What It Takes To Be A Rockstar
Host and musician Melissa Lucciola talks with signed and DIY musicians from around the world about their lives behind the scenes. From maxing out credit cards, sleeping on floors, sharing beds and getting paid $250 to play Madison Square Garden, you will hear the in's and out's of life on and off the road and the real struggles of the modern day musician.
What It Takes To Be A Rockstar
Episode 8 - BALACLAVA - On DIY recording, booking and getting comfortable with rejection
This week I chat with Dylan Joyce of BALACLAVA, a "NYC trash rock" band. We chat about DIY recording, how he booked his own tours, coming back to music after taking a break and tour finances. They are currently on tour now in the US on the east coast so check them out if you can!
BALACLAVA Tour Dates:
NYC TRASH ROCK
10/20 BALTIMORE
10/22 RICHMOND
10/23 ASHEVILLE
10/24 MURFREESBORO
10/25 CARBONDALE
10/26 LOUISVILLE
10/27 CINCINATTI
10/28 CLEVELAND
Check out their music here: https://balaclavanyc.bandcamp.com/album/have-a-taste
You can watch the whole episode on Youtube here - https://www.youtube.com/@WhatItTakesToBeARockstar
Check out my tour dates playing bass with Tea Eater in Europe here: www.teaeater.com
Edited, recorded, mixed and produced by Melissa Lucciola.
This episode is sponsored by SORRY Cables - rad and colorful quality instrument and microphone cables handmade in LA.
Intro song is called "I'm Starting a Podcast" by Tea Eater
Other music is by Pretty World
Welcome back to another week of What It Takes To Be A Rockstar.
I'm your host, Mel, and today I am interviewing Dylan Joyce of Balaclava.
Hello, hello, welcome back to another week of What It Takes To Be A Rockstar.
I'm really happy you're here.
And if you tuned in last week, you heard in the intro that I'm on tour, and I'm still on tour, and I'm currently in a really nice hotel room in Germany, which is pretty sweet.
It's credit card-themed and kangaroo-themed somehow, and it's really funny.
But yeah, I'm playing bass in a band called TeaEater right now, which is the artist whose song is the theme song of this podcast.
And I'm starting a podcast.
And yeah, we've been having a blast on tour.
And if you're out in Europe, we have some more dates coming up in Norway and Denmark and Germany.
And in the Netherlands.
So come out if you're out here and say what's up.
But yeah, anyway, I am chatting with Dylan this week from the band Balaclava, which is a New York based band.
And they're actually, they're pretty new.
They started in 2022.
They're super fun.
Their shows are fun.
They wear these ski masks on stage.
And so you don't know who's who.
And they're just jumping around like crazy.
And everyone's going wild in the crowd.
And I found out that Dylan, the singer, you know, he recorded every, mostly everything, I think except drums, like did all the instruments on their latest EP's.
And he helped book the tours DIY that they've been on.
So I just wanted to chat with them to see like how it's going and what's going on with their band because I've been seeing them grow and grow in the DIY way.
So I wanted to hear all that.
And we do kind of nerd out for a little bit about DIY recording.
So I'll explain a little bit about that too.
But yeah, I hope you enjoy this conversation.
And here we go.
Balaclava is pretty new.
You just started, or at least started releasing stuff last year, right?
Yeah, we played our first show about two years ago.
I released one little smaller little demo tape thing.
I don't remember when, but recently this past March, we had a, I put out a more conclusive thing, a bigger EP, but that was exciting to do that.
Yeah, did you play everything on that EP?
Almost everything.
I'm not much of a drummer, so I flew in my best buddy who lives in LA now.
I flew him in to record the drums last summer.
That's awesome.
Yeah, and then James, who's also in Bala, did some of the synth parts.
Okay, cool.
Yeah, your band is, just so everyone knows, you all wear, that's called a balaclava, right?
The thing you're wearing.
It's a ski mask.
A balaclava is a little bit different, but I don't think a balaclava has a mouth hole.
And it's just like one circle.
Okay.
Instead of like two eye holes.
But yeah.
All right.
So for anyone's listening who doesn't know your band, everyone's wearing these ski masks on stage.
It's super fun.
And the only problem with that is that you don't know who's in the band when it's done unless you're paying really close attention.
And you got to match up our outfits.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like, I don't know, your drummer, he like puts his shirt back on or something.
And you're like, where did you go?
Yeah.
So, yeah, it is fun.
I love that.
Was that, I know you got asked on Radio Free Brooklyn this already, but like when you started the band, did your first show, were you wearing that?
Was that like the whole, yeah, we're going to start this band and do that.
Yeah, it was always the idea.
I always had the idea.
I certainly didn't invent wearing a ski mask on stage.
We've all heard of Pussy Riot and whatnot.
Lightning Bolt, I always loved Lightning Bolt growing up.
It was cool.
Yeah.
Slipknot.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it just seemed really fun and it is really fun.
Yeah, I could imagine there's like some sense of freedom behind it, of having people not know who you are.
It's probably like way more like, yeah, I'm just going to be crazy.
It's super freeing.
It's I always describe it like Halloween.
Everyone loves Halloween because you get to dress up and pretend to be someone else.
And sometimes you catch yourself like being a little bit more like true to yourself, maybe or something.
So like being able to wear the mask is just a really easy way to totally let go.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah.
Makes me want to do it.
Very fun.
Yeah.
Like if you've ever played like a, you know, like a Halloween show and you get to dress up, you just feel, you know, there's so many words you can say, but like silly, you know, you have to just feel a little extra.
Yeah, for sure.
Have you ever done that in a band before or is this your first time?
Not like a mask necessarily.
What?
Like, like I was just thinking like a Halloween show, you know, like dressed up as like the mummies one year.
Oh, cool.
Yeah, mummy outfit.
Hey, awesome.
So how do you find your band members?
because I know you're not from New York originally, right?
You're from Massachusetts.
I'm from Mass, yeah.
Kind of like a ragtag group of guys that I found.
One of them I've known from Massachusetts.
