Pacificaze | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: I love that that is specific as the track is

0:03 Speaker 1: called a short life and I think we have Jack

0:05 Speaker 1: on the line a via WhatsApp.

0:06 Speaker 2: Jack are you there?

0:08 Speaker 3: You do have Jack on the line. How's it go O?

0:10 Speaker 2: Wonderful? Wonderful?

0:11 Speaker 1: Hey, I love that song man, It's so it's kind

0:14 Speaker 1: of dreamy is my first word to describe it. But

0:19 Speaker 1: it's just such a great tune and it just I

0:22 Speaker 1: just love it. You kind of get kind of get

0:23 Speaker 1: lost in it when I listened to it, if you

0:25 Speaker 1: know what I mean.

0:26 Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred because when our guitarists brought the chords

0:30 Speaker 3: into the room, it just make it transported me to

0:33 Speaker 3: those holidays, you know, with your partner on the beach

0:36 Speaker 3: and you in that little bubble of life and nothing

0:39 Speaker 3: can really pop that bubble. And that's the vibe that

0:42 Speaker 3: I wanted to give out. Yeah, against the world love

0:46 Speaker 3: and life.

0:46 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I'd say you definitely accomplished that. That's uh,

0:50 Speaker 1: that's really good. So tell me Jack about Pacific A

0:53 Speaker 1: is because I got the impression from reading a little

0:55 Speaker 1: bit about the band that did this start as a

0:58 Speaker 1: solo project and then and then kind of develop into

1:01 Speaker 1: a band? Is that what happened or can you kind

1:03 Speaker 1: of run through the history of the project.

1:06 Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, so super fast history. I've been playing piano

1:10 Speaker 3: since I was ten, so you know over twenty years now. Yeah,

1:14 Speaker 3: classically trained and all the piano stuff done me grades,

1:17 Speaker 3: and then in my twenties I started really getting into

1:20 Speaker 3: playing guitar, and like, I just had an affinity to

1:23 Speaker 3: safe rock and safe music. So around five or six

1:28 Speaker 3: years ago, I decided, you know, now's the time to

1:30 Speaker 3: actually get those ideas out of your head and out

1:33 Speaker 3: of the voice memos and onto a page and into

1:35 Speaker 3: the studio. So that's what I've done. I reached out

1:37 Speaker 3: to a couple of people in America because that was

1:40 Speaker 3: always the goal for me, Like it always felt like American,

1:42 Speaker 3: the Californian beats music in a way. So I had

1:47 Speaker 3: a few producers out in LA who were helping me

1:50 Speaker 3: craft that sound. But that was me on my own.

1:52 Speaker 3: Fast forward a couple of years and now there's a

1:54 Speaker 3: full band of us, and we all have the same

1:57 Speaker 3: outlook on life. You know, there's more to life. We

2:00 Speaker 3: love music, we loved creating, and you know what with

2:03 Speaker 3: all generally nice guys.

2:06 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, is that I mean some of your music.

2:10 Speaker 1: So the song and we're gonna play it later. By

2:12 Speaker 1: the way, at the end of our conversation. A previous

2:14 Speaker 1: single that you had Wanderlust, which I really liked as well.

2:17 Speaker 1: That's another great song. But that one I feel like

2:19 Speaker 1: has a little bit of angst to it, which which

2:22 Speaker 1: is different from short Life. But but again that might

2:24 Speaker 1: be my interpretation of it, because obviously, you know, music

2:27 Speaker 1: is art, and art is open to everyone's individual interpretation.

2:30 Speaker 1: But I do feel like there's a little bit of

2:32 Speaker 1: there's a little bit of angst in that one, right

2:34 Speaker 1: or maybe I'm wrong, you tell.

2:35 Speaker 3: Me no, it's a good, good assessment of the song.

2:40 Speaker 3: There's a lot of anks, to be honest, and it

2:42 Speaker 3: was I wrote that when I had all these ideas

2:44 Speaker 3: and we had all these plans to you know, make

2:47 Speaker 3: a sound, create a band, but I didn't have any

2:49 Speaker 3: of the infrastructure. So all of the anngs there is true.

2:52 Speaker 3: Like the lyric twenty three one may take it, I've

2:55 Speaker 3: flow in the nest. So I moved to Australia. I

2:57 Speaker 3: thought I need to leave, I need to leave time,

3:00 Speaker 3: need to leave England, and then ended up coming home

3:02 Speaker 3: a couple of years later. And still being in the

3:05 Speaker 3: same place because you know, when you leave, somethink I'm

3:07 Speaker 3: gonna make it, I'm going to be a star whatever.

3:10 Speaker 3: A few years lazy, you sit down, you think nothing's changed.

3:13 Speaker 3: So yeah, a lot of that angst is true, and

3:15 Speaker 3: you know, yeah.

3:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting.

3:18 Speaker 1: I've known a lot of people who they'll do something

3:20 Speaker 1: where they decide, you know, I'm not happy where I

3:25 Speaker 1: am and so I'm just gonna move to a new

3:27 Speaker 1: place and everything will be great, and they don't necessarily realize.

3:30 Speaker 1: I mean, don't get me wrong, I've scenery and sometimes

3:33 Speaker 1: can be very very healthy. But a lot of times

3:36 Speaker 1: it's just people trying to literally run away from their

3:38 Speaker 1: problems and they don't realize the problems are portable and

3:41 Speaker 1: they go with you and you know, you're still the

3:43 Speaker 1: same person no matter what continent you're on. But I'm

3:46 Speaker 1: really curious, now, why Australia when you moved, Why did

3:49 Speaker 1: you decide to go to Australia?

