Olivver The Kid | Interview with Lyndsey Parker (LPtv)

Hey, this is Lindsay Parker for LPTV here at Licorice Pizza Records with Oliver the Kid, known by many names, known for many bands. What brings you here today? What are we celebrating today? We are celebrating I uh I did a lovely little 10y year anniversary vinyl with Licorice Pizza for my first two EPs, which were both 10 years ago. So, my first EP Freak, my second EP, The Boy Cred Wolf. So, aside, Bside on that. Celebrating that. And then also uh I'm in a band of the many bands I've been a part of, but I'm in a band that this is we're actually this is our first show.

And what's that band called?

The band's called Squirm.

Okay. And tell me what's that I have. You have You're in a lot of bands. You have been in other bands. And you know, before we go any further, should I call you Brian or Oliver?

Neither one. It doesn't matter. You don't have a preference? No, I don't have a preference.

All right. Well, since this is an Oliver kid bill performance, I'll call you Oliver. But yeah, tell me about Squirm.

Yeah, Squirm is um a three-piece. We have two EPs out. We did the first one is we recorded live to tape in San Francisco and it was sort of uh me and a couple other musicians finding our love again for like jamming and playing music live and writing music live instead of in a studio. And then our second EP just came out and we're playing this. We're playing Echo Park Rising. Um, yeah. And it's kind of just like it really is like for fun in the best way of like let's do all the things that maybe we want to do but we're scared of in other situations because of limitations or will people like it or is this that and just kind of do whatever we want.

So this is a jamming situation. Are you singing or drumming because you you know are also known for drumming. You start as a drummer. Are you drum and squirm or singing squir or both? Or do you do the Don Henley Andy Sturmer from Jellyfish thing? I've I've been thinking about that lately because I've been relisting to Brian sets orchestra and I was like I should get a standup drum set. But no, I'm playing

Slim Jim Phantom, our friend friend of Licorice Pizza.

But no, I'm I'm playing uh I'm playing a baritone guitar and singing. And then Drew Brooks is on bass. He plays with Petey Pey USA. And then um Nicker is on drums and he's he's done done a lot over the years. He's played drums for KF. He was in a band called Tempo Slow.

Yeah.

Okay. So the e the freak album freaky P. Yes,

that came out 10 years ago.

Yeah, that one actually came out 11 years ago now. And then The Boy Who Cred Wolf came out 10 years ago.

So 11 years ago, if I'm doing my math right, one of the many bands, you know, you famously were in was The Neighborhood. And that was around the time I guess you left The Neighborhood. Am I right?

Yeah. I think I put that that EP out. I mean, less than a year after having left, probably 6 monthsish. Yeah.

2014. you know, did you leave the neighborhood uh for the kind of cliche creative differences because you wanted to I don't know be you were drumming in that band like you wanted to like do your own thing like you know those things happen close together so it probably wasn't coincidental.

I don't think it I it wasn't necessarily that wasn't the reason but I do think that that helped

soften the reason. I think knowing that after that band I had stuff that I've always been working on even when I was in high school or college making music under the name the next McBth and all this stuff but I never a lot of names

I know I never even put anything out with that name but like I always had it in me to do that and I always wanted to do that whether it was on the side or the main thing but yeah it was mainly it was mainly creative and personality differences and then uh after I left it was like a pretty easy transition to like, well, if I'm going to continue to make music and do something else, I have all these songs in me and I love I've always helped write songs for other people and I've been writing songs for like commercials and TV shows for a song on Love Island if I'm not mistaken.

I think so. Yeah, we have there's a song on a Budlight Lime commercial. I just did some stuff for the Olympics, so fingers crossed.

Oh, not the Olympics we already had.

No, the upcoming Olympics.

The one in LA?

Yeah.

Oh, awesome. Because you're from LA or are you are you from LA? Because the neighborhood's an LA band so I assume you're from LA.

I was born in New York but we moved when I was so young that I don't I don't even remember anything. So yeah.

So you were a core or founding member of the neighborhood, right? Like the what I you know the classic era sweater weather and all that. So and I think I might have seen you guys open open for depes mode.

Wow.

At South by Southwest in like a club

that

do you remember that? I mean I assume you would remember that if you were there. Not only do I remember that, no ill will towards Depes Mode, but we played two songs and then we two or three songs and we stopped and we didn't even play our big hits at the time because our sound limit was limited so low that we could hear the crowd like talking and no one kind of cared. And then like we didn't have enough inputs and like they didn't give me a drum rug and it was South by so we were just kind of like running and gun so my drums were sliding all over the place and we kind of played a couple songs and looked around and we're like

let's just [ __ ] go. Nobody cares.

