Sidetrack - Mark Pays Tribute to His Old Band, Dream Hydra

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[00:00:59] Hey, everybody. Mark here. Kind of a weird self-congratulatory sidetrack today. I am playing for Nicole, my old band, Dream Hydra from Los Angeles. Our debut and only album came out almost exactly 10 years ago. And so I decided we should walk through, hear some of the music, talk about what it's like to be in a band in LA.

[00:01:22] And the conversation, of course, as it always does, goes a bit off the rails and goes to some fun and unusual topics.

[00:01:30] I know it's kind of crazy to be blasting my own music on this podcast and apologies for that, but I think it's also good to celebrate. This is gone. This band doesn't exist anymore.

[00:01:40] I'm not trying to sell concert tickets. But maybe it doesn't have to be totally gone. Maybe we can still listen to it from time to time. Maybe it's worth sharing with the podcast co-host.

[00:01:49] So let's pour one out for Radiant by Dream Hydra.

[00:02:03] The next thing I want to sidetrack before we're even recording any real episodes is literally...

[00:02:10] Well, listeners, the last sidetrack we recorded was me showing Nicole all of our theme music, which probably you've heard before this episode, but maybe not.

[00:02:19] She accused me of, you know...

[00:02:23] Shamelessly plugging your band, The Slackademics.

[00:02:26] Yes, thank you.

[00:02:26] It's a great name.

[00:02:27] The Slackademics, yes. And she didn't know that the next thing I wanted to do with her, that was just 20 minutes ago, is shamelessly plugging.

[00:02:35] But what I'm doing is actually celebrating the life of and embracing and paying homage.

[00:02:40] This is not a Slackademics episode.

[00:02:43] Okay.

[00:02:43] I want to talk about Dream Hydra.

[00:02:46] Okay, I don't even know what that is.

[00:02:48] You don't know what that is.

[00:02:49] No.

[00:02:49] You don't know who that is.

[00:02:50] Or who they are, even.

[00:02:51] Who they are. That's right. A Hydra has multiple heads.

[00:02:54] A Hydra could be... Ooh, would a Hydra be plural?

[00:02:57] Hydras are just a they, them, I think.

[00:03:00] Fair enough.

[00:03:00] So, this is a self-aggrandizing celebration of my last band.

[00:03:06] Why?

[00:03:07] So, I moved to New England almost 10 years ago.

[00:03:11] And moving to New England essentially broke up a band I was in in Los Angeles.

[00:03:17] And 10 years ago, this November, we released our debut album.

[00:03:22] And I want to celebrate that album.

[00:03:25] Okay.

[00:03:25] Because...

[00:03:26] Were they called Dream Hydra?

[00:03:27] They were called Dream... We were called Dream Hydra.

[00:03:29] They.

[00:03:30] That's a great name for a band.

[00:03:32] They were Dream Hydra.

[00:03:32] So, there's reasons for that name or whatever, but I'm glad you like it.

[00:03:36] We were a five-piece, somewhat rotating membership, but it was me.

[00:03:40] I sang some.

[00:03:41] I played guitar.

[00:03:42] I played some keyboards.

[00:03:43] My friend Michael was pretty much the lead singer.

[00:03:46] Played some keyboards.

[00:03:48] The other Mark...

[00:03:49] Oh.

[00:03:49] ...was also some lead vocal and lead guitar.

[00:03:52] Did you have to use your last initial to delineate who's who?

[00:03:55] Like in elementary school.

[00:03:56] Yeah.

[00:03:56] Mark P and Mark S.

[00:03:58] Yeah.

[00:03:58] Reagan Q, Reagan R.

[00:04:00] There's so many Reagans these days.

[00:04:01] Not back when I was a kid.

[00:04:02] No, I know.

[00:04:03] Well, there was one Reagan, but...

[00:04:05] Well, yeah.

[00:04:06] What the hell was I talking about?

[00:04:08] Ronald Reagan?

[00:04:09] No, I was definitely not talking about Ronald Reagan.

[00:04:12] You're talking about the other Mark.

[00:04:13] Oh, oh, oh.

[00:04:14] Other Mark, yeah.

[00:04:14] We did call...

[00:04:15] He was S and I was P sometimes.

[00:04:18] That's true.

[00:04:19] You should have went by Marky.

[00:04:20] Marky?

[00:04:21] I'm standing by that.

[00:04:21] We've talked about Maki.

[00:04:22] Marky.

[00:04:23] We've talked about Maki, right?

[00:04:24] Okay.

[00:04:24] So, also bass player Rory and drummer Pat.

[00:04:28] Drummer and backing vocalist.

[00:04:30] So, the deal with this band was we were kind of...

[00:04:33] I feel like this band and the Slack at MX are kind of two sides of the same Mark coin

[00:04:38] in some way.

[00:04:39] I wrote most of the songs of Dream Hydra, not all of them.

[00:04:42] And with Slack at MX, I write most of the songs, though not all of them.

[00:04:45] Dream Hydra was Mark in grad school and an adjunct professor in Los Angeles.

[00:04:52] Do you have like a sad goatee?

[00:04:54] No.

[00:04:54] Oh.

[00:04:55] The sad goatee was during college, I think.

[00:04:58] I came before.

[00:04:59] Okay.

[00:04:59] Dream Hydra is like an alternative rock band, but kind of prog pop.

[00:05:04] Okay.

[00:05:04] So, like we were quite poppy.

[00:05:06] We had like pop hooks, catchy, lots of three and four part vocal harmonies.

