Matt Connarton Unleashed: Cody Pope and Byron G (12/24)

0:00 Speaker 1: Bring these mics up, and we've got Cody Pope and Byron g here with us in the studio.

0:04 Speaker 2: Hey guys, Hey, good morning man, thanks so much for having us.

0:06 Speaker 1: Yeah, welcome back, welcome back, and uh hop if you weren't waiting outside too long. It's a little little chilly today.

0:13 Speaker 2: No, no, no, it was perfect timing.

0:15 Speaker 1: He had Adju Justice Camra here. Get you guys in the shot. Of course we are on Facebook and YouTube and all that stuff.

0:23 Speaker 3: There we go, there we go.

0:25 Speaker 1: How have you guys been? What's what's going on? Have you been releasing new music or what have you been up to?

0:30 Speaker 2: Yeah? So in October, we just released our sophomore full length album, Giant Steps in Gates City Excellent. Yeah, so that's been We did a big release show for that and it's been pretty wild ride since then.

0:44 Speaker 1: Where did you Where'd you do the release show?

0:46 Speaker 2: So we did it in our hometown in Nashaua. We like rented a hall and put together this whole experience. We had a caterer come in and like cater the event and had a photo booth and had a bunch of the artists from hell Hound open up the night. It was really cool.

1:00 Speaker 1: Nice, nice. Yeah, you guys must know. Do you know Mike McDowell the Healer? Did you run into him on.

1:06 Speaker 2: This We literally just shook hands and met as we were heading out as we were coming in.

1:12 Speaker 4: Yea.

1:12 Speaker 2: Looking forward to chopping it up with him more.

1:14 Speaker 3: Yeah.

1:15 Speaker 1: Yeah, he's doing some he's doing some great stuff. And you must know Eleanor and Andre from So.

1:20 Speaker 2: I actually just met them super recently as well. Yeah, like maybe a week ago or so. I just got to go to New Hampshire Underground and hang out with them for a bit. They're awesome people.

1:31 Speaker 1: Oh, excellent, excellent. I don't think they've done like a full hip hop show. I mean obviously six Minds combined yeah, performs there, but yeah they should do uh you should do something with them, like do a big hip hop show.

1:42 Speaker 2: Yea, that's what we're hoping to do something. We're hoping the dates wul Ligne in that we can make something happen soon.

1:48 Speaker 3: Yeah.

1:48 Speaker 2: I really like their space. I think that it's really conducive to fostering a positive like live music and arts scene, and they offer resources and spaces for people that I think are really valuable. So right I'm looking forward to seeing what they're capable of doing with that. I think that's gonna be awesome.

2:07 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, well, I'm dying to hear you guys. You always perform when you come on the show, which is wonderful. And now the real test, of course, is always making sure that what have you got? What do you what do you call that? Byron?

2:21 Speaker 3: This is the Roland SP four O four m K.

2:24 Speaker 1: Two Okay, and what does that do for the For the uninitiated.

2:29 Speaker 3: It does a little bit of everything.

2:30 Speaker 5: It's a sampler so you could create like full songs on here.

2:34 Speaker 3: Yeah. I use it mainly for our.

2:36 Speaker 5: Live shows and stuff like that, so I can load up heads and I can manipulate the sound.

2:40 Speaker 3: Yeah, kind of live as we're going.

2:42 Speaker 1: So okay.

2:43 Speaker 5: You never really get the same experience twice with these types of machines.

2:48 Speaker 1: Right right. Yeah, for those listening live, if you're wondering how these guys are going to perform live, that's what let's see. If let's see if we can hear that. And I'm not hearing anything yet, but I think I know why. Oh there we go, easy.

3:04 Speaker 3: Hello.

3:07 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is always the that's always the moment, right when you guys come on. It's like, let's let's hope this last. This works.

3:14 Speaker 2: Well.

3:14 Speaker 1: The first time you came on, we did the Yeah, we did the flash drive option the very first time in the old station and.

3:20 Speaker 2: That was our first album together too.

3:22 Speaker 1: Oh that's right, yeah yeah. How many times have you guys been?

3:25 Speaker 2: Is this this is our third time? Now? No, it's not your fourth. No, I think you've been up here before. Well, we had done stuff up in Laconia. Oh okay, maybe that's we did local outbreak up in Laconi.

3:39 Speaker 1: That's why I'm thinking that, Yeah, both of us.

3:43 Speaker 3: Time.

3:43 Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, because we did our first album was Meet Me and Gates City, so we played some of those songs, and then the next time was we released an EP called Pound of Wait No Renaissance Park. I think it was the Park. Yeah.

3:58 Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys have released a lot of it's hard.

4:01 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been a while.

4:03 Speaker 1: Well, do you want to perform something or sure?

4:05 Speaker 4: Yeah?

4:05 Speaker 1: All right?

4:06 Speaker 2: You have No Sugar added A good way to warm up. This is the uh. This was the first single that we released from the new album. Okay, it's the second track. It's called no Sugar added. Okay, check check, I've been in a daze. Mine's amazing a blaze. I've been catching fight us since before the twelfth grade. I had this design yet, but couldn't get out my way. Now I'm doubled the age, still rewonded, the days I can't believe with all love done, I'm still looking back bin clean it up, because still remember the cooking crack, the drink that had for the needle.

4:51 Speaker 2: Never quite took it back. Some days I still find that I'm quite shook. In fact, the light keeps going out. Maybe that's a soign for me. I have accepted that one day will be time for me someone's revenge. I suppose that it's fine with me. Nothing in life off didn't happen with the time and sweet all I can do work to build a good now. When then stay in the sun to makeup of days that shrouded in dens. I am the howling man standing upon the howling winds, night of the hunt of the preacher, upon the prout again, not perfect, not even close to all right.