I met him in college, James, but he was living in New York at the time.
But we like shared band members of like my band in college.
So that's how I met him.
So I've known him for a while.
Two of the guys are from New York.
I just met them when I moved here a few years ago.
And Steve, our drummer, I met because he was the drummer of another band that we would hang out with a lot and play with.
And I like, you know, poached him a little bit.
It's like, I come drum for Baladee, huh?
Did the other guys, were they playing stuff that was kind of up your alley and you saw them play and then you were like, okay, or, you know?
Um, sort of, sort of, yeah.
James, who I've known for a long time, like I knew he was down and, and we didn't necessarily meet, because I wasn't in a band when I first moved here, so I didn't necessarily meet through other bands and music.
It was kind of just a mutual friend, but we all were musicians and would like jam a lot all the time together and stuff.
And I really wanted to keep doing music when I moved here.
And I tried, we would jam all the time, and I don't know how many times you can get together with a group of guys and jam, and then nothing kind of happens.
So I just took it upon myself, like, all right, I'm gonna do it.
I can't keep waiting around, I just gotta do it.
And is that why you just went ahead and recorded some stuff by yourself?
Yeah, it didn't really...
You know, I had a couple songs like putting around for a while.
But then there was like a moment in July 22, when James, who is in Bali now, like asked me to do this challenge or whatever.
He was like, hey, do you wanna try this song a day challenge thing?
Where you just write and record a song every single day for fun, whatever.
I was like, yeah, sure.
I've never done something like that, you know?
And then like out of that became Balaclava pretty much.
At least like sonically what it was.
There was a few songs before that, like the three songs of the little demo tape I put out before, like existed before that.
But once that happened, then I was like, okay, this can actually be a real thing.
And I was, you know, started to get really excited about it.
That's awesome.
That's super cool.
All right, so we're about to chat about DIY recording.
So I wanna explain a couple of things before we go deep into it, and it goes over anyone's head.
If anyone is listening who isn't familiar with anything with recording.
So bands, they have a couple options when they wanna get a song recorded.
They could either go to a studio or they can record themselves if they're brave enough to try to do that.
And studio can get pretty expensive.
Like I've seen the cheapest, cheapest one like $250 a day or something like that.
And like I've worked in a studio that was $800 a day, but they could be well over that.
And then you have to pay an engineer to also be there, who's usually like at least like $500 a day or something crazy.
So you could easily spend like $1,500 for just a day in a studio.
So people who, and that's not even including mixing a song, mastering a song or pressing it onto a vinyl or a CD or releasing it digitally.
So bands on a budget who can get away with it, they can try to record themselves.
So if a band is trying to do that, they have another couple of options and they could either use what's called a DAW, which is a digital audio workstation, or they can use a machine that's not on a computer.
So your DAW, there's things like GarageBand that you might have.
If you have a Mac, you might have that already or Logic or another one is called Ableton.
And so those are DAWs that are on your computer.
And then there's these other machines that they're not on a computer, like you don't need your computer to do it.
And they could either be analog or digital.
And the thing with the DAW is you have like a lot more options and you could edit things easily.
And then with a machine, you have less options, but it's almost easier sometimes, cuz you have less choices to make, so you just do what you do.
And sometimes you get pretty good at taking takes, because you have less options and it's harder to edit around.
So anyway, I just wanted to explain a little bit about that.
One common machine that I've used a lot and a lot of my friends have used is what's called a Taskam, and you'll hear us talk about Taskam.
So that's like recording without a computer.
So it's more limited, but it also sounds cool, in my opinion.
I've used one for years and years and years.
And but I've graduated to using a DAW just because I can make music when I'm not home.
So yeah, I hope that explains a little bit.
If you have any questions, let me know.
All right, here we go.
So you recorded on a little like Taskam, right?
I saw there's like a Taskam.
It's a big one.
It's right behind me.
Hold on.
It's big.
Let's see.
You see it?
No, let me put my.
Hold on.
Oh, yeah.
Whoa.
How many tracks is that?
Eight.
Oh, OK.
And it's a cassette.
That's not.
That's reel to reel.
That's OK.
A quarter inch thick reel to reel tape.
OK.
But the first little demo, little demo tape I put out was on a 424 and that's cassette.
OK.
Yeah, I saw that in a video, right?
You had it in like a little music video or something.
Sure.
Maybe.
No, it was exciting for me because I recorded on a digital TASCAM digital recorder, eight track forever.
Wait a minute, which one?
The DPO one.
Oh, I think I had the DPO three or something.
Yeah, I hated that thing.
No, really?
Yeah, well, that's so funny.
Yeah, my old band in college, we recorded like a thing on that and just like, hated the way it sounds.
I just cranked all the inputs to like 11.
Well, that's what you do.
And then it sounds awesome.
I have it in the other room.
I'm not going to get it.
But yeah, it's so funny.
I guess it was always just like, I didn't want to, for whatever reason, I just wanted to go da-less, you know?
I was like anti-da for a while.
Yeah, I was that way for a really, really long time until I was traveling too much to, you know, I was like, okay, either I'm not going to make music or I have to go on Logic.
So that's what I do now.
And I kind of got my whole situation on Logic now and I figured it out.
And there's so many more options because my DPO-1, like there was an effects like knob, but it didn't do it.
But it didn't even do anything.
Like there was nothing on it at all.
Like no nothing.
Everything I did was through my my like four guitar pedals.
Yeah.
Like all the effects.
So when did you start recording yourself though?
When did you figure out you could do that or like make your own songs?
Well, I guess it was like in college when like I was recording on the little digital task camp thing.
That's when I like I figured out like it can be done.
You know, you can do it.
Did you buy that thing?
Did someone give it to you?
Like how did you?
Christmas present or something, if I remember correctly.
Okay, cool.
But it took me a while to like, I mean, I like read the manual front to back.
I like reading manuals for these things.
Like for my 424, the cassette 4-track, I like read the whole manual.
I was trying to buy the manual for the 388 on eBay, but they're like 70 bucks just for the manual.
So I just like have the PDF and had read it.
