:20 Speaker 3: by the way. Once in like a week in October,

7:23 Speaker 3: back in like twenty ten, we still outside this venue

7:25 Speaker 3: and we just shivered in We have to wear school

7:28 Speaker 3: uniforms in the UK, and we don't wear coats because

7:31 Speaker 3: it's not cool to wear a coat if you're from Newcastle,

7:34 Speaker 3: so we were all just shivering outside waiting to buy tickets.

7:37 Speaker 3: But we remember all that was such good fun. But

7:40 Speaker 3: I totally agree the Internet changes that landscape one hundred percent.

7:43 Speaker 3: And we've seen a lot of local festivals collapse due

7:47 Speaker 3: to lack of advanced sales. And people obviously think that

7:51 Speaker 3: there's just an ease of like accessibility to be able

7:53 Speaker 3: to get your ticket whenever you want to be like, oh,

7:55 Speaker 3: just I'll get that closer at the time, that's not

7:56 Speaker 3: a problem, but there's so much money that has to

7:59 Speaker 3: be put up to on these shows, the festivals, whatever

8:01 Speaker 3: it is that you go into that logistically, financially, the

8:05 Speaker 3: deadlines can't be met, the sort of bar stuff things

8:09 Speaker 3: like that can't be put in place to make sure

8:11 Speaker 3: that they can go ahead without.

8:12 Speaker 1: That right exactly. And people don't know that. You know,

8:16 Speaker 1: your average consumer has no idea about any of this,

8:19 Speaker 1: and you know, and there's no reason that we should

8:22 Speaker 1: expect them to know. But one of the things that

8:24 Speaker 1: we try to do with this show is really educate

8:26 Speaker 1: people about that about how the music industry works, because yeah,

8:29 Speaker 1: if you know, it's all supply and demand ultimately, and

8:32 Speaker 1: if if somebody doesn't know. If a promoter or whomever

8:36 Speaker 1: doesn't know that the demand is there to be met

8:40 Speaker 1: until the very last minute, then what ends up happening is, yeah,

8:42 Speaker 1: they don't there's not enough money coming in, and they

8:44 Speaker 1: end up having to cancel. You said, you said you've

8:47 Speaker 1: seen that a lot there festivals having to be canceled

8:49 Speaker 1: for that reason.

8:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there was a It was a festival. We

8:55 Speaker 2: were scheduled to play inside of Newcastle and it was

9:00 Speaker 2: like a big field, and we had promoted it, et cetera,

9:03 Speaker 2: and then you know, six weeks before the show, it

9:06 Speaker 2: just gets pulled because ticket sales probably weren't good enough,

9:10 Speaker 2: and we see a lot I think it's it's sort

9:13 Speaker 2: of like a luxury to be able to wait to

9:15 Speaker 2: buy your ticket. People don't necessarily feel like the onus

9:22 Speaker 2: is on them, like there's no burden or responsibility to

9:27 Speaker 2: like buy these tickets, because there isn't really, But they

9:31 Speaker 2: don't also know, like if a promoter sees fifteen tickets

9:35 Speaker 2: have been sold, then they'll just go, oh, this show

9:39 Speaker 2: isn't worth putting on, even though fifty people have just said, oh,

9:43 Speaker 2: we'll just buy the week of like we'll say, you know,

9:46 Speaker 2: we'll just keep money and if something else you know,

9:49 Speaker 2: I think as well, Yeah, there's so much choice as well,

9:52 Speaker 2: Like it might be a case of like, oh my

9:55 Speaker 2: other plans have fallen through, so now go to this show, right, Yeah,

9:59 Speaker 2: So the commitment as well, like people don't want to

10:02 Speaker 2: commit too early. I think that maybe is because of

10:06 Speaker 2: post COVID, Like you weren't going out anywhere, so people

10:10 Speaker 2: have lent to live without going out, right, So maybe

10:13 Speaker 2: people are you know, they've gotten comfortable not going out

10:18 Speaker 2: and realizing they don't have to. So maybe that's part

10:21 Speaker 2: of it as well.

10:22 Speaker 1: You know, yeah, that makes sense, That makes sense. What's

10:28 Speaker 1: the vibe like in terms of working with other bands?

10:31 Speaker 1: You know, here in the United States, I find that

10:34 Speaker 1: in the music scene most there's a lot of positivity

10:39 Speaker 1: and people kind of work together and whatnot. I mean,

10:41 Speaker 1: it's competitive, obviously, but it's not like saying stand up comedy.

10:45 Speaker 1: I listen to some some podcasts hosted by stand up

10:47 Speaker 1: comedians in the United States and everything sounds like it's

10:51 Speaker 1: very cutthroat and nobody really helps anybody. But with musicians,

10:54 Speaker 1: people tend to try to kind of work together. Is

10:56 Speaker 1: it like that? There or is it? I mean, how

10:59 Speaker 1: competitive is it in the scene where you are, where

11:01 Speaker 1: you guys are operating.