5:20 Speaker 2: Can't remember the last time I slept all night, eyes wide open, but I need another hour. I just fell asleep already. Time for the shower. No sugar, no sugar. I just need water, meant the league. I can pat it.

5:34 Speaker 3: No sugar added, no sugar added.

5:36 Speaker 2: Somewhere between happening and apocalypse, now anxiety and alarms again. Hope my horrible waves could never harm a friend. Some men crossed me again, never saw him again, even the he the Nord demon can fall from a sin who called it again? I'm not sovvag to them. Drowning in my own flood, I hardly can swim. Then I stopped too late? How could I be so selfish do the stupidest thing, But know that I'm not helpless? Bad patterns, habits. I need to learn to break. I'm mad scattered this matter. If I need to learn to shake, we'll extinguish over light the match to burn the lake, every roll of the dice, the one determined faith, slipping into the void for just a few hours to win my best to not flip.

6:16 Speaker 2: I got no new flower. My dreamscape is the place that I do scout in search of advances, like how I could bet the US power? Not perfect, not even close to all right. Can't remember the last time I slept all night. I was wide open, but I need another hour. I just fell asleep already time for the shower. No sugar added, no sugar added. I just need water. Mentally, I get padded, no sugar added, no sugar added, somewhere between being happy and mad.

6:44 Speaker 4: And I love it. I love it.

6:57 Speaker 1: Thank you Cody Pope and Ryron g here whatever live in studio on this Saturday morning.

7:03 Speaker 2: Yeah, I couldn't hear everybody at first. I was like, oh crap, what's going on.

7:08 Speaker 1: You made it work.

7:09 Speaker 2: You made it work volumes of magical thing.

7:11 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, Now tell us about you know, for people who are not familiar, So because you refer to it Hellhound Publishing, what is that exactly? For people who don't know.

7:20 Speaker 2: So, Hellhound Publishing is a record label that I founded in twenty eighteen and that Byron now co owns with me, and so that is essentially our creative house where we not only do we distribute and produce all of our music, but we've been fortunate to sign and release music for some artists that we're really close with as well. Okay, we do music, we do some books, and we do podcasts. Those are really like our big things right now.

7:46 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, and yeah, you've talked about that on the show. Before has that kind of has that kind of grown in terms of who you're working with, Like you have more artists that you're that you're working with or I don't. I don't remember who we because I think the I think the first time you talked about it on the show, you had just kind of started that, or you had started working together on that.

8:06 Speaker 2: I think, Yeah, I think what when we came on and put out Meet Me in Gate City he had only released a few records at that point, and now with Giant Steps in Gate City, it's our fifteenth release on the record label.

8:19 Speaker 1: Oh wow, Yeah, okay, okay.

8:21 Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel very fortunate to say that after all this time. But yeah, it's been quite the wild ride.

8:27 Speaker 1: Yeah, no kidding, uh wow.

8:29 Speaker 3: So who now?

8:30 Speaker 1: Who else are you working with currently? Who are you releasing music for?

8:34 Speaker 2: So our roster that's active right now consists of mostly producers, but so they go out and perform a lot of instrumental shows and we have instrumental albums out for them as well. Yeah, so we represent even though who is originally from Nashua but is now based out of the Worcester area, he has like this very like Ethereal Lo Fi kind of sound. But then because he comes from like a boom back background, there's like a really cool blend of like an almost ambient boombap kind of sound. We represent an artist named Trip Seat who's based out of Boston, Massachusetts area.

9:10 Speaker 2: He has a very electronic heavy sound. I like to compare him to like an Aphex Twin or a fat Boy Slim something along like very like high energy, like party music. We also represent eight Biza as well. I know you know Biza. He has obviously been a long time contributor to the label and to my music as well, and so he's always yeah, he's always been a big part of the equation as well, and that is that's really the core of like artists that we have releases coming out for. But for twenty five, where we're hoping to kind of expand the palette a little more.

9:50 Speaker 2: We've kind of changed the way that we operate as a label a bit, and we've also like we've moved our headquarters. We had been in the same place for over ten years. Wow, so now we just moved into a new place and that's really evolved how we can operate as a label and a lot of capacities so we may not have as many releases coming out in twenty five, but we fortunately have like really big plans and a lot more resources to apply to them now, which is exciting.

10:18 Speaker 1: Oh okay, yeah.

10:20 Speaker 3: Very good.

10:21 Speaker 1: Now, why why the when you when you talk about the changes in terms of how you do things? Is that is that something that does that come from kind of learning as you go or or does some of it I'm curious if some of it has to do to with you know, the music business is constantly changing, and you know now and I don't think we've ever really talked about this aspect before, but now AI is kind of really changing things. And yeah, I mean, does does that play a role?

10:49 Speaker 2: I would say, And you might have a different experience to speak to it. For me, as like a label owner, I always sought to be the person that I thought I would have wanted to have around as an artist. But I learned that I wasn't being the person that the artist needed, and that those are two separate things where you could want more than you actually need, and so not everybody's wants parallel, And so I had to learn how to manage the artists better on the release side of things because with some of the early releases we put out on the label, we were very we were very involved in the record in terms of like being in weekly meetings, trying to make plans, and some of the artists we were literally tracking all their music in our free time and doing the artwork for I've done the artwork for most of the releases on the label a lot of so we were like super involved, which feels good.

