Speaker 1: 0:12

yo respecting perspectives crew. You know, I got one of my man, one of my main men, right here. Okay, me and Ryan go back and gosh. We've been through so many different evolutions of friendship and musicianship. I got Ryan Delcher here, who is a DJ producer, engineer, a father. You know the list could go on, okay, but, man, welcome dude, I'm so excited to have you here and just tell the people kind of maybe give them just a little bit of like, maybe like where you grew up and like you know, just some stuff like that, to kind of let some stuff like that to give them a little bit of a background.

Speaker 2: 1:08

Yeah, absolutely Well. First off, man, thank you for having me out on the Respecting Perspectives podcast. It's been really cool seeing all of this come into fruition. It's always an inspiration when I see friends following their dreams and actually executing on them, so big love to that, Thanks man A little bit about myself.

Speaker 2: 1:29

I'm from Baltimore. I grew up in Baltimore County, really kind of lived all over the place up and down the East Coast. I've lived out in California for a little bit in my 20s so I've traveled around. I got a little bit of cultural variety from moving around a little bit. But yeah, so I'm from Baltimore. Recently, as of recently, I've been really back into my music project, caterpillar, as Mr Awell over here was mentioning. So I've been really heavy on doing that recently, making new music performing. I'm really trying to just build a community around drum and bass and music I love Nice.

Speaker 1: 2:11

Love that man, love that. Why don't you tell everybody what are some of your early inspirations as far as music goes itself, because you're a very, uh, you know, multi-genre, uh, individual. Um, you know what were like some of maybe like the early like cds ryan and I were just talking about, like some of the old cds that he had I think he said he had like the sum 41, uh, m&m classics blink 182 and I was like dude, I was like you, just you hit, you, hit him you hit them.

Speaker 2: 2:43

That's my CD wallet right there in the bottom of my car man.

Speaker 2: 2:47

No, and I used to love making mixtapes, man. I really think that was my first stab at DJing, like little 10-year-old me putting together mixtapes and burning CDs off LimeWire. But no man, some of my early inspirations. I'm big into hip-hop, so I loved like 50 cent, snoop, dogg, dr dre, uh, eminem anybody. On aftermath, I love tribe called quest. You know some of the old school boom bap stuff. Uh, also loved blink-182, some 41, some of the. You know the classics you mentioned limp, biscuit, um, you know, I was really all over the place. I uh. As as electronic music goes, I feel like my first introduction was probably the Prodigy Just hearing their music in movies. I was like what is this?

Speaker 2: 3:34

Just the high energy drums and stuff. That's kind of what started to pique my interest in electronic music really and I got into listening to Crystal Method and at an early age that's really where the electronic stuff came in. And then when I got to college it was all about bass music when I went to University of Maryland. So I was really close to DC, got introduced to the DC music scene and really fell in love.

Speaker 1: 4:00

How old were you when you, you kind of were introduced to like bass music?

Speaker 2: 4:06

uh itself um, probably like my senior year of high school, I went to my first like rave with my cousin. Um, it was out in like pasadena, in the woods and you had to follow these little like blinking lights a mile back into this trail and then it just opened up to just chaos, organized chaos, and she brought me around. She was older than me and brought me around to some of those events. So that's really where I got a taste. And there's lots of drum and bass, so that's where a lot of the drum and bass, inspiration and influence comes from. And it was just, it was like a whole nother world. You know, I I will never remember just like walking into that environment, like where am I?

Speaker 1: 4:50

I need to be here, this is right if you, if you could like describe it though, like, if you could describe maybe like what was, um, you know, kind of maybe like either going through your head, cause I'll kind of I'll kind of start with, like, when I was introduced to bass music and you know, I I remember like feeling like this sense of like wow, like there's so many other things out there that like I don't know about, you know, and it really opened my mind to just all of the things that the world has to offer. And you know, it's so cool, I mean, we're so lucky to be able to, you know, experience like all of these. You know different things, and I do remember, just like the community aspect, you know of it too. It just felt like everybody was there. You know. For the music itself, you know of it too, it just felt like everybody was there. Um, you know, for the music itself, you know no, I'm you touched on.

Speaker 2: 5:49

you know my. The thing that keeps me coming back is the community within the live music scene. Um, like I mentioned too, I mean I've traveled all over, but the live music scene here on the east coast and the mid-atlanticantic is really special between the electronic scene and the jam band scene that I'm very involved in and supportive of. But again back to your question so how did that make me feel? I mean, man, I was enamored, I was infatuated with this. I had never seen the colors or that style of music or really the energy. It was the energy that I was like whoa, this energy is infectious, and that's really kind of what took hold of me, really, just that experience of just feeling like a part of something too. I feel like dance music. You're moving and you're sharing, um, you know those moments with people on the dance floor and, and you know, you really get to connect with people yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1: 6:51

What were some of uh. Let's see here I remember this is a throwback here what were some of the uh venues that you, you know remember from from like back in the day that kind of like helps you, you know, kind of get introduced to like some of these things, do you remember?

Speaker 2: 7:08

Yeah, Bourbon Street for sure was one.

Speaker 2: 7:11

Bourbon Street. Rest in peace. Paradox also rest in peace. Those were two big ones that I was going to a lot Out in DC. We used to do stuff at DC Eagle. I used to go there, you know. And then there's there's uh venues still today that you know were early in my career, that are around um the eight by ten, always soundstage, um, it's always done cool stuff. But for sure, one venue I really miss, I'd say, is probably paradox. Paradox was crazy. They always had like five rooms of music and all different, like didn't matter what you liked, there was something for you there. Um that that place was really special.