11:03 Speaker 3: I think it used to be way more cutthroat than

11:06 Speaker 3: it is now. So we've been playing as a band

11:09 Speaker 3: honestly around twelve or thirteen years or so, the four

11:12 Speaker 3: of us, the same four guys, So we've seen a

11:15 Speaker 3: big change locally, and I think at first it was

11:19 Speaker 3: very much nobody talked to each other. Everybody went to

11:22 Speaker 3: play the show and you were going to put on

11:23 Speaker 3: the best so that everybody was going to see that night.

11:27 Speaker 3: And I feel like for the first three or four

11:29 Speaker 3: years that was definitely the case. We then didn't really

11:31 Speaker 3: gig for a while while we were still figuring out

11:33 Speaker 3: what we wanted to do, and then when we came

11:35 Speaker 3: back to it, there was this complete shift and sort

11:37 Speaker 3: of demeanor and that everybody was now friends. Everyone was

11:40 Speaker 3: wanting to put on the best night collectively. And I

11:44 Speaker 3: hope that we've kind of we've definitely adjusted to that

11:48 Speaker 3: since since all that big change, and I hope that

11:50 Speaker 3: our shows people will also come to that and feel

11:53 Speaker 3: that in that we are trying to play with artists

11:56 Speaker 3: who we love, and we think everybody else will love

11:58 Speaker 3: if it's our show or actively will We'll take slots

12:01 Speaker 3: to play with other bands that offer us them if

12:04 Speaker 3: if again they love us, and we all think it's

12:06 Speaker 3: the right move for the for the bill in full,

12:09 Speaker 3: and it's a much more collaborative effort now for live shows.

12:11 Speaker 3: I think, Yeah, it's nice to be nice.

12:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly exactly. And what's we talked about it? We

12:19 Speaker 1: touched on it radio. What's the radio situation there for

12:24 Speaker 1: a band like you, guys like, are you on the

12:26 Speaker 1: radio in your area or how does that work there?

12:31 Speaker 2: We're on the radio in and around the area.

12:33 Speaker 4: Yeah, we had a we had to play on Radio

12:37 Speaker 4: X which is quite a big, a big radio station

12:39 Speaker 4: in around the UK. That's that's a rarity that we

12:41 Speaker 4: would get something like that, and you've got to jump

12:43 Speaker 4: through quite a lot of hoops in it's a.

12:44 Speaker 2: Bit of a look.

12:45 Speaker 4: But in terms of the locality in the very local area, yeah,

12:50 Speaker 4: we're we're on radio stations. People are very supportive. We've

12:53 Speaker 4: got BBC introducing ye Upia, who who have always been

12:58 Speaker 4: a big supporter of us and do a lot for

13:00 Speaker 4: the local scene.

13:01 Speaker 3: You find that with that as well, you get these

13:03 Speaker 3: little random radio shows that you've never heard of. So

13:06 Speaker 3: there's one up in the Highlands of Scotland and every

13:09 Speaker 3: time we play, every time we release a song, they

13:11 Speaker 3: play us like without fail. And then there's a there's

13:15 Speaker 3: there's two or three like that. There's a Welsh speaking

13:18 Speaker 3: one which also plays us all the time, which is

13:20 Speaker 3: really cool. Locally though, BBC and is a really cool thing,

13:24 Speaker 3: but it's kind of being cut back a lot. So

13:26 Speaker 3: the most local radio show we have for the BBC now,

13:29 Speaker 3: which used to be in Newcastle, is in Teesside, which

13:32 Speaker 3: is Millsbrough. It's just kind of like an hour out

13:34 Speaker 3: of the way, so now it's a regional show rather

13:36 Speaker 3: than a local show, which is all fine. It's just

13:40 Speaker 3: you can see where these changes are happening in the

13:42 Speaker 3: start to take place. But we do get we get

13:44 Speaker 3: the support of the radio and we're really thankful and

13:46 Speaker 3: we love those teams and they're always really really fun

13:48 Speaker 3: to work with too.

13:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good.

13:51 Speaker 3: No.

13:51 Speaker 1: I was particularly curious because, like I said, you guys

13:53 Speaker 1: have such an accessible sound and these these songs. Yeah,

13:57 Speaker 1: at the end of the conversation we're gonna play Chasing

13:59 Speaker 1: the Song or another great track and I have to

14:02 Speaker 1: tell you later in the show because I mentioned if

14:03 Speaker 1: you're curious. Ye, we're also gonna play later. We're gonna

14:07 Speaker 1: play Another Life and no, I'm sorry, that's the wait?

14:12 Speaker 2: Is that the song?

14:14 Speaker 3: That is a name of a song?

14:17 Speaker 1: Yeah, there was another one. There was another one too.