[00:05:11] Because I actually met these guys like in choirs and stuff like that when I was either

[00:05:15] in college or in grad school, believe it or not.

[00:05:17] But trying to infuse a little bit of fancy, a little bit of the Markson grad school for

[00:05:23] music composition, time changes, some unusual chords, a little bit kind of how a band like

[00:05:29] Queen or Muse will have like a rock song, but then it has this weird transition, you know,

[00:05:35] that kind of thing.

[00:05:36] Are you going to play me some?

[00:05:37] Oh, I'm definitely going to play you some.

[00:05:38] But I'm just kind of explaining the...

[00:05:40] This is the exposition.

[00:05:41] Whereas Slack at MX is now, even though it was started by a bunch of music professors,

[00:05:45] that's why we're the Slack at MX.

[00:05:47] That's like, can we write the simplest, poppiest, catchiest songs without the fancy?

[00:05:52] There's a little fancy going in there.

[00:05:54] You're not trying to show...

[00:05:55] You don't need to show off anymore.

[00:05:56] You've proven yourselves.

[00:05:57] And now you're just having fun and writing music and like making some bangers.

[00:06:01] I think Dream Hydra has a lot of good songs, but I think there's also me proving myself.

[00:06:06] Because I've probably mentioned this before that, you know, I was hiding pop music from

[00:06:11] my grad professors.

[00:06:12] Like I'd be writing an orchestra piece simultaneous to recording a pop album or whatever.

[00:06:17] And they couldn't know because they'd be like, how dare you?

[00:06:19] They kind of couldn't know.

[00:06:20] Not because they would be mad, but because they wouldn't care at all.

[00:06:23] And that not caring is like offensive to me, kind of on some level.

[00:06:27] Or like I wrote a pop musical, same thing, right?

[00:06:30] Now I have a quick question.

[00:06:32] Your Dream Hydra bandmates, were they on that same vibe?

[00:06:36] Or did they think like, oh, Mark is being so pompous with his time signatures and key

[00:06:41] changes?

[00:06:42] Like, oh.

[00:06:42] Great question.

[00:06:43] Is that why you broke up?

[00:06:44] Yes and yes.

[00:06:45] Yeah.

[00:06:45] No, we broke up because I moved to Boston.

[00:06:46] Yeah.

[00:06:47] Okay.

[00:06:47] I gave them the option of continuing the band.

[00:06:50] I was sort of the leader.

[00:06:52] I was the primary songwriter.

[00:06:53] So there were three of us that were kind of the core.

[00:06:55] The two Marks and Mike.

[00:06:56] Would they say the same thing?

[00:06:58] That I was the primary songwriter?

[00:06:59] I mean, we have an album with 13 tracks and I wrote nine of them.

[00:07:02] Okay.

[00:07:03] Well, that's fine.

[00:07:03] So I think mathematically I was.

[00:07:05] Okay.

[00:07:05] I'm just putting you on the spot here.

[00:07:07] But we were the executive committee, the three of us, right?

[00:07:10] Nice.

[00:07:11] They decided, yeah, let's move on or whatever.

[00:07:13] And shortly after, Mark S. moved also anyways to Nashville area.

[00:07:18] Were they on the same page?

[00:07:19] I think part of what made the band good was that we did have different stylistic influences.

[00:07:24] Michael, the most of the time lead vocalist, was much more into pop.

[00:07:28] Like contemporary sort of top 40-ish pop.

[00:07:32] You know, whether it was Sam Smith or started kind of Josh Grobeny like crossover pop classical

[00:07:39] sort of vocal technique.

[00:07:41] And he grew into more of the showy.

[00:07:42] I love that.

[00:07:43] Screaming kind of awesome.

[00:07:44] Let's hear some.

[00:07:45] We will.

[00:07:46] But Mark was more like, Ethermark was more 90s grunge kind of sound.

[00:07:50] We're going to call him Othermark.

[00:07:52] Othermark.

[00:07:52] So, okay.

[00:07:53] I've got 30 second samples of the album.

[00:07:56] I'm paying homage to the album here.

[00:07:57] Because listeners, this album came out on November 11th, 2014.

[00:08:02] And I'm going to release this episode pretty darn close to that date.

[00:08:06] Oh, it's an anniversary.

[00:08:07] So go listen to it.

[00:08:08] It's on Spotify.

[00:08:09] The album is called Radiant, by the way.

[00:08:11] All right.

[00:08:11] It's actually a concept album.

[00:08:13] Maybe we'll talk about that later.

[00:08:15] Surprise, surprise.

[00:08:16] Surprise.

[00:08:16] See, that's what I'm talking about.

[00:08:17] Like, I would try not to hurt anyone, but I had to get a little fancy in there.

[00:08:21] Concept.

[00:08:22] What was the concept?

[00:08:22] Concept.

[00:08:23] I'll get there when the concept starts.

[00:08:25] Tell me when.

[00:08:26] It's not that complicated.

[00:08:27] Okay.

[00:08:28] This is the first song, Lethal Affinity.

[00:08:29] Okay.

[00:08:30] This is just a taste.

[00:08:30] This is Michael singing at first and then Mark singing part of it.

[00:08:35] Now we got energy.

[00:08:38] I can't tell me just to go with the flow.

[00:09:00] I don't know if that's what you expected.

[00:09:01] It's kind of exactly what I expected.

[00:09:03] Interesting.

[00:09:03] Yeah.

[00:09:04] So it's also interesting listening back to this because this is the first meaningful

[00:09:08] thing I produced.