3:52 Speaker 3: Great question. So I initially went to Wybitha. I just

3:56 Speaker 3: sold all my stuff and bought it one way ticket

3:58 Speaker 3: to why Beitha.

3:58 Speaker 2: Wow.

4:00 Speaker 3: So in England, we go, we go to a we

4:02 Speaker 3: go to Ibtha. It's like a little thing we do

4:04 Speaker 3: to do a season, to work the summer season. So

4:06 Speaker 3: I thought, I want to quit my job, leave Liverpool

4:09 Speaker 3: behind and you know, go live abroad for a while.

4:11 Speaker 3: And I met somebody who was like, oh, after the

4:14 Speaker 3: season's over and moving to Australia, do you want to

4:16 Speaker 3: come with me? Obviously said yes. But Australia was fantastic.

4:22 Speaker 3: But it wasn't as all as rosy as you would

4:25 Speaker 3: think because it's an unreal place, you know, the weather,

4:30 Speaker 3: the people. But it was like England, but with like

4:33 Speaker 3: less friends. It was. It was strange.

4:35 Speaker 2: We'll say, how long were you there?

4:39 Speaker 3: Six months? I was there six six months? And then

4:43 Speaker 3: I realized that, you know, the dream isn't always the dream.

4:46 Speaker 3: And then I, you know, moved along.

4:49 Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, did you when you moved back, did you

4:51 Speaker 1: move back to where you were the same area that

4:54 Speaker 1: you were before?

4:55 Speaker 2: Did you pick a different, different area geographically?

4:59 Speaker 3: No? I moved back the same area. And I'll be honest,

5:01 Speaker 3: six months a year, you know, eighteen months away from

5:04 Speaker 3: your home. Everything looks so everything's the same. People moved on,

5:08 Speaker 3: but everything looks different, everything smells different, and that that's

5:11 Speaker 3: probably where the yank started for me was Okay, I left,

5:15 Speaker 3: I left, I've still got these ideas, still haven't got

5:17 Speaker 3: a band. What am I doing with my life?

5:21 Speaker 2: Right? Right?

5:22 Speaker 1: So when you when you put the band together, was

5:26 Speaker 1: that it with intention? Did you say I need I

5:29 Speaker 1: need a band or did that just kind of happen

5:31 Speaker 1: organically where you met people or maybe some people who

5:34 Speaker 1: you already knew, who who said hey, I'd like to

5:37 Speaker 1: be a part of what you're doing, or how did

5:38 Speaker 1: that come about?

5:40 Speaker 3: Yeah, good question, I'll be honest. I always yearned for

5:44 Speaker 3: a band from the age of like twenty two when

5:46 Speaker 3: I really got into me music, yeah, you know, into

5:50 Speaker 3: pop and rock music, and I yearned for a band.

5:53 Speaker 3: So a lot of the time I joined projects for

5:55 Speaker 3: a couple of years when I was the keyboard that

5:56 Speaker 3: so I was a singer, but it was never my band,

5:59 Speaker 3: and I always thought, I want my own project, not

6:02 Speaker 3: to control like that. It's more I would like to

6:07 Speaker 3: bring my ideas into a room with people who were

6:11 Speaker 3: who were would like to hear them and would like

6:13 Speaker 3: to make them better. And I didn't have that for

6:16 Speaker 3: I don't even know seven years, eight years. I didn't

6:18 Speaker 3: have that far, and then slowly I started meeting people

6:22 Speaker 3: who were you know, once you're start networking and getting

6:24 Speaker 3: out into the industry, you realize you meet like minded people.

6:28 Speaker 3: But one thing I will say, which is really important

6:31 Speaker 3: is I didn't know who I was in the early twenties,

6:34 Speaker 3: and then I think as attended, you know, thirty, I

6:37 Speaker 3: realized who I was as a person. And once you

6:39 Speaker 3: accept and understand who you are, the people who you

6:43 Speaker 3: need in your life are naturally drawn to you and

6:45 Speaker 3: you're drawn to them.

6:46 Speaker 1: It's crazy, No, I think that makes a lot of sense.

6:49 Speaker 1: I think that's that's absolutely what happens. So then you

6:54 Speaker 1: started putting a band together, and then you also have

6:56 Speaker 1: a do you have a specific producer that you work with?

7:00 Speaker 3: Oh? You know what. I love that you asked me that,

7:01 Speaker 3: because I've got an American producer who I love. He's

7:04 Speaker 3: told Lewis Peskov. He produced the first three songs and Wonder, Lust,

7:09 Speaker 3: World and Magic. It was like a little I wanted

7:14 Speaker 3: to do. I wanted to do an EP with him

7:15 Speaker 3: because I've been following him for a while since he

7:18 Speaker 3: released Well. He produced Best Coast album, which I loved.

7:21 Speaker 3: I still wanted me Top ten albums. Now, I really

7:23 Speaker 3: wanted to work with them, and I'll be honest, I

7:25 Speaker 3: wasn't disappointed he brought He basically brought the sound that

7:29 Speaker 3: I had in me in my head alive, which then

7:31 Speaker 3: allowed me to cement that sound and then bring it

7:34 Speaker 3: back to because in England, say, frock isn't huge and

7:38 Speaker 3: that's cool, you know. I like to be a bit

7:41 Speaker 3: of a not a trendsetter, but I like to do

7:42 Speaker 3: my own thing, my own way.