14:20 Speaker 1: I'll have to find it. I'll have to find it

14:22 Speaker 1: to play it. Oh, neighborhood that was the other one.

14:25 Speaker 3: Oh oh yeah, yeah, they came out together. That was

14:27 Speaker 3: a double A side that we did.

14:28 Speaker 1: Oh okay, yeah, I really like those. I really like those.

14:31 Speaker 1: You guys are such a great sound. Tell me a

14:35 Speaker 1: little bit about influences. What uh what are you? What

14:38 Speaker 1: do you guys? What do you listen to? What did

14:40 Speaker 1: you grow up listening to that kind of thing?

14:44 Speaker 2: I grew up listening to like emo rock and like

14:49 Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. And then I think when

14:52 Speaker 2: we so we all pretty much went to high school

14:55 Speaker 2: to get at bon Nathan he was in separate high school,

14:58 Speaker 2: but they Ryan and Nathan lived very very close, so

15:03 Speaker 2: we've all known each other growing up. And I think

15:05 Speaker 2: when we hit like thirteen fourteen, we were listening to

15:08 Speaker 2: indie rock all that sort of stuff. I was still

15:12 Speaker 2: listening to emo stuff. Yeah, but maybe like in the

15:18 Speaker 2: past four years three years, we've been really into country

15:24 Speaker 2: music as a collective, like where modern country music artists

15:31 Speaker 2: like so much, and that's kind of like now, especially

15:37 Speaker 2: with years, you can kind of hear that influence. We're

15:39 Speaker 2: not trying to do it on purpose, it's just sort

15:41 Speaker 2: of coming out naturally now. So I think country music

15:46 Speaker 2: is kind of an influence now. I've also maybe like

15:49 Speaker 2: synth wavy stuff. That was a big part of our

15:53 Speaker 2: sound when we like launched as Club Paradise, like that

15:59 Speaker 2: was sort of a direct and we wanted to head

16:00 Speaker 2: in as well. Yeah.

16:02 Speaker 4: I think the the one band that sort of springs

16:04 Speaker 4: to mind simply of what wise is The Midnight from

16:09 Speaker 4: the US, who we we actually went to see in

16:12 Speaker 4: Newcastle a couple of weeks ago together.

16:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, so that was that was great.

16:18 Speaker 4: But if he's on a really familiar with their with

16:21 Speaker 4: their sound, I would we well, we would all recommend

16:26 Speaker 4: that band definitely, And I think we take a lot

16:28 Speaker 4: of influence from from what those guys do.

16:30 Speaker 1: I'll have to check them out. Yeah, I was reading

16:33 Speaker 1: in your bio about you know, sort of the country

16:36 Speaker 1: rock influence and it surprised me a little bit. Are

16:40 Speaker 1: there are there artists in your area or are there

16:44 Speaker 1: UK artists who who kind of are working in that genre,

16:48 Speaker 1: or when you listen to that, are you listening to

16:50 Speaker 1: American artists? Because because I don't know offhand, I mean,

16:55 Speaker 1: I'm really curious about this.

16:56 Speaker 4: I don't think I don't think there's any.

17:00 Speaker 2: Yeah, we get local like folk music, which takes roots

17:04 Speaker 2: from country stuff. But we the like the country music

17:09 Speaker 2: we are currently listening there. It's like Keith Urban, Aaron Kinsey,

17:13 Speaker 2: Morgan Wallen is a massive one. People like Nate Smith

17:18 Speaker 2: as well. I'm just thinking Derek s Bentley as well.

17:22 Speaker 2: We love s Bentley, Priscilla Block, Luke, Bryan.

17:29 Speaker 3: Doughtry.

17:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, but even like like Scotty McCreary as well. We

17:35 Speaker 2: we all love Scotty McCreary. It's yeah, yeah, we we.

17:41 Speaker 2: I mean this is stuff that we genuinely like. Say

17:44 Speaker 2: we're on a road trip, Like we just went to

17:46 Speaker 2: some amusement park in the UK. It was like a

17:49 Speaker 2: two hour drive. All we would listen to was country

17:53 Speaker 2: music on the way there and on the way back.

17:56 Speaker 2: It's we love it.

17:57 Speaker 3: It's started as like I think between the four US.

18:00 Speaker 3: It started as a bit of a guilty pleasure. I remember, like,

18:02 Speaker 3: Jackson has cousins in Canada and their wedding song when

18:05 Speaker 3: he went to their wedding in Canada was Florida George.

18:09 Speaker 2: Holy, Yeah Holy by Florida Georgia line.

18:12 Speaker 3: And then it's I think we kind of listened to

18:14 Speaker 3: that song together after Jackson came back and we were like, WHOA,

18:17 Speaker 3: something's going on here, and we were like at teenagers

18:19 Speaker 3: at the time that being came this like really big

18:21 Speaker 3: guilty pleasure for us all to talk about. And then

18:23 Speaker 3: over time it's been like, actually, no, this is just amazing.