Speaker 1: 7:48

It was a cool spot, for sure, for sure let's talk a little bit about production itself and like kind of you know how did you start making other than you know the? Uh, you know the line wire burn and stuff like that. But like how did you start, um, you know your production journey itself?

Speaker 2: 8:12

I guess I really started with djing. I bought a kid. It was when I lived out in california. Um, I was really kind of working on myself. I was new in recovery when I was out there and I picked it. It up as, like you know, as I mentioned, how passionate I was about the bass music scene, I was like I want to do more, I want to be a part of you know, and I want to do this. So got a controller and I started kind of DJing and figuring out how to blend different tracks, figuring out the styles of music that I liked. And then I formally did some music training with this program out in california and and got into production, um, and and I really started like for my process even I'll get into it a little bit, yeah please um one of the easiest things that and the coolest things that I was taught was like song mapping.

Speaker 2: 8:58

Right, so there's a certain style of song that you like, you take that, bounce it out, put it into your doll and then kind of recreate it in your own style, right, so you take the first eight bars and learn how to make that intro. Um, and that really accelerated me and being able to learn how to write my own music, just with song structure, um, figuring out how to use certain sounds and certain effects to create energy. You know, yeah, um, so that's really how it started, just kind of doing song map stuff. Uh, I started making hip-hop beats. I, I love hip-hop, so I still do that today.

Speaker 2: 9:33

Um, sent you some beats before we've got some stuff going um, so really, you know, I and I still today like I, I make all different types of music. I don't just make drum and bass, not just dubstep, I make everything I've made music that's cinematic and stuff. I don't release a lot of this stuff, but it's just the actual creation part I'm very passionate about and it's a good release for me.

Speaker 1: 9:57

But yeah, that's kind of how I got into it. Yeah, you should be very proud of your musical versatility. You know, um, it's sometimes it, uh, gosh, sometimes it takes a little bit of, um, you know, practice to really understand and figure out what you like um, what you don't like um, and uh, you know it really it's a challenge too, because it's like, how can you try, and you know, separate yourself from like all the music you know that's out there and how can you really, I mean, I struggle with this myself as a musician, you know, really trying to find my musical identity, you know, and, gosh, I mean, this is is, I think, a perfect place to kind of segue. Um, you know, for you, uh, you know, you, you started out, you know, one, under a different, uh, a different name, right, um, yeah, the binaural project yeah so.

Speaker 1: 10:57

So tell people a little bit about maybe like that transition um itself and um you know what, maybe thwarted that to happen? Sure.

Speaker 2: 11:08

Yeah, the Binaural Project was great. I had a lot of fun with that. It was the first time I took music professionally and was able to travel, you know, and play my music in different cities, and I loved it. But, man, we had this conversation before and we were talking about how important branding is. Well, and I didn't do my research before I picked that name and, man, I mean Binaural Beats, it's a meditation technique, right? So if you go on Apple Music, spotify, there's thousands and thousands of Binaural Beats stuff.

Speaker 2: 11:38

So it was so hard to find my music, which was one part you know, a big puzzle piece in the rebrand music, which was one part, you know, a big puzzle piece in in the rebrand um, something you know, if, if you are thinking about starting a music project or anything creative, do your research, uh, you know, and check that stuff, um, so that was, that was kind of one thing, and then another really big thing is for me is, uh, being a father. You know, I, um, my son was born in 2020 and that was right around the time that I was taking a hiatus from music and performing. Um, obviously, just because I, I, you know, I became a father and I wanted to spend time learning what that was about and and starting that journey. So I took a couple years off. You know, I still made music, but I wasn't really performing, and uh and dove into family life, you know. And and kind music, but I wasn't really performing, and uh and dove into family life, you know.

Speaker 2: 12:27

And and kind of started to restructure my life and and I really went before I got back into the rebrand and the caterpillar project. I wanted to find that passion I had when I started making music, that passion I had when I first walked into my first rave. You know like I wanted that fire back. I didn't want to push anything, um, and I feel like I finally, you know I got it right. I restructured my life. I uh, I got a new job where I work remote so I'm able to stay at home with my son and homeschool him. Also, I'm able to work on music and stuff, um, so I really kind of restructured my whole life and I got that fire back and I'm ready to go. You know, I feel so good right now and I feel so passionate about my music project and the performances and the shows that I've been playing at this year, and you know. So it was to me.

Speaker 2: 13:18

It was very natural, right like the break was was very organic and that time for me and my family, and wanted to build that foundation so that you, you know, I was rock solid. So when I go do this stuff again, you know I don't have to worry, right Like I don't. For me, if I have, you know, chores or something I need to do, I can't get creative. I have to have like a clean house, clean slate, and that's when my flow state, that's when my creative juices flow. You know the passion, right, so it feels good to be back there. But that was definitely, you know, a couple of other factors as well with the rebrand. The other thing is, um, I've definitely changed flavor as far as my live sets. I've been playing a lot more high energy drum and bass stuff and ukg stuff, um, so that's another big change too. With the Binaural Project, I was doing more dubstep and like halftime stuff and more glitch hop stuff. So it just felt right to make the change and I really do like the new name.