11:53 Speaker 2: But I think what we learned is that artists need to kind of finish the idea on their own m m and then kind of like be like, you know, we were trying to build things out of scratch with an artist, and really the artist has to kind of have that idea and figure out what they would do even if we weren't in the picture, and if they were going to do that anyways, that's where we can be of the most service to them. Okay, But as artists, we have certain expectations for ourselves, and so it's not fair to apply those expectations to everybody unilaterally.

12:28 Speaker 2: Every every artist requires a specific kind of like catered to means of getting their thing done, and if we love the art enough, we're going to work on how to be that to each artist and still maintain the integrity of what we're trying to do personally.

12:46 Speaker 1: That makes sense because everyone's process is different. Yeah. Yeah, Now what about AI in terms of like like releasing music, do you have to? Does it get complicated now? With UH? I mean it's it's incredible what's going on, Like I I see uh, you know, like major labels are suing AI companies and there's all that. There's all this mess like do you have to does it become a consideration when releasing music? Like is there an AI sample or something in here? Is there something that is going to cause us a problem down the road?

13:22 Speaker 1: And are there headaches that come with that?

13:24 Speaker 5: So it's I think personally there's there's good and there's bad. For for the sample based producers that like to dig in you know, old records of like old crates of records and things like that, which I am one of them, it makes it a little bit harder to kind of chop and and when it comes to release time, if you have samples on your beats, you kind of it's it's different now, It's definitely AI is picking up on a lot of that stuff. Doesn't mean that there's a place for it, because there definitely still is and a lot of uh, you know Snoop and are releasing.

14:00 Speaker 5: I mean, it's probably a little bit different because they have the actual stems from the artists, but there's different avenues where you could go for that type of stuff now.

14:12 Speaker 3: But on the other side of things, I've been.

14:15 Speaker 5: Using AI to generate uh chord progressions and and different sounds and stuff like that.

14:23 Speaker 3: And i've you know you cant Byron?

14:25 Speaker 1: Can you pull that, Michael a little bit? Just yeah, so just I noticed it was just dropping out. Yeah, it is better. That's better. Yeah, thank you, it's just it. It starts to g sorry about that, to make sure we can hear you. I'm sorry. Good, Yeah, go ahead.

14:37 Speaker 3: Yeah.

14:37 Speaker 5: On the other other side of things, I've been using AI to generate melodies and chords and picking my keys and and blending and mashing a bunch of like AI generated stuff and basically using them as my samples as of late, chopping it up that way and doing it that way. It's all like you're you're the creator, so there's no royalties or there's no copyright infringement cases that you run into. Oking it that way and it's different. There's a million different possibilities. And I'm the type of guy it's like, as we evolve, as you know, producers and just musicians, if you're not using all of the elements that are at your hands.

15:23 Speaker 3: These days, you're gonna fall behind.

15:25 Speaker 1: Yeah.

15:25 Speaker 5: So there's good and there's bad. It's just all about how you look at it.

15:29 Speaker 3: I think.

15:30 Speaker 1: Yeah, adaptability is so important absolutely, and yeah, adapting to technologies. Yeah, we I was talking to somebody about that in terms of doing a like a radio show, you know, like there was a time when a radio show would just be on the radio, but we've had to adapt to you know now you know podcasting and streaming and all of that, and and if you don't if you don't do that, yeah, if you don't adapt, you fall behind.

15:53 Speaker 3: Yeah.

15:53 Speaker 5: Like I would never like take someone's voice right and and have them say specifically Eric's like I wouldn't use AI or anything like that. Yeah, But in terms of like creating, I'm definitely messing around with AI.

16:07 Speaker 3: Yeah, it comes to creating melodies and stuff like that.

16:10 Speaker 1: Sure, sure, So.

16:12 Speaker 2: I think the thing that's important with AI, and that's why I'm glad you spoke on it because you have more experience with it. I don't, but I just from like a outside looking in perspective kind of thing, I feel like there's a lot of fear around AI taking on creative tasks and things of that nature. And I think the ultimate responsibility or obligation is that like, if we don't determine how AI is going to be used, other things are going to determine that for us. And so it's like, rather than being afraid of AI and being so against it, figure out how to implement it into your life in the ways that it that you want.

16:51 Speaker 2: You know, it's like, yeah, my conversations with most people is that it's like you want AI to take care of menial tasks and things that are time consuming and take away from you like living your most life right, So it's like if we sit back and wait for AI to become what it is, it's going to take the things we love instead. Because nobody like stepped in and said like no, I want to do this part, like do this task for me instead, And I don't have any experience using it, So that's why it's like hard for me to really like put my foot down one way or another.

17:23 Speaker 2: But I just feel like we have to kind of like we are the users of AI, so we have to dictate what purpose it's going to serve to us before it becomes consequential.

17:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, got to be proactive with it.

17:34 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure.

17:36 Speaker 5: I think like for independent artists, it definitely can be like an attribute to you because as an independent artist, you have to you have to wear so many hats, right, whether it's creating artwork or whether it's you know, coming up with videos or whatever, and AI can be a huge help for that stuff if you're not specifically like a drawing artist, to make up your own art work whatever it is, right, Yeah, definitely use AI to help you out on that side of things too.

18:06 Speaker 2: And even just like like task stuff, I would think more so you know, like as somebody who makes artwork, it's like I like, I like that side of things. But I'm sure even as like maybe an engineer or like a radio show producer, there's certain like engineering things where it's like I wish this, I wish my mixerer just always set to these levels, or I wish my fader just always went to this thing, or I wish my preset always went you know, these are kind of the initial These are things that like AI could probably do for us, is like set these kind of prerequisite things so that when we go to use our creative tools, they're like in the right settings or whatever.

