One Outta Ten Talks 'Better Days' | Interview with Lyndsey Parker (LPtv)

Hey everybody, this is Lindsay Parker here for LPTV at Licorice Pizza Records. I'm here with one out of 10. There are five of you and I think this is the most people we've ever attempted to fit on our licorice pizza couch. So, congratulations on that. And also the uh vinyl release party of better days that you're doing here today.

Yes.

Why don't you introduce all of yourselves and then uh I have lots of questions.

See, I'll I'll give it to Dave first. Spoilers.

The one starting at I thought you were just going to go by like B. Well, there's symmetry going on. We're the same height. So, I talked first. So, that makes sense.

That makes sense there.

Art direction.

Hi there. I'm David Dillion, a drummer for the band.

I'm JT. I play keys, guitar, and sing a little bit.

I'm Tyler Loftess. Are you doing full names? Um, I play guitar and I sing sometimes.

I'll do full name and social security number. Um,

hi, I'm Josh. I'm the vocalist and guitarist. a one out of 10.

And I'm Mark and I play the bass.

All right. Well, it's a party now. Like I said, we're celebrating better days. It's a good day today at Licor Pizza. So, I guess I'll just kind of go back to the beginning. I have a feeling how you two met, but in general, how did uh how did this band start? It was like 2017, right?

Yeah. Um, we really started with a different lineup and it was mostly just like us doing a bunch of Arctic Monkeys covers. I have Arctic Monkeys questions for you. Feel like we could do a deep dive like Arctic Monkeys podcast because I know you have opinions, but which covers were you doing?

Um, we were really into the early stuff like first two albums. Um, we did a lot of fluorescent adolescent, a lot of I look I bet you look good on the dance floor. Um, all the ones that Oh, and like we you know when AM came out. Yeah. We did a certain romance, then AM came out and we were doing stuff off that one like Are You Mine? Um, yeah, a lot of that. A lot of that, you know.

So, I mean, I know this is total tangent, but like I said, I have Arctic Monkeys questions. How do you feel after the juggernaut that was AM when they went off on this whole like very different sound?

We've got We've got answers about that. I don't know. Let me let me let me hear some.

Pass me the mic. Don't pass me the Um, I was doing some talking. We played a show like a couple of weeks ago and I was talking to one of the other guys in the band and I feel like there's like a subsection of every indie boy who is influenced by that, you know, and like everyone's got their own opinions. Um, I think it's unfair that they're lumped in with the neighborhood.

Um, yeah, like if you go to their you go to their recommended artists and like the neighborhood is in like that. Cigarettes After Sex is also there even though they sound kind of different. I don't know.

Okay.

Um I just relisted to Tranquility Bass. I think I don't like it. Um don't want

to talk about the car. Um

I don't know. I

don't want to talk about the car.

I I love a concept album. I really do. And I think for that reason I keep come I think that's one of the big reasons why I keep coming back to Tranquility Base. I think I I love just this vision

of him in this 2001 Space Odyssey bar just just living out his his Kuner dream

and it's and and I love that. But it is it is different. But it's also it's it's it's tough to age gracefully, I think, as as someone playing rock and roll. And if you're looking back to like, who do I want to be when I'm 35 40 on a stage,

I I feel like you could do worse. And I think I think I think that there's a lot a lot to enjoy, but I I I can't say that I remember a lot of the songs off the car, but maybe maybe there's going to be another album cycle soon. And maybe we'll see we'll see what he does in the next the next bit coming up. Anyone else have

anyone else where we actually talk about your music?

All right. Well, let's bring Yeah, let's bring it back to you guys. But actually, this is an interesting question. So, what comes up recommended when one out of 10 on Spotify or whatever? Like what are the other bands that are associated like if you like this, you'll like that.

Do you know? I feel like it ends up being a lot of the bands that we play with. You know, we we play we play with a lot of the same bands a lot of the time and you know, the people that know us know us from our shows for the most part and the the shows that we put on. Um, and so a lot of the people are all listening to the people that we're playing with, which is cool. It makes you feel like you're really a part of a community.

What's your answer?

Uh, yeah. Uh, shout out Tracks, Los Raton. Um, who else?

Funs for Jimmy, Road Trip. Um, these are all the people that we play a lot of shows with pretty often. Um, in a way it feels like we've grown up with them, you know? It's kind of awesome.