Speaker 1: 14:18

So yeah, was it something that happened like overnight, where you like made that decision that it was going to happen, like made that decision that it was going to happen, or was it like, did you need some time to really like, kind of, you know, make that, make that decision? Because I'm sure there's a lot of other artists out there who are kind of like, you know, in between, um, you know, not even like monikers, but like the energy that they're like giving to the music itself. Um, you know, was that something that that took a long time, or was it kind of just like a flip switch that went off?

Speaker 2: 14:53

No, it was definitely something I marinated on for a while.

Speaker 1: 14:57

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:58

I thought about branding, there was some other, it was kind of a process and really there is a song by Royce, the Five Nine and Eminem and there's a line in here that talks about before you praise a butterfly, don't shit on a caterpillar.

Speaker 1: 15:18

Oh shoot, oh shoot.

Speaker 2: 15:20

The whole idea of the Caterpillar brand is respecting the process, respecting the journey. A lot of people these days, special social media, it's all like flashy games and you know, the get rich quick videos and that kind of stuff, which I just felt like for me personally that that didn't work. You know, I've tried that in other areas of my life and I've learned, man, that it's like. It's about the journey, it's about that process, the metamorphosis you know. So that's really kind of where the name comes from. And yeah, no, but I definitely it wasn't an overnight thing, it was something I kind of marinated on for some time and, you know, even drawing up the logo, like I drew it out and had it for, you know, months before I even released it, even released it just to see does this sit with me, does this represent the identity that I'm going to go with?

Speaker 1: 16:15

What about social media itself and the rebranding? Was that a bigger or a smaller challenge than you expected?

Speaker 2: 16:27

I talked to a lot of friends and other artists. There's a few things right, like with my musical platforms, with the music I had released. I had released with a few labels under Binaural. So I really was like I don't know what to do. Should I start a new SoundCloud, should I not? I ended up just starting new platforms and it's a little bit of a challenge, cause I got to build back. I had a decent following on my, on my old platforms, you know, but I I feel like for me, starting fresh was was what I needed to do and what I wanted to do. You know, you can still find the binaural music out there. I didn't take it all down, but I just kind of wanted to have a clean break and start fresh.

Speaker 1: 17:08

Yeah, nice, I love that. And, gosh, it's like you put this image out there and it's out in the world forever, and it's like it really is never too late for you to reinvent yourself. No know, reinvent yourself, you know, and I feel like, um, you know, there's probably some listeners out there who are kind of, maybe like you know, um, in between projects right now. Um, I've seen it. I've seen some artists handle it, um, in the most gracious ways, and then I've seen some, uh, other artists not do as well with it, but, um, I'll give you props on, you know, handling it the right way and also, kind of like taking your time with it itself. You know, and like, not like you know, forcefully, like making it happen. You know, you, really I think you know you yourself and some other artists that I can think of off the top of my head do a really good job of that and, yeah, you should be proud of yourself for stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 18:13

Thanks, man. Yeah, man, thank you. Let's see here what about. Let's talk a little bit about production itself, kind of like how you got into that, the events, um, maybe kind of like the meat and potatoes of it and um, kind of like, you know what helped you? Um, let's see here what helped you kind of create some of the things that you're going to talk about, uh, in the near future, uh, and and projects that you're going to talk about.

Speaker 2: 18:45

Sure, yeah, um, yeah. So I guess for me with events it really all started with promoting. I worked with a couple local promotion companies, you know just doing stuff on social media, putting flyers up around town, and then that kind of evolved into doing some artists hospitality work and like artist transpo work, so you know, picking artists up from the airport, getting them to the venue, the hotel, that kind of stuff, um, making sure you know riders are fulfilled in the green room.

Speaker 2: 19:15

So kind of that's where I got my feet wet. Um then I went to a uh, audio engineering school called the sheffield institute for the recording arts, um, where I was formally trained as an audio engineer right Right out of school, and during school I got an internship at a recording studio called Line Up Room.

Speaker 1: 19:35

That's where I met you.

Speaker 2: 19:36

That's where AWOL and I kind of really built a relationship, got to work together creatively and professionally. So I started doing that. And then I started working with a production company as well, um, and worked my way up the production company. I started as a stage hand uh, building stage decks out in the rain and it starts right.

Speaker 2: 19:57

Yeah, man, um did that for about a year, slowly worked my way up to uh production manager, you know, and I did that through just like showing up consistently, showing up early, being very organized. I had an act for leadership, um, you know. So then I got to uh. I got some really cool opportunities. I've been able to work on some really cool events. I've been able to uh in previous years I've been able to provide production at baltimore pride, which is a huge 30, 40 000 person event here in the city. Yeah, um worked on summer fest, which is a huge 30,000, 40,000 person event here in the city. Worked on Summerfest, which is out in Carroll County. It's about an 8,000 person event. I have also a company party for a purpose with my partner, my man, will Gibbons, who we just had.

Speaker 1: 20:41

Yes, on your podcast, Mr Gibbons.

Speaker 2: 20:43

Yes, sir. So shout out Mr Gibbons, but him and I, the past couple of of years, have had the opportunity to do a lot of really cool stuff. We've, uh, we threw teller fest at patterson park, yeah, um, we did some work with the ramble festival. We've also thrown our own shows. We did some, uh, like an after party series kind of paired up with, um, some all good shows, um. So I've done a ton of event work. I love it. I'm very passionate about it.