Everybody's here for Dep mode.

Okay. Cuz I was there and for the record I wasn't talking over you.

I was in the front row so you would have noticed if I had. It would have been rude. I worked for Yahoo at the time which like sponsored that.

Hell yeah.

And everybody was hitting me up for tickets. But anyway, you were a very new band cuz I remember at the time like not really knowing who you were and thinking, "Wow, that's like a

prime thing for a prime spot for you guys." I don't remember it being that short a set or if I

were we were in trouble or we were in trouble with Colombia. They were immediately everybody except for our ANR thought it was cool.

He was like, "That's cool that you did that." But everybody else was like, "You didn't even play the song."

What? Sweater weather or female robbery

at that time? I think it was still Sweater Weather. Yeah. But uh yeah, we were in a little bit of trouble. That was our attitude at the time was just like [ __ ] it. I don't know. It's cooler that we didn't we same thing with when we got we were doing the late night circuit and Jay Leno wouldn't put us in black and white but everybody else would. So we said no to doing Jay Leno because he wouldn't do it. And that was a similar thought process of like it's cooler that we don't do it then do it and like compromise. Well, Jay Leno has lately shown that he seems like he kind of

sucks literally. Yeah, [laughter]

there you go. We were seeing the future back then. Yeah.

So, despite all these kind of things that would maybe happen, obviously neighborhood was having a really good run yet. This is something that was like all over Kar. Probably still is all over Kra.

Um, and I don't know how much you want to go into it, but you know, there would be some people who around 2014 when you choose to leave would be like,

"What are you doing?" Like, this is a great situation you're in. But, you chose to become Oliver the kid or the next McBTH or whatever was.

So I think I mean I don't I guess I don't know how much of this is technically out there because I haven't talked about it a lot but I didn't quit.

Yeah. So, I was I was kicked out basically by me and the singer didn't get along. And it for a long time it was me trying to find a bridge between him and the other guys and I was kind of playing the middleman and I was hearing these guys out while trying to be friends with him and hear him out and getting so involved and trying to be everybody's therapist and having maybe overmpathy in in hindsight I think uh led to me getting too involved in people's stuff and eventually yeah he didn't we me and him to this day don't get along. So,

seems like you took the high road though cuz I was not aware like you said of that situation. You didn't badmouth the band or him.

I've actually never even cuz even when we when we toured, we would tour with like Paul Banks and it was like Paul Banks of Interpol and stuff like that and that was a route that you know people always told me I could take or like I've that's why I've never really like talked about it or like I've never like have tried to use it for my gain.

I've always, even with my solo stuff and everything else, I've always just like been like, I want to I want this stuff to do well and flourish because of me and because of my creativity and not because of uh the situation that I came from. So,

is that the reason why not only did you not build yourself as of the neighborhood, but you go by a totally different name in your solo career?

Probably. I think I probably would have done a a pseudonym anyway. I think Brian Samus is like not that good. It's also BS. So it's like and then my middle name is Bri Brian James Samus. So it's BJ's. So it's like you're it's a whole mix of like I'm in a like I I honestly thought about the Father John Misty route of it all. Like it sounds like a real name but it's not a real name. But I don't know.

I just I always went I almost legally changed my name in college to Oliver. Um but it with the two V's. No, just with one V. And then I started making music under that after the next McBTH. Added a V because I didn't want to get sued. And then when the whole neighborhood thing happened, I was like, I'll do Oliver with two VV so I don't get sued. And I remember my lawyer being like, you might still get sued. There's like a DJ named Oliver.

I was about to say, am I naive? Like, who are you going to get sued by? Like the musical Oliver, cousin Oliver? Like who's the other Oliver? There's a DJ named Oliver the Kid.

In hind Yeah. No, his name's Oliver. And in hindsight, I I could have just kept my name as Oliver with two V's, but I think I was being overly careful.

Um, and I was just like, "Oh, I'll add something." And I added like like I was thinking like Billy the Kid, like like you know, I was like, "I'll be Oliver the Kid."

I mean, there's a band called James, so like I mean, you probably would have been safe, but having the twobies probably makes you easier to Google.

Yeah.

So, it all worked out. I know it back. It's funny looking back because so many decisions were made out of like um which I mean this is was a beautiful thing on looking back on my early 20s but like were made from like gut just like how I felt not questioning it.