Yeah, it's harder to read a PDF manual than that.
That is fun.
Yeah.
I agree.
Clearly us who don't even like to use a DAW, like want to flip some pages.
Yeah.
So you still use that task, the reel to reel or have you graduated to a DAW?
I've graduated, especially in the writing process.
It's a lot easier to use a DAW.
So yeah, but then I like use.
I, this is a big, I'm outing myself right now, but I use GarageBand.
Nice.
It's basically, yeah, it's like there's a few limitations, but otherwise, it's totally fine.
Yeah.
So I'll usually demo like that and then re-record on the Tascam.
That's what I did for the quarter-inch Almanac.
That's cool.
Yeah.
Yeah, it sounds really good.
And did you do the drums in your space there?
It was all recorded here, right behind me.
You have drum mics or like, do you do like one mic or what's your?
I think we, at max, we used three.
That was the max we did.
We did a kick, a snare, and then just like this mic, like 57, just like going at the chest.
Yeah.
It's like really blown out, but it's fun.
And is it your preferred way to do things or would you rather go to a studio?
Have you tried going to a studio ever and not liked it or what's your story?
Yeah.
I remember my old band in college, we did that thing.
And I just said the couple of tracks ourselves on the DP03, a digital task and I love the way that sounded.
And then you were playing out and then a friend of ours, like, hey, I'd love to record you guys.
And he recorded us to tape, to big two inch tape, 24 tracks or whatever it was.
And we went to the studio and we did the thing and none of us liked it as much as the way it sounded when we did it ourselves.
But even that was a big learning process.
That was the first time any of us have ever really done that.
Thinking back, I would do things differently, take more time, not settle on things.
I think when you go to a studio, you're forced to be happy with what happens.
And well, we spent all this time and money sometimes to go do this.
So we have to use it, we have to put it out, you know?
If you do it yourself, there's none of those things.
You just do it yourself, you do whatever you want.
No one's gonna tell you anything.
Yeah, it's really odd when you're used to recording yourself and it being really fuzzy and crazy, and then you go to a studio and it's super clean, you're like, oh, I can't listen to this, it's so crazy.
I think that's also just a stylistic thing.
Obviously for different genres, it's easier to get away with it sounding like shit.
I like when things sound like shit.
Yeah, same for sure.
I think there's a healthy balance you can get, which I've been really trying to get with my own band, where it's like you work with someone, but they know to make it sound like shit.
because some great records that I love were recorded in studios, but still have a really hard, rough sound.
Yeah.
So that's cool that you do all that, because that helps a lot with...
You just have the time to do the music, and you can just make all the music, and you don't have to pay someone every time you want to record anything.
You just go in your basement and make music.
Yep.
That's the life.
It's nice that doing yourself stylistically is like...
Is a benefit, I think.
Not to everybody, but unless you have a group that you're super tight with and you know like...
You all know exactly what whatever it is is supposed to sound like.
You all know exactly what the project is.
Unless you like have a really tight group, then it can get really lost in the sauce when you're with a group of people all trying to make this thing, this band, whatever you want to call this project, sound the way it is.
Everyone has something different in their ears.
So when it's just one person, you don't have to, you already know.
So yeah.
Were you good at group projects in school or no?
I don't know.
But my band in college, like we were really tight.
We were three best friends and we lived together and had all the exact same influences and spent all day together and like co-existed.
You know, we were just like three of the same people.
So that really lended to us like being able to create together in a in a nice way.
That's cool.
Yeah.
Where did you go to school?
What did you go to school for?
I went to school in Massachusetts, the state school called Fitchburg State, Fitchburg Mass.
And I studied technical theater.
Whoa.
What is that?
It's like nothing to do with like the performance side of it, but like the production side of it.
So building sets and sound and stuff.
Cool.
And that's what you do like on a day to day basis, right?
Yeah.
I'm a carpenter, fabricator.
Okay.
Sometimes a stagehand.
Okay.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
And like, do you use the money from that to fund your band right now or?
Yeah, of course.
Yeah.
Well, that's part of this.
That's all about, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, it's funny because there's a line where people want to cross, where their band is funding their life.
But then there's like the life needs to fund the band first.
And people, including me, jump in way too early and being, you know, oh, let me have the music fund my life.
And I think it's smart to do it the way you're doing it, where you have a job and stuff because it takes a lot of pressure off.
But do you feel like your job holds you back in any way from making music, or do you feel like it just helps because, you know, you're not struggling or anything like that?
I think I have a pretty good scenario right now because I don't have a full-time job.
I like freelance at, you know, a few different places.
So if I don't want to work, I can just not work.
I don't have to put in time off or something.
I'm not a full-time employee.
I don't owe my time to anybody right now, which is nice.
It can be really nice.
So I can take time off if I want to go on a tour or something.
But sometimes that also sucks because if there's no work, then I'm just not working and not making money.
So it's a little bit of a double-edged sword.
But I think for me, I really like what I've been able to get the point I've gotten to.
It's pretty comfortable.
That's awesome.
But I still think that's another thing, just doing it yourself, you get to choose financially how you want it to happen.
I get to choose, which I do, I do choose a lot.
I will put money into this because it's what I want to do.
Yeah, totally.
So you can go on tours.
You've been on a couple of tours this year so far, if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah, we did one big one in April, like two weeks.
Two weeks, you know, that's the biggest thing I've ever done.
Cool.
Where did it go in the US?
Yeah, we went to the Midwest, which was sweet.
We went as far as Minneapolis.
Nice.
It's pretty far west.
It's like the center of the country and came back.
It was really fun.
It was really great.
Cool.
Did you book it yourself or did you have help?
Yeah, I booked it myself.
We toured with like two other bands along the way.
They helped out with some things, but again, I'm doing it all.
Yeah.
It's pretty stressful.
Yeah.
How did you book it?
Did you just seek out bands on Instagram or in those towns?
A lot of it was friends, suggestions from other people that I know that I've met here.
A lot of people, other bands that I've talked to here, when I was telling them, I was like, oh, hit up this place, hit up this place.