7:44 Speaker 2: It's good to.

7:46 Speaker 3: Definitely you have to stand out because there's so much

7:49 Speaker 3: music being made, Like, how is anybody going to listen

7:51 Speaker 3: to it if it's the same as everything else?

7:53 Speaker 1: Right?

7:53 Speaker 3: But I just go off what I like. I just

7:56 Speaker 3: write songs that I want to hear, if that makes sense.

7:59 Speaker 3: But yeah, I've been friends with the producer for a

8:01 Speaker 3: while in England called John Oh. He's at a place

8:04 Speaker 3: called Alo Sounds. Really good producer. He's been helping me,

8:07 Speaker 3: you know, through the years, helping me get me files

8:09 Speaker 3: together for like Lewis the Center America. And then we

8:12 Speaker 3: spoke and he said, listen, if you want me to

8:14 Speaker 3: produce your music, you're going to have to pay at

8:16 Speaker 3: a touch because I can't make the low file that

8:19 Speaker 3: you want to make, he said, But I can't help you.

8:21 Speaker 3: I thought, you know what, Let's try your expertise, my expertise.

8:25 Speaker 3: Let's put our heads together, let's stop trying to be

8:28 Speaker 3: something that we're not, and let's see what we can

8:30 Speaker 3: make in the records. That Short Life is the first

8:32 Speaker 3: record we put out with John. Oh, We've got two

8:36 Speaker 3: or three more singles in the works that I would

8:38 Speaker 3: say are better, Yeah, better and more defined.

8:45 Speaker 2: Yes, Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead, No, No.

8:48 Speaker 3: I was just gonna say, like collaborations key, isn't it's

8:52 Speaker 3: all about trial and error?

8:53 Speaker 2: Yeah?

8:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, Well for some people, I mean, some people are

8:56 Speaker 1: are are afraid to collaborate, you know what I mean,

8:58 Speaker 1: and they insist on doing every thing themselves.

9:00 Speaker 2: But but it.

9:01 Speaker 1: Sounds like in your case, you've found the right people

9:05 Speaker 1: or the right people were drawn to you, as you

9:06 Speaker 1: talked about earlier, when you figure out who you are

9:08 Speaker 1: and and you know people are people come into your

9:11 Speaker 1: life who are going to be drawn to you. It

9:14 Speaker 1: sounds like you found the right people to collaborate with.

9:16 Speaker 1: I think some people who are resistant to collaboration, because

9:19 Speaker 1: I talked guardists who are who just insist on doing

9:21 Speaker 1: everything themselves. They probably haven't found the right people to

9:24 Speaker 1: collaborate with, you know what I mean. So I think

9:26 Speaker 1: I think that's great. And you mentioned so you use

9:30 Speaker 1: the term lo fi, and I that hadn't occurred to me.

9:34 Speaker 1: I mean, is that what you were going for with

9:35 Speaker 1: Short Life? Kind of a low five vibe? Because it

9:37 Speaker 1: didn't occur to me while listening to it, Like I

9:39 Speaker 1: said a lot of things, did you know, it's got

9:41 Speaker 1: a kind of a beach vibe and it's but it's

9:43 Speaker 1: it's dreamy, you know, That's that's my word for it.

9:46 Speaker 2: But I mean, is that what you're going for kind

9:48 Speaker 2: of a sort of a low vibe?

9:50 Speaker 1: I don't know if retro is the right word, but

9:52 Speaker 1: but I kind of associate that in my mind with

9:54 Speaker 1: low Fis that was what you were trying to achieve

9:56 Speaker 1: with that, and.

9:58 Speaker 3: That was what I was trying to she with the

10:00 Speaker 3: band in general. So I write a lot of music

10:02 Speaker 3: at home on logic. We have got guitars and my

10:06 Speaker 3: ams around me and yeah me, you know, the stuff

10:10 Speaker 3: that I need to make music, and a lot of

10:11 Speaker 3: the stuff that I make at home is very low fine.

10:13 Speaker 3: I think there's a term called I don't know if

10:16 Speaker 3: you know what it's called. It's called demo isis it's

10:18 Speaker 3: when you get you get stuck in the mindset of

10:22 Speaker 3: I've made the demo, this is what the song needs

10:24 Speaker 3: to sound like. But that's not actually conducive to making

10:27 Speaker 3: a great song, because sometimes you have to go, okay,

10:31 Speaker 3: good start, but let's improve it, right. But yeah, short

10:36 Speaker 3: Life is the first creation between me, the lads you know,

10:39 Speaker 3: the group specifics, and the producer Johno because he brings

10:42 Speaker 3: a more British indie rock garage punk type vibes. So

10:46 Speaker 3: when we like, when we mash all our influencers together,

10:51 Speaker 3: that's a sound that came out. But that that was

10:54 Speaker 3: the conversation I think I mentioned a few minutes ago

10:56 Speaker 3: where he said, listen your way. I can't. I can't

11:00 Speaker 3: accord and produce your way, you know at my best.

11:05 Speaker 3: So I decided, okay, I'll bring my ideas, you bring

11:08 Speaker 3: your ideas, and let's meet in the middle. And that's

11:10 Speaker 3: how we done that. So I think that's how we

11:11 Speaker 3: got that more modern sound okay with little bit of

11:14 Speaker 3: retro edge. Yeah.