And you're from Southern California, Glendale, right? 818.

So, you talked about

Yeah, minus one. He's he's actually from Washington. Oh,

okay.

Yeah. Transplant.

Well, welcome welcome to LA. Welcome to the 818. Um, you did talk about, you know, the Arctic Monkey stuff, but I've also read that you kind of, maybe even before that, started off doing Beatles covers in your garage.

Yeah. Do you want to

I told you I was going back to the beginning.

Am I the most qualified?

You and I don't know. I could offer a little bit of it, but I'm going to pass the mic back to you pretty pretty quickly cuz I can only remember a little bit of it. We at one point we performed with uh it was just me and my me and Josh and we performed for my grandma's I forgot which birthday it was 75 and we performed with our mom and our dad uh on stage as the Calipiggins. It's just some just for just hilarity sake and we were still learning our instruments back then. Nowadays, I think we're a bit more experienced and we still we did a little bit of other Beatles covers and stuff like that, but those are just for like family parties and occasions, if anything else.

Cali Piggins means nice ass in like proper English. Um, yeah, it was a lot of Beatles stuff. Um, because that's what we were raised on. Um, so our dad was playing bass and my mom was singing. We played Birthday by the Beatles and In My Life. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And in my life for my grandma

who's still alive. She's turning 89 in September.

Happy birthday.

Yeah.

Maybe you should get a Cali Piggins back together.

Maybe couple of people.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh we'll get to that in a second.

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry about that. Um well also, you know, I obviously was doing just some research about those early days and I mentioned Glendale and you have some kind of connection to Moon uh Moonlight Roller Roller Way, which is, you know, the kind of disco very it's like a it's like an old school roller rink like preserved like it hasn't been redecorated since like 1978 cuz like apparently like I don't know disco when you were kids.

Um I'm pretty into disco. I mean like as much as anyone. My mom would play it while cleaning the house uh to get through.

I mean that's motivating I guess.

Yeah. Um but Moonlight Rollerway. Yeah. I I have Have Have we all been to Moonlight Rollerway?

Yes. Yes.

Don't worry.

It's pretty rad. I went to I went to David Bowie night there. They played all and they had David Bowie like contest and shout out to the person who uh dressed up like the Ashes to Ashes clown. That was pretty great. Uh, but yeah, anyway, I basically was looking at all the influences besides Arctic Monkeys, of course. And, you know, also I believe I read something about how you guys were kind of raised on Rock Band and Guitar Hero a bit as well. And I love that because I think people forget like I think back in the day there were like two mainstream ways that a lot of people found out about older music. It was either Rock Band, Guitar Hero or actually American Idol like in a way.

That's true. That is true.

No, American Idol was something you cared about, but tell me about Yeah, that stuff. Um before I actually wanted to drum and Dave was like trying guitar kind of

trying guitar just because it was kind of there.

Yeah. Just because it was there

playing when when we ended up playing rock band like later on uh I ended up enjoying playing the drums more and Josh ended up uh playing more guitar and as time went on I uh became a self-taught drummer while Josh took a couple of lessons. The funny thing was is that I took lessons for other instruments in the past. And what ended up happening is

that I didn't really attach to any other particular instruments, but when I tried the drums, because I wanted to do it myself, I ended up just acquiring techniques and other bits of knowledge over time, and I became the drummer that I am now. And uh I'm just I'm happy to kind of just built up all those skills up to this point. Dude, we're in the middle of an interview right now. Come on.

We can fix it in post.

Josh can iterate to you about his own guitar skills.

Um I don't know. I I started playing in uh fifth grade, I think. Um

Did you say fifth grade?

Yeah, fifth grade.

Oh, that's so cool.

Yeah. I'm not like amazing, but I can I can play. Um

we don't invite people to play at Licorice Pizza.

Only to perform. Only to perform.

So, let's bring it to better days. Yeah. I guess you alluded to that there's a lot of stuff on the album. It's a great album, by the way. That um you know, there's a lot of open writing about grief on this record. So, sorry if I when I said, "Oh, you should get the bat together if that was a bad joke."

No, we can hold a seance or something.

I'm so sorry.

I'd be disappointed if we didn't at least have a couple of laughs at six.

Okay. So yeah, I guess you know, whatever you want to speak to that because I know obviously he was a big supporter of you guys and he he passed and um this album, not just that, just other things, other losses, other grief, but it's very openly written about on this record.