Whereas these days I'm like so overly analytical about every little thing in my life. Whereas back then I was like I made a decision I'm sticking with it. I'll never think about it again. And it's like massive decisions like the name of the project and stuff like that. Have you heard of a book? It's It came out this year, I believe, and I'm actually doing an event for it on uh August 28th at uh the Figuro Bookshop in Highland Park. It's called um The Rejects.

So, it's basically about people who were kicked out of bands. I not believe you're in it. And it's but it's people some of them were people who be became tragic tales like

Florence Ballard from the Supremes or Pete Best or um Brian Jones, another BJ, you know, who But then there's people like Dave Mustain. Actually, Adam and Adam Ant is in that because he had been like kicked out of the original ants who became Bow Wow. Like they had success stories, people who got like kicked out and then actually went on to great things. So, you know,

I love that.

Yeah. If there's a volume too because it doesn't first of all, you went on to great things, but it also doesn't seem like you have any any bitterness about

No, I think also just just with like what my role was too, I wasn't having

the best time. I think it was like I was A lot of drummers can probably attest to the fact that when you're growing up, if you can play drums and you're good at playing drums, everybody wants you to be the drummer in their band.

You're in demand because there's not a lot of you.

Yeah. So, like I was in so many bands in high school and like even with that band, like I loved writing the first record, but it was pretty because of the talks we had, it was pretty like people were saying like we're only going to do three more albums. This album will be this person's this person's this person's. I was left out of that. some of it was like we only want you to on the next record like don't help out with this this this just do drums and I was sort of like okay well I don't love drums that much and it was just trending in that direction and also also we didn't really get along um which touring will do that same with like moving in with somebody it's like that'll really test relationships and stuff and you'll realize like oh maybe we were just we were better when we were acquaintances who saw each other every now and then and when we're living together that sort of a thing we don't get along. So you obviously play multiple instruments in all over the kit like in the studio. Do you do everything? Do you play the drums, guitar, everything? Are you like, "Oh,

are you like friends?"

I I will unless I'm not afraid to to have people in if I can't do it. Like I have um I have a project coming out, All the Kid um album coming out probably start of next year. And the first single for it, which I'm shooting a video for in November, my buddy Michael Cameraman from the band Small Pools is actually he helped me write it and he's playing all the guitar and bass because what he's playing is like I'm like, "Oh, I wish that would be amazing if I could do that." Yeah. So, we're talking you mentioned something about the production music stuff you do, which you do under your name under Brian Samus. So, like Yeah. I looked up a credit page for you and it showed that you have Yeah. the Bud Light songs in Love Island and it's like songs. It's not like sinks where they took songs you wrote and put them in commercials.

You're like writing production music or um I would I don't know if you'd call them jingles, but you're writing music specifically for

uh TV or for the screen. So, tell me about that whole side hustle and how that came about.

I've been doing it for so long. I mean, even before The Neighborhood, I worked for Universal Music Publishing. I worked in their royalties department and then I worked in their that might have helped you later on I would say. Yeah. L. Yeah. And then I worked later on in um in that like not their sync department but it was I was like cataloging all their songs so that when somebody wanted like let's say happy byel but couldn't afford happy byel it had a list of soundike songs that were universal songs. Um that led me to meeting people there and then I did songs for un I've done mostly songs for Universal over the years, but I've done songs for other Sonaton. Um what's that one? A APD or whatever Atlantic something or other. Um but yeah, that stuff's really fun. But yeah, it's like I wish it was more jingly.

Okay.

I I It's funny. I went into it being like I love I would love to write jingles. It's the whole show Two and a Half Men is a guy wrote jingles. They don't that doesn't exist so much anymore now. Now everybody just wants I I think actually a lot of pop and yeah, you know, a lot of uh popular artists, some of them are probably writing, even if they're not admitting it, they're secretly writing songs hoping like if they're right, do you think it happens where they're like, "I'm driving in my car down the highway and they're like, "Oo, Ford's going to love this or whatever." Or whatever. I'm having a happy day. Oh, this is going to end.

I don't know. Especially nowadays because they could maybe get it a similar song cheaper. Like that's kind of it's interesting. It's a fun It's a fun thing to do because it's like hitting the gym. It's like they'll be like, "Oh, we want a funk song." And I'll be like, "Great." They're like, "We want a reggae song." I'm like, "Awesome. Let's I got to write a reggae song."

Do they ever ask you to write a song in the style of an artist that exists? Like do they say they're like, "Can you write a happy?"