[00:09:09] Yeah.

[00:09:09] Like I recorded and mixed and everything.

[00:09:11] When you look at it, listen to it now.

[00:09:15] How, what feelings do you feel like nostalgia?

[00:09:18] Do you feel kind of embarrassed or like, how do you, do you feel proud?

[00:09:22] Every time I hear something that I did any amount of time ago, I always hear stuff that

[00:09:27] I wish I had done better.

[00:09:28] Cool.

[00:09:29] But I feel proud of it.

[00:09:30] I feel nostalgic also because I miss those guys.

[00:09:32] Yeah.

[00:09:32] And also this, I wrote this, this song is about my wife.

[00:09:36] So like, she wasn't your wife.

[00:09:37] She wasn't my wife.

[00:09:38] Yeah.

[00:09:39] So.

[00:09:39] Does she know that?

[00:09:40] Yeah, I think so.

[00:09:42] She does now.

[00:09:42] She's also like same old, same old.

[00:09:44] Cause there's, there's more than one.

[00:09:46] Sure.

[00:09:46] Um, I wanted to play one more segment cause I wanted you to hear some of the bombast of

[00:09:50] this band.

[00:09:51] Okay.

[00:09:51] This is the same song.

[00:09:52] Yes.

[00:09:52] This is the ending.

[00:09:53] I had this sort of spinning in my ear.

[00:10:12] So that is not Dream Hydra.

[00:10:14] That is the Eagles.

[00:10:15] That is one of these nights.

[00:10:16] But we covered that song.

[00:10:17] Because Michael, we had, we, we had pretty good high, high falsetto notes.

[00:10:21] And so how's this for masturbatory ending to the opening track on an album?

[00:10:41] Some tight harmonies.

[00:10:43] Yeah.

[00:10:43] It's kind of our nerdy thing.

[00:10:44] Yeah.

[00:10:44] It, it, it made it fun, but also a pain in the butt if the sound guy wasn't sitting

[00:10:49] at his desk during a show.

[00:10:51] Sure.

[00:10:51] Okay.

[00:10:52] So here's another song.

[00:10:53] This is a song written by Michael.

[00:10:54] This song is called Checkmate.

[00:10:55] Kind of a little bit of a reggae vibe.

[00:10:57] Okay.

[00:10:57] I will resuscitate in later bands and later on this album.

[00:11:00] Love that.

[00:11:29] Your drummer's very good.

[00:11:31] Yeah.

[00:11:31] Shout out to Pat.

[00:11:32] Pat.

[00:11:32] He was good.

[00:11:33] He's my favorite so far.

[00:11:34] He's your favorite.

[00:11:35] Yeah.

[00:11:35] Cause we're not talking about Pat.

[00:11:36] Ooh, yeah.

[00:11:37] I bet he does.

[00:11:37] He sings some backup vocals on some of the songs.

[00:11:39] I'll point him out when we hear him.

[00:11:40] Yeah.

[00:11:40] He's my favorite.

[00:11:41] Okay.

[00:11:42] Um, this is a song called In the Ether.

[00:11:43] This is another one I wrote.

[00:11:44] This is actually, we, we made a music video for this.

[00:11:48] OMG.

[00:11:49] Where can I find this?

[00:11:50] It's on YouTube.

[00:11:50] It's on YouTube.

[00:11:51] Yeah.

[00:11:52] It, we like hire these former film students to make a, now I sort of feel regret because

[00:11:59] this is like our poppiest song, probably on the, the chillest song.

[00:12:02] We kind of wanted to go for that.

[00:12:04] I probably should have chosen something with a harder edge, but anyways, here's what it's,

[00:12:08] it's sort of the folk, folk pop kind of.

[00:12:49] She's playing it on her phone.

[00:12:51] Yeah.

[00:12:51] Check it out later.

[00:12:52] I love it.

[00:12:52] I really liked that song.

[00:12:53] That's my favorite.

[00:12:54] By far.

[00:12:55] Okay.

[00:12:55] My favorite.

[00:12:56] Well, it makes sense.

[00:12:57] It's like, that's like, it's got a little Crosby stills and Nash.

[00:13:00] Yeah.

[00:13:00] And it's like mellow and I, it's not like, I, you know, I don't need to, I can sit and

[00:13:04] listen to it.

[00:13:05] I don't need to like dance to it.

[00:13:06] Bunch of love songs so far.

[00:13:07] Right.

[00:13:08] It kind of.

[00:13:08] Okay.

[00:13:09] So this song is let go.

[00:13:10] This is written by other Mark.

[00:13:12] Can we just go back to the music video for a second?

[00:13:15] Okay.

[00:13:15] So I haven't, I've only watched a brief, brief bit.

[00:13:20] It's black and white.

[00:13:21] Part, part of it is part of it.

[00:13:23] It has a dual narrative.

[00:13:24] Dual narrative.

[00:13:25] Because the concept album has a dual narrative.

[00:13:27] All I saw was like a Waco like compound and some boots in the dirt.

[00:13:32] Let's talk about the concept real quick.

[00:13:33] So the concept album, it's not a big deal concept album.

[00:13:36] This is a bit like Sergeant Peppers where they had a bunch of songs and Paul McCarty

[00:13:40] went, Hey, let's turn this into a concept about a show.

[00:13:42] And the other guys are like, all right, whatever.

[00:13:44] And they just wrote songs.

[00:13:46] This, most of this concept was fleshed out after the songs were already written.