18:26 Speaker 3: But because it's so kind of alien to the UK

18:28 Speaker 3: and that it doesn't exist here, we didn't really talk

18:31 Speaker 3: about it much. And now over time, like now on

18:34 Speaker 3: the radio, Morgan Mullins on the radio here, those new

18:37 Speaker 3: tunes with post Malone that he's been doing, those are

18:39 Speaker 3: getting some tensions. So I feel like Country's grown to

18:41 Speaker 3: see happens over here now. And we've got Absolute Country,

18:44 Speaker 3: which is the radio station that is never off in

18:46 Speaker 3: my car, and that's got all the shows from Nashville

18:50 Speaker 3: coming live to us. So it's grown here and I'm

18:53 Speaker 3: really really glad and I feel really passionate about that.

18:55 Speaker 3: It's a really really cool thing. Yeah, so yeah, it's

18:59 Speaker 3: all American stuff.

19:00 Speaker 4: We've still got We've still got some roots in this

19:03 Speaker 4: sort of UK indie scene, but there's not a we

19:06 Speaker 4: we grew up on Four's Bombay, Bicycle Club, Wild Beast,

19:11 Speaker 4: that sort of thing, and a lot of those bands

19:12 Speaker 4: have called it a day. You've still got some of

19:15 Speaker 4: them not and about and were You still listen to

19:17 Speaker 4: a lot about the Monkey's Kings of Leon and we're

19:19 Speaker 4: still love those bands and putting out. So it was

19:22 Speaker 4: a bit of a dynamic, shifting dynamic when all the countries,

19:26 Speaker 4: So I think we'll try and blend it subconsciously in

19:29 Speaker 4: what we do.

19:29 Speaker 3: There's a flavor of that. I think there's a flavor

19:32 Speaker 3: definitely of those bands with the country stuff with the

19:34 Speaker 3: Midnight so you kind of get that synth element. But

19:36 Speaker 3: then I also feel like there's a really nice element

19:37 Speaker 3: of like Brian Adams in some of the things that

19:39 Speaker 3: we do, like in Chasing the Summer, If it just

19:41 Speaker 3: gives us atmosphere that used to get in a lot

19:43 Speaker 3: of stuff, maybe even like a Don Henley type of

19:47 Speaker 3: vibey type of thing. So I feel like as a

19:52 Speaker 3: as like a big melting pot of all those things

19:55 Speaker 3: that come together is what we we created.

19:57 Speaker 4: A shot were in the foot a little bit. And

20:00 Speaker 4: because we're as we've just rattled off about.

20:02 Speaker 3: Fifty different things.

20:04 Speaker 4: Sometimes sometimes UK radio stations, certainly the bigger ones one

20:09 Speaker 4: I think a certain sound and if you're indy, you

20:12 Speaker 4: need to be Indie, you know what I mean. We don't.

20:15 Speaker 2: We don't fit into a.

20:16 Speaker 4: Certain genres other bands do, and it's it's it's been

20:21 Speaker 4: difficult to to pitch where we should be. But so

20:25 Speaker 4: that's why it's so kind of yourselves say how accessible

20:27 Speaker 4: it is, and we yeah, yeah, I don't think we

20:30 Speaker 4: have that in the forefront of my mind.

20:31 Speaker 3: But when you think of the choruses and we'll keep

20:33 Speaker 3: how the songs coming. We're always told that we're not

20:36 Speaker 3: rock enough for rock and we're not popping up, so

20:40 Speaker 3: it's kind of like, okay, that's fine, but here's the

20:44 Speaker 3: music anyways.

20:45 Speaker 1: Right right, Yeah, And I can hear the Brian Adams

20:48 Speaker 1: uh and and Don Henley, I can hear those influences

20:51 Speaker 1: in there. Yeah, the country stuff is interesting that that

20:55 Speaker 1: influence because we and and again. I'm all enough to

21:00 Speaker 1: remember when it wasn't this way. But modern country and

21:02 Speaker 1: I'm not a big country fan, but occasionally I'll hear

21:04 Speaker 1: something I like, and I'm always very aware of these artists.

21:08 Speaker 1: I try to keep up with all of it. But

21:11 Speaker 1: modern country now sounds a lot like you can hear

21:16 Speaker 1: the influences of eighties rock in modern country and the production.