18:44 Speaker 5: Yeah, like everything else, as long as you put the time behind to learn the things you know, and you can manipulate anything in your favor. Yeah, you know, as long as you put the time in and the effort to figure it out.

18:56 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, No, I agree, Well said you guys want to play on other.

19:00 Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you think? Maybe gratitude?

19:12 Speaker 1: Sure, if you're just joining us. We have Cody Pope and Byron g here with us live in studio.

19:16 Speaker 3: Let me get that. Uh, there we go. I gotta find this joint.

19:22 Speaker 6: Yeah.

19:37 Speaker 2: Some days I wake up and I wish I had it.

19:43 Speaker 2: I hate that I'm sad, but my love once feel so glad that he's a lead trip And don't know why I'm so mad. Man got a lot to be He's greatful for even when I'm down, bad man. Some days i' wake up and I wish I had it.

20:05 Speaker 2: I hate that I'm sad, but my love Monk feels so glad, easily dripping.

20:12 Speaker 1: I don't know why I'm so mad man.

20:16 Speaker 2: You've got a lot to be grateful for. Even when I'm down, bad man, waked up in my brain already feeling dark, get the couch, already chase a spot, contemplat and in my sick or unhealthy. It's this depression of calma for unwealthy enough cleverity to know that I'm the end of me, the one destroying me, the one should be defending me. Got to take time enough to know you can't make time, So make mind feel with the things that shape live. What you heard on the great vine might not taste right, so you don't gotta make wine.

20:49 Speaker 2: You'll still make life. Plant that seed that gonna bandy your family with the real money tree, life's optical standard fees. And still days I'm fighting to get prop it. But that's the vibe when no mean my trooper, when the fight come at the door, you can't be true. You missed that chance. Well, some days I wake up and I wish I had it. I hate that I'm sad, but my loved once feel so glad. Then he's the lead tripping don't know vibe. I'm so mad man, got a lot to be here, grateful for even when I'm down, bad man.

21:27 Speaker 2: Some days I wake up and I wish I had it. I hate that I'm sad, but my loved ones feel so glad that he's the lead tripping. Don't know why I'm so mad, man, you got a lot to be grateful for, even when I'm down, bad man.

21:51 Speaker 1: Some days I wake up, I wake up. Mmm, good stuff, guys, good stuff.

22:04 Speaker 2: Thank you.

22:05 Speaker 1: If you're just joining us, we have Cody Pope and Byron g here with us live in studio, and uh yeah, I love that track and it's it's very relatable. I I have those.

22:15 Speaker 2: Days, right, That's the thing, you know, I feel like most of us do. And yeah, when we're in those moments, you kind of feel like you're the only person and it's like, man, how is like the world really like crashing down on me? But when you realize how many people in your life have made it to that next day, it's like, all right, let me let me just try and like breathe for a minute, yeah, and stop thinking about what's weighing on me and like figure out what's like lifting me instead.

22:40 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I like that a lot, you know. I I'm pretty public about it. I struggle with depression, and so I can I can relate to that, you know. I hear those lyrics and it's like, yeah, yeah, I get it.

22:53 Speaker 3: I get it.

22:54 Speaker 4: Now.

22:55 Speaker 1: Are you so the new album it just came out.

22:58 Speaker 2: It came out in October.

22:59 Speaker 1: Came out in October, so pretty recent. Yeah, are you? Are you already working on the next one? It seems like you guys are pretty prolific. You put out a lot of music.

23:05 Speaker 2: Yeah, So we have a lot of stuff in the vault right now, and we definitely have some releases planned for next year, but we're gonna honestly spend a lot of time with this record. We've been working on visuals for it. So we do these seminars called Inside the Music. We do them at Nashville Public Library, and oh yeah. We take songs from our records and kind of break down the lyrics and the stories and the Ryan patterns, the references, and he'll break down the stems of how the song was composed. And we put one together for Giant Steps, and we didn't get to do it in time for the release.

23:41 Speaker 2: So that's gonna be one of the things that we do this spring is Return of the library seminar, and so we really just want to give people time to take this record in. It's eighteen songs, yeah, and we have a documentary coming out for it on Monday, which really covers like from when we did meet Me in Gates City till where we're at now. And so there was like a lot of like obstacles along the way of getting the album out, and so because it took us so long to get here, we're really hoping that we can afford to take time with this record over next year because there's a lot to take in.

24:18 Speaker 2: You know, it's eighteen songs. It's a very like in depth personal record. It's the essentially like the follow up to you know, the first record that we did Meet Me in Gates City was shortly after we met as people, you know, and like we met, and within a year and some change we had a full length album out and had been playing all over the region and running this label together, and so so much has happened in that time and we've learned a lot. We've both gone through so much in our personal lives, and so the album is really a document of so much of that that it's hard to like move on to the next thing already interesting where like we have like we have an EP that we had already recorded.

25:07 Speaker 2: I have a actually I have a project with Biza that we're hoping to put out next year.

25:11 Speaker 1: Oh cool.

25:12 Speaker 2: I have a live band record that him that he's helped me engineer that we've been working on for a couple of years. We worked with some great artists from Maine. So we have stuff that we're hoping to put out next year. Yeah, but it just is, Ah, everything's kind of happening on a feeling now where we did so much stuff on setting deadlines that we thought fit within our marketplace, and our audience has really shown us that we can dictate our own marketplace and the best way to do that is to not compromise the integrity of these records.

