The Head and the Heart stops by to chat new music, new possible album name and how they settle decision making within the band ️
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00:00Well, well, well, welcome in to the Odyssey sound space of the Hard Rock Hotel in New
00:07York with the Head and the Heart.
00:10Hi, kids.
00:11Welcome in.
00:12Hello, hello.
00:13Thanks for having us.
00:14Proper pronunciation.
00:15Fah-t.
00:16Fah-t.
00:17Fah-t.
00:18Fah-t.
00:19Fah-t.
00:20Fah-t.
00:21We go by Fah-t.
00:22And these rock dots over the A, I think, for Fah-t.
00:25Most exciting time for a band's existence right now.
00:28It's got to be, right?
00:29Oh, yeah.
00:30All the socials, do-it-yourself.
00:31We love it.
00:32What could be worse?
00:35But this is when it all comes to fruition, like it all starts blossoming and turns into
00:40a beautiful flower.
00:41Oh, I see what you mean.
00:43Yeah.
00:44Yeah.
00:45It is a great time.
00:46Yeah.
00:47I'm in with me.
00:48I'm in right now with me.
00:49What is the, for a new song, a new album, what is the most exciting part of this whole
00:53process for you guys?
00:55Truthfully, this is really, this is like the beginning of the exciting parts.
00:58You know, we've done a lot of, um, finishing up the album is like one of the hardest parts,
01:06you know?
01:07Cause it's like, we're all like super, Oh, it's cool.
01:10It's like, we all have ideas within you.
01:12Every, somebody has to like, you know, the ideas have to come to a close and we, you
01:15got to start voting and it gets tricky.
01:17We've, we've gone through that part, luckily.
01:21And so honestly, this is kind of the beginning of the fun part, taking it out into the world
01:24and people hear it and you just said something interesting, you voting.
01:29On everything, everything, we're, we're a super democratic band, so, uh, we're voting
01:35on like album art, song sequence, lunch, lunch, snare drum sound at this specific timestamp
01:44on the song.
01:45It's actually true for everything.
01:47We're heavily involved in every aspect, making a record, but this is this, I mean, if this
01:53is Supreme court, you need another member.
01:55I mean, so who gets the second vote?
01:57Who gets the tie breaking votes?
01:58Somebody, Eric, Eric, my man, I feel like, I feel like if it's that power, I feel like
02:03if it's split three, three, we usually go to label management.
02:07Really?
02:08We have, we have, um, we just started working with this new label called Verve, um, for
02:12us and the two, uh, and our, um, women over there who we work with are so incredible.
02:18They're just great resources and really honest and creative collaborators.
02:23So that's been, how often does it become three to three?
02:27Quite often, actually.
02:28Really?
02:29Yeah.
02:30We usually just shut the government down for about a week when that happens.
02:33Just try it again.
02:34Is it like survivor where you have, you have like a click, what do they call it?
02:37Their own survivor alliances, but they always fall apart at the last minute.
02:44He kept getting naked and I just had to stop.
02:47That's the ultimate power move is, Oh, you're going to zoom it.
02:49Let's go.
02:50All right, let's go.
02:51Let's go.
02:52You want to do this call?
02:53Let's go.
02:54All right.
02:55So the, uh, the new, so by the way, the, um, am I wrong?
02:57You assume there's, there's no official album title or you have it, you just haven't set
03:00it.
03:01We're sitting on it.
03:02That's the name of it.
03:03No, this album has gotten weird.
03:06His band has really turned into hold on.
03:09Should we vote on that?
03:10I mean, we're in, we're all in.
03:13You got it.
03:14Everything.
03:15So you got a date yet.
03:16You have a, you're ready for next year.
03:17Okay.
03:18That's all we can say right now.
03:1925 is the date.
03:21Okay.
03:22Uh, let's talk about arrow.
03:23The new song.
03:24Um, what I saw on Twitter.
03:27You guys are such a wonderful social media of, I mean, where I feel like we're all the
03:31same age.
03:32How are we good at social media?
03:33But you guys are great at it.
03:35And you guys, uh, did the arrow video.
03:39You said, what's your favorite part of the arrow video?
03:41What's your favorite part of the arrow video?
03:43We had the idea to do it this summer when we actually, when we were in New York city
03:47the last time, which was a couple of months ago, um, we were on tour at the time and we
03:51were like, Oh, you know, we should be documenting this and like getting this on, on, on camera
03:56and just the back behind the scenes footage of us living our lives and all of that.