[00:13:50] And we just used it as an organizational principle.

[00:13:53] And then I wrote a few more songs to finish it up.

[00:13:55] Okay.

[00:13:56] So the concept is there's a love story happening about a relationship starting and then ending.

[00:14:02] Okay.

[00:14:03] There's also a story about the world ending and starting.

[00:14:07] Oh.

[00:14:08] So there's, there's a song later that we're going to hear in a couple called Burns Up.

[00:14:12] That is about sort of the end of the world.

[00:14:15] It's one of those like, did you ever see Grease 2?

[00:14:18] Yes, I have actually.

[00:14:18] There's this like scene where they're like, Hey, we're in a bomb shelter.

[00:14:21] Let's have sex.

[00:14:22] We have to repopulate the world.

[00:14:23] Yes.

[00:14:24] That's kind of what that song is.

[00:14:25] It's the world is ended, but we'll start again.

[00:14:28] Nice.

[00:14:28] And so there's a few songs that are about the world rebuilding after the end of the world.

[00:14:32] And these are interspersed with the songs of a relationship that starts and goes through turmoil and then ends.

[00:14:39] And so they sort of meet in the middle.

[00:14:41] So it's like the end of the world is like a metaphor for the relationship, but also not, but also truly about the apocalypse.

[00:14:49] It's a metaphor, but it's like literally in the narrative would be happening.

[00:14:53] But whether it's a dream or a real, I don't know.

[00:14:55] Whether it's a dream hydra.

[00:14:57] A dream.

[00:14:58] That's right.

[00:14:58] And the name radiant is sort of reflection on the like radiant beauty, but also radiation.

[00:15:04] Right.

[00:15:04] Yeah.

[00:15:04] So the reason I mentioned the concept is because the video, the scenes that you see of the boots stomping, that's this guy wandering in the wasteland.

[00:15:13] The guy we hired, the actor.

[00:15:14] Look up the credits are in the YouTube video.

[00:15:17] But then there's these memories that are in color that are of him and this woman.

[00:15:21] Oh, nice.

[00:15:21] We'll link it.

[00:15:22] We can link it when we.

[00:15:23] Can we in the show notes?

[00:15:24] I guess.

[00:15:25] I don't know how this works.

[00:15:26] Check it out.

[00:15:26] Yes.

[00:15:26] It's been up there for 10 years.

[00:15:27] Anyways, this is like go.

[00:15:29] It's about to get 100 more views in the next week because I'm going to deep dive.

[00:15:32] 20,000.

[00:15:32] Okay.

[00:15:39] Wusstest du, dass zehntausende deutsche Unternehmen bereits Shopify nutzen?

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[00:15:54] Mit Shopify kannst du Produkte über beliebige Kanäle verkaufen.

[00:15:58] Ob persönliches POS-System oder umfassende E-Commerce-Plattform.

[00:16:02] Auch Social Media und Marktplätze wie Facebook, Instagram und Ebay werden unterstützt.

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[00:16:49] So, um, this song's called Let Go.

[00:16:53] This was written by Ethermark.

[00:16:54] Who sings lead vocal.

[00:16:55] Here's a snippet of it.

[00:16:57] Every day.

[00:17:00] Another dream.

[00:17:04] Another scheme.

[00:17:25] He has a really nice vocal tone.

[00:17:27] Yeah, he's got like the sort of...

[00:17:29] It's like velvety kind of.

[00:17:31] But a little scratchy and soulful.

[00:17:32] I bet.

[00:17:33] I could use more.

[00:17:34] It's like kind of Hozier, but not really because it's a little bit too crisp.

[00:17:39] But...

[00:17:40] I bet.

[00:17:40] Mark, you listen to Hozier?

[00:17:41] If you're listening, Mark, you listen to Hozier.

[00:17:43] I bet you listen to...

[00:17:43] He listens to Hozier.

[00:17:44] Everyone knows Hozier's the best.

[00:17:46] All right.

[00:17:47] Next song is called Music Man.

[00:17:48] This one is me.

[00:17:50] I'm actually singing this one.

[00:17:51] And this is sort of like punky, like acoustic punk.

[00:17:57] Not quite cow punk, but a kind of acoustic punk.

[00:17:59] But I was inspired by this sort of vocal sound of...

[00:18:02] Like, I don't know.

[00:18:03] Here's Journey.

[00:18:25] So that kind of parallel harmonies.

[00:18:28] And that was Journey.

[00:18:29] That's not...

[00:18:30] Once again, not Dream Hydra.

[00:18:33] That is Journey.

[00:18:33] Got it.

[00:18:34] Here's Dream Hydra.

[00:18:34] Okay.

[00:19:11] That's you singing?

[00:19:12] That's me singing.

[00:19:12] You don't sound the same at all.

[00:19:14] Maybe just because you were prepubescent in this.

[00:19:16] Prepubescent 10 years ago when I was still a grown...

[00:19:19] I don't sound the same as I sound now singing, or I don't sound the same as I speak.

[00:19:23] I don't really hear you sing that one.

[00:19:24] Because my own brother heard one of our songs when this first came out and was like,

[00:19:28] who's singing that song?

[00:19:29] I was like, what do you mean?

[00:19:29] It's your brother.

[00:19:30] Your singing voice is very different than your speaking voice.

[00:19:33] I have a few different characters I put on, but in that one, yeah.

[00:19:36] I could see that sounds...

[00:19:37] That's me.

[00:19:38] It's me and them, but I'm singing.

[00:19:39] Yeah.