And some of them really pulled through to be great spots.
Like you said, we toured with two other bands.
They helped out a little bit.
So it's like a grab bag.
There was only a couple of places where I was like a shot in the dark.
Like, I don't know anything about this place.
Have you ever checked out Do DIY?
Oh, Do DIY.
Yeah.
Is that still a thing?
I think so.
I don't know.
Every four years, it's like they're like, we can't do this anymore.
We're shutting down.
Funny enough, in college, we had a house show venue, DIY spot, at the house that we lived at and we had a listing on Do DIY.
Really?
What was your house called?
It was called Congress.
It was on Congress Street in Fitchburg, Fitchburg State.
Man, we met some sweet people.
Yeah.
That's so cool.
That's awesome.
I always wanted to be like a listing on Do DIY because-
Yeah, it was really fun.
I would love to read it, like what we wrote, you know?
Yeah.
There was a lot of film majors in our school, so we would film them and do some interviews and stuff.
Dang.
That's awesome.
That sounds like an oasis.
It was pretty fun.
Yeah.
That's where I found my love for DIY music.
Cool.
I kicked off from there.
Cool.
When was your first show ever and what did you play?
Yeah, ever.
That's...
Or your first band, if you can remember.
Okay, yeah.
In middle school, I had a band with three of my friends.
Cool.
I think we played a party.
We were in seventh grade.
We played a party or something like that.
Maybe that was the first.
Do you remember what it felt like?
Was it parents and friends or what did it look like?
What was the scene?
It was at the local VFW.
You know, like a VFW assembly.
Oh yeah.
Definitely.
Yeah.
It was like an American Legion or something like that.
And it was like a party that all of our seventh and eighth-grader friends went to.
That sounds pretty cool for a show.
It's definitely less cool than you're imagining right now.
I'll tell you that.
Were you playing guitar?
I was playing guitar, yeah.
No one was singing.
No one was singing.
Yeah.
No one had the balls yet.
Okay, cool.
Do you remember your first show at a bar or?
I guess when it became a real thing is when I got to college.
And, you know, after I mentioned house, Congress, you know, I met the guys that were living there before me, the older guys, and then, yeah, they had us play a show there, like the Halloween show or something.
That was the first time where I was like, oh, this is what it's actually like.
And you were in costume, obviously.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Me and Matt, who is like my best bud, who I flew in to do the drums.
We were a two-piece, we were Jay and Silent Bob.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Cool.
That's super fun.
And what did it...
Go ahead.
That's just like when I realized, the whole DIY thing wasn't like a movie scene.
It was real and it existed.
Yeah.
It's like, oh, this is what it's all about, I think.
Yeah.
What did it feel like playing that show?
Were you scared or were you more excited?
I was definitely really drunk, getting juvenile drunk, like 19 years old.
But it being really fun.
And I remember me and Matt walking down the street afterwards.
I don't know why I remember this so clearly, but I was like, man, if that was it, if that's the highest that this is ever going to go, like music or whatever, I was like, I'm all right with that because that was sick.
I'm glad I kept chasing it, though.
Yeah, yeah.
I know.
That's what I feel like music really is.
Just a bunch of musicians chasing the high of that first show.
Did you ever have a show that was like, whoa, this is bigger than I ever thought it would be?
because you've obviously played some pretty huge shows.
You've done a lot of things.
Yeah.
I mean, a lot with Gustav has felt that way.
But I remember the first time I felt that way really was I also, I had a duo.
It was called Melissa and paul back in the day.
And one time we got asked to play in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Doylestown.
Yeah.
And there's a record store there called Siren Records.
And I remember we both worked a lot.
You know, we were playing a lot, too.
Like four times a week, like all over the place.
Yeah, we were like working full time and playing a ton.
When was this?
Like what year?
2011 or 2012.
And our band was doing pretty good.
We were like getting a lot of shows.
And yeah, we thought we were just going to play a normal show.
And they were like, yeah, this politician is having some, I don't know, some fundraiser or something.
And Anthony Green is going to be there.
And we're like, I don't know who that is.
And they're like, Circus Survive.
And I was like, oh, that sounds familiar.
I don't know what that is.
And we show up, you know, late probably because we just worked all day and just in whatever.
And there's like a line wrapped around the building.
And we're like, what the heck is this?
And it was all sold out.
And the whole place was like stuffed with people.
Our minds were blown because it was like early.
I mean, Facebook was a thing, but it wasn't like the events and how many people are going to the events.
Like it was none of that.
Classic era.
Yeah, it wasn't.
We weren't there yet, really, where it was like you have to gauge every event ever to see like, oh, this is going to suck or this is going to be great.
So we literally had no idea.
And I remember playing that show, just being like, well, cool.
And yeah, a lot of those shows I remember just being like, okay, I'm happy with how it went.
But also that band caused me to have a bigger appetite, too.
A bigger appetite.
Yeah, more shows, more shows.
Yeah.
Yeah.
because we were on the same page a lot about goals, which I think is a huge thing for bands to do anything together.
Like you need to be on the same page, even if it's just, yeah, even if it's just like, you know, you're the leader of Balaclava.
And but you have these guys with you that you need to get on the same page somehow.
And like that, you need, you know, it's all, being in a band, you're like, oh, yeah, man, what jam?
It's gonna be awesome.
It's gonna be so fun.
But there's like all this back work behind it.
Yeah, there's so much more to it.
Yeah.
And like conversations and, you know, like I was curious, because you have this freelance situation going on.
Does your other, do your other band members have that too?
Or is it a problem where you like can't tour as much as you want to?
Yeah, it can be tough, sure, scheduling wise.
You know, everyone who's ever been in a band ever knows that.
You know, we got a lot of different types of jobs, some service industry, someone works in education.
So yeah, it can be tough.
You were saying like, getting everybody on the same page is really important.
I totally agree.
And I remember just recently, we were driving back from on our last tour, two-week tour.
We were driving back from Pittsburgh.
And I had never like been away or like, you know, touring on the road for more than like five days.