11:16 Speaker 2: Yeah.

11:17 Speaker 1: Also something else I was reading, so can you tell

11:19 Speaker 1: me about the Rick Rubin principle that you you you'd

11:22 Speaker 1: rather have because I can relate to this. You'd you

11:26 Speaker 1: like strong reactions, right like even if something even if

11:29 Speaker 1: somebody doesn't like something that you've done, you'd prefer that

11:32 Speaker 1: to sort of indifference.

11:33 Speaker 2: Is that correct? Do you understand that?

11:35 Speaker 3: Right? Yeah? I love it. I feel like in difference

11:38 Speaker 3: is the one thing you need to avoid. People don't

11:40 Speaker 3: realize it. It's a bit like it's one of those

11:43 Speaker 3: things indifference that it just passes you by. Was love

11:47 Speaker 3: and hate a visceral reaction. So I have a feeling

11:50 Speaker 3: and this is an assumption of course that you know,

11:53 Speaker 3: I've been playing for five years and we are at

11:55 Speaker 3: a certain stage of our career because I think people

11:59 Speaker 3: love us and hate it. So I'm able to play

12:01 Speaker 3: more shows to like, you know, bigger venues to more

12:04 Speaker 3: people because we do get to visital reactions because say

12:07 Speaker 3: a frock in England, it's not really that common, but

12:11 Speaker 3: I love playing it and I'll always play it because,

12:13 Speaker 3: like I said before, I make music for me. But yeah,

12:16 Speaker 3: Rick Rubin was it was such an inspiration to think,

12:18 Speaker 3: Oh I get it now, love or hates great indifference

12:22 Speaker 3: not so much so someone came up with me after

12:24 Speaker 3: the show recently and said, though that song is terrible,

12:27 Speaker 3: and I said, oh, thank you, right.

12:31 Speaker 2: As I felt something.

12:34 Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, it doesn't even offend me. I think it's great.

12:36 Speaker 3: I'm like, thank you because you've taken the time to

12:38 Speaker 3: speak to me. So I appreciate that.

12:40 Speaker 2: Yeah.

12:40 Speaker 1: And then how does someone react like when you react,

12:43 Speaker 1: when you react to you know, they're they're putting down

12:45 Speaker 1: the song and then you react positively and say, you know,

12:48 Speaker 1: thank you. I mean, do they do they then in

12:51 Speaker 1: that moment seem to get it why you appreciate it?

12:53 Speaker 1: Or are they just kind of do they look at

12:55 Speaker 1: you like what really? You're you like what I said?

12:59 Speaker 1: Like what happens?

12:59 Speaker 2: Then?

13:01 Speaker 3: Do you know what? It's a mixture. You know. You

13:03 Speaker 3: have to remember we haven't met yet. But I'm six

13:05 Speaker 3: foot five.

13:06 Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're a tall guy.

13:08 Speaker 3: I'm six five, I've got long air and a beard. So, like,

13:12 Speaker 3: you ever know what reaction you're gonna get from people?

13:14 Speaker 3: So I usually there's always somebody saying something to like

13:18 Speaker 3: try and chop you down. But it doesn't. It goes

13:20 Speaker 3: in one ear and goes out the other, like it

13:21 Speaker 3: doesn't phaze me. But when it comes to music critique,

13:25 Speaker 3: there's you know, there's some truth in it, isn't If

13:27 Speaker 3: somebody is like brave and honest enough to say to you, oh,

13:30 Speaker 3: I don't like that, I don't like this part, or

13:32 Speaker 3: I don't like this part of the performance, I listen

13:34 Speaker 3: and write it down and think, Okay, is there some

13:37 Speaker 3: truth in that? And I'll investigate it and sometimes there is,

13:40 Speaker 3: you know, and it makes me improve as a performer.

13:42 Speaker 3: So feedback, you know, feedback on my art or on

13:46 Speaker 3: the music. I love feedback on myself. Not interested, don't care.

13:51 Speaker 1: Right right, Yeah, I've always said, I mean, that's kind

13:54 Speaker 1: of always been my approach to radio is I have

13:58 Speaker 1: an adage. I always say I'd rather be than hated,

14:00 Speaker 1: But I'd rather be hated than ignored, you know, because

14:04 Speaker 1: if if people are indifferent to what you're doing, then

14:05 Speaker 1: it's like, well what, you know, what's the point?

14:07 Speaker 2: You know? Or uh?

14:09 Speaker 1: Or It's kind of like in professional wrestling, right like,

14:11 Speaker 1: if you're a good guy, you want to be cheered.

14:13 Speaker 1: If you're a bad guy, you want to be booed.

14:15 Speaker 1: But the one thing you don't want is the crowd

14:17 Speaker 1: to be quiet when you walk out. You know, you

14:19 Speaker 1: want to to get a reaction out of people and

14:21 Speaker 1: you want them to feel something. So but I think

14:24 Speaker 1: it's interesting too that and I commend you for this,

14:27 Speaker 1: for taking the attitude that you do, because you know,

14:29 Speaker 1: as you know, creative people, we tend to be you

14:34 Speaker 1: know a lot of us tend to be kind of

14:36 Speaker 1: insecure in that way, and and we don't and we

14:38 Speaker 1: don't react to any kind of criticism positively or you

14:44 Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like some people really get their

14:46 Speaker 1: feelings hurt. So I I like, have you always had

14:49 Speaker 1: that sort of emotional maturity? Is that something you you've

14:52 Speaker 1: always that's always been internal for you?