21:23 Speaker 1: I always say this again, it's not my first go

21:26 Speaker 1: to on my list of sort of genres and subgenres

21:29 Speaker 1: of what I listened to, but I listen to a

21:30 Speaker 1: lot of different kinds of stuff. But I have to

21:32 Speaker 1: say Nashville, which you know, is the kind of the

21:38 Speaker 1: epicenter of country music in the United States, Nashville's got

21:41 Speaker 1: it down as far as production. Like I'm very picky

21:45 Speaker 1: about how drums sound, for example, and you listen to

21:49 Speaker 1: any modern country and the drums sound exactly the way

21:53 Speaker 1: they should sound in my opinion, you know everything and

21:57 Speaker 1: the way things are mixed, and even the guitars are

22:02 Speaker 1: are louder than they used to be. In country music,

22:04 Speaker 1: you can really hear the rock. You know, there's there's

22:06 Speaker 1: kind of been this melding that I think is really interesting,

22:09 Speaker 1: and I kind of suspect that had that not I

22:12 Speaker 1: guess it's chicken or the egg, right. You know, is

22:15 Speaker 1: that happening because that helps country to be more accessible

22:20 Speaker 1: to the mainstream or or is it a reaction to

22:25 Speaker 1: country becoming more accessible on its own? But you know,

22:28 Speaker 1: we saw that happen.

22:31 Speaker 3: You know.

22:31 Speaker 1: I can remember, you know, back in the nineties when

22:33 Speaker 1: Garth Brooks got really big. That was sort of the

22:35 Speaker 1: first real wave of country music becoming sort of mainstream.

22:39 Speaker 1: But now it's like it it's really you hear a

22:42 Speaker 1: lot of rock influences in modern country music.

22:47 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, when you touched about like drums and guitars

22:51 Speaker 2: as well, That's something that I'm like particularly interested in,

22:56 Speaker 2: stuff like the recording process. So these last these last

23:01 Speaker 2: few songs that we've put out were pretty much recorded independently,

23:06 Speaker 2: and I'm massive on guitar tones, and I like, I

23:10 Speaker 2: look up what people are using. And I remember a

23:15 Speaker 2: UNI project I did it so long ago where I

23:17 Speaker 2: was just essentially researching Blackbird Studios, which is in Nashville,

23:22 Speaker 2: and I was just like reading about Studio A and

23:24 Speaker 2: Studio B, and like what the drums will sound like

23:27 Speaker 2: in each room and and then like they have like

23:30 Speaker 2: a client list and then like a record list, and

23:33 Speaker 2: you know, you listen to some of the people that

23:35 Speaker 2: have recorded in the like Kings of Aam was the

23:37 Speaker 2: big one for me, which is why I got into them.

23:40 Speaker 2: But like I think Hayes has recorded their Rascal Flats

23:45 Speaker 2: as well. We love the Rascal Flats. I think they

23:47 Speaker 2: definitely hit the pop and the rock pop sort of thing.

23:52 Speaker 2: And I know what you mean, like it it you

23:54 Speaker 2: listen to like stuff from the nineties, the Cold Swindon

24:00 Speaker 2: he did a What's what song? Did he just do? Uh?

24:06 Speaker 2: She had heads Carolina h Yeah, so his obviously you

24:11 Speaker 2: listen to the original of that and the instrumental, like

24:15 Speaker 2: the parts are the same, but they're recorded so differently

24:18 Speaker 2: and so like it's so everything's like hyper and now

24:22 Speaker 2: like everything's so big compared to maybe more understated of

24:27 Speaker 2: the original. So I understand what you mean. Things are changing,

24:31 Speaker 2: like they are getting just bigger and more like you say,

24:37 Speaker 2: eighties eighties rock influenced where everything was just big and massive,

24:42 Speaker 2: and maybe I think you might start like we see

24:46 Speaker 2: it over here. A lot of the music coming out

24:50 Speaker 2: like in the UK, drums are really quiet and understated.

24:54 Speaker 2: There's a lot of like snare drums with towels on,

24:58 Speaker 2: you know, like everything's gonna be quite more mute. I

25:02 Speaker 2: think maybe the trend and the UK at least is

25:05 Speaker 2: going to go back from big eighties stuff to more

25:09 Speaker 2: natural sounding I'm using air quotes, but natural sound and drums.

25:14 Speaker 2: But with the air with US radio rock, it's just

25:17 Speaker 2: full throttle now, right, But we love that.

25:20 Speaker 3: I think it's funny. We were in the studio a

25:23 Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago doing some new stuff and we

25:25 Speaker 3: just pulled up country rock drums and said, like, this

25:28 Speaker 3: is the reference, this is the sound we want, and

25:30 Speaker 3: we're going to set the drum kit up to sound

25:31 Speaker 3: exactly like this.

25:32 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's good fun.