You know, a five-day tour is the most I've ever done before this.
And it was two weeks in at this point, we're driving home.
I totally like caught this huge bug of just like escapism.
Like it was the first time that's really happened for me.
I would like totally felt like on a different plane of existence and coming home.
Obviously, it's like really emotional.
We're driving home and James is driving and he kind of opened up the floor to everybody in the van.
He was like, hey, like, so it's like over, like we're going home.
Like, how's how's everyone feeling?
Like, any like comments, like complaints?
Like, you know, everyone is area in area out.
Like, he kind of just opened up the floor, right?
And everybody was like, when are we doing the next one?
When can we keep doing this?
You know, so that made me personally feel really good.
So to know that, you know, we're all on the same page.
Yeah.
Those conversations are huge and that's...
Yeah, it was really like a affirming moment.
It's kind of big.
I'll probably never forget that.
Yeah.
And, yeah, speaking of touring, and I know you all got your jobs and stuff, but do you know with that tour, did you guys make a little money?
Did you lose a ton of money?
Did you break even?
We didn't lose a ton.
And I think we came close to breaking even.
We probably lost a little bit.
We had big, big helps along the way.
One of them being I rented the van from a friend who charged an incredibly low rate compared to if I had to rent from like a company or something.
And we had a few shows that just kind of sucked, where we made like, you know, 40 bucks or whatever, 60 bucks.
And if we just had like a few more that were just like a little better, we would have been at least even, if not a little bit over.
Nice.
And is that including like, you guys getting any money at all?
Or is it just like the band is just paying for it and breaking even and you guys are just personally taking a hit for the two weeks?
Yeah.
So the, we've done two little tours before throughout New England and everyone personally took a big hit.
I remember one of our guys coming over to me like, I somehow spent $600 in the past couple of days.
Bro, what are you doing?
He's like, I don't even know how this happened.
But on this big one, I made sure that I just use like the band fund for like, all of our meals and stuff and I didn't want everyone paying too much.
Yeah.
That's really nice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
because you can look at it from like, the band perspective and then you look at the personal perspective.
You're like, we didn't lose any money and you're like, yeah, $600 in two days somehow.
Once you start crunching the numbers, you're like, oh, but.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It gets a little freaky.
But I mean, tax write-offs, I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just like, hang on to them receipts.
Even though everyone says you don't need the receipts, but everything I read, if you read the manual of Life of Taxes, it says you got to hold on to the actual receipts, but nobody gets actual receipts anymore.
So I don't know.
If it's just on your credit card statement or whatever it is.
I heard that too, but then you look into it and it's like, well, if you get audited and it says restaurant, it's just like, it's not very specific of what it exactly is.
But whatever, I don't think anyone's had any issues.
Until I get audited, it's not a problem.
No, yeah, exactly.
So that's really cool.
I love that.
You can definitely feel that with your band, that everyone's on the same energy page.
And even the way your whole band's rocking out super, super freaking hard the whole time.
I love that.
It makes it so fun to see and watch and listen to.
And I think that helps everyone in the crowd just let loose and feel really good.
Yeah, we're a bunch of freaks.
Yeah.
It's good.
It's good.
Yeah.
Thank you.
People are watching.
You got to entertain the people, right?
And I bet it's, for me also, it's more fun to be rocking out than to just stand.
But some people, of course, they like to just stand there too.
And I understand the shoe gaze people, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They like part of the genre, I guess.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right, I don't have anything clever to say this week, but all I gotta say is thank you to Sari Cables for sponsoring today's episode.
I've been using the crap out of my Sari Cables on the Tea Eater Tour.
I have this really long one that I put on my base, and I've been like walking around the stage like a free range chicken or something.
I'm just running around, walking all over the place.
It's been awesome and great.
They haven't failed me.
Knock on wood, they really haven't failed me.
So check them out, saricables.com.
There's these awesome, colorful cables made in LA with good people.
And yeah, they've been really high quality cables.
They've been working great.
So thank you Sari Cables for sponsoring today's episode.
I saw that you're on a tape label based out of Orlando.
Yeah.
How did that happen?
And what's the deal?
Yeah, I just saw like, you know, like minded bands get put out on that label.
People that I know just for the internet and stuff.
And when I finished up this EP, this quarter inch almanac, you know, I shopped it around, and did the whole thing, wrote up the nice email that I sent to everybody.
But Jordan of Godless America, he did the tapes in Orlando.
He was really cool, really into it.
So did like a really cool thing.
Gave us a good cool deal.
So cool.
Did he pay for everything?
Or did you like split the cost?
Or gave us half for free.
Oh, that's awesome.
And then I could buy however many more I wanted at that cost.
So I bought, I ended up with like 75 or 80 tapes, I think, out of the 100 that were made.
Awesome.
That was like the first time that like anything like that has ever happened with me in music.
So that was like an interesting thing to navigate.
Yeah.
A lot of no answers and stuff, but a lot of people replied and being like, you know, it's cool to just like have a conversation.
Okay, like this is cool, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
How many labels, how many labels?
Yeah.
How many do you think you hit up?
I don't know.
Maybe like 15 or something.
Okay, nice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
First time like navigating that whole side of being a musician and doing that whole thing.
Just interesting.
The office job side.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
We're just like the selling yourself side.
Yeah.
Get comfortable with that.
And just get comfortable with rejection.
I think I've learned to just, you just got to be confident.
Got to be confident that what you have is good and don't be afraid to just like say what you think about it.
Like, hey, I think this is really good.
And this is why.
If you don't think it is, that's cool.
That's fine.
You got to be cool with rejection too.
That's another huge thing about this.
You can't get discouraged.
You just got to keep going.
Just put your head down.
Yeah.
Is that something new that you're you're good at now?
Or have you been basically like that?
Is that like a skill of yours that you've always had?
Yeah, I think so.
I think personally, I've like never really had a problem with that.
Per se, you know, I don't really.
Like get to like caught up on like what other people would think of me, stuff like that.
I think I'm pretty good like that.