Speaker 2: 21:09

Um, I would still, like, I think, be doing that professionally had I'm not, um, you know, became a father. But with the production life, like, really, it's just, it's a lot of time commitment, man, anybody who's in that industry. So you got to be crazy. It's. It's so much work, um, especially on a large scale. It's so much work and so much planning. So, shout out, much love, scale, it's so much work and so much planning. So shout out and much love to everybody doing events and planning events. And still in the game and in the grind, man, because it's not for the weak-hearted You've got to take losses and you've got to keep it moving. And it's tough. It's tough to want to carry on, but I love it, I love production. I love helping people. My favorite thing is somebody will come to me with an idea and then we make it happen With the Respecting Perspectives release party that we had together.

Speaker 2: 21:58

Man, that was such a cool experience for you and I to connect and work together. Yeah, I mean, andrew came to me with a vision and we made it happen. I mean I even designed it out in Vectorworks the little 3D model before we had the event. And it was a lot of planning, we did some rehearsals, but it was great, man, being able to help that dream and that vision come to life, and seeing that and even just seeing your parents. It was awesome. That to me, that's the magic of event throwing and event curation. It's that, you know, I was. It's like that glimmer, right, like even when I would work production and I'm working 20 hours, right. There'd be that moment where I'd walk out into the crowd and be like man this is magic.

Speaker 1: 22:41

You know when it all comes together, it's magic, uh, and it's.

Speaker 2: 22:45

It's tough, it's like it's very important. I think in life, even you know to remember those moments right. Life gets really hectic and you're doing all this stuff. You got to just take a second and be like man, this is, this is awesome, this is magic, you know yeah you know what I will, uh, I want to uh elaborate a little on that.

Speaker 1: 23:04

Um, the show itself, dude, we killed it so, so proud of of both of us and everyone who was involved. And you know that was the first opportunity that I had to, you know, make something like that, a dream like that, come true, you know, and I pray that every artist out there, you know, follows their dream enough to be able to get to see something like that come to life. Man, because, you know, at first it was daunting, it was scary. I'm like I remember calling him and being like dude, like is this even possible? Like, like, how do people do this?

Speaker 1: 23:47

You know, especially being an artist where, like you know, you don't know all the logistics of those things and you know, you're obviously working with, like a particular budget, you know, and, uh, I think one of the cool things, uh, one of the things that really helped was, um, what we did was, uh, people would, instead of buying an actual ticket, they would buy a piece of merch, you know, and that was their ticket and, um, you know, it was cool to be able to like have everybody in a wall merch, you know, just kind of like, you know ganged up and um, yeah, and then we kind of it took a few meetings, him and I kind of sitting down and really kind of like figuring out the logistics of everything. Like you know, the speakers that we're going to have, the venue itself that we're going to have, are we going to have food or not, are we going to have, you know, alcohol or not? You know the visualization, yeah, just so much stuff that is really involved in a show that you don't think about. You know the visualization, yeah, just so much stuff that is really involved in a show that you don't think about. You know, and I thought it was pretty cool because I then it really helped me understand that like it's really not at all like daunting, it's just.

Speaker 1: 25:03

You know your organization skills, you know you do have to stay constantly motivated, um, but if the music is means that much to you, like to see it come to life, like, like you said, like it's that moment, that aha moment, where you're like in the middle of the crowd and you're just like man, like this is, this is really happening, you know, and and like just to like, just to be able to say that you did it. You know what I mean. It's going to be cool later on in life when I have some young ones running around to be able to be like Baby AWOLs.

Speaker 1: 25:42

Yeah right, baby AWOLs, be like yo. Hopefully that will also inspire Actually I know it has. I know some people have reached out to me like, yeah, you did your own show. That really helped me realize that I could do it myself. I'm really excited to be able to do it again in the near future. So y'all will be seeing and hearing some information on that in the coming months, because after the first time I was like, personally, that's just the type of person I am and I know Ryan is the same way.

Speaker 1: 26:21

Once you do one thing, the next time you really do, your goal and your aim is to make it better, you know, than the last one. And better can mean it doesn't necessarily mean that, like more people have to be there, but I think what better means is like are you a better person? Like when you go into that process? You know and and I know for sure, um, luckily on on all cylinders, like I do feel like my music is getting better. I do feel like my attitude itself, you know, with, like the industry itself is getting better. You know my let's see here. You know the inspiration, the inspirational factors that I have now to give people are, you know, are just like, are heightened, you know, and it's it's more like it's just proof, you know, it's proof that you know, anything really can happen as long as you, you know, put your put your mind to it.

Speaker 1: 27:21

But I do want to also speak about, you know, lineup room and you know shouts to Brandon Lackey out there. He's probably on the boards right now at lineup room and you know this. That's a studio that is down in the middle of Baltimore on Saratoga Street, and you know that is where Ryan and I first started making music together. And let me tell you something there was, you know, there was this, this like month to like two months, where I was recording a project which I will be releasing in the next like year or two. But like I felt like that was like the time and the moment that I knew that I was meant to be making music like my whole life you had some special moments there, man, it was sick.

Speaker 2: 28:20

I just remember in the studio, numbness Dude, you know like that moment, you know like I know. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah, man, just jamming together in the studio, such an inspirational time really.