Do you have any examples of that?

Um

that you've been asked?

Yeah, for sure. A lot of times they'll send us playlists and they'll be like, for example, I just did uh one that's like all female pop songs, which is great because I get to work with these great these really talented female vocalists. Um, and I get to sort of step out of my comfort zone when I'm writing it and be like, I'm in the I'm in the like uh let me get in the headsp space with you. Talk to me about what we can write this song about so that it is very distinctly a female pop song. Um, and it'll be like it'll be like whoever's hot at the time. I think in in in the playlist mean the playlist is overly they give you too many. They'll be like give you 40 artists and it's everybody, but it's like Sabrina Carpenter, it's Dual Lia, but then it's also like like old Madonna songs and this and that. So, you're just kind of like, all right, let me make something that would fit in with all of these, but I'll lean more like, you know, if there's one that has a little more guitar, we'll be like, oh, that's the Jack Antinoff Sabrina Carpenter type song. And then this one has, you know, is super electronic or something. So, it's maybe more the do a liapa side of things or something like that, you know.

Has have you ever had a meta moment where anyone said like, "We want a song like Sweater Weather by the Neighborhood." And you're like, "Actually, I could probably do that."

I did I did a a fairly successful album one time for this company overseas called Sonaton. And it was the the I

remember the the the two main people for it were like the neighborhood and 1975 and we crushed it. I mean the guy I worked with on it was like they wanted a full album of it. There were like 12 songs and when we were done with the album we were like should we keep this? Like this is kind of fire. like we kind of cooked and like I don't sound like either of them so it sounds different and like we I have my own flares and things I'm not as good of as certain of those guys that I can't do and things I'm better at and you know our own taste put in but we were just listening to it we're like this is rad and then we gave it to them and it's been used a ton over the last decade.

So hilarious. Well all this stuff must be really great for like just as exercises for your songwriting shops. like you are in like you know you have all over the you have squirm you have another band I don't know if they still exist Lab Bouquet you're still in La Bouquet

Lab Bouquet we I think we we Drew who's in this band was in Labou with me and we um went on hiatus a couple years ago who knows if we'll ever return but yeah

but you have a lot of projects going on and they're all a little bit different I assume so like it's probably good for your songwriting that you do that it's almost like going to songwriting Cameron and being like your homework assignment is write a funk song write a Sabrina Carpenter song write a what 197 75 song.

How has that helped you when you make your own music?

It's really helped. It's really helped especially with doing the things that I know intrinsically I want to do cuz doing that stuff, you know, I'm I'm working with other people on them and we're not getting the pay for that stuff is not like like astronomically good. So it's like it's a lot of times you're kind of like first thought best thought. So it's like oh how about this? I'm going be like, "Cool, what? We're not going to sit here all day over this like thing that like might not even get used and so we'll just go with it." And it's like that stuff is fun and and it's like hitting the gym, but it's not um fruitful for your soul. It's it's it's fruitful in the sense that I'd rather do this than any other job in the world, but I'm not it's not scratching that itch that writing your own song and writing your own lyrics and performing your own stuff can can have. And did you say you write for other artists as well?

I have.

Who have you written for?

Um, I wrote for I did a couple songs with Devin Baldwin, which were awesome. I love those songs. Um, I've written some stuff with Skizzy Mars and Gez, like some rap stuff. My buddy Jez Dior, who does uh hip-hop stuff. Um, I've done a lot of EDM stuff over the last couple years. So, I've written some stuff. Said the Skies album, Sentiment. I'm I'm featured on like three of the songs, but there's like four other ones that I wrote and then I'm not singing on. There's like the one with Motion City soundtrack, one with We the Kings, um I

forget who else, but um uh one with Lil Lotus, but yeah, like the EDM world is cool, like writing stuff that other people sing and yeah, it's fun. Have you or do you want to write stuff for like film composing? I mean, the obvious is, you know, Johnny Greenwood for Radio Head or of course Trent Resner. Yeah. Who's won literal Oscars for it. But there's other people like I see I saw just the other day that like the guy remember that band Louie the 14th. Like he does a bunch of stuff.

Guy from Pop Will Eat Itself does a bunch of stuff with Darren Areronowski.

And like it seems like a thing that maybe artists as they maybe get tired of touring

or just don't want to do the grind of promotion and putting out an album and whatever they're they kind of if they have the chops for it, they'll go into that world.