25:44 Speaker 2: And so we're really hoping and frankly, you know, just to be like honest about it. The record is doing very well in regards to reception. People that hear it loved the record. People have been buying the CDs, which is great. The show was fantastic, But in terms of like the typical benchmarks that you're trying to reach in audience growth and stuff like that, we're just not there yet. Yeah, We're we're a long ways away from being where we're at comfortably in growing our audience, and so it seems like it would be detrimental of us to move on from this record too fast when there's so much substance there.

26:25 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that makes sense.

26:28 Speaker 3: We also went to a legit studio this time around too.

26:32 Speaker 6: Oh.

26:34 Speaker 5: Before we were it was all in house, like doing all the engineering, mixing, mastering, all that stuff. This time, due to you know, time and our mental capacities with work and stuff like that, it just.

26:46 Speaker 3: Wasn't gonna come out the way we wanted it to.

26:50 Speaker 5: So they made the decision to bring in Mertz, who Cody had previously worked with who's uh engineered down at the Bridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and he was kind of like the third member of the team to help us put this one together. Yeah, and he absolutely crushed it, blew it out the like hit it right out the park.

27:08 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.

27:09 Speaker 5: Like, the synergy between the three of us was fantastic. Every time we were down in his studio, we recorded the whole thing down there, and he was like a huge part of this record. So sonically, it's definitely like our best sounding record too.

27:24 Speaker 2: Okay, it really it allowed us to be like it allowed us to operate as a duo as artists. Where doing Meet Me in Gate City, even though we were a duo, he had to be the Rick Rubin and like run the boards and make sure that I was doing what I needed to do. And and so this time was like we both just got to be the artists and have our vision be brought to life. And so I'm glad that you brought that up because i do think that that also like played a big part in making.

27:53 Speaker 3: This That's what it was the Upbraide sonically for sure.

27:57 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a huge and and that's and it's a poster, you know, it's like this is part of a greater story. And so you know, from meet Me and Gate City, it was a lot of getting to know us, getting to know how to operate with each other, and us getting to know who our audience was. Now because this music was quite a bit different than my solo music and now with Giant Steps, it's exactly that, like we were willing to challenge ourselves, we were willing to challenge the listeners, we were willing to challenge the status quo.

28:27 Speaker 2: We were willing to step outside of all of our comfort zones and just make a record that we felt was like a strong body of work and I'm happy to like stand on that for a long time.

28:38 Speaker 1: Yeah, was that a difficult decision to to because you had done the previous tracks? Yes, and how Yeah, Yeah.

28:45 Speaker 2: We tried. We tried. Frankly, like we we took a couple different attempts at doing so we were gonna do EP three before the new album we had so that we did Pound of Flesh, then we did Renaissance Park and we have one more that we already have written, and so we went to record that and we just we just weren't feeling it. There was just something. And that's when I think he started to realize he was getting burnt from the engineering, the mixing, the mastering, all that stuff.

29:14 Speaker 5: And it was juggling family with work and yeah, at the studio till two am and then waking up and going to work and doing the same thing.

29:24 Speaker 3: And it's a lot. It was a lot, and we have been doing that for like three years straight.

29:28 Speaker 2: So it was like, yeah, you don't get that same off filming, right right, Yeah, Yeah, you don't get that same fulfillment when it feels like work all the time.

29:38 Speaker 5: Yeah, and that's what it was definitely becoming the field it was it was starting to feel like work and that's the complete opposite artist, right right.

29:47 Speaker 2: But it was also like a blessing in disguise because the songs for EP. Three, while we love them, by the time we kind of figured out that we wanted to like go back into the studio setting, the songs wouldn't have worked for the time period that they would have been done. You know, there was just a sonic appeal to having them in like the springtime. They just have that kind of energy. And we didn't start recording until the beginning of summer, so by the time we were done, it was gonna be late summer fall, and we would have just been putting out songs just to put something out and just to keep up with the joneses.

30:21 Speaker 2: And instead we have this body of work that just like everything made sense, and it was like it just really reminded us of like we can't always dictate the timelines. We just have to make the art, and the art is going to tell us not to be like you know, but like the art is really going to set the terms of like what we can do. Like, nothing we say matters until we have a body of work in our hands, and then we can, you know, get to the starting line.

30:47 Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. By the way, you mentioned so you do you've done most of the artwork for the arts of released through hew Lound. Yeah, is there is there any kind of like, do you have a specific style that you apply to The reason I'm curious is in the past, it probably isn't really a thing anymore, but I just remember, like back in the nineties or in the two thousands, like No Limit Records, you know, there was a very specific style pixel.

31:18 Speaker 6: Yeah.

31:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm curious if if, like, do you have a specific style that you try to use.

31:22 Speaker 2: Or I don't. The only thing I guess I would really say about my style is that I am in I'm not like a traditionally trained graphic designer. I don't have any sort of like art background or anything. I learned how to use photoshop purely because I wanted to be a guy starting a record label, and so the root of my like artistic style is very photo heavy. So I love when somebody can either give me a photo or give me a reference or something, and that is typically like my canvas and I can like creatively build from there, Okay, and like I'm I'm learning how to do other stuff.

32:01 Speaker 2: But I would say that through the fifteen releases that we've put out that I've done covers for, they're very like photo centric, where it's about a certain like character or a certain idea and then I'll just kind of design around that idea.

32:18 Speaker 1: Yeah.