Speaker 1: 28:33

Dude, I'll never forget that and that will be something that will continue to motivate me forever in my life. And it's cool because it's like it's not just going to motivate me to like make more music or different music, not just going to motivate me to like make more music or, um, different music, but like, anytime like I come up against like a challenge, or anytime I come up against a hurdle that I'm not sure about, um, you know, I'll think about that time and and and really be able to and and it's. It's gotten me that that moment itself has gotten me through a lot of things in the near past some hurdles that I've been trying to get over that I was able to get over. And I know that every artist out there has the ability to be able to have those moments. I think it's really important to say that. You know, be able to have those moments, you know I think it's really important to say that and there will be times where it seems a lot. You know it's a lot rougher. Or you know you do feel like the things around you just like aren't lining up, but guess what? Like when there's that time when they do line up, like it's worth it for all the ones that don't. I can promise that.

Speaker 1: 29:48

So I'm super grateful to have been able to, uh, you know, go through, you know that with you and uh, yeah, I'm just, I'm excited to be able to, uh, you know, share that project itself with the world. And uh, dude, we're making like a documentary on it and we're going gonna either like recreate that scene or, you know, we are going to have like a whole chapter that is dedicated to like that, that month or two, that that I had there. So I'm super excited for that, um. But uh, let's talk a little bit about like balance, okay, and, um, you Balance Okay, and you know how do you feel like you know balance? You know like mental health, um, let's see, you know, um, uh, you know working out stuff like that, uh, therapy, um, yeah, man, give us a little bit on on how you you keep balanced, cause I feel like you actually do a really good job of of balancing things.

Speaker 2: 31:04

I try, um, no, balance, balance is really really important in my life. Um, I, I'm pretty busy. I, balance is really really important in my life. I'm pretty busy, everybody's busy, right, but I got a lot of stuff going on, you know, with just family, with being a father, mytime career, kind of a stay-at-home dad, at the same time with that, the music project, stuff, working on events, you know.

Speaker 2: 31:34

So I got a lot of stuff going on and for me, like one thing I guess for me that's really important is like I got to make sure I'm feeding every area of my life. And the way I look at it, it's kind of all you know different Venn diagrams, right, we have like fatherhood, we have family, we have music, we have relationships, right, and all these Venn diagrams kind of all come together right, and if I'm not feeding one of them, you know if I'm not being a good partner, if I'm not, you know, being present as a dad, if I'm not, you know, sitting down at the computer and making music, I start to feel it like I I almost feel like physically ill if I'm not like feeding one of these areas of my life. Um, so I feel like for me, balance is almost it's become like an organic way of being for me, um, and being able to manage my time is really important. But I've I've gotten really good at that over the years. Production management has gotten me really good at that.

Speaker 2: 32:28

Uh, you know I used to has gotten me really good at that. You know I used to like production management. I'd have every 10 minutes written out for a you know a 10-hour load-in of what had to happen, right. So I don't plan my days like that, but I do plan my weeks out and calendars and all of that stuff. It's really important. And time blocking you know I time block a lot, which is allows me to, um, dedicate certain time, like uh, you know hours of my day to certain things, right, like, if it's two hours, uh, I try to give myself two hours every day to work on music but, I, leave that open ended, right.

Speaker 2: 33:02

It doesn't mean like I have to sit down and make music. I could be DJing, I could be making beats. If you know, as you know, as an artist, there's a lot of work outside of the actual creating process of just like media management. Um, you know, the other night I was sitting down putting together my advances and my technical rider. You know. So for me it's like there's all these things.

Speaker 2: 33:24

As long, as you know, with the music project, if I'm doing something like that, I try to do two hours every day of something, right, even just social media, you know, of like networking, trying to make new connections. Same thing with work, right, like I'm a designer at work, so I have to manage my own workload. You know, if I need to meet a deadline, you know I have to get that done and I give myself time blocks at work. You know I have to get that done and I give myself time blocks, uh, at work. You know certain design days, certain consultation days.

Speaker 2: 33:53

So, um, balance is huge. It's, it's really big and it's why I feel, you know, I feel like I'm so on fire with my music stuff is because my life feels balanced, like I mentioned earlier. When I have, um, you know, a bunch of things going on in my head, it's so hard for me to get creative because I just want to fix, you know, all the problems. Um, I heard one time from another artist if you have more than six things you're juggling, thinking about in your mind, there's no way you're going to be able to be creative. So just think about that's like just like regular drug even like it could be like I gotta do laundry.

Speaker 2: 34:31

Oh, I got that ticket, I gotta pay. I need to go grocery shopping. You know you have like just if you don't take care of your shit, you're not going to be able to like give yourself that time to really dig in and create.

Speaker 2: 34:43

You know, and I feel, like that was kind of one of my barriers. Um, before coming back into the caterpaterpillar project, I couldn't figure out like I'd sit down and try to write music and it just wasn't there. I'm like, why, why, what's changed, right? Well, I just had so much going on man.

Speaker 2: 34:59

I had to organize my life. I had to get some stuff together, you know, and get ahead of things right. Yeah, early in my, in my 20s, I felt like I was always very like responsive, uh, and lived life in a responsive way and just kind of life came at me and I just took it um. Now I'm very proactive, you know, I'm goal oriented.

Speaker 2: 35:21

I I'm thinking, you know, not only a year ahead, five year ahead, five years ahead, 10 years ahead. Um, I think that's very. It's been monumental for me at least, realizing that that, like, I kind of have to have a clean slate if I want to dig in, you know, to my creative endeavors, because that's when I get the best energy, that's when I can get to my flow state like the quickest yeah.