04:01And so we brought one of our friends out and we've, um, who's an amazing, um, filmmaker
04:05named Chris Cunningham who ended up doing the amazing edit that is now the official
04:09video.
04:10And he used that with other footage taken by British Bridget Craig, who was our tour
04:14photographer, um, slash documentary.
04:16And it was with us for the last couple of years.
04:19And so the two of them are the Chris kind of assembled this amazing little montage of
04:24life on the road, which was always kind of the best way for us to assemble a music video
04:28that made any sense.
04:29Cause um, often when you get back into that voting thing, if it's some kind of conceptual
04:33thing, it becomes really like a whole nother ball game trying to come up with an idea that
04:37makes sense.
04:38Yeah.
04:39I mean, look, the favorite, my favorite part of the, you didn't ask me, uh, my favorite
04:42part of the video is, uh, when I get to watch the crew move stuff on and off the stage,
04:48I love it.
04:49I love that part of this whole process.
04:51And I was like, Joey, Tim, there are bugs.
04:56The reason why I like this video is too, is it's indicative of a lot of things that's
05:00had in the heart.
05:01It's very honest, vulnerable.
05:04You peel the layers back and you see pretty much the exposed skin.
05:08That's pretty much the band though.
05:09I think the best part about making the video was not making a video, which is like, we're
05:13going to go play shows, be on tour and we're going to have somebody come out and film it
05:17and not over realize it or try to make something out of, you know, is that somehow indicative
05:24of how you write songs to, I think on this record, you know, it felt like we sort of
05:28peeled back the layers, like you were saying, where, um, I think it was really intentional
05:33to a strip back production, but also do it live in a room.
05:37We, you know, we worked for about a year in Richmond and in Seattle, um, just for weeks
05:42at a time, you know, usually like a week at a time and just sat in a room and wrote songs.
05:47And we honestly hadn't done that in a long time.
05:49So it felt good to kind of capture that, um, the chemistry that we have together.
05:54And I think the video is kind of a reflection of that as well.
05:57When somebody brings something as vulnerable as some of these lines, you know, the thing
06:00I love about had in the heart is one of the lines, feeling something equals being alive,
06:04essentially feeling something, it was being alive, which is so indicative of this band.
06:08Right.
06:09And, um, when somebody brings something that's that vulnerable to the table, who around you
06:14goes, Whoa, what is going on with you?
06:19How did you get that?
06:20I feel like we're used to it at this point.
06:24So it's, it's never comes off as a big shock, you know, I think the more vulnerable we hear
06:30like from songwriters, the more, yeah, exactly.
06:33Yeah, totally.
06:34Like it, when you can latch onto something lyrically, it gives you like a springboard
06:39musically to, from a drum perspective, drummer's perspective, you know, if I hear something
06:44that excites me, it gives me the energy to like, follow that thread, you know?
06:48I feel like the, I was gonna say like, I feel like the more heavy, the lyric, the less it
06:55gets talked about.
06:57Like if something comes in and it's like, Oh, like hits you, then there's no conversation
07:03that needs to be, that needs to happen.
07:05Um, I feel like sometimes when there's like a vague lyric and everyone's like, well, I
07:08think this and I think that, but when something comes in super heavy,
07:14no one needs to talk about it.
07:15It's just, it hits.
07:16Yeah.
07:17And you kind of just respect it.
07:18You don't try to change any lyric like that.
07:20If you know it's something deep or heavy, you let it be what it is and, um, move forward
07:24and just try to make the song as good as possible.
07:28I was going to make a joke about voting, but everybody's saying something so, it's so powerful
07:31that I don't want to mess it up.
07:32And it's true.
07:33I agree with everything.
07:34When it comes to Arrow and you can expand this to the new album called, uh, sitting
07:40on it.
07:41Um, I finished the sentence when I hear blank, the album Arrow, I want people to feel what
07:47free joy.
07:52I was just up in the Catskills literally up until this morning, um, driving around listening
07:56to the, we have the master, you know, we got the whole album sequence mastered and I was
08:01driving around with my, my, my in-laws.
08:03Um, and so there was like a variation of, of gender and age and we were driving around.
08:09Um, you know, the leaves are changing up there and it's beautiful and it just works
08:13so well.
08:14Just, it just feels good.
08:15It's just a field.
08:16I don't know.
08:17There's no way to sum that up really, but, um, it felt good.
08:21Like sometimes you play something for your in-laws or your own parents or your own family
08:25and you're like, let's just skip this one.