Yeah. Um we kind of didn't we had one

song pretty much, Friends Anyways, we had Down and Out and we had Michael Sarah. Um

focused.

Yeah. and that that that's like from a different part of our my life at this point, you know. Um great songs though. Um but I feel like after my dad passed um in 2023, the shift became a little bit more evident to be more like friends anyways and like being um kind of grateful of the time that you have on Earth. Um yeah, with other people. Yeah,

there's like 8 billion of them or something. Um, so I I think I don't know. I And a lot of stuff kept happening that year.

If I could speak to that a little bit, like

we can all speak.

Yeah, it was cuz we we did have like a bunch of those songs like we had demos for them and you know the the day that

it all kind of went down, we were like getting ready to go to a show and we had to cancel that day. Yeah. It was going to be our longest set. we're really practicing for for all of these different songs. So, in in like the wake of that, we just had all of these songs were like, "Well, we know what these songs are probably going to be about now, whatever they were going to be about before."

Um, and like early in the year, we had like our equipment stolen.

And like

this is 23, we're talking about 23.

And um yeah, everybody was just going through this period of of loss in different ways. And also just like it was right when it felt like we were getting back to to some storm some sort of normaly after co and we were so optimistic about this time we got hit with this giant wave of reality. Um

do you mind me asking about and if you're not comfortable with it it's totally fine but you said there are a lot of other things happening are there any other things that were you know that informed this album that you

Yeah I mean I know that that you were that your grandma was having some some health issues and and passed around the same time. Uh sorry my my grandma was having health issues like my dog died too

also. So

all all within like

my grandma passed like a year afterwards but like a whole bunch of stuff like within a month.

That's a month, right? It was a couple months.

Yeah. Felt like a

if it felt like a year and a day and the same kind of thing. And I remember the the day after your dad passed, we all went to your house and it was the day that we had that random hurricane in in Southern Cal and there was an earthquake when we were all sitting around and it was like this is unbelievable. It is so surreal. Like there's no way to make sense of this other than to try to think about it and sing songs about it on on a stage. I I couldn't even believe that like not even a couple months after the fact just with our family. Dad was not the only person to go then it was our then it was our aunt and then it was a a family friend of my mom. So that was three deaths over the course of how many months? Six or five? Three two months

like consecutively. And I was like okay I really want this to stop. I can't keep going back to Forest Lawn like like this.

I'm sorry I'm laughing. I mean, cuz obviously nothing you're talking about is is funny, but like you obviously have

you're so young like a lot of people your age wouldn't be dealing like this is stuff that people in like their 40s, 50s, 60s deal with as opposed to 20s. Like but you all seem to like sort of have a good I don't know sense of humor about life. I guess

that's how we cope.

Yeah. Do you want to talk about it too?

I mean, just around that same time, the following year in 2024, uh, very suddenly I lost my dog. Um, and it it just it it's just one of those things that just keeps piling up and it, you know, it's hard to to process altogether. But during that time, we all had each other and we all knew that we're all going through very difficult times. And it was nice to have people that you connect with very closely emotionally that are also going through similar things to help you go through those times.

It's awesome. Yeah. I was observing the fact that you you you were making jokes about being a family and obviously two of you are actual family, but you Yeah.

You're like a family, right?

Yeah.

A It's nice. It's nice. It's nice to see. We love to see it. Um, so making the record Better Days when some of the stuff you're talking about had happened, like how was that healing, cathartic, you know, all that stuff.

Um, I feel like I had all these emotions with nowhere to go. Really?

Yeah. Super raw. Um, I don't know. Yeah, the backtoback deaths of like my dad, my aunt, and then my mom's best friend who like basically was an aunt to me. Um, it was like I feel like that's that's so much that's so much, but it like it happened and it's like there's no way that it won't keep happening, you know?

In a way, I feel like more equipped to deal with life now that it's happened. Um, and every day I look back and I'm like, that was the worst day of my life and there's no way that it can like get worse from there.

Is that why it's called Better Days?

Um, I don't know. That's a good question.

It was named that before.

Say that. We're all yearning for the sun.

Yeah. I I feel like um I wrote the title track Better Days when we got all our [ __ ] stolen.

Well, surely things will get better now.