Speaker 1: 35:46

Love that man. You explained that very well. Um, tell me a little bit. I want you to uh dig a little bit into fatherhood yeah, so you know, mr silas um man tell me, tell me, what's it like to be a dad and, uh, you know, maybe some of the ups and downs itself. Um, yeah, yeah, tell the people what it's like.

Speaker 2: 36:10

Being a father is awesome Just watching him grow up. My son's name's Silas, so just watching Silas grow up and the lights turn on in his eyes and the personality develop, it's truly a one-of-a-kind experience. The love that I have for him and he has for me, it's just like it melts my heart. You know I have I got a soft spot for my little guy. It's been great man. It's great to be able to teach. You know, I know growing up there are certain things that, like I went through that you know I wish could have went down a little bit differently. So I get that opportunity to provide, you know, different experiences and kind of different perspectives to my son.

Speaker 2: 36:55

You know, he's, he's really smart, he's, uh, who's about to be um five in April, but even so, you know, I sit down and have like real conversations with him and uh, and just like being able to guide somebody and help, you know, grow them and give them the space to grow on their own is truly magical, man. I love it. Um, and, truthfully, I never, I didn't ever, think that I was going to have kids. Uh, truthfully, and, and it's like I'm so, I'm like what was I thinking? This is like the best thing ever.

Speaker 2: 37:25

Um it's been great man I mean outside of just. You know the love that I have for him and being able to have that experience he's really helped me, you know, save my life and clean my life up a bit.

Speaker 2: 37:38

I feel like Silas came at a really monumental time for me. I I was going through a lot and and it was kind of a wake up call and it's been great being able to step up to the plate and be such a good dad and just be present. Man, being present is so big. Just being able to hang out, be present, be a good role model is awesome and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Speaker 1: 38:08

Love that dude, you said very well said, you should be super proud of yourself, for you know stepping up to the plate, you know, and doing things you know the right way. And I will definitely have to say that you know, since you've had your son, you know I have seen a huge, monumental shift in just the way that you carry yourself, and not not saying that that the way you carried yourself before was bad.

Speaker 2: 38:37

Um but a little while.

Speaker 1: 38:39

yeah, yeah, you know a little bit a little bit, um, but no, really, man, you, um, you could see, you know, and it's crazy, it's like you know, back to like your, your, your, your project too, to kind of tie everything in there. You know, like you, your, your, your, your project too, to kind of tie everything in there. You know, like you're you, you had to go through that metamorphosis. You know, and I would say, like binaurals, like that pre-dad, you know, and, and caterpillar is that that, that post-dad? Now you know, and, uh, it's really important to you know, be able to take control of those opportunities in your life and those shifts that occur. You know, and, and not just you know when, when one chapter ends, you know another one begins and it usually has a title. You know, and you have to figure out what that thing's going to say. You know. Well, I mean in one thing too, you know.

Speaker 2: 39:29

Well, I mean, and one thing too, you know, I've talked to other parents, right, and a lot of times you always hear oh, you know, because I had kids I couldn't follow my dreams, or I'm too busy, and I throw all that shit out the window, man, like, if you want to go after something, you can do it. It doesn't, you know, I don't want to, whatever excuse it is. That's what it is, it's an excuse. It's hard, it's not easy. I'm not saying it is, it's a challenge and you got to work for it. But if you want it, you can get it.

Speaker 2: 39:57

You know, and I've spent, you know, the last four or five years of my life restructuring my entire life to get back to music, which is my passion, man, I mean without it, without performing like I feel it, I feel this mean without it, without performing like I feel it, I feel this void, you know, and being able to share music and perform is something I love so much and I, uh, I don't think that being a father should stop me from doing that. You know, I'm still a really good dad, um, and still able to show up for my son all the time, but I had to, you know, restructure my life. To do that, and I want to anybody else out there. If you're going through anything, it doesn't just have to be, you know, um, parenting or fatherhood. You know these challenges.

Speaker 2: 40:39

Everybody has challenges in your life, man. But if you want to do something, you can do it. You can go after it. Um, you got to put a plan together and then you got to just take the first step. Sometimes you don't know what the second step is going to be. Put a plan together, take the first step and trust the process.

Speaker 1: 40:57

Love that, love that. Did you mention the Ikigai, the Ikigai.

Speaker 2: 41:01

Oh yeah, so the Ikigai is the concept that I was kind of talking about with the Venn diagrams.

Speaker 1: 41:08

Gotcha. So Ikigai is a. I wanted to learn more. It's a.

Speaker 2: 41:12

Japanese concept. Um, that's really about balance and kind of what we were touching on here, um, and it's about how you know how to find joy in your life, right, I think it's very natural that all of us, you know, we might have a job or professional career, we have family, you might have something you're passionate about, whether it's a creative endeavor, or you know skateboarding, snowboarding, you know whatever it is Right, and so we all have these different areas of our life, and that's kind of where I was getting on talking about feeding each one of those areas.

Speaker 2: 41:45

You don't want to neglect any of those areas or it kind of so. Think about you being in the center Right and all these Venn, it kind of so. Think about you being in the center right and all these venn diagrams kind of connecting, and you know the center is like you're, you're at peace, your joy, your happiness, you know, your love. Right, if you stop feeding that, you know, a piece of that venn diagram breaks off. So a piece of you, you know it's like I was talking about. I felt like when I'm not performing or sharing music, I have a void, void, right, I'm not feeding one of my passions, I'm not feeding one of my you know the foundational pillars of my life, you know. So that's kind of what that concept's about. And you know, I feel like the major theme that we're talking on today again is that balance and being able to structure everything you know in a way that you can feed all of your passions and areas of your life.