And I owe it to my sister a lot of the times.
Yeah, we talk about this all the time.
She was like the worst person ever to me, you know, for a long time when I was growing up, you know what I mean?
Like I was a piece of shit growing up.
I was a little kid.
We were like going through a lot of family stuff.
So like we're all dealing with it in our own ways, you know.
And I was like a little rascal and she was just like, we hated each other, right?
We butted heads like for a lot of our lives.
And she would come down on me with the hammer like all the time, just like being like really like, you know, classic like sister, like, I don't want to call it bullying, but you know, just like family, just like, you know.
And now that we're older, like we're really close.
And I always like owe it to her that like how I am today, because I'm like, oh, like, no one can really get under my skin ever anymore, because my sister has given it to me so bad that like, none of this even compares to, you know, what I've had.
We call it like, you know, the, the, the family trauma that, that molds you into the person you are today.
Oh my goodness.
Me and my sister are super close.
I love her a lot, you know, but it's funny.
The greatest gift.
Yeah, right.
It's funny that I'm the youngest too, so she's older than me.
It's just funny how like we can realize what that has done to us now.
Yeah.
She's like apologized profusely for like what she's done.
You know, it's funny.
We laugh at about it now, you know, locking me out of the house and stuff like that when I get home from school and stuff.
Why are your older sisters the worst?
My oldest was, I'm the youngest too.
And my the oldest, she was just like, she wasn't that bad, but the oldest, she one time she she trapped me down on the ground, put her hand over right, you know, my hands over my head.
Like she was going to tickle me.
And then she would go to spit and it would like hang down and then she would suck it up and then hang down.
And then one time it didn't suck back up and it just went right on my face.
And I was like, I just cried for like an hour, you know?
Yeah, yeah, stuff like that.
But it sounds like your sister really, really did it for you.
Yeah, you know, again, we were all, we were going through like a tough time in the family.
Not crazy, but you know, we're all dealing with it in different ways.
Yeah.
So I don't fault it for anything.
Yeah.
Did music help you at all through any of that stuff?
Or was there a moment?
When did you pick up a guitar?
Well, that's the thing.
At that point, no.
Music was not in my life.
because I must have been young like in middle school or something.
But middle school is when I did start to play guitar.
Was that also a Christmas gift or how did you get your hands on a guitar?
No, I just wanted to play and it was like guitar hero that made me want to play guitar.
I feel like a lot of people don't want to admit that because for whatever reason.
But I was really into video games as a kid and playing that and it just felt really cool to do it.
And then that is what was the big gateway into a lot of things.
I liked music before that though.
I remember getting my first iPod when I was a kid.
Nice.
On Christmas and then I just plugged it into my brother's iTunes and then just like dragged like every album onto my iPod.
Wait, you stole his albums from his iTunes?
Yeah.
Well, he was like, here's what you do with this.
Just drag everything you think looks cool into this and then.
Was it all stuff that he downloaded?
Yeah, he pirated a lot of it, I'm sure.
I learned that later on, what the Pirate Bay was.
What was your favorite album that you dragged over?
Do you remember?
I don't know.
It's a good question.
I liked Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine when I was really young.
And Wolfmother, remember Wolfmother?
Yeah, Wolfmother is on my iPod that stopped working this year.
But yeah, good band.
That first record is still killer.
I don't care what anyone says.
I remember that being a big one, stuff like that.
Maybe some like Pearl Jam, obviously like Nirvana and stuff like that.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Okay, so you got into it through Guitar Hero.
There's a band, I gotta tell you this, so you don't feel so alone.
A band of brothers from Chicago called Avantis, I think, or Avantis, I don't know how you say it.
And they were playing video games together and they got into, I guess it's, what is it?
Rock band?
Rock band, yeah.
Yeah, and then they all started playing and then they realized they were pretty good and they were like, let's just do this and they're awesome.
That's great.
They're really awesome.
Yeah, so that worked.
Whatever opens the door, you know?
Yeah.
And I never had musical family members.
Interesting.
It wasn't really something that I was born into, which I think happens for a lot of musicians, just brought up onto it.
It was like a really big self-discovery thing for me.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
And when you picked up guitar, was it hard for you?
Like, how did you learn your first chords?
What did you do?
I took lessons.
Yeah, I took lessons.
Shout out paul, Doolittle of Hanover Mass.
He's my teacher.
Awesome.
Yeah.
And I was like, always been like a terrible student.
And whenever I would like try and learn, you know, he would give me the thing to learn, I was like, never do it.
And I'd pick up the guitar and just like make up my own things.
So I was like a pretty, pretty bad musical student.
Oh, still am.
I can't learn songs.
It's really hard for me to like look it up and learn it.
I just get distracted.
Did you just do something though with 95 Bowls or something?
A cover set, a birthday cover set thing.
So you had to figure some cover out?
Yeah, we had one practice and like, you know, we all learned it.
Thankfully, Angus, our bassist, is like a computer brain because he was in like a karaoke band for years up in Vermont.
Wow.
So he can just like play anything.
I'm a little better at it now.
Okay.
What covers did you do?
Just like a bunch of karaoke hits.
Really?
Like My Own Worst Enemy by Lit.
There was a-
I didn't know that one.
And you would know it if you heard it.
Okay.
There was like an Avril Lavigne song.
Teenage Dirtbag.
How many songs did you have to learn?
I don't know.
We just like seven or something like that.
Wow.
I will survive.
I really stumbled my way through, but it was fun.
Okay.
Cool.
That's awesome.
Do you feel like you learned anything from learning those songs?
Like, did you learn any new chords or anything interesting?
Yeah.
I think I always do.
That sounds fun.
I just don't do it a lot.
I think that is something I could be better at, like learning other things.
Yeah.
But it takes time and then it takes time away for you just making up cool songs.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Well, I love to hear all that because, okay, so you had lessons and it hurts like hell when you first start guitar.
I don't know if you remember that part.
I don't remember that.
Really?
Yeah, I don't really remember.
Like your fingers, right?
Yeah.
You don't remember that.