Yeah, I would love to do that. I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses and I would need an Attakus Ross to do that. I would need someone else with me. I'm not the kind of person to produce stuff from home by myself. I love collaboration. That's why I'm in so many bands all the time. Uh um I love uh even the stuff

that I do for the even the commercial stuff. Like I don't they hire me and I could just do it myself at home and whatever, but I know I'm better when I work with other people and it's so much more fun even if it means splitting money, whatever. So, I just know that I would love to do that. I've looked into it a bit, but yeah, I would just kind of I think I'm just waiting maybe for the right partner to come along. I think sad this guy, the the the DJ, we've we've chatted about it. He does some some great trailer work. I did a trailer thing with him that um for this Amazon thing that ended up not getting used and that was a great little dipping my toe into it and being like, "Oo, I could really see this." But yeah, I would need someone like him to work with. And yeah,

well, you say you know your strengths and weaknesses. So, I guess you've said your weaknesses are maybe on the production side of it, I guess. What are your strengths?

Definitely songwriting and if there are lyrics, which a lot of times in soundtracks there's not. So, sometimes that's tough, but lyrics. Um, also I'm just really like I'm not precious about ideas, but I'm I always have ideas. I'm I'm thinking I think very quickly in the studio which is a superpower at a certain point like to be able to make a decision and be like that's the one to like look at them and go that's the one. I've been in

too many bands and sessions where you'll

do that decide for four days and then you guys have killed the joy of it and you've never put it out because you've just gone over and over and over again. So I think just having ideas, working quickly but not being precious of them and sort of working with other people's ideas. I can play a little bit of everything. So if somebody plays something and I hear a note, I can play and add the note and say like, "Do we like that?" That's like a little added additive thing. Obviously percussion cuz I play drums. So I even when I'm playing guitar or singing, I'm always thinking about what are the drums doing. Yeah.

So, uh, we're here among other things we're celebrating. We're celebrating the 10th anniversary of Freak. Was that your first thing is All Over the Kid or your first thing post the neighborhood? How does it feel

to revisit that now? Like to read the lyrics or even just to be like how musically you've evolved since then? It's funny there there is something to like I mean this is why so many people love bands first albums is there's something to like the being naive and going in and making music and like you know they say you have your whole life to write your first album and then 6 months to a year to write your next one or whatever and so I think listening back to it it's funny cuz I'm like oh that's such a novice choice I made but that's what's good about the choice that I made in that moment or like I didn't even you know, I was making a choice. I was maybe like limited by like what I could do.

And I don't know, there's some there's something really I go back and listen to it sometimes on like drives and like it really does the for those first two EPs bring a smile to my face cuz I'm like I had no I was I was winging it like for for real and I don't know.

Are you playing I assume you're playing some of that material to tonight, right?

During the acoustic set. Yeah, I'm only playing a couple acoustic songs. So yeah. So, have you played do you regularly play those songs live or is this a rarity?

I don't I I honestly don't play many shows. I don't play live that often anymore. I mean, I did Thanks for coming here to do it. Why is that?

Um, I did the bands precoid I was in a

band called La Bouquet that we played a ton of shows. I was in a band called 1990 Nowhere, which we did a big tour with Angels Airways and Bad Sons a couple years ago. And then I was touring with the EDM circuit, singing the songs I wrote with those guys and playing guitar. And then touring has kind of changed and touring has become an endeavor that is not financially viable

anymore, especially for an independent. I've never been on a label as Oliver the Kid. I've only had a manager for a short period of time. Everything I do is DIY. And I have made touring happen, but it's like even po even before co it was like I kind of had to work my ass off to make money. And you back then you could actually make some money touring even that way. But now it's like even 199 or before we we broke up, we had an opportunity to tour with Neon Trees. And it was like because of our situation at the time, we were going to have to hire guys to come out with us because it was just two of us. And we were going to have to rent a van. and we were like plotting it all out and we're like, damn, unless we kill on merch, like we'll be lucky if we break even, you know, and that's a great tour. It's a soldout tour with an amazing band and it's just the the financials of being in a small band these days are unfortunate.

Um, I assume you know who Kate Nash is. Yeah,

she's been talking a lot about this. Well, I mean, not that you know, she's a A-list star, but especially in England, like you know, she literally won the Brit Award for best new artist. She, you know, she's an established artist. Yeah. and she has been really frank about talking about how every time she tours she loses money. And she started an Only Fans that I think is pretty I don't think it's particularly explicit. I think it's kind of R-rated, but it basically she shows her butt and uh she did a whole thing like a campaign called like butts for buses. I think like basically I'm doing this so I can fund my

pay for the bus. Yeah.