14:57 Speaker 3: No, I have to develop that, you know, really, yeah,

15:00 Speaker 3: because like I'm in my thirties now, So I think

15:03 Speaker 3: a lot of it's self development. And you know, there's

15:06 Speaker 3: a thing, isn't it like? And it's a lot of

15:07 Speaker 3: creatives to it. And you can say that I don't

15:11 Speaker 3: like you know, I can say I don't need to

15:12 Speaker 3: be liked. But when you put music out, you hope

15:14 Speaker 3: people like it, right, And a lot of is and

15:16 Speaker 3: extension of you. So you think, if you don't like

15:18 Speaker 3: my music, you don't like me. So after a while

15:20 Speaker 3: you just kind of stop caring. But one thing I

15:23 Speaker 3: don't like is I don't like being ignored. You know,

15:26 Speaker 3: if you send this email to somebody, or listen to

15:28 Speaker 3: me song or check out my new record, I'd rather

15:32 Speaker 3: say this is terrible as opposed to you know, not

15:35 Speaker 3: a question. You know, because you mentioned professional wrestler. I

15:38 Speaker 3: noticed that you do wrestling podcasts.

15:40 Speaker 2: Right, I do. Yes, I love that man.

15:42 Speaker 3: Because I used to be when I was like a kid,

15:45 Speaker 3: you know, in the nice I loved wrestler, loved wc W.

15:50 Speaker 3: So have you interviewed any any like cool wrestlers on there,

15:53 Speaker 3: because I've only just noticed, like the past couple of days,

15:55 Speaker 3: you have a pod. I'm going to listen to it

15:57 Speaker 3: if you do any great legendary wrestlers from those days. No.

16:01 Speaker 1: So, the wrestling podcast that we do it is called

16:03 Speaker 1: Tough Bumps, and we're only up to I think we're

16:06 Speaker 1: an episode. I think we just did episode ten. Oh

16:09 Speaker 1: no wait, I'm sorry, No, we're up to episode I

16:11 Speaker 1: think we're almost up to episode twenty. So, but it's

16:14 Speaker 1: it's only been so, it's been about four months. We

16:16 Speaker 1: do it once a week, so it's relatively new. So

16:19 Speaker 1: We do have long term goals to start to get

16:22 Speaker 1: some of those guests, but right now it's just Eric

16:24 Speaker 1: and I my co host on the show, Eric Pilcher,

16:27 Speaker 1: and we just you know, we we usually we call

16:29 Speaker 1: it the undercard. We talked about some of the wrestling

16:31 Speaker 1: news of the week, and then the main event is

16:33 Speaker 1: we pick a subject that you know that we want

16:36 Speaker 1: to explore really in depth. But we will you know,

16:39 Speaker 1: stay tuned, as we say, we will be doing some

16:42 Speaker 1: interviews in the future.

16:43 Speaker 2: Absolutely, yeah, they were good.

16:46 Speaker 3: They were in my eyes, they were the gold and

16:48 Speaker 3: years of wrestling. But enough about wrestling. Apologies, But how

16:52 Speaker 3: do you deal with rejection? You know, because you're a

16:54 Speaker 3: creative yourself, like you said, you the whole love hate, indifferent. Yeah,

17:00 Speaker 3: do you cope with it? Because like you said to me,

17:02 Speaker 3: I can handle it just bounces off me. How do

17:04 Speaker 3: you cope with it?

17:05 Speaker 1: So for me, as long as it's something I'm doing creatively,

17:09 Speaker 1: I take nothing personal. So if because I'm actually I'm

17:13 Speaker 1: a very sensitive person away from all of this, like

17:16 Speaker 1: if someone, if someone in my life says something to

17:19 Speaker 1: me that hurts my feelings, it won't just hurt a

17:21 Speaker 1: little little crush me, you know. I mean, I'll recover,

17:23 Speaker 1: I'll get past it. But I'm very sensitive that way.

17:25 Speaker 1: But when it comes to anything having to do with

17:28 Speaker 1: I am a musician, but I don't play anymore. I

17:31 Speaker 1: mainly I just focus on radio and podcasting now. But

17:35 Speaker 1: if if somebody says something mean, say online on the internet,

17:40 Speaker 1: I actually like it. I so, but I think that

17:45 Speaker 1: I kind of look at it from a couple of

17:46 Speaker 1: different perspectives.

17:48 Speaker 2: Again.

17:49 Speaker 1: I mean, part of it is I'd rather be I'd

17:51 Speaker 1: rather be loved than hated, but I'd rather be hated

17:53 Speaker 1: than ignored. So if they say something mean, well, at

17:55 Speaker 1: least they're paying attention to me, and it's good for

17:57 Speaker 1: It's good for what I do, right, you know, even

17:59 Speaker 1: if even if someone listens to the show but they

18:01 Speaker 1: hate listen to the show, at least they're listening. But

18:04 Speaker 1: there's also that part of me that wonders, though, is

18:06 Speaker 1: it really healthy or is it just a sort of

18:09 Speaker 1: narcissism that I carry where it's like I just want

18:12 Speaker 1: attention and I'll take whatever attention I can get, positive

18:16 Speaker 1: or negative. I just want the attention. So I don't

18:19 Speaker 1: know if it's healthy or not. The way that I

18:22 Speaker 1: look at it, but I think it is. But sometimes

18:25 Speaker 1: I question it if that makes sense.