[00:19:40] Interesting.

[00:19:40] So this is Burns Up.

[00:19:41] This is the end of the world song.

[00:19:43] Okay.

[00:19:43] Right?

[00:19:43] So...

[00:19:44] Makes sense.

[00:20:10] It's so happy for an apocalyptic song.

[00:20:14] Right.

[00:20:14] It's the...

[00:20:14] We're in a bunker.

[00:20:16] We might as well make babies.

[00:20:19] This song's called Never Gonna Stop.

[00:20:20] This is...

[00:20:21] This is about how in the bunker you're just never gonna stop until like you have all the

[00:20:25] babies and repopulate the world?

[00:20:27] No, this is about...

[00:20:27] This is when the relationship in the narrative starts dissolving.

[00:20:30] This is about an argument that goes on all night.

[00:20:32] That you're never gonna stop arguing.

[00:20:34] Basically.

[00:20:34] Okay.

[00:20:34] It feels like it at least.

[00:20:35] Got it.

[00:20:35] So you mentioned how you like Pat.

[00:20:37] Pat sings some backup vocals in this song.

[00:20:39] Yes, Pat.

[00:21:12] And just another thing.

[00:21:13] That was you singing.

[00:21:15] The last part.

[00:21:15] Yeah.

[00:21:16] Yeah.

[00:21:16] Not the really high.

[00:21:17] Well, I'm singing backup on the high part, but...

[00:21:18] But the thing too, you never see...

[00:21:21] When you see drummers sing, you're always like, oh my gosh, they can do it all.

[00:21:26] That's right.

[00:21:26] Yeah.

[00:21:26] They're using all the parts of their brain all at once.

[00:21:28] And it's just always very impressive.

[00:21:30] Yeah.

[00:21:30] When you can just do both like that.

[00:21:32] Shout out to Phil Collins, Don Henley.

[00:21:34] I am a Pat fan.

[00:21:36] Can we get a picture of him?

[00:21:38] Can I find him online?

[00:21:38] Look up...

[00:21:38] He's in the Dream Hydra music video.

[00:21:40] Nice.

[00:21:46] By the way, meaning in terms of songwriting.

[00:21:48] Oh, this is sort of, again, kind of epic ending bombast that this band like to do.

[00:22:19] Breakup song, pretty much.

[00:22:20] Mm-hmm.

[00:22:20] Did you get...

[00:22:21] How far did you guys get?

[00:22:22] Did you have like a booking agent?

[00:22:23] You put on an album?

[00:22:23] We did not.

[00:22:24] Like, honestly, like we recorded this album.

[00:22:26] And shortly after that, I moved here.

[00:22:28] Like, we kind of killed it.

[00:22:29] We played shows.

[00:22:30] Yeah.

[00:22:31] We had a couple reviews or whatever.

[00:22:33] Not a lot of buzz from the album.

[00:22:35] We never got to go on tour.

[00:22:37] That's the thing is we should have gone on tour.

[00:22:38] We played a lot of shows in the LA area.

[00:22:40] Sure.

[00:22:40] We played...

[00:22:41] Did you have like a follow-up?

[00:22:42] Did you have like groupies and stuff?

[00:22:43] Do you have merch?

[00:22:45] We...

[00:22:45] Did we have merch?

[00:22:46] I think we had stickers and pins, maybe.

[00:22:48] We didn't really have a big follow-up.

[00:22:50] We had people that came and see us, but we didn't ever...

[00:22:52] But they were like your mom.

[00:22:53] Well, I don't even know if my mom...

[00:22:55] I don't think my mom...

[00:22:56] Hi, mom.

[00:22:56] If you're listening.

[00:22:56] I don't think she's ever...

[00:22:59] Did she ever say yes?

[00:23:00] I don't know.

[00:23:01] Sorry, that was pejorative.

[00:23:02] LA is tough.

[00:23:03] LA is tough, man.

[00:23:04] It's tough to break out.

[00:23:05] A lot of the clubs in LA...

[00:23:06] Shout out to any listeners who are in bands in LA.

[00:23:08] It's tough.

[00:23:10] So many of the clubs are pay to play.

[00:23:11] Oh, gosh.

[00:23:12] So like these famous clubs like Whiskey A Go-Go or whatever that you hear of from back

[00:23:16] in the day.

[00:23:18] They're like, oh yeah, you can play here.

[00:23:19] You're like, sweet.

[00:23:20] And they're like, you have to sell 100 tickets and they're 10 bucks each.

[00:23:23] You're like, what do you mean?

[00:23:23] We're paying you?

[00:23:24] Well, oh, you'll make money.

[00:23:26] 10 bucks a ticket.

[00:23:27] But if you don't get...

[00:23:28] Yeah.

[00:23:28] Sell them all, you eat the money.

[00:23:30] So we refused to pay...

[00:23:31] Play any of those shows.

[00:23:33] Yeah.

[00:23:33] And we didn't have time to tour at first.

[00:23:35] So we just played local clubs.

[00:23:38] That's cool, though.

[00:23:39] It was fun.

[00:23:39] I mean, we played some good shows and we played with some good bands and stuff like that.

[00:23:43] But then I killed it.

[00:23:44] But you really like got...

[00:23:45] I'm moving here.

[00:23:45] You kind of got your stripes.

[00:23:48] Yeah.

[00:23:48] And I got to record an album that took me almost a year to make and...

[00:23:51] Your opus.

[00:23:52] Yeah.

[00:23:53] Well, I think I was also doing my dissertation while I did that album.