But she did it I mean she did it for the practical reasons. I'm not saying you should do this, by the way. But she also did to bring awareness like, "Hey, look, I actually make more money from this only fans where I'm not even like I'm showing my butt in a pair in a thong."

Yeah.

Than I am from going down the road and doing what I really love. And she's like, I'm paraphrasing what she said, but she was like, "If I can't do it when I actually like have a decent following, how can like a brand new band that doesn't have a label like ever do it?" It's kind of like weird cuz I think with when you were with the neighborhood I feel like you kind of came in on the tail end of the touring being a thing you could do

es especially for bands a lot of times I look after that and I'm kind of like who who are the big the big bands that came after that time period where it was like we were on tour with 1975 and stuff but like right after that it was like that whole being in a band market not only took a hit but like changed like a lot of bands nowadays are really like a eye and then like hired guys behind him or like two guys like hired guys behind him. So, I totally Yeah, we totally came in on the tail end of that. But she's completely right. Yeah. I mean, it's it's sad because I'd love to tour, but it's like not only would it be a schle, but it would be nonprofitable also. And it's like I could I could rough it if we were going to make some money, but I can't rough it and not make money. like one of the out of the trifecta of like are the shows good? Are we roughing it?

Are we making money? I you got I got to have two. Give me two of those and I'll like it's we're not roughing it and the shows are good. I can go with not making money or or like Yeah. And Kate who is you know the person who I was just mentioning she was like you know it's not just her even if she goes on tour with just an acoustic guitar and no band she has crew to pay and she's like I'm not going to not pay them a decent wage. So there's like Yeah, it's a real conundrum, but I'm glad that you have other outlets like the production work and stuff. And I'm glad that you're playing here.

Totally.

Hopefully you'll, you know, sell some Yeah. Do you have merch for sale?

I I brought I brought the vinyl. Yeah, got the vinyl.

That would be cool. So, what else do you have going on before I let you go? Obviously, you mentioned a new Oliver the Kid album coming out.

Yes, Oliver the Kid album coming probably next year. Um, I'm filming the first video for it in November. So, yeah, probably start rolling it out early next year. But it's been a it's been a while. It's been I I've released music this year and I released music last year, but no albums. I just did the the 10 year anniversary last year, 10 year anniversary this year with the vinyl. Um so ne that'll be the first time in three years basically that I'll have had an album come out next year. Um yeah, and it's it's already done. It's great. I love it.

I'm excited to hear. What about Squirm? Do they have music coming out or is it too soon?

Too soon. We we we put out an EP if you if you guys want to check it out. By the way, it's our the acronym is squirm. Our band name is uh a very interesting choice where it is it is the acronym. Our band name is smiling quietly underneath internal radical melancholy.

So if you remember smiling quietly, you'll find us. But it's kind of like Homer Simpson smiling politely. Do you know that reference?

Of course. Yes. Yeah.

Um but we we put out we have two EPs out and then we might we might also be recording end of the year for another EP, but we'll see. We're just kind of having fun with it. So, whatever comes with this, um, as long as it's fun, we'll always make that choice cuz everybody's got Drew plays bass with Pey. Nick is a also a full-time barber, has no barber shop. Um, I got my own stuff. So, as long as the stars align and we're having fun. Yeah.

I will smile quietly

and ask you one last question. I got Well, now you said that. What? Why that name?

Yeah. Um, I think when going into the band and thinking about our first EP has a lot of uh old uh Rahm Doss uh like tape teachings on it that we put over the songs and their instrumental. We're playing one of them as our first song tonight. And I think just I was really going through a mode of um listening to a lot of his teachings, listening to a lot of like Buddhist teachings um and just knowing even when I'm feeling kind of I guess the the really the really dumb easy way to put it would be like at a certain point in life happiness is a choice and no matter what happens to you um even when you're feeling melancholy you should feel it. It is good to feel it.

Not toxic positivity sort of that, but just knowing deep down there's a smile

and that you're having fun kind of doing whatever you're doing. But I also think in in that the name also it evokes, you know, some sort of um Exactly. Yeah. Some it's there's like almost like a creepiness or like a darkness to it that a lot of our sonics feel and there's that balance of that in the lyrics as well. So, we'll know.

Well, um I am excited to see them and you. I might be smiling loudly.

That looks that looked crazy. Just I'll be smiling and uh this was a wonderful interview. So, thank you uh Brian Oliver.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much. Thanks, guys.