Yeah. And that was in uh February of 2023. My father passed in August of that year. And we were like, "Yeah, better days." And the lyrics were corny and like terrible. And then my dad died and like I felt like all of this like it kind of felt like um like stream of consciousness kind of. Um like I like scrapped the entire previous first verse or the first um like draft of it and I was like I was just like vomiting on a page and it was all grief and like so it's like tears mixed with vomit. Um but it was um it was good. It felt like really cathartic like you said. Um but it was um I don't know. I feel like everyone has had their little cathartic moment on like songwriting on in this album. Do you want to talk about

Yeah. Are there any other specific songs?

Um, well, I was just going to say specifically with Better Days, I think it helped a lot that a lot of these songs we had demos for. So, we just had to focus on like on writing lyrics and just, you know, processing how we were feeling. We didn't have to be like, "What's the coolest way for this song to end, though?" Cuz we already had a sick already had a sick guitar solo at the end. I mean, that was written that was already down. Um, but I remember um cuz

it was around the same time that you sent the demo for for Rose Tea in the thing and I was like this is just like fully formed. Like this is just so great. And then we got to be in a room and figure out how the rest of us are going to play around it and it was like it that was one of my favorite songs to like come up with a part for because I was just noodling around the chords that you already wrote. It was so much fun.

Yeah. No, that was a really that was where the rose tea um like Better Days is kind of for Josh and Dave's dad. Rose Tea was my like love letter send off to my grandmother. Um and I think like all of them are like better days isn't necessarily the future and it's also not necessarily the past and it's not necessarily right now. Like it can be any time. And I think a lot of those better days that we're referencing in these songs and stuff, it's like the memories of the people that built us and gave us these tools and now we're equipping them with this album, right, to propel us towards even more better days. I I think it's important I'd like to say that I think it's very important that the themes that we carry on with better days are the kinds of things that we we want people to kind of strive for to give ourselves the kind of hope to carry on and uh fight against the toil of life and whatever whatever stuff society or life kind of throws at you. And I and um I think honestly it's going to reflect in even the albums that we're looking to do going forward, which you could tell that we're trying to carry all this like very positive energy going forward.

Yeah. I did want to say for people watching if they think this album's like a really because we're obviously talking about some heavy and very sad stuff. It's like actually it's not a bummer record. It's like a celebratory record, you know? I want to make that clear. So is that something how do you do that? How do you write about heavy stuff but not have the record be like, "Wow, this is really depressing."

You you make the the demos before the bad stuff happens. So, you have a you have a bunch of happy songs that you're ready to write and then something bad happens to you and then you've got the happy song to write your sad song on top of.

Pro tip.

Yeah. Um I was

I was going to say you frontload the first half of the album with party bangers and then the midshift to just all sad songs happens. So,

also helpful advice. Do you have any stories from fans who have gone through their own loss or similar things who have said that this record like really related to them? Bless you.

Or uh that they really related to the record or that it helped them or you know any nice stories like that.

Um we've we've played this album all the way through one time before this at our favorite venue, Convair Street uh in uh Camaro, California.

Um, and it's not so much a story as it is like it's crazy to be playing these songs that we've wrote together and I'm looking in the audience and people are like crying, you know, like it's it's sad and it's so beautiful, but it's also like um like to know that something that we made speaks so directly to people who have like either have gone through it or like haven't. There's there's one of the kids up there um who was telling me she listened to our album after her dad passed away like um maybe a few years um

ago also. Um and she said it was really powerful for her and um think about that a lot. Um yeah, I don't know. Have you guys had any

Yeah.

Um

I'm sure I mean I wondered also like on social media or anything like that people like reach out and and it means it means a lot to hear from them that that it does mean something to them and you know that that show that we played in Con. It's like it's it's so incredible to see that connection being made and then also see them jumping around and having fun like couple minutes later, you know.

Awesome. So

try to bring both. I'm sorry you guys have gone through all the things you've gone through. I'm But it's great that you were able to make art out of it. You did mention about what's coming next, what your next record will be. We also were talking about bands evolving the way Arctic Monkeys evolved. So, what is next for one out of 10?

Evolved.

Evolve. Well, I don't want you guys to devolve, but what's next?

Um, we've just got we've got so many different ideas, you know. We we have every every six months or so. six months or so, we'll we'll like guys, what if we just did like a city pop EP? What if we just wait Josh really wants to do a metal record?