[00:23:56] So which opus?

[00:23:58] All right.

[00:23:58] This is a song called The Rain.

[00:23:59] This is a...

[00:24:00] This is about acid rain?

[00:24:01] No, this one's...

[00:24:02] This is another love song.

[00:24:03] Okay.

[00:24:04] It's kind of epic and long, but here's the poppy chorus.

[00:24:41] I like that, too.

[00:24:42] I like the synthy kind of background and the lyrics are strong and...

[00:24:47] Do you want to hear the genesis of this song?

[00:24:49] I'm sure.

[00:24:50] This is the oldest song.

[00:24:51] Is it about the band Genesis?

[00:24:52] This song...

[00:24:53] No, I wish.

[00:24:54] This song is almost 20 years old.

[00:24:56] This song is about my then girlfriend who is now my wife.

[00:25:00] Oh, gosh.

[00:25:00] I wrote this...

[00:25:01] Again.

[00:25:01] While I was in college, believe it or not.

[00:25:03] That long ago.

[00:25:04] Yeah.

[00:25:05] For my college a cappella group.

[00:25:09] This is that same song.

[00:25:11] Of course.

[00:25:11] Yeah, of course.

[00:25:13] I wanna feel the ground beneath my feet.

[00:25:20] And spring into the air.

[00:25:31] It's too good, Mark.

[00:25:32] It's too good.

[00:25:33] So shout out to Jason singing the lead there.

[00:25:35] Yeah.

[00:25:36] That song I wrote years before.

[00:25:38] I wrote that song, I think, almost 10 years before this album came out as a pretty dorky

[00:25:43] a cappella song.

[00:25:44] But what I was hearing in my head was closer to what Dream Hydra would end up sounding like.

[00:25:48] This is a song called Just Watch the Fireworks by Jimmy E World, which is on one of my favorite

[00:25:53] albums of all time.

[00:25:53] I actually know this song.

[00:25:54] Oh, you do.

[00:25:55] Crazy, yeah.

[00:25:56] But this sort of chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk kind of groove is what was in my ear when I

[00:26:00] wrote even the a cappella version.

[00:26:22] And then I reinterpreted it years later with an actual rock band.

[00:26:26] Anyways, this song's called The End of Time.

[00:26:28] This one, very much also about the end of the world.

[00:26:31] But this one's about rebuilding.

[00:27:02] And that's other Mark singing.

[00:27:04] No, that's Michael.

[00:27:06] Michael.

[00:27:07] I mean, the other three of us, the Marks and Pat, are singing the say goodbye, all that

[00:27:12] stuff.

[00:27:12] But yeah, that's...

[00:27:14] I like his voice too.

[00:27:15] Yeah, well, he's good.

[00:27:16] He's the guy who listens to a lot of pop and Adam Lambert and Josh Groban.

[00:27:21] He gets it.

[00:27:22] Yeah.

[00:27:40] Okay, a couple more.

[00:27:42] So this is me.

[00:27:43] I'm now in a band with a lot of reggae sort of influence.

[00:27:47] This is a song called Numb.

[00:27:50] Okay.

[00:27:50] Which...

[00:27:52] I don't know.

[00:27:52] I don't need to get into it.

[00:27:54] It's one of the more serious songs on the album.

[00:27:55] But I was listening to the RX Bandits a lot at the time, which is like, kind of like if

[00:28:01] Sublime kind of turned into a prog rock band a few years later.

[00:28:04] That's what they sound like.

[00:28:05] They're amazing, by the way.

[00:28:07] RX Bandits continue to be amazing.

[00:28:09] This is the kind of stuff I had in my ear.

[00:28:12] Okay.

[00:28:12] We're curling up politicians' wars.

[00:28:17] What we need right now is Harry Skorkmores.

[00:28:24] Uh-oh.

[00:28:25] We need right now.

[00:28:32] That's great.

[00:28:32] I'm going to check them out.

[00:28:34] They're amazing.

[00:28:34] That's not called Overcome.

[00:28:35] Their most recent album is one of the best.

[00:28:39] Like, it's called Gemini, Her Majesty.

[00:28:40] It's so good.

[00:28:41] Cool.

[00:28:41] This is older than that.

[00:28:42] So this is a song called Numb.

[00:28:43] This is actually kind of a 9-11 song, but it's not about 9-11 per se, but an emotional

[00:28:48] reaction.

[00:28:49] But about that moment in time.

[00:28:50] It's about...

[00:28:52] Okay.

[00:28:52] I didn't know I was actually going to explain this.

[00:28:54] This song is...

[00:28:56] We were in college when 9-11 happened.

[00:28:58] Yes.

[00:28:58] And it kind of blew up the world.

[00:29:00] Yes.

[00:29:00] And I did not have an emotional reaction to it.

[00:29:03] Okay.

[00:29:03] I did, but I didn't have...

[00:29:05] Like, the sadness of it did not hit me until years later.

[00:29:09] When I'm watching some...

[00:29:11] It probably was 10-year anniversary commemorative thing, and I just start crying watching it.

[00:29:16] And that was the first...

[00:29:18] You bottle up.

[00:29:19] You're a bottler.

[00:29:20] I bottle that kind of emotion, I guess, right?

[00:29:23] But I was also really politically active in college.

[00:29:25] I was a poli-sci major before I was a music major, actually.

[00:29:29] So I had a lot of reactions to it, but I did not have an emotional human loss reaction really

[00:29:35] until years later.