25:36 Speaker 3: I think there's also I think you're right, like there's

25:38 Speaker 3: an element that couldn't you want to be more accessible

25:40 Speaker 3: and more mainstream in general. But I also think that

25:43 Speaker 3: part of the reason it sounds that way is there's

25:45 Speaker 3: a lot of sampling going on now and that's a

25:46 Speaker 3: good speed thing. So we've had friends who've gone to

25:48 Speaker 3: Nashville to do writing sessions and writing camps, and they

25:51 Speaker 3: talked about how fast it is in Nashville that I

25:53 Speaker 3: already sits around in a circle and throws the lyric out,

25:55 Speaker 3: and the next lerik that comes out is the one

25:57 Speaker 3: that's going to follow that one. So it's not debated.

25:59 Speaker 3: It just goes on and on and on them. That

26:01 Speaker 3: sounds so alien to us, It sounds crazy, But I

26:04 Speaker 3: think that maybe is the tone of the drums and

26:06 Speaker 3: all these different sampled instruments and the access you have

26:09 Speaker 3: to do in things digitally. Now, that speed that they've

26:12 Speaker 3: created in these writing camps might sort of blend with

26:14 Speaker 3: that pace that you can get from the sound of

26:16 Speaker 3: the drums if they do sort of sample the kits

26:18 Speaker 3: and recreate them that way too.

26:20 Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, Nashville. You know, we've we've

26:23 Speaker 1: had guests on the show. We've spent some time in Nashville,

26:26 Speaker 1: and uh, either you know, either just short trips to

26:29 Speaker 1: just write and record, or or people who've lived there

26:32 Speaker 1: for a while. And yeah, they do things like you

26:35 Speaker 1: know they have. Yeah, the these writing sessions that like

26:38 Speaker 1: you described are very fast and and and these songwriting circles,

26:43 Speaker 1: you know, they all they'll sit in a circle or

26:45 Speaker 1: they'll do this live, you know, where they'll they'll be

26:48 Speaker 1: in in a club and they're they're writing songs live

26:50 Speaker 1: in front of a crowd, you know, almost like what

26:52 Speaker 1: a stand up comedian does when they go to say

26:55 Speaker 1: an open mic and they they're just kind of workshopping

26:58 Speaker 1: new material. You know, it's really interesting saying because I

27:00 Speaker 1: don't know of anywhere else where they approach it that way.

27:03 Speaker 1: And how nerve racking that must be. I'm a musician myself,

27:06 Speaker 1: but I can't imagine like being in front of a

27:08 Speaker 1: crowd of people with other musicians and writing something on

27:12 Speaker 1: the spot, and you know, you're in front of people,

27:14 Speaker 1: so it better be good. But yeah, I mean that's

27:17 Speaker 1: like the Nashville is like, you know, that's like boot

27:20 Speaker 1: camp for musicians.

27:21 Speaker 3: You know, yeah, you would not catch me doing that.

27:27 Speaker 1: And so you know, where do you guys record because

27:30 Speaker 1: this all sounds like it was done in a million

27:32 Speaker 1: dollar recording studio. But as we know, again, we live

27:36 Speaker 1: in a time where it's you know, you've got a

27:37 Speaker 1: lot of different options in terms of how you record.

27:42 Speaker 2: Yeah, so we we tend to so since maybe since

27:48 Speaker 2: twenty twenty, we've we've kind of recorded at least guitars

27:51 Speaker 2: and vocals, just no real amps. It's all simulated stuff,

27:58 Speaker 2: so it's bedroom like. Yeah, half, maybe sixty percent of

28:02 Speaker 2: the song is bedroom stuff. The only thing that we

28:04 Speaker 2: tracked live now is drums, like in a in a

28:11 Speaker 2: studio space, just because we can't anywhere else. But and

28:15 Speaker 2: it saves money, Like, we have the ability to do

28:19 Speaker 2: it at home, so why don't we. We've had We've

28:22 Speaker 2: had fifteen years of experience as a band. We kind

28:25 Speaker 2: of know what we're after at this point, and now

28:28 Speaker 2: technology is caught up to where we can just do

28:30 Speaker 2: it at home. And you know, some people might hear

28:34 Speaker 2: that the guitars aren't real. Some people might not, but

28:39 Speaker 2: I mean I spent them live. Oh yeah, of course

28:42 Speaker 2: you play. When when it comes to like tracking guitars

28:48 Speaker 2: and stuff, we just do it at home. But drums,

28:50 Speaker 2: drums were always in the local studios we've we've actually

28:54 Speaker 2: been through a few of them in the Northeast at

28:58 Speaker 2: the moment, just trying to find where we we work best.

29:03 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's nice to change it up as well though, because, yeah,

29:07 Speaker 3: Jackson's pretty modest in that jack for Neighborhood and Another Life.