18:27 Speaker 3: No, definitely, But I love your approach as well, and

18:31 Speaker 3: I think it's it's a healthy approach because you know,

18:33 Speaker 3: it's hard to separate the art from the artist, but

18:36 Speaker 3: sometimes they're not. I always say this the people who

18:39 Speaker 3: work for In England, we have like people who work

18:41 Speaker 3: for charities and stuff, and they try and sign you

18:44 Speaker 3: up in the street to give you like ten pounds

18:46 Speaker 3: a month, and I always say to them, I always

18:47 Speaker 3: pull them aside and say, I love what you're doing.

18:49 Speaker 3: I don't have the time or you know, I'll sign

18:51 Speaker 3: up to your cause. But I understand that a lot

18:53 Speaker 3: of rejection is they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting your badge,

18:56 Speaker 3: the rejecting the company you work for. Sometimes you just

18:58 Speaker 3: have to separate that they're not rejecting you, the rejecting

19:01 Speaker 3: your art. And that's cool, man, you know, that's just

19:03 Speaker 3: the way it is. But I'll the rejections that I get.

19:06 Speaker 3: I'll keep making art regardless because I make it for me.

19:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's uh. I think that's excellent.

19:13 Speaker 1: I think that's excellent. Now, what is what is kind

19:16 Speaker 1: of the future trajectory for you. You know, you've you've

19:18 Speaker 1: got some singles. I mean, do you do you have

19:20 Speaker 1: an album or in the works or are you gonna

19:23 Speaker 1: do an EP or you mentioned an EP earlier.

19:27 Speaker 3: Yes, we are looking to do any EP. We are.

19:31 Speaker 3: We've got a couple of songs in the works that

19:33 Speaker 3: are actually I think we'll make a bit of a

19:37 Speaker 3: not a bit of a difference, make a big difference

19:39 Speaker 3: at our trajectory. I'm also insis of trying to get

19:43 Speaker 3: on the voting the board, the voting board for the Grammys.

19:47 Speaker 3: I'd really like to do that because I have the credits.

19:49 Speaker 3: I've been writing songs and producing songs for a while. Yeah,

19:52 Speaker 3: so that's only little list of to dos. I think

19:55 Speaker 3: we'd like to play a couple of big shows, a

19:57 Speaker 3: major festival because I played Glastonbury last year. I undone

20:00 Speaker 3: opportunity to play Glastonbury, which was unreal. I can't even

20:04 Speaker 3: tell you, but I ended up playing solo. It was

20:06 Speaker 3: the last minute slot. I had like a month to prepare,

20:09 Speaker 3: so I thought, right, I'll take me piano and I'll

20:11 Speaker 3: just play solo. Yeah, it was a surreal experience.

20:14 Speaker 1: Oh that's excellent, and any kind of festival too that

20:17 Speaker 1: you can get on those are such. For one thing,

20:21 Speaker 1: it gets you in front of a big crowd, and

20:23 Speaker 1: it exposes you to an audience that might not otherwise

20:26 Speaker 1: hear you. But also or they would not otherwise. But

20:29 Speaker 1: also the networking opportunities that come at a festival are phenomenal.

20:34 Speaker 1: You know, you meet so many people and and I

20:37 Speaker 1: was reading something too about you that you like to

20:40 Speaker 1: And again this also I think speaks to your emotional

20:43 Speaker 1: maturity and how you approach all this. You know, you

20:45 Speaker 1: don't get jealous of people who are who are successful.

20:48 Speaker 1: You focus on learning from them. And I think that's

20:51 Speaker 1: great because that's you know, a lot of people think

20:55 Speaker 1: success in any kind of endeavor, whether it's the music

20:58 Speaker 1: industry or just life in general, people tend to think

21:00 Speaker 1: of it as a zero sum game. Well, if somebody

21:02 Speaker 1: else is more successful, that means I'm automatically less successful,

21:05 Speaker 1: you know, like there's only so much to go around.

21:07 Speaker 1: But the key is to learn from people who are

21:11 Speaker 1: more successful or who are older, maybe further along in

21:14 Speaker 1: their careers, and you know, and and to take that

21:17 Speaker 1: opportunity to learn from them. And also they've proven that

21:20 Speaker 1: you can do it. So if they can do it,

21:22 Speaker 1: then there's no reason why you can't do it too, right,

21:24 Speaker 1: So you know, there's validation that comes with that. So

21:27 Speaker 1: I commend you for that too.

21:29 Speaker 3: Thank you. It's funny you say that, and that's one

21:31 Speaker 3: of the reasons. That's probably the main reason, like Pacific

21:33 Speaker 3: Keys is what it is today. So you know, I was.

21:38 Speaker 3: I was playing all the parts, organizing everything, pretty much

21:41 Speaker 3: managing the show for you know, a couple of years ago.

21:44 Speaker 3: But then I meet a guitar as who's better than me,

21:46 Speaker 3: and I'm like, please join me band. I meet a

21:48 Speaker 3: drummer who understands the drums more than me, Please join

21:51 Speaker 3: the band. You know, That's what it was. So now

21:53 Speaker 3: I met four players who were far better than me

21:56 Speaker 3: on their own instruments. I think fantastic. I can now

21:59 Speaker 3: focus on what I'm strong at, which is you know, production,

22:01 Speaker 3: songwriting and singing, and now I can trust them to

22:05 Speaker 3: do a great job. So you're right. I try not

22:08 Speaker 3: to get jealous because it's hard not to get jealous

22:11 Speaker 3: because you know, you want to be you want to

22:13 Speaker 3: be on stage, you want to be you think I

22:14 Speaker 3: should be that I deserve to be there. But at

22:16 Speaker 3: the same time, you got to wait your turn. Man,

22:18 Speaker 3: your time will come because the last thing you want.