[00:29:37] And what that left me with, of course, Catholic guilt about the fact that I didn't have that

[00:29:44] immediate emotional reaction to it.

[00:29:46] The fact that my emotional reaction was years later.

[00:29:49] That's what this song is about.

[00:29:50] And so, yeah.

[00:29:52] Tell me how the walls fell.

[00:29:54] How the fire burned across the sky.

[00:29:57] Tell me how they all fell down.

[00:30:28] So in that song, you promised yourself to never turn away.

[00:30:31] Have you since turned away?

[00:30:36] Nothing like so earth-shattering to our society in a single moment has happened since then.

[00:30:41] But no, I haven't.

[00:30:43] Good.

[00:30:45] I have kids now.

[00:30:46] It's different.

[00:30:47] So it's different.

[00:30:47] Yeah.

[00:30:48] It's like meaning the manner in which I would turn away or not.

[00:30:50] But I don't.

[00:30:52] I mean, we just saw Inside Out 2 in the theater.

[00:30:55] And I'm like wiping tears away sitting next to my kid wondering if they'll notice, right?

[00:31:01] It's okay to cry.

[00:31:02] I'm a lot more in touch emotionally than I was back then.

[00:31:05] Good.

[00:31:05] When I was in my 20s or under 20 when 9-11 happened, like I was way more repressed emotionally.

[00:31:13] But I think just like weariness and the miracle of life and all that just opens up emotions.

[00:31:18] And like at the age of 20, like you are very still very egocentric.

[00:31:22] And that's by design.

[00:31:23] Like you don't understand that the world is there's a ripple effect to every action.

[00:31:27] You feel like your world is the world.

[00:31:29] And it's really hard to see outside perspectives and have like a dichotomous thinking even at 20, especially for a man because your brain just isn't where it is now.

[00:31:38] Like in terms of like brain development.

[00:31:40] Yeah.

[00:31:40] So it makes sense that at that time you weren't like emotionally available.

[00:31:43] And now you are.

[00:31:44] And having kids does change because you think of the world that they're going to exist in and how troubled that world might be.

[00:31:52] And it's so much bigger than you.

[00:31:55] Right.

[00:31:55] Right.

[00:31:56] Wow.

[00:31:56] But this song is interesting.

[00:31:58] Like I'm, I'm, I feel you said, what's it like listening to this?

[00:32:01] I feel very fond of this song because one, it's like an emotional expression that I kind of leave off often in songs.

[00:32:09] Like, yes, I'm writing love songs, but there's a distance that isn't necessarily there in that song.

[00:32:13] But also this is probably the simplest song on that album.

[00:32:17] And so it, it was part of me breaking out of the, I have to make everything really awesome and complicated and kind of smart.

[00:32:25] And I can just write a simple song with an emotional core that I like in a good beat.

[00:32:30] Yeah.

[00:32:31] That really sort of led me to where I am 10 years later, which is even when I'm writing what you could call classical music.

[00:32:38] Like I'm just, what's going to, what's going to hit the audience?

[00:32:41] What's going to be successful?

[00:32:42] Not what's cool and fancy.

[00:32:44] And obviously the band I'm in now, like trying to go simple.

[00:32:48] Yeah.

[00:32:48] And I think that I, I think of that a lot in terms of kind of a different application, but in my teaching, like when I first, I've been teaching for almost 10 years, not more than 10 years.

[00:33:00] And when I first started, I would really try to like pack it all in and make sure that I like hit every note.

[00:33:06] Metaphorically.

[00:33:07] Right.

[00:33:07] To like try to get everything into these students.

[00:33:10] And now I realized like, it's not about that.

[00:33:12] Like every class I teach, I pick like three headlines.

[00:33:15] And if I can have them leave that class with knowing these three things, then that's a successful class because they're, they can't store all this information in their head forever.

[00:33:23] But if I can get them to remember like these, the greatest hits of like this content.

[00:33:27] Totally.

[00:33:28] I'm so I, I don't look at notes while I'm teaching, but I have class notes and a lot of them were generated a few years ago.

[00:33:34] And I'll just like look at them before I teach a lecture to remind myself, like, what am I doing?

[00:33:38] And if I have three pages of class notes, I am often cutting an entire page or more of just holistic, what's actually important and not sweating the detail, I guess.

[00:33:51] And even like being so explicit, like saying this is the headline of this semester.

[00:33:55] This is the headline of today's class.

[00:33:56] I'm going to write it on the board for you.

[00:33:57] If you remember one thing, this is what it should be.

[00:34:01] So ending with the other two guys in the band, this is a song called Four Prayers.

[00:34:05] This is Mark's song.

[00:34:08] Now, is it four, like the number four?

[00:34:10] F-O-U-R.

[00:34:11] So I don't know much about it, but there's this, I think it's a Hawaiian or Polynesian sort of belief structure or sort of idiom.

[00:34:19] I think it's Ho'oponopono.

[00:34:21] Because we actually sing it as a backup vocal leader.

[00:34:23] I think that's how it's pronounced.

[00:34:25] And it's, I'm sorry, please forgive me.

[00:34:28] I love you.

[00:34:28] Thank you.

[00:34:29] It's kind of a mantra of healing and forgiveness and sort of unity.

[00:34:35] I think.

[00:34:36] I don't know much about it.

[00:34:38] Don't look at me.

[00:34:39] This is something that Mark looked into.

[00:34:41] Other Mark.

[00:34:41] But this is Other Mark.

[00:34:42] This is kind of the, these last two songs are the reflection.