29:11 Speaker 3: Jackson produced all of that, and yeah, to say that

29:16 Speaker 3: we did all of that at home other than the drums,

29:19 Speaker 3: and it's come out sounding like that is insane. We

29:22 Speaker 3: had some help with the marstering at the end and

29:24 Speaker 3: things like that, but yeah, really the full body of

29:27 Speaker 3: that work came out from Jackson sit at home with

29:29 Speaker 3: headphones on, just mixing at home and really just digging

29:33 Speaker 3: into that. It's really really fun to go into different

29:36 Speaker 3: studios and work with different people and to see how

29:39 Speaker 3: what they say about drum kits, and also to just

29:41 Speaker 3: see how when we show them the song as a

29:43 Speaker 3: reference what we're doing, they're kind of like, Okay, cool,

29:46 Speaker 3: what about this? And we just learned. I think that's

29:48 Speaker 3: that's one thing that we always do, no matter where

29:50 Speaker 3: we record, if it's at home or whatever it is,

29:52 Speaker 3: song by song, we try and do something different, and

29:55 Speaker 3: we're always trying to research and learn about the best

29:57 Speaker 3: way to bring the elements of that song out that

29:59 Speaker 3: make it it's don on its own.

30:01 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing what you can do now. In fact, Uh,

30:04 Speaker 1: the shirt that I'm wearing for those watching online day

30:07 Speaker 1: to attend, we had these guys on a couple of

30:09 Speaker 1: weeks ago, and uh and I said something similar to

30:12 Speaker 1: them because their stuff sounds so good. It sounds like

30:15 Speaker 1: it was done in a million dollar recording studio, and

30:17 Speaker 1: Ed the guitar player is telling me, Yeah, I don't

30:18 Speaker 1: even plug into an amp. I just you know, I mean,

30:21 Speaker 1: you know, you plug into a modeler or whatever term,

30:25 Speaker 1: and it's it's just it's it's incredible what you can

30:28 Speaker 1: do now. It really is a it's a it's an

30:29 Speaker 1: amazing time to be alive, especially if you're a musician.

30:33 Speaker 3: So you guys, yeah, except for the money.

30:36 Speaker 1: Well, yeah, true, that never seems to change. Yeah, what

30:42 Speaker 1: the time period, right, Yeah, that that's true. It's always

30:45 Speaker 1: been a problem unless you're you know, unless you're famous.

30:47 Speaker 1: But you know, if your tailor swift, then you then

30:49 Speaker 1: you get all the money. But uh, by the way,

30:53 Speaker 1: did you guys say, what have you said? Fifteen years?

30:55 Speaker 1: You guys have been together, yeah.

30:59 Speaker 4: With nothing club Paradise for that long. But yeah, we've

31:03 Speaker 4: we've it's been the same for four guys. As Jackson

31:08 Speaker 4: said earlier, I mean me and Ryan grew up in

31:11 Speaker 4: the same street, and Jackson and Harry grew up a

31:15 Speaker 4: couple of doors down from each other. They all went

31:17 Speaker 4: to school with each other, and naturally, I sort of

31:19 Speaker 4: gravitated towards them when went early teens.

31:23 Speaker 2: So yeah, it's.

31:27 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, oh that's incredible. Yeah, most bands don't last

31:30 Speaker 1: that long. That's amazing. How do you how do you guys? Uh?

31:34 Speaker 2: How do you?

31:34 Speaker 1: How do you keep it together? I mean, because do

31:37 Speaker 1: you ever do any of you do side projects or anything?

31:40 Speaker 1: Are you just fully committed to this band?

31:44 Speaker 3: Oh?

31:44 Speaker 2: We we all have side stuff now, but we didn't

31:47 Speaker 2: for the longest time. Really, yeah, it was I think Ryan,

31:55 Speaker 2: I mean, I'll speak for Ryan for now, but yeah,

31:57 Speaker 2: he plays bass in his partner's band, and Nathan also

32:01 Speaker 2: drums for that band. I've been in a like a

32:04 Speaker 2: goth pop band over the years, and we we we

32:10 Speaker 2: have split up time that way, but just stay together

32:14 Speaker 2: for that long as we haven't. It's never really we

32:17 Speaker 2: never thought about it.

32:18 Speaker 3: You're forgetting the most important one. We do a Paramore

32:20 Speaker 3: tribute band together, so not only of course.

32:23 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, that's where the money comes from.

32:27 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's how we pay the record. So we

32:30 Speaker 3: do Clip Paradise all together and it's and then the

32:33 Speaker 3: Paramore tribute band, Isn't it fun? Is also Clip Paradise

32:37 Speaker 3: plus Robin who sings in my partner's band playing. So

32:41 Speaker 3: it's like it's just one big group of friends and

32:43 Speaker 3: we just play loads of different bands and we just

32:45 Speaker 3: see what we can do.

32:47 Speaker 4: If it's the same like seven people and it's different bands.

32:52 Speaker 3: You're on each other's schedules that way.

32:54 Speaker 1: But it's so you guys do a Paramore tribute band?

32:57 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's so cool. Do you do?

33:01 Speaker 2: Do you? Sorry?