So, I I really want to like

I That's what I was thinking. I with all this like positive energy we've generated from it. the current songs we're doing right now are much more like I'm much more romance involved mainly like a lot of breakup stuff but and but I have all this like real this energy like kind of I don't know co I'm not sure if coalesing is the right word but it's like kind of built up inside me like you know and I feel like you know I want to do something like productive something that's like helpful which is why I was really happy that Josh said that one of the next albums he wanted to do is a metal album I think and I think it's going to channel a lot our uh honestly activist and political energy.

I think a lot of it is going to go into that one for sure. But then the city pop album, I think, is probably going to follow that for something a bit more relaxing because we love city pop. We love what was the name of the the guy, your favorite city pop out, Japanese city pop artist again, Takanaka.

Yeah, Masayoshi Takanaka. Josh really wants to do something like that

back to back. It's really funny. I mean, this sounds kind of Arctic Monkeyesque in the sense that, yeah, you want to do some different things coming. I want to hear more about, you know, the activism and the political messages you'd like to put into the metal record or or any record you do.

Sure. Yeah. Um, one out of 10 is strongly um what what are we what are we for?

Yeah, we're for uh

it's just

Yeah, we're pretty um against the current establishment. Um, we do not [ __ ] with Donald Trump, um, at all. I think we're pro-choice, pro-LGBTQ,

um, for free Palestine. Um, we're we donated all the proceeds from our last show at the smell to, uh, Chura, the coalition for, um, immigrant, uh, humane immigrant rights of LA. Uh, we raised 800 bucks off of that, which was awesome. Um, one of my favorite acts is Jeff Rosentock, and I love that he's just some woke 40-year-old dude running around on stage.

Um,

he's selling Crazy Rainbow,

dude. He's incredible. Yeah, the

the American weed pride flag. It's so good.

Um, and I love um this band called King Gizzard. Um, and they're like super super for it, you know. Um, they're also like multi-re, which is like awesome.

And like speaking as someone I feel like has like musical ADHD, it's kind of cool to see these people not afraid to go out and take risks um and like and do it all and look so [ __ ] awesome and they're just from Australia, so it's so random.

Do you guys write much many political lyrics or

It's coming.

All right.

The first time we've ever done anything like this before, honestly. Yeah, this this will be

never been this like

I need the mic welcome.

Yeah,

honestly I think this might be one of the first times you've ever been this activist about our own messaging. And I think and I really appreciate it. I think we really want to share this message that there is a better world to fight for. But you have to do it now.

And I think the best ways to do it is to call out whatever what's what out whatever is out there that's wrong, but also to poke fun and punch up to show that's whatever monsters we're facing right now, they're nothing. This is we we're perfectly capable of fighting back. That's the way I like to put it anyway. Um, and I also just think like get involved in your community. Like one of the the best things about being part of a band and a smaller band is like playing with all of these people, getting to know all of these people and like having an opportunity and a platform to be able to, you know, talk about [ __ ] that ma that that matters and fundra for things that matter and, you know, try to make a difference. You know, it's it's it's tough when you're when you're driving through, you know, your own community and you're seeing Ice bands all over the [ __ ] place. It's tough.

It's really tough. And, you know, being part of a group of friends that care about the same [ __ ] that you care about that you can try to build something up with and, you know, make pieces of art that hopefully speak to something. Um, you know, it used to be about partying when we were kids and then it was about loss as we as we started to grow up and as we continue to grow up. It's about all of those things, but also these more serious things that matter.

Yeah. It's like this when

like and to make that short to make another short point about that when our institutions fail us it's I feel that um

and if the rest of the band feels this you can always turn to the people in your community to back you up and help see you through very very tough times and we're seeing them a lot of them now but I'm glad to see that there's a lot of people who are turning to community and holding on to that as a bastion against as of defense against these oppression honestly.

One out of 10 for president.

Yeah.

I do not want that.

Okay.

Okay. Fair enough.

Did you have something to say, Josh?

Yeah. What what Dave said.

Yeah.

I do agree that in general community is so important. That's actually something we really care about at Licorice Pizza.

So, it's really awesome that you came here to play for your fans and talk about I mean this was a wide-ranging conversation as is your disography and your future disography. So, thank you so much for coming to Licorice Pizza. I'm excited to see you play out there.

Thank you. Thanks.

Yeah, me too. Thanks for watching everybody.

See you.