32:18 Speaker 5: Yeah, Robert, Yeah, he's the one who basically took all the pictures of us, yeah for the for the last ep in this album. Oh okay, Yeah, he was just the the artistry in him, like he was literally laying down almost like head in traffic to get that perfect angle.

32:41 Speaker 3: Yeah. He's one of a kind.

32:44 Speaker 2: Yeah, he's actually based here in Manchester. But his name is Robert Bates, ok and you can so you can find his Robert Bates Photography and on Instagram he goes by Domino Sonata. But he's also like a very he's a very into cinema, like local cinema and film and film history and stuff like that too.

33:02 Speaker 5: So you could totally feel it when you're like when you see his photos. Really he's incredible man, And I think, what did Nick did meet me in Gate City?

33:12 Speaker 3: So okay, Nix is girlfriend.

33:14 Speaker 2: Yeah. So we have a lot of like close people in our network that shoot photos and then I just like am fortunate enough to take those and manipulate them.

33:22 Speaker 1: Oh that's cool? Yeah, yeah, very cool. Uh you guys want to play another one?

33:27 Speaker 3: Yeah?

33:27 Speaker 2: What do we go?

33:28 Speaker 1: Dying to hear more?

33:30 Speaker 2: Here?

33:30 Speaker 1: If you're just showing us we have Cody Pope and Byron g here with us alive in studio.

33:36 Speaker 2: And to exit more. Yeah, it's a fun one, all right,

33:51 Speaker 2: you're watching at home, you can snap with us elevated to the gallows like a miles in France. Life be hitting differently do Miles of dance might have a thousand yards stare of of a mile and trance life can be so short you're running miles and pants don't care for people but a smile, because why not? This life the only one that I know that I got all This Third eyed Jazz got me feeling like cyclops every year for a little closer they'm feeling like my pops, frustrated with my nation. Probably for different reasons of posing opinions on opposition committing treason.

34:37 Speaker 2: I'm from where you got to embrace multiple seasons. One day it's spring, one day you take in the leaves and still jump hurdles. What I got these long legs for? Ramp up my protein? Would I eat all these eggs for? I grew up between exit one and exit for, But even as a youth, I knew I had to exit more.

34:56 Speaker 3: A little short one.

34:57 Speaker 1: That is a short one.

34:58 Speaker 3: Wow.

34:59 Speaker 5: Yeah, there's a lot of those little kind of like interlows between each a lot of the tracks on this one.

35:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, No, I like it though. One day it's spring, next day you're taking the leaves. Then that is true. That is our weather tends to go. Yes, yes, we have Cody Pope and Byron's here with us alive in studio and uh sounding great. Are you guys playing out Lutrey? Are you doing a lot of live shows the days?

35:23 Speaker 2: So it was. I would say this was probably our slowest year we did. We did a run in March when we put out Renaissance Park. We were real lucky. We got to go out with Ari the Rugged Man for a night. We did some nights in Vermont. Yeah, came here. You're with the first on that whole that was the well, that's the show that's okay, going back to before we were on air, that's we were here for Renaissance Park and that was the show that the computer crashed, yes, because we played let It Grow for the first time.

35:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's part.

35:57 Speaker 3: Of that run. And that same night we had a The Rugged Man at.

36:00 Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay wow.

36:02 Speaker 2: But after that run of shows, it was pretty quiet for the most part. We did something, you know, something here or there.

36:09 Speaker 3: A lot of life stuff was going on.

36:11 Speaker 2: Yea, yeah, we we started working on well, so we started EP three basically in like so, Renaissance Park came out in March, and by like the end of April, we were already jumping into EP three and then by like the end of May we realized everything just like wasn't working. And by the end of June we were already down at the Bridge working on the new album. Okay, So it was just one of those things that like and then we spent so much time doing the album and we didn't want to. We knew what we wanted to do for the release show, and we knew if we did too many shows beforehand that that would kind of like spoil or saturate it.

36:54 Speaker 2: So once we started working on the album, we made like a very like conscious effort to be like, look, we're gonna not perform until this show. We want people to really like, this is the next time they experience us is going to be hearing these songs in a room that we booked with our sound are lighting, our caterers that we brought, like just like a show the way that we think it makes the most sense. Yeah, and and like, I think it was one of the best decisions we made because the event turned out like really memorable.

37:26 Speaker 1: Excellent, excellent. By the way, what was our a the rugged man? Like he seems like an intense dude.

37:31 Speaker 2: Like, yeah, he's very intense. Yeah, we we didn't get to meet him. I've opened I think I've opened for him like three or four times, and I've literally never met him. So oh really yeah, that's just how rappers are though.

37:46 Speaker 1: Yeah, he I I heard I heard an interesting story about him. Do you guys know Kate ever?

37:53 Speaker 2: So I don't know him personally, but I feel like we the name sounds familiar and I'm pretty sure we played a show like years and years ago in the past, if I'm not mistaken.

38:03 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, he he opened for U.

38:07 Speaker 2: I bet you that was probably the I bet you I might have been on that show too. Okay, maybe that's where I know him from.

38:12 Speaker 1: Yeah he he He told me an interesting story which I won't I won't repeat.

38:17 Speaker 5: But I would never want to be as loud as a live sound engineer artist.

38:23 Speaker 3: Man. I felt bad for that guy that night.

38:25 Speaker 1: Really, why did the engineer take some verbal Yeah.

38:28 Speaker 3: And it's yeah, yeah he did.

38:30 Speaker 5: And uh, you know, I mean if you're an art like a has been around for you know, over two decades.

38:36 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's like there's a there's a level of expectations.