22:20 Speaker 3: Let's say I think, oh I should be at Glossom,

22:23 Speaker 3: I should be at Leeds Festival, or you know, I

22:25 Speaker 3: should be playing at Cochella. They've spent ten fifteen years

22:28 Speaker 3: working to get towards that, for example, and I'm what

22:32 Speaker 3: I probably say, I'm seven years into this project, probably

22:36 Speaker 3: like you know, twenty five years of like a music career.

22:39 Speaker 3: But I would hate for me to get on stage

22:41 Speaker 3: and people said, think, oh, whise, how does he deserve

22:44 Speaker 3: to be up there? I think, mate, have worked for

22:45 Speaker 3: ten fifteen years, So you have to accept that. You

22:48 Speaker 3: got to put the work in and you know what,

22:51 Speaker 3: you might fail, and that's okay because you know, Alicia

22:54 Speaker 3: doing something that you love. That's all that matters.

22:56 Speaker 2: Absolutely the word.

22:58 Speaker 1: You know, the scariest thing in life would be, you know,

23:01 Speaker 1: to get to get to the end of it and

23:03 Speaker 1: look back and say, you know what if I had tried,

23:05 Speaker 1: you know what, if I had followed my passions. I

23:07 Speaker 1: mean that that would scare the hell out of me,

23:09 Speaker 1: you know, just just looking back with regret and saying,

23:12 Speaker 1: you know, maybe I should have, you know, gone for it.

23:16 Speaker 1: But so no, I agree with you. I mean, you

23:18 Speaker 1: know this is only well, you know, like the song says,

23:20 Speaker 1: you know, it's a short life.

23:22 Speaker 3: So you know what I fear most. I fear getting

23:25 Speaker 3: to the end of the journey, like being successful and

23:29 Speaker 3: feel feeling empty. So that makes me. I hear a

23:32 Speaker 3: lot about that, Like there's a lot about people who

23:35 Speaker 3: win awards and play stadiums. They do that, they hit

23:38 Speaker 3: the goal and they're empty, and that's because they've spent

23:41 Speaker 3: the whole journey thinking about the goal. Whereas you have

23:44 Speaker 3: to just live in the journey, man, Yeah, live in

23:46 Speaker 3: the present. Nothing's guaranteed. The only things guaranteed now is

23:50 Speaker 3: I'm speaking to you. I might go down and make

23:52 Speaker 3: a cup of tea afterwards after we speak. That's all

23:54 Speaker 3: that's guaranteed, man, nothing else. Live in the moment and

23:57 Speaker 3: just try and enjoy the journey because it's tough.

24:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got to enjoy the rider. There's

24:02 Speaker 1: an expression in America. I don't know if they say

24:04 Speaker 1: it here, if they say it over there, but getting

24:06 Speaker 1: there is half the fun. But even that's not necessarily true.

24:10 Speaker 1: Sometimes I think probably getting there is all the fun,

24:13 Speaker 1: you know, and then you know, and then when you

24:15 Speaker 1: get there, you got to find a new mountain to

24:16 Speaker 1: climb or something. But yeah, you better enjoy getting there.

24:20 Speaker 2: If you look.

24:21 Speaker 3: It's so true because you've got all these scars and

24:23 Speaker 3: memories of getting there. If somebody said to you today,

24:25 Speaker 3: are here's a button, if you press this, we'll give

24:28 Speaker 3: you a number one album. We'll give you a you know,

24:30 Speaker 3: a million pounds. I don't believe for a second that

24:33 Speaker 3: in six months you'll appreciate that. But I think all

24:36 Speaker 3: the graphs that you're doing with yourself as well with

24:38 Speaker 3: your radio show, in your podcast, like you seem as

24:40 Speaker 3: a person like me, you know you want to go

24:42 Speaker 3: to the top of your game. And I think it's

24:45 Speaker 3: that it's the hard way you put in. You look back,

24:48 Speaker 3: you know, five years down the line, you look out

24:50 Speaker 3: onto like you know, your property or your money, your bank, whatever,

24:54 Speaker 3: and you think I deserve I not I deserve this,

24:56 Speaker 3: because nobody deserves anything. I art this right. I worked hard,

25:00 Speaker 3: and I think that's the longevity of it. And you'll

25:02 Speaker 3: keep going. You think, Okay, I end me number one records,

25:05 Speaker 3: I'm going to go get a second one because nobody

25:06 Speaker 3: give it to me. Nobody gives you anything in this life, right,

25:09 Speaker 3: you know you're not entitled to anything.

25:11 Speaker 2: Go get it though, exactly.

25:13 Speaker 1: Yeah, very well said very well said Well, Jack, I

25:17 Speaker 1: really appreciate you joining us here today. Not only is

25:20 Speaker 1: it I been excited to talk to you about your music,

25:23 Speaker 1: but also I think you've given because a lot of

25:26 Speaker 1: musicians listen to this show, a lot of industry people,

25:28 Speaker 1: and I think you've given a lot of really good

25:29 Speaker 1: advice and insight today too, which is really cool. So

25:32 Speaker 1: I appreciate that and I enjoy h I appreciate your

25:36 Speaker 1: outlook on everything. I think it's I think it's excellent.