Speaker 1: 42:38

Doesn't Futuristic the rapper have an album that's titled that as well, are you?

Speaker 2: 42:44

familiar, I think. So I haven't heard the album, but I'm familiar.

Speaker 1: 42:49

I've heard that term before and I think that was where it was. And then what else was it? What's it called the Blue Zones, which is the places in the world where there's the most amount of centenarians, which are people who live 100 years or older, and I think it's just japanese. Yeah, right, yeah, it was in japanese culture. Like that is the, like one of the pillars that helps them really live that long, you know, so like it's literally like proof that it will make your life better and longer.

Speaker 1: 43:34

I feel like maybe we kind of lose track of that over time, and being able to kind of keep all of those things present and you know, kind of, you know, have them change as well. You know, it's really important for you to kind of assess those things as you go on, you know, and take that time to yourself and be like, okay, you know what, like these are the new diagrams, you know, or these are the new circles of my life, you know. And maybe sometimes you know, or these are the new circles of my life, and maybe sometimes one or two of those circles are going to float away, but at the same time there's going to be other ones that are coming into your life and figuring out how to I think you said it the best way how to feed those things. But man, dude, I appreciate you so much for coming through man.

Speaker 1: 44:31

I got something for you, though, dude. I appreciate you so much for coming through, man, I got something, though. I got something for you, though real quick. I got your old self. Wait a second, who is this? This is the oh my goodness. This is pre-binaural. This is oh my gosh. Okay, listen. First off, I got to say you've become an awesome man and human being and you do live you lived a pretty wild lifestyle. Right now, you're living it wild in a different way. I'll tell you that. But yeah, your old self or sorry, your new self is sitting next to me here. I'm going to give him the phone and he's going to chat with you for a few minutes.

Speaker 2: 45:17

What do you got to tell him? Where are you at, fool? Nope, that checks out. Nah. So, man, all right, let me talk, okay. Well, I want to tell you something. Uh, I'm here on the respecting perspectives podcast. My man, awol, got a hold of you somehow. Uh, I want to let you know, man, things are gonna be okay, it's gonna work out. Stay consistent, be yourself, follow your dreams and, and I promise, stuff's going to work out. It might be a little rough right now, you might not see that, but it's going to work out. Man, all right, I'll let you get back to it. Buddy, rip it up.

Speaker 2: 46:03

Love you, love you love you, love you, buddy.

Speaker 1: 46:05

Peace, all right, love you bro. Listen to everything he said and maybe you know, do, do, do, keep doing some wild stuff, because you, you really do have to have some fun throughout your life. All right, peace, dope, dude, dope. I got one more segment for us. Okay, we got rapid fire here. Oh yeah, rapid fire. Okay, all right, so you're gonna have to answer these as quick as possible. All right, okay, all right, off the cuff, off the dome like a freestyle. Okay, ten seconds on the clock. Would you rather have the ability to fly or read minds, fly. What's the best? Ice cream topping, cool Hardshell chocolate?

Speaker 1: 46:52

Oh, oh, there you go if you had to move someplace you've been to on vacation, where would it be? Switzerland, somewhere?

Speaker 2: 47:00

you haven't been on vacation somewhere.

Speaker 1: 47:01

I haven't been on vacation if you had to move there if I, if I had to move there, australia. There you go. Hey, mate, all right, explain how you met your best friend um, let's see here music, music for sure, yeah nice, nice. If you could rename your family pet, what would it be? Uh, uh, cheech alright, let's see here what's the most important thing your parents do for you just show up for me, man, yeah, show up for me be good grandparents have you ever cheated on a test?

Speaker 1: 47:46

yes, I have. We don't have to dig into that. Alright, the family put you in charge of burying a time capsule. What would go in it?

Speaker 2: 47:56

Time capsule, a USB with all my music on it.

Speaker 1: 48:05

There you go, nice, nice. Which member of the family do you think you know the least about?

Speaker 2: 48:14

Let's see here my cousin Nick Okay reach out.

Speaker 1: 48:18

Nick, do you think it's okay to eat food that fell on the floor? Yeah, five-second rule. Five seconds, baby. Come on On a scale of one to ten. How strict are your parents?

Speaker 2: 48:30

Scale of one to ten. How strict are my parents now? Uh, I don't know. Five. Which one's more strict?

Speaker 1: 48:36

uh, my dad. Okay, what was the last thing that made you lol?

Speaker 2: 48:42

uh, ryan bradshaw on the on the podcast. Nice, nice, your last podcast guest, yeah what was it?

Speaker 1: 48:49

what was it?

Speaker 2: 48:50

oh, just him on the phone with his old self. Yeah, nice, nice, that's a funny segment.

Speaker 1: 48:55

Nice, All right. If you could only celebrate your favorite holiday or your birthday each year, which one would you pick?

Speaker 2: 49:03

Holiday, my holiday. Do I have to pick the holiday too? Yeah, halloween.

Speaker 1: 49:08

Nice All the time. This yeah Halloween, nice All the time.

Speaker 2: 49:15

This is a good one. Do you like clowns? I don't know, man.