I don't have any specific memory.
I'm sure it was real, but.
Yeah.
Did you start on electric or acoustic?
Electric guitar, yeah.
Okay.
That's why.
When you start an acoustic, it's like excruciating.
because it's like heavier gauge.
It's harder to play.
Yeah.
It's like way harder.
So that's probably why.
That's great.
Is that how you started on acoustic guitar?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Acoustic.
How old were you?
I think like 13 or 14 years old.
I think I was about 12, 13.
Yeah.
Sixth grade, however old you are in sixth grade.
Nice.
Yeah.
I was in maybe eighth grade.
So I don't know what age that is.
But shout out to Jason Burke, who lent me his acoustic guitar until I learned everything I wanted to learn on it.
Nice.
Shout out Jason.
Yeah.
It was like a year.
And I kept trying to give it back to him because I was like, it was his only guitar.
And I was like, this is your only guitar.
And I was becoming obsessed with guitar.
And I was like, I can't keep this guitar from this guy.
And he was like, no, no, no, just learn, just learn.
I see how much you want to learn, just learn.
And eventually I gave it back to him.
And I was before my 16th birthday, because then my mom gave me my first electric for my 16th birthday.
What did you get?
A Squier Strat?
No, I got a J.
Reynolds, which is a Strat knockoff, which I still play to this day.
I didn't play it.
Yeah.
I didn't play it the other day because it needs a little love, but it's like my favorite guitar.
And I've tried so hard to play different guitars.
And yeah, it's an amazing little cheap guitar, but it's wired differently than a Strat.
So it drives me crazy when I play a Strat because I can't get it to sound like how I want it to sound.
What's different about it?
The tones, like on a Strat, for some reason, I could only get everything to sound like more bassy, like all the strings from low E to high E, or it's like super treble-y.
But on my Jay Reynolds guitar, I can get like a tuby, low sounding bass and a like zingy high at the same time.
And I can't find that in any other guitar.
It's like drives me up a wall.
It's like a defect or something that you just like are in love with though, you know?
Yeah, exactly.
It's like a cheap guitar, right?
Yeah, yeah.
So it's like hard to mimic or something.
I don't know.
But anyway, I just I love playing that guitar.
And yeah, I've tried other guitars.
It's just not the same.
Yeah, I had that feeling.
Yeah.
How many guitars do you have?
I don't know.
Someone asked me this the other day.
I only have like three that I actually play.
I have a few other ones that are in like various states of unplayable-ness.
I have like a Dan Electro that I really like.
I have like a shitty like the Japanese at Tiesco guitars.
Okay.
Yeah.
And then I have a really cool guitar that my uncle made.
That's like kind of like one of a kind thing that I use for everything.
That's what I play like.
That's my guitar.
Wow.
That's awesome.
Does he play guitar or he just learn how to make guitars?
He's a bassist and usually makes basses, but he's not much of a musician himself.
He just loves.
He could play obviously, but like he's more about the craft of making one.
He's a luthier, you know.
Yeah.
Have you ever thought about making your own?
I'd love to do it one day.
I think I could do it.
Yeah.
I mean, you work with wood and stuff.
Yeah.
I know that side of the skill.
Yeah.
That's cool.
I think it will one day.
Yeah.
You said your first show with Balaclava was two years ago.
It was August 26th, 2022.
Okay.
Where was it?
Gold Sounds.
Oh, nice.
Who played that show?
Do you remember?
Who played?
Yeah.
Okay.
My friend Sumner opened up the show.
Sumner is who I bought the Tascam off of.
I met him on Craigslist through buying that.
He's like one of my best friends now.
I would say I would take a bullet for him.
Wow.
He's a great man.
I think it was this band Dog Lips from New Hampshire and then this other band Libby Quinn.
Okay.
Who Steve, our drummer now, drummed for back then.
It's the first time I met them.
Cool.
And was that your first show in New York?
Since moving to New York, yeah.
Since moving to New York.
Okay.
So you played with your college band in New York?
Once.
Yeah.
It's terrible.
Do you remember Much Moors?
Yeah.
Yes.
Need I say more, you know?
Yeah.
You don't need to say much more.
Yes.
I do know Much Moors.
It's really funny.
It's actually a really fancy place right now.
It's funny.
I have no idea where it is geographically in the city.
because when I was here, I had no idea where I was in the first place.
Yes.
It's in Williamsburg.
That's what I thought.
Yeah.
What is it now?
Is it still Much Moors?
It's still Much Moors, but it's super fancy.
It's like, I don't know, like $13, $16, whatever, dollar glass of wine and like little tiny appetizers and...
Really turning it over.
Yeah.
It's not a venue anymore.
It's just like a fancy place.
So it's really funny.
It is funny.
So you had that experience, which I feel like is a pretty classic, like first show in New York experience, where it just sucks and you're like, what the hell?
How is the Gold Sound show?
Was it good?
Were there people there?
Yeah, it felt really good.
And that was like the first...
That was, yeah, I don't know how to explain it, you know?
It was like reintroducing myself to the other side of me that I had kind of forgotten about for a little bit.
That I did kind of give up for a minute since moving to New York.
because, you know, I had the band in Massachusetts, but then I decided to move here for a reason and then kind of gave up music for a minute.
But it was always in me, you know?
It was, you know, it was innately in you.
And then once I, you know, started writing the songs and forming the band, and then, you know, we finally played our show, it was just like, oh shit.
Like I'm, you know, I'm back.
I'm returned to what I, you know, I know and love.
It was a big moment.
It was a big moment.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that must have felt like amazing.
Yeah, it did.
It was definitely a big moment.
And what do you want to do with Balaclava?
Like, what's your goal?
Do you want to just, like, keep taking off or, you know, do you want to get to a point where you're touring all the time?
Or do you like, you know, where you're at, kind of just being comfortable and doing tours here and there?
What's your idea if you have one?
You know, as much as I can do, I never want to stop doing this.
I never want to stop seeing what's in front of me and, like, putting goals in front of me.
It's like never want to stop.