[00:34:46] Even, even numb.

[00:34:47] Even the previous song are the reflection of what has happened in this story, right?

[00:34:50] A relationship has ended and the world has also ended, but he's being reborn.

[00:34:53] And this is a reflection of that.

[00:34:55] So that's what this song is.

[00:35:33] He's got like a real Eddie Vedder vibe to his voice.

[00:35:36] Totally.

[00:35:37] He does.

[00:35:37] That's, that's Mark.

[00:35:39] Is your favorite song Mountain Song by Jane's Addiction or something like that?

[00:35:44] Like he, that and Eddie Vedder.

[00:35:46] He loves that sort of.

[00:35:47] It's like the tonality is like, is there for sure.

[00:35:50] And you can tell he's trying, he's.

[00:35:52] Maybe it's not natural, but he's like trying to be that.

[00:35:56] Sort of.

[00:35:56] Would that be accurate?

[00:35:57] It's kind of natural.

[00:35:58] That's what he cut his teeth with.

[00:36:01] So last song.

[00:36:02] This is another Michael song.

[00:36:04] Our second Michael song has sort of two parts, the quiet part and the loud part.

[00:36:08] This is a nether reflective contemplative song called Wake Up.

[00:36:12] He spent all his days searching to find a way out of his dream.

[00:36:21] Back to the place he called.

[00:36:35] In his heart.

[00:36:36] Then he won.

[00:36:46] And then later, more epic.

[00:37:19] That's what an interesting arc of a song that you start at that beginning and end at that ending.

[00:37:25] Like it's.

[00:37:25] And then it ends with vibraphone actually.

[00:37:28] Just quiet like.

[00:37:29] Nice.

[00:37:30] Vibraphone throughout.

[00:37:31] Vibraphone throughout.

[00:37:32] Not vibraphone throughout sadly.

[00:37:33] There should be.

[00:37:34] I saw her the little tinkle.

[00:37:36] There might have.

[00:37:37] Is there some earlier?

[00:37:38] I think that's just the guitar.

[00:37:40] I think that's just the guitar.

[00:37:40] That's a nice sound.

[00:37:41] So yeah, I know this was very masturbatory.

[00:37:43] But listeners, especially those of you that are musicians or artists or creators, you're going to do stuff that's going to disappear.

[00:37:52] You're going to do stuff that takes thousands of hours to do.

[00:37:56] Maybe cost a lot of money.

[00:37:57] Luckily, I did this myself.

[00:37:58] So it cost hours and not money.

[00:38:00] Well, we paid for mastering and recording studio and stuff.

[00:38:03] But those things won't.

[00:38:06] I'm not famous because of Dream Hydra.

[00:38:08] Dream Hydra is not a well-known band.

[00:38:10] But I wanted to celebrate it because it's been 10 years.

[00:38:13] And I love the guys in the band.

[00:38:15] And I don't live near any of them anymore.

[00:38:16] And these songs don't get...

[00:38:18] I don't go gig these songs anymore.

[00:38:20] But I did a lot back then.

[00:38:23] And as self-aggrandizing as it kind of is, I feel like it's worth celebrating that stuff sometimes.

[00:38:28] And people who...

[00:38:30] Musicians who say, oh, I never listen to my own stuff.

[00:38:32] I don't know.

[00:38:32] Maybe sometimes go back and listen to something you did in a previous life.

[00:38:36] You know?

[00:38:37] Because it surprises you.

[00:38:38] Like the things we did in our past were the building blocks of who we are now.

[00:38:42] And who we are now is the building blocks of who we're going to be in the future.

[00:38:47] And it's awesome to be reflective of those things.

[00:38:50] We only get this one timeline, allegedly.

[00:38:53] So it's important to like go back and visit the mile markers on it.

[00:38:56] Allegedly.

[00:38:57] Or is this a reincarnation conversation about to happen?

[00:38:59] I feel like multiple...

[00:39:00] I'm into strength theory.

[00:39:02] That's another conversation.

[00:39:03] All right.

[00:39:03] Definitely another conversation.

[00:39:06] Yeah, for sure.

[00:39:15] Nevermind the Music is hosted by Nicole Thatcher and me, Mark Poppany.

[00:39:19] I also produce.

[00:39:20] Please be sure to subscribe and leave us a rating and a review.

[00:39:23] And let us know what you think on social media.

[00:39:25] We're Never Music Pod on all major platforms.

[00:39:28] You can also send us an email at nevermusicpod at gmail.com.

[00:39:32] Every so often we'll do a mailbag episode where we answer all your burning questions.

[00:39:36] So please send them in.

[00:39:37] Thanks for listening.

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[00:40:54] Die Commerce-Plattform Shopify revolutioniert Millionen von Unternehmen weltweit.

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[00:41:03] Ganz ohne Programmier- oder Designkenntnisse.

[00:41:06] Dank der effizienten Einrichtung und intuitiven Social-Media- und Online-Marketplace-Integration

[00:41:11] kannst du über Instagram, Ebay und Co. werben und verkaufen.

[00:41:15] Neue Zielgruppen zu erreichen war noch nie so einfach.

[00:41:19] Shopify bietet auf einer einzigen sicheren Plattform alle Tools, um dein Online-Business aufzubauen.

[00:41:25] Kostenlos testen und dein Business der Welt präsentieren.

[00:41:28] Shopify.de//try besuchen.

[00:41:31] Einfach Shopify.de//try eingeben und loslegen.

[00:41:36] Made for Germany. Powered by Shopify.