Speaker 1: 49:17

We're kind of iffy on clowns. Yeah, clowns are, we're okay, I feel like clowns are getting popular right now.

Speaker 2: 49:21

It's kind of it's freaking me out a little bit this is like a hot clown. Yeah, it's kind of scary to me too. All right, meet you. All right. Have you ever picked your nose and eaten the booger? No, but silas, though. Sorry, dude, didn't mean to put you. Put you, yeah, come on, you know it happens, it happens.

Speaker 1: 49:39

What sound does water make when it's coming out of the faucet? Imitate it all right, tell everyone a new fact you learned today.

Speaker 2: 49:50

New fact I learned today. Huh, I learned man. I really didn't do much today.

Speaker 1: 50:00

Come on, you learned something. You had to learn something.

Speaker 2: 50:08

Ah, okay, I learned about the podcast studio and how that's set up.

Speaker 1: 50:13

There you go. How many cameras do you need to get it done? Good answer. How many cameras right? Did you know about this one? Seven? Yeah, over here. Wait, let him get it. Let him get it All right, that's slick, isn't it? Which actor should play you in a movie about your life? Which actor?

Speaker 2: 50:34

should play you in a movie about your life. Who was the guy who played? He was in Damn, I'm blanking, I can't think of it. What movie? It was a show. I can't remember his name. He kind of looked like Mac Miller. His name is, I think, fez in the show. You know who I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 50:51

Oh what.

Speaker 2: 50:51

Euphoria in that show Euphoria.

Speaker 1: 50:53

Yeah, okay, all right, that guy. Yeah, name something you lost and still haven't found.

Speaker 2: 51:01

Something I've lost and still haven't found. I lost this glass pendant a while ago and I have no idea where it went. I still can't find it.

Speaker 1: 51:09

Okay, you're going to have to look for that. Who would be the worst person in the world to be stuck on an elevator with?

Speaker 2: 51:18

A clown.

Speaker 1: 51:19

A clown. All right, dude, you killed those Awesome. Hey, do you have any last-minute thoughts that you want to give the guests who are listening here any last-minute inspiration? Yeah, just anything that you want to give the guests who are listening here any last minute inspiration. Or yeah, just say any anything that you want to leave everybody with.

Speaker 2: 51:36

Sure man, you know this. This podcast is called respecting perspectives, and I think life really is all about the perspective and the lens that you look at it through. Something monumental I've learned in my life is just love your life, and that's not like, oh, I have the best life, I love it. No, actively love your life, you know. Make your life something worth being passionate about.

Speaker 2: 52:05

For me, I had a lot of trials and tribulations and I learned that the power of perspective is so important and the way that you look at challenges and situations, the way you look at wins, the way you handle these things, it's all about perspective. So, keep an open perspective, keep an honest perspective and truthfully learn to love your life. You know, I can really and honestly say I do love my life and that's because I, it's filled with passion, I do things that, uh, that mean something to me and and I do, I have relationships that are meaningful, you know, and I try to do things with purpose. Um, and that's you know I I suggest that because it brings the best happiness really, and gives you the opportunity to really enjoy life and live it, not just exist.

Speaker 1: 52:59

Love that man. Great final thought there. One last thing I also want to say is we have something called I don't know if I told you about this, but we have something called the Respecting Perspectives Hotline and people can give that a call. And, yeah, let us know if you have like a show coming up or you know you're going through like a challenge or something that maybe you know you want some feedback on. You know, maybe you have some music coming out in the near future. Yeah, the number is 443-477-4922. Okay, 443-477-4922. And in one of the near shows in the future we'll go through some of those calls and yeah, you know, we'll kind of maybe just help guide you in a way or just be there to, uh, you know, to support you in any way. Um, do you have any shows or anything uh in the summer that you want to let people know about?

Speaker 2: 54:04

yeah, yeah, I just dropped a show. Uh, on friday, a show announcement I'm really excited about I'm going to be doing a show with my good buddies, uncle Kunkel's One Grand Band, on April 4th at the 8x10. They're going to be playing their headline and playing two sets and I'll be closing out the night with some fun dance music. Got some other stuff in the works. I don't know if I'm allowed to say yet, but I will be out at some festivals this summer. For sure. If you want to follow the music project, please go to at Caterpillar C-A-T-A-P-I-L-L-A. Dot music on Instagram, on Spotify, soundcloud it's C-A-T-A-P-I-L-L-A Caterpillar Nice. So follow the project, check out the new music. I'm going to be dropping some. I got some three or four new songs singles. They're going to be coming out periodically the next couple of months, yeah, and we'll be announcing more shows, too, coming out. So come out and party. The shows have been awesome, man.

Speaker 1: 55:04

For sure, dude, the energy has been really great Killing it.

Speaker 2: 55:06

I feel like, coming from the intention that I'm bringing to shows, I'm coming just from a very raw, real place and I feel like I'm a little bit on fire right now. I'm trying to share that and get everybody turned up, man. It's that we need positive energy right now. We need soul, so I'm happy to share.

Speaker 1: 55:26

Nice, I see it, I feel it, man Well, hey, thanks for being here, brother. Thank you for having me, yeah, man, so excited for what you have in store for the future, what we have in store for the future together and for the listeners out there, what y'all have in store for yourself. So thanks for tuning in for this episode of the Respecting Perspectives podcast podcast. We'll see you on the flip side.