So, it's hard to say, like, what the goal would be because it's, like, infinite.
Like, I would...
I just want to keep going until it cannot happen anymore.
That's awesome.
Keep writing music, keep putting it out, keep touring, keep playing shows, put out more stuff, get on the label or something, and see what happens.
You just got to just keep doing it until the next thing happens.
Cool.
And do you have any regrets at all about like when you stop playing music for a while?
Do you regret that?
Or is there anything that you wish you'd done differently up into this point?
Or are you pretty happy with where things are right now?
That's an interesting question.
I think regret is a big word.
I don't regret the time I had moving to New York and not doing music.
I think that had its own thing in my life.
What I think I might regret is not spending my time in the pandemic a little bit more, like actively, with music at least.
I look back at that time just sitting around and be like, oh, I could have been writing a hundred songs, you know?
That's maybe a regret is not just using that time a little bit more carefully.
Yeah.
because we'll never get that back, you know?
Hopefully.
I know, yeah, hopefully.
Yeah, I know, I totally feel that.
I'm sure there's a bunch of people who also feel that way.
because there seemed to be this wave of people who were learning every skill under the sun and, you know, baking sourdough breads every day and like writing 5,000 songs and painting and doing this.
I even know someone who took their stimulus money and like put a down payment on a house.
And I was like, dang, you know, people stuffed up their retirement funds.
And I'm no one knew what was going on.
So it's hard to have foresight.
Yeah.
But maybe that maybe that's a regret is not just not doing this sooner and I'm getting older, just turned 29.
So I feel like I wish I just was like two years younger where I am right now.
So I kind of have that thought sometimes.
I guess it's like the two years of like the pandemic.
I know.
I was just going to say that there was like a erase button on those two years.
Yeah.
So trying to do a lot of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I think having time away from music, even though it's hard and weird, I think it is an important part of being a musician sometimes.
because when you're on the grind of it, it's like you're always on.
You always have some emails to check.
You always are thinking of your next release, your next tour, whatever.
You're always on and on.
And then if you could just take a little breather from that for a minute, I think it's helpful for getting that part of yourself to just like hit the reset button and then you're ready to take on the world again, which sounds exactly like what happened when you stepped in the gold sands on that fateful night.
Yeah.
It's funny though, because what I was doing before was never half as serious as it is now.
I've learned like what it means to be a different kind of band now after doing Balaclava stuff.
Well, what do you mean by that?
Just elaborate a little bit.
You know, I wish I kind of took it a little bit more serious when I was in college and doing our thing, but we didn't know.
We didn't know how to do it.
And we weren't really in so much of a community to see everyone else doing it around us to kind of get influence on what we should be doing, which is, I think, what happened to me in New York.
I would see all my peers being like, wait a minute, they're actually making it work and doing it.
And I was just talking to that guy in the bar.
And now he's going on this big tour.
That's sick.
That was something new to my brain.
And I didn't have that going to some random ass state school in Central Massachusetts, you know?
I wasn't in the city.
I wasn't in Boston.
I didn't have this group of people like doing the thing around me.
So I think coming to New York made me realize like, oh, you just like, you just have to do it.
And just like put your head down and do it if you want it to happen.
So that was another like big kind of moment for me.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's awesome.
It is huge when you have those people around you that you're kind of seeing a path into.
It's just even bigger, better ideas.
Or when you see your friend doing it, or that guy you're just talking to, it's like, whoa, OK, I could do that, too.
Yeah.
I think that's just New York, too, just like the New York energy.
Everyone's trying to do it.
Everyone's trying to make it.
So it's intoxicating.
Yeah.
Is there anything with music since you've been taking it more seriously that's kind of like.
Shocked you.
Shock's a strong word, but that's been different than what you were expecting, diving into it, put another way.
The dream versus the reality of doing things.
Like, is there anything that you've been getting into where you're like, oh wow, we just played this dream show and it's so much different than what I thought it was gonna be?
Or like, you know, anything like that.
If anything comes to mind.
Nothing really comes to mind because I feel like I haven't crossed that threshold yet.
You know, we're still like, I'm not like, I've like made it in any way.
You know, I haven't like found crazy success.
I'm still like looking up and a lot of people talk about, you know, not like selling out, but like, you know, once you like cross a line, it becomes a little bit more like, you know, like, maybe like sterilized or something.
Or like, you know, it's not about the money until it can be about the money.
I guess like that would be a thing that would maybe like shock me.
Like when you can start like making money from it, like that would be like a weird thing.
So nothing like nothing, it's still, you know, the grind set that I imagined at this point.
The grind set.
How did I never hear that before?
Is that your word or have you heard that before?
I don't think so.
The grind set.
I'm sure I've heard that.
Pretty good.
Like an album name.
Grind set.
Yeah.
No, it's funny because from my perspective, it's like, I think partly why I wanted to talk to people from all different levels and even though you're like, you know, I'm not successful in that way, but like to me, you are in a lot of ways.
Like you have an awesome band that is playing awesome shows in the city.
People are like getting down at your shows.
That's like the coolest thing.
Like I think it's awesome when people just start raging at your shows.
It's a big reward.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's and it's I don't know, it's showing you that something's working, you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And like you just keep growing that and growing that.
And like, I don't know, the more you could keep doing it by yourself, in my opinion, the better.
You know, I wanted to talk to you too, because I know you're doing like the DIY tours.
And the more I talk to the people who are doing in the grind set, of doing the DIY tours, it's like, I feel like everything is like the same amount of money in the end.
It's like you're just spending more as a bigger band and then, but you're maybe breaking even mostly losing money.
I think I'm lucky that I do have a skill like a like a trade skill.
Yeah.
Carpentry, like I can do that kind of whenever, wherever.
Yeah.
So I do feel thankful for that, you know, I think it helps.
For sure.
That's huge.
Like, that's what I said in the beginning.
I was like, that's a good way to do it.
because you're just making all the choices now based on what you want to do.
And then, yeah.
All right.
Well, thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode.
I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
And I look forward to next week when another one will be out.