33:04 Speaker 1: I I have to know because my two favorite Paramore

33:07 Speaker 1: songs Misery Business? Do you do that one?

33:09 Speaker 2: Of course?

33:10 Speaker 1: And do you do Ain't it fun?

33:12 Speaker 2: Of course that's the name of the bond In it fun?

33:15 Speaker 1: No kidding?

33:15 Speaker 2: Oh?

33:16 Speaker 1: Awesome? Awesome? Yeah? I uh yeah, that's Ain't it fun? Is?

33:21 Speaker 3: Is?

33:21 Speaker 1: Probably actually well, Misery Business was the first song where

33:23 Speaker 1: I was like, oh I really like this band. I

33:26 Speaker 1: think that might have been their first hit single, at

33:28 Speaker 1: least in America. But then, ain't it fun? Ain't it fun?

33:31 Speaker 1: Is so like it's impossible to hear it and not

33:33 Speaker 1: sing along.

33:36 Speaker 3: You know, Yeah, it's good fun. It's good fun, and

33:38 Speaker 3: it keeps you on your toes when you have to

33:40 Speaker 3: think about all the different songs they need to play.

33:42 Speaker 3: So we've all collectively got no numerous setlists in our

33:46 Speaker 3: heads all the time, and we just wruck up different

33:47 Speaker 3: gigs and thing what what shows it today?

33:50 Speaker 2: Right specifics?

33:53 Speaker 1: Yeh no, that's fantastic. Well listen, guys, the time goes quickly.

33:59 Speaker 1: We are approaching the top of the hour. It's been

34:01 Speaker 1: wonderful talking with the three of you, Ryan, Nathan and

34:05 Speaker 1: Jackson from Club Paradise, And like I said in a moment,

34:07 Speaker 1: we're gonna play Chasing the Summer another great track by

34:10 Speaker 1: the way, which is the newest single? Is yours the

34:12 Speaker 1: new one? Or is it Chasing the Summer? Yours?

34:15 Speaker 4: Yeah?

34:15 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeahes is the latest one. Chasing the Summer was

34:18 Speaker 3: out in June. We've got we're doing a single every

34:20 Speaker 3: month October. So at the end of this month, we'll

34:24 Speaker 3: have a track out called what If These Days. At

34:26 Speaker 3: the end of September we'll have another track out which

34:28 Speaker 3: I'm not going to name yet. And then we've got

34:30 Speaker 3: an October EP coming out called Life on TV. And

34:34 Speaker 3: that'll be a collection of six songs, including the singles.

34:37 Speaker 1: Oh, very cool, very cool. Yeah. Feel free to send

34:39 Speaker 1: those two as they're released. We would love to do

34:42 Speaker 1: you know, we like to do world radio premieres here,

34:44 Speaker 1: So if we can kind of be your, oh for sure,

34:46 Speaker 1: your your conduit on American radio, Well, we'll do a

34:50 Speaker 1: world radio premiere for each new single as it comes out.

34:52 Speaker 1: That'd be great.

34:53 Speaker 3: Let's do that, definitely, that would be so fun.

34:55 Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely. And the other thing too, what should people know?

34:59 Speaker 1: What should our listener know about where to go online

35:01 Speaker 1: to keep up with everything that you guys are doing

35:03 Speaker 1: in terms of music and shows. If we have any listeners,

35:06 Speaker 1: and I don't know if you plan to get to

35:07 Speaker 1: America at any point, but but if you know, we

35:10 Speaker 1: do have listeners because of again God bless the Internet,

35:12 Speaker 1: we have listeners over there to online. But what should

35:15 Speaker 1: people know about keeping up with everything that you guys

35:18 Speaker 1: are doing.

35:19 Speaker 3: All of the handles are at this is club paradise.

35:22 Speaker 3: We probably update Instagram the most, and then I'll handle

35:27 Speaker 3: on Twitter X. Sorry is a club paradise with two

35:31 Speaker 3: underscores at the end.

35:33 Speaker 1: I still call it Twitter, by the way, because yeah, yeah,

35:36 Speaker 1: much changing. Yeah, you call it X and people don't

35:39 Speaker 1: know what you mean necessarily, whereas everybody knows what Twitter is.

35:42 Speaker 3: It's definitely definitely much.

35:44 Speaker 1: Much easier, guys, Thank you again. So much. We're gonna

35:46 Speaker 1: hit this track chasing the Summer, but I appreciate speaking

35:50 Speaker 1: with the three of you. We'll do it again in

35:52 Speaker 1: the future, of course, and and I look forward to

35:54 Speaker 1: playing the new singles too as they're released on the show.

35:57 Speaker 1: So guys, thank you, thank you again. Really appreciate it.

36:01 Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having us.

36:02 Speaker 2: Thank you so much.

36:03 Speaker 1: Bud, you got it, You got it all right. Thanks guys,

36:05 Speaker 1: take care all right.