38:39 Speaker 5: You got it if you're gonna you know, oh yeah, yeah, do anything with him, which is you know, he earned that.

38:44 Speaker 1: So if you guys ever seen the meltdown he had with Tim Poole on his podcast.

38:49 Speaker 2: That sounds wild.

38:50 Speaker 1: Oh it's great. Yeah yeah, if you go on YouTube and just hide in Tim pool all right, the recommend I'm sure it comes right.

38:54 Speaker 3: Oh, I gotta check that out.

38:57 Speaker 1: Yeah he got He had a little angry with Tim Poole. It's just like, I'm not that guy. You don't want to go there with me. I can't even do an impression of it. It's it's really really good. I'm really angry with it. Was awesome, It's fantastic.

39:13 Speaker 2: I can just like picture that in my head.

39:15 Speaker 3: Yes, it's really good.

39:20 Speaker 1: Now who else?

39:21 Speaker 3: Now?

39:21 Speaker 1: Is there any is there anyone else coming up in the short term who you're releasing through uh?

39:28 Speaker 2: In sometime this spring we are hoping to release so eight Biza. Yeah, yeah, really yeah. Business just dropped a Merry Christmas beat tape which is on all streaming pladcams, so everybody should go listen to that. But when we initially obviously Bizza has always been a part of our movement, but when we like made a formal offer to be like, hey, we want to have a record of yours come out on the label, he put out what what I to consider like his magnum opus is an album he did a few years ago. It's called Bobby's boombapp recitle.

40:05 Speaker 2: Okay, it's like his producer composition album and he basically hired and picked and curated all of the vocal features on the record and produced it and put them all together. And it's a phenomenal album. It just has acrobatic mister Lyft, crime Apple, my favorite rapper, Cody Pope is on there. Tons of people are on There's just Time and lep who don't even really perform anymore. So it's probably one of the last recordings that they did. Yeah, there's just these phenomenal verses on there. But much like a lot of us as artists, because they didn't have a budget behind him to do some grand release.

40:48 Speaker 2: He didn't have money to do a physical release, you know, there wasn't He was doing it all himself, you know, and he puts so much into making it that it didn't even get like a huge digital distribution. Okay, So one of the things that we wanted to do first was give that record like a really grand release, And over the years we've been trying to like put a CD package together that really like is special and put some video content around it. So this spring really is hopefully going to be the Bobby's boomback recital Spring, as well as some more stuff from us.

41:25 Speaker 4: Yeah.

41:25 Speaker 1: Yeah, Bus is incredible. Yeah, I haven't interviewed him and a real I gotta get him on the show.

41:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, he's always got stuff going on.

41:32 Speaker 6: Man.

41:32 Speaker 3: I went into the studio.

41:34 Speaker 5: It was like two weeks ago and ran into bizit there and what he was doing that night, I actually got it. I had was like taking videos and stuff. Just the way he manipulates samples and audio is like no one's doing it like him. Yeah, he could literally you can smack this wall and he'll make a full beat out of it.

41:53 Speaker 3: Like, yes, he's on another level, and I hope.

41:56 Speaker 5: I think he'll get his flowers soon where everybody, you know, I can see that he can just he's he's the mad scientist for that's what I call it.

42:07 Speaker 3: He just can anything any sound.

42:10 Speaker 5: He's manipulating it in his way, and it's really incredible to see when he's in his zone at the studio, you know.

42:17 Speaker 2: Yea, Yeah, I hate to be biased because I'm obviously like his friend, but I can't tell you enough, like as a record label owner and obviously like Bizza is an artist, So I'm not saying that he's not challenging in his own right, but but Bizza is he's the type of artist you want to work with as a label owner because he's doing things that he was going to do even if you weren't. Sorry, that's right. He's doing things that he was gonna do even if you weren't in the picture. And that's what you want, is you want an art of You want an artist that's motivated enough to do it themselves, so that when you come in and partner with them, you're just adding fuel to something that was already the If you just know a great artist but they're not driven to do it on their own, you're like pulling teeth sometimes because it's like they clearly didn't want it if if you were, if they weren't already doing it, you know.

43:13 Speaker 2: And so with Bizzy, you almost have to chase him sometimes because he's so motivated that he's he's dropping stuff constantly, and you got to kind and so that's why it's like we have a unique friendship and relationship with him because it's like he was doing this before either of us anyways. So it's like you got to give him room to do his thing and let him breathe creatively. But we just feel fortunate that like he still like wants to partner with us and do stuff with us as well, because we like to find those little gems every now and then and be like, here's how we can help bring that into the world.

43:47 Speaker 1: Right, right, Have you ever I mean obviously I don't expect you to mention any names, but have you guys ever run into a situation where you work with somebody who maybe just doesn't.

43:56 Speaker 2: Absolutely, I guess for you know, not too many, fortunately, but I would say we've had We've had one release that didn't work out, and in total, we've maybe worked with three artists that it just wasn't the right kind of relationship. But fortunately, we only ever really were in one situation where an artists record came out and it just didn't really work out. And uh yeah, you know, like those things are tough in the moment, and for us being so early in the label, I think it definitely felt like, oh, like what did we do wrong?

44:38 Speaker 2: Like what you know, But as time went on, like we realized like we did the best we could and it just like everything's not going to always work out. And I like to say that hell Hound is for anyone, but Hellhound isn't for everyone, right, you know, Like we are so open to what kind of music, what kind of art, the kind of people we work with, Like we really just we have a wide scope and a love of art. Yeah, but we also have a certain framework within which we like to do things, and we have a certain aesthetic and a certain rawness and vulnerability and honesty and work ethic, and that's not for everybody, and so it's not you know, goes back to like what I was saying earlier, is like we can't hold other artists to the way that we do things.