25:38 Speaker 1: And in a moment, like I said, we'll close out

25:41 Speaker 1: the segment with this track Wanderlust, which I also think

25:43 Speaker 1: is great. Oh and I wanted to ask you too

25:45 Speaker 1: about the video for this. The video is really cool.

25:49 Speaker 1: The video for Wanderlust. I encourage people go on YouTube

25:51 Speaker 1: check it out that like did you I mean, how

25:56 Speaker 1: much traveling did you do to make that video?

25:59 Speaker 3: And Nellie died you know, I fell in the river

26:03 Speaker 3: and everything. Man, Honestly, it was such a it was

26:05 Speaker 3: such an amazing slash traumatic video shoot, like we were

26:09 Speaker 3: on top of the mountain and in the middle of

26:11 Speaker 3: the lake districts in England, like we'd walked two hours

26:15 Speaker 3: to get you know, the shot fell in a river,

26:18 Speaker 3: like I got wet. All my stuff, We've got, all

26:21 Speaker 3: the gear was missing, honestly it was. But we got

26:24 Speaker 3: the shot man, and that's all that matters.

26:26 Speaker 2: Yea.

26:26 Speaker 3: I will say, if you want a good video, you're

26:29 Speaker 3: gonna have to walk through hell for it. It doesn't

26:32 Speaker 3: come easy, man. But yeah, it was a good friend

26:35 Speaker 3: Dylan Witty. He's an amazing, amazing video and it's amazing

26:39 Speaker 3: director and he helped me, you know, put that vision

26:42 Speaker 3: together because that was the first piece of music that

26:44 Speaker 3: I put out, so I I wanted to put something

26:46 Speaker 3: out with a bang. But I will say, any any

26:48 Speaker 3: musicians artists listening, Wanderlus had three or four mixes over

26:52 Speaker 3: like four years. For four years I couldn't get I

26:55 Speaker 3: couldn't get the right sound that I wanted. It was

26:58 Speaker 3: tough and it was that whole you know, is it

27:01 Speaker 3: is it good enough? No? Okay, back to the drawing.

27:03 Speaker 3: But I spent thousands mates but the result that I wanted,

27:07 Speaker 3: so you know, I maybe too much perfectionism is a

27:10 Speaker 3: bit too much. But for me, if you're going to

27:12 Speaker 3: make an impact, do it properly.

27:14 Speaker 1: Yes, I think, yeah, absolutely, well well done. It's a

27:17 Speaker 1: it's an excellent video. Like I said, I encourage people

27:19 Speaker 1: to go online and check it out and we will

27:21 Speaker 1: close out the segment with that song again, another great song.

27:25 Speaker 1: But Jack, we will definitely do this again in the future.

27:27 Speaker 1: When you were do you have any idea when your

27:29 Speaker 1: next single might be out? Any any any idea or

27:32 Speaker 1: not to put you on the spot.

27:33 Speaker 3: But no, not to put you on spots at all.

27:36 Speaker 3: I'll be honest. I think maybe a couple of weeks.

27:38 Speaker 3: I'm just doing the final I'm looking for a strings

27:41 Speaker 3: and brass player to help me round out the sound.

27:44 Speaker 2: Okay, can I just.

27:45 Speaker 3: Give a shout out before a go if that's all right?

27:47 Speaker 2: Oh please? Yeah? Absolutely.

27:49 Speaker 3: I just want to say thanks to Big GPR for

27:51 Speaker 3: getting me the interview. Thank you to you, Matt, I

27:53 Speaker 3: really appreciate you, and thanks to we Believe as well

27:57 Speaker 3: and my case. You know, let's keep let's keep hitting

28:00 Speaker 3: those heights and who knows next year where we'll.

28:02 Speaker 1: Be absolutely and everybody you mentioned such great people, you know,

28:06 Speaker 1: and and where they know how to find talent, that's

28:10 Speaker 1: for sure. It's everybody they've sent us has been absolutely amazing,

28:15 Speaker 1: including you. So I'm really glad to talk to you today, Jack,

28:19 Speaker 1: and thank you so much for joining us. We're gonna

28:21 Speaker 1: hit this track, so we'll let you go, but I

28:23 Speaker 1: look forward to the next single and we will definitely

28:26 Speaker 1: have to.

28:26 Speaker 2: Do this again in the near future. So thank you

28:28 Speaker 2: so much.

28:29 Speaker 3: Look forward it past to look man, keep doing what

28:31 Speaker 3: you're doing. You great.

28:32 Speaker 2: Oh thanks Jack, I appreciate you. Man. All right, take care,

28:35 Speaker 2: thank you, all right, bye bye. All right.

28:37 Speaker 1: That was Jack from Pacific A's and we're gonna play

28:41 Speaker 1: this track now. This is called one Wanderlust, and this

28:44 Speaker 1: is really good. And again check out the video not

28:46 Speaker 1: right now, stick with me for now, but later check

28:47 Speaker 1: out the video online.

28:48 Speaker 2: You'll like the video too.

28:50 Speaker 1: They put a lot of work into it, as Jack indicated,

28:54 Speaker 1: and a lot of some terrifying moments too. But check

28:57 Speaker 1: this out. This is called Wanderlust and this is specific

29:00 Speaker 1: days