08:27Let's skip this one.
08:28Let's go.
08:29Let's come back to that one.
08:30This one just flowed.
08:31Like from start to finish.
08:32I was just so proud of the record.
08:33Um, and I felt proud to be bopping along like upfront and I had no, there was no moment
08:38where I was just kind of like, we'll get through this one, just three more minutes.
08:42Um, the whole thing felt great.
08:43I also love how you treat your in-laws like the kid on the Christmas story or right down
08:49there, kid.
08:52So when, um, you're riding around with the in-laws and a multitude of, uh, demographics,
08:58ages, sex, et cetera, experiences, um, what are you, how are you listening to it?
09:06You're listening to it to master it.
09:08They're listening to it to be like, yeah, this is good.
09:11Yeah.
09:12Well, I've, I've known them quite a while now and I kind of know what they're all going
09:15through at different stages of their lives and different issues that are going on in
09:20or around their marriages or their kids are going to college or they're, it's my niece
09:26and she's three.
09:27Like, so I'm listening through their, through their lens, which is my favorite way of listening
09:31to music.
09:32I like to show songs that are in process usually with family members and friends, because
09:37I kind of tend to know what they're going through.
09:39And so I want to know how the hell is this, what does this message mean coming from their
09:42perspective and it, it either sticks or it doesn't.
09:45I just feel like it's a good barometer.
09:46When you guys say that you did this voting thing.
09:49Uh, I also read, you said this is 180 degrees in which we are, we wanted to go or something
09:54to that effect.
09:55Right.
09:56Uh, so this has always been the dynamic.
09:57It's always been a democratic process.
10:00So what is the one 80 that you wanted to go in originally and now you're not, I don't,
10:07I think this is exactly where we wanted to go.
10:09I think it, the one 80 is like you find yourself going down roads musically or, you know, you,
10:16you're listening to other people or other forces come into a band's creation over the
10:20life of the band.
10:21Right.
10:22Like Eric, like Eric, Eric again, um, he's a, he's a good egg, Eric.
10:28Um, and you sort of have to like start, you know, you like expand your scope of what the
10:33band could be.
10:34But on this record, it feels like we were like, let's bring it back to the six of us
10:38and let's self produce again, which we haven't done since the second record.
10:42Let's be still.
10:43So there was an intentional, uh, way of going about making this album where it was like,
10:47let's really focus on the six of our ideas and what the culmination of that is.
10:51And that's why I think we're super proud of, I think the one 80 was like a one 80 from
10:56where we could have ended up, but we kind of pulled it back around to where we were
10:59to start this band and where we think our strengths are.
11:02Yeah.
11:03Let's be still, still perfect.
11:04Uh, I mean, talk about something that's lasted forever and still never, never not delivers
11:10something on this album that you hope one thing in particular just remains 15 years
11:15later, 20 years later that you're like, Oh, that still hits.
11:17Uh, yeah.
11:18The whole thing.
11:19Okay.
11:20Yeah.
11:21I mean, honestly, like we really did, I think we experimented so much over the years and
11:27that was a lot of fun, but I think one thing we were also doing was like filling voids
11:32of like, just not necessarily being as vulnerable around one another because you, you know,
11:39this becomes a business, it becomes a touring business, an entity that makes money that
11:43exhausts you.
11:44And it's not so easy to always want to be completely vulnerable and open around all
11:48six people.
11:49And I think we went through, you know, times where we were making music.
11:53I think it was still good music, but, um, it almost, we thought it needed layers to
11:59sort of mask like something, I don't know, I'm kind of spitballing here, but these songs
12:04just feel so, um, pure that there's very little production on them.
12:09And so I think it just has a more timeless, it feels less contemporary and just more immediate
12:15to me.
12:16How did it change through the dynamic?
12:17How did it become more vulnerable for everybody?
12:20We just started talking again, you know, and like, you know, group therapy, basically this
12:25without microphones.
12:26If I'm the therapist, you are in big trouble, you're a screwed pal.
12:32Well, the other thing that we did that didn't get mentioned is that we literally started
12:36this record with no label.
12:38We were, we were kind of, we were in the middle of, we were in this sort of limbo land, which
12:43felt like we had ultimate freedom because there was no one asking us to make a record.
12:47We were just going and starting it on our own.
12:49There was no, uh, outside forces asking us to, you know, deliver anything, you know what
12:54I mean?
12:55So at the end of the day, the sessions were driven by just like, what, what feels good
12:59right now?