45:27 Speaker 2: We do what works best for us. And if there's other people that we love their art, we just have to kind of acclimate to what's going to work for them to be the most genuine.

45:37 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, exactly not And you could tell. You could tell when.

45:43 Speaker 5: You know the passion's not fully there right as well, you know, and.

45:47 Speaker 3: It kind of sucks the air out of the room.

45:49 Speaker 5: So yeah, you kind of learn real quick when you get into a couple of sessions with somebody and you know, kind of the first or second day, we're like, it's either going to be way too much work in us pushing, right, and if they're not in that creative space or if they're you know, not fully committed, then it's I'm we're not going to push you to like get there, like you gotta have that. Like it's just an artist in general or musician or whatever like, Yeah, you gotta have the passion or else it's not gonna work.

46:24 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly.

46:27 Speaker 3: We have time.

46:27 Speaker 2: You guys want to play one more or twist arm right?

46:33 Speaker 3: Do the last one?

46:33 Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess we should. So. This is the title track from Giant Steps in Gate City, which is affectionately called Giant Steps.

46:40 Speaker 1: Okay, Cody Pope and Byron g.

46:55 Speaker 2: My lace is tight enough for all my giant steps. Now easy to get every day to say I'm the best Now, life be like some big beautiful breast now over a windy day when all the sun dresses out. Even when stressed out, stop and taking another ahead of this life and understand why you love it it. No one can do what you do. That's why the gluff won't fit. Keep working hard towards your dreams. You'll make so much of it. These menver thongs take training more than saying words. Sometimes you're on the path alone that's evading herds.

47:27 Speaker 2: You lucky if your lifeline is exchanging verbs. There was a time in my life I was exchanging hurt. Went from thinking not be dead before the age of thirty to making it with words and trying not to be too worthy for every step back something to look forward to. You've been working. Soon enough you'll be soreing too. These giant steps come by learning how to evox. First, life's a fight. You might want to learn how to evox. First progress means getting up when you beat down. Dedicated to the babies born.

48:00 Speaker 3: Damn.

48:00 Speaker 2: These giant steps come by learning how to walk. First, life's to fight. You might want to learn how to box. First progress means getting up when you beat down. Dedicated to the babies born. I meet clowns all the time. Most of them fade away. Not enough battery for all the games they play. Learn how to center, stop, step on your own side. Don't let these cat with this people lead up your own time. You know you best, so find a pass to the rest. Understand it takes time, try your buy risk and tests.

48:33 Speaker 2: Had many people tell me I was two heads strong, But when I do this, all those people will be dead. Wrong people not wrong for offer room ways to make the day, but everyone God preferences how to make the stake. There will be times when you know you got to walk alone. Let the power of your actions be the message shown. Plenty of thrones don't worry about what the king say. You play lifelike shredding guitar like a way. How much can you do before the end credits play? All depends on how much you let get in the way.

49:06 Speaker 2: These giant steps come by learning how to walk first life. To fight, you might want to learn how to box first. Progress means getting up when you beat damn. Dedicated to the babies born feet damn. These giant steps come by learning how to walk. First life. To fight, you might want to learn how to box first. Progress means getting up when you beat damn. Dedicated to the babies born feet damn. Preach.

49:41 Speaker 1: Well done, guys, Thank you man, well done.

49:43 Speaker 2: Well, Thank you having us.

49:44 Speaker 1: Cody Pope and Byron g here with us live in studiou. What should our listeners know about where to find you guys online to keep up with everything that you're doing.

49:52 Speaker 2: So everything in our universe can always be found at hellhum Publishing dot com. We're really active on YouTube right now, so we have a Hellhound Publishing YouTube channel. We would love for people to go over there and hit the all subscribe button. We're putting out music, we're putting out behind the scenes videos. We had our documentary. It's going to be out Monday.

50:12 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I'm very very curious to see that.

50:14 Speaker 2: Thank you. Yeah. So it's my first like big video editing project. It's like a forty minute documentary just about our whole journey. Cool.

50:22 Speaker 3: I saw it yesterday for the first time.

50:24 Speaker 4: Really.

50:24 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's blown away. Yeah, oh very cool. Yeah.

50:27 Speaker 2: So yeah everything Hellhound Publishing dot com, Hellhound Publishing on YouTube, if you're on social media, I'm at Cody Pope hc across everything. He's at BG six ZH three across everything, and at Hellhoun Publishing of course too. But hell Hound till we're underground.

50:46 Speaker 4: All right, I love it. I love it.

50:48 Speaker 1: Anything we didn't talk about that, you want to make sure our listeners know about anything we didn't mention. You guys always got to like going on side. Well, I make sure we didn't leave anything out.

50:56 Speaker 2: No, So we're, like I we mentioned earlier, we're and this is our kind of weekend wrap. But for us, this was the first thing we have going on. So thank you so much for having us. Yeah, Tomorrow night, Sunday, we're going to be at the shaf Skiine for rap night. It's gonna be our last show of the year, kind of a holiday wrap up show, and then Monday is the premiere of the documentary. And other than that, I would just say that our new album, Giant Steps in Gate City is available anywhere that you listen to music.

51:21 Speaker 2: Please take an opportunity to listen to it. That's all we could ask is for people to just take the time to listen to it. It's eighteen songs and if you don't like it, hopefully you'll have a better day after. I think you will.

51:38 Speaker 1: Very good, very good guys. Thank you so much.