13:00Like, what are you playing?
13:01That sounds cool.
13:02What if I did this to that?
13:03You know what I mean?
13:04We just started like listening to each other and all the songs, pretty much all the songs
13:06on the record are like the instrumentation that you hear is literally from the day it
13:11was conceived.
13:12And so the performances are super fresh and haven't been messed with at all.
13:17You know what I mean?
13:18And so the only kind of like overdubbing that happened was like, you know, lyrical stuff,
13:21you know, once the song was kind of fleshed out a little bit more on most of the songs,
13:24but instrumentally, most of, most of it is like very fresh and spontaneous from that
13:30initial spark.
13:31So it sounds free too.
13:32Yeah.
13:33Sounds a bit freedom.
13:34A little bit of freedom.
13:35That's what I would say.
13:36Like in 15 years, like I want people to take that away from the South, you know, like I'm
13:40super happy with the fact that it feels so lively and spontaneous.
13:45And we wrote songs in ways that we've never written before, like sitting in a room and
13:49literally getting a song in one take together.
13:52And that's, that to me was the memory that I'll have in 15 years.
13:57Yeah.
13:58That's beautiful.
13:59You talk about, you talk about group therapy.
14:00How do we individually take care of our own mental spaces and health golf, fast cars,
14:10Yeah.
14:11We all have our, we all have our own ways of doing that, you know, but we did a great
14:14job the last few years, especially gambling addiction, charity.
14:18That's there's a very healthy outlet for charity.
14:20That's a flexing, hard rock, souvenirs, do you lean on each other though?
14:25Do you have like a, a, who's the emergency contact?
14:29You're calling each other.
14:30Like if something, Eric, Eric, again, every time speaking of, uh, uh, monument, uh, monument
14:40does mementos from the hard rock.
14:42You walk in, you see Beyonce's pants here.
14:44It's a weird thing.
14:45What is the, the thing that fought is putting in the hard rock.
14:49If you had to walk in, what, what memorabilia item, what piece is going in sheet mask from
14:55the first hanging in my rec room right now.
14:58What?
14:59That's where it is.
15:00Yeah, man.
15:01It is tattered, but it's, it's the sheet mask.
15:04Wow.
15:05Usually my parents are cleaning out their house and they just gave me the coat from
15:10the front cover from the front cover.
15:12Oh yeah.
15:13Maybe, maybe there's a glass case.
15:14Yeah.
15:15Maybe the sheet mask is hanging right next to the jacket, these pants, Eric, can we do
15:20that?
15:21Let's make that happen.
15:22Eric.
15:23I'm more worried about what he's doing in this, uh, shed of his, what is, how is, what
15:27was wrong in this?
15:28Just making hits, just hit after hit.
15:31Oh man.
15:32What am I not doing in that rec room?
15:34The final thing is you, uh, you guys, uh, famously, I'm interested in this because I
15:39am a product of Richmond, Virginia, um, and the DMV, uh, doing half of it in Richmond
15:46and the other half in Seattle.
15:47I want to hear the head and the heart guar collaboration guys, come on, please go to
15:54the guar bar and make something happen.
15:56Kids.
15:57Penguin attack is a great song.
15:58That is a great song.
15:59I will go on record at saying it.
16:01I would love to cover it next time we're in Richmond.
16:05I'll play it.
16:06I'll play it for you.
16:07It's, it's a smash hit.
16:08I'm not allowed to go.
16:09Our bar though.
16:10So live sessions there at war bar, uh, live murders probably is.
16:16I mean, it feels, it feels like the greatest, like Chili's I've ever been in, you know what
16:21I mean?
16:22A lot of goofy stuff on the walls and it feels like, you know, right in blood splatters on
16:26the floor.
16:27And music.
16:28Hello.
16:29I'm looking at him.
16:30Come on guys.
16:31Give us our idea.
16:32Love that idea.
16:33Uh, the head and the heart.
16:34Uh, the odyssey sounds phase.
16:35Thanks for joining us.
16:36Yeah.
16:37Yeah.
16:38Yeah.
16:39Yeah.
16:40Yeah.
16:41Yeah.
16:42Yeah.
16:43Yeah.
16:44Yeah.
16:45Yeah.
16:46Yeah.
16:47Yeah.
16:48Yeah.
16:49Yeah.
16:50Yeah.
16:51Yeah.
16:52Yeah.
16:53Yeah.
16:54Yeah.
16:55Yeah.