#414 - Dan + Shay on Almost Breaking Up and How They Were Saved By a 3am Conversation + Why Dan Cut His Hair + How Shay Getting Sober Changed His Life + Behind The Scenes of them Joining ‘The Voice’

00:00:06
Speaker 1: Guy knew he was burnout.

00:00:07
Speaker 2: I didn't know the extent of what was going on, but he texted me and was like, hey, man, you want to come over tonight in my heart of heart. So I was like, I think that this might be the end of our band.

00:00:16
Speaker 3: Episode four thirteen with Dan and Shay your thoughts on this interview, Mike.

00:00:22
Speaker 4: They seem like completely different people, like the same people, but like just so much like better and nicer and cooler.

00:00:29
Speaker 3: Like healthier. Yeah, and then you get jealous that you're not as healthy. I get jealous I'm not as healthy, But yeah, I agree. And they both look different too, they do, so I guess maybe that's part of it as well. And we go to that just at the very beginning, because it's like, let's get all the really superficial stuff out of the way. Dan, you cut your hair, what the heck, Shae, you cut your body or you lost all the weight, and what the heck, let's go. We talked about that a bunch and they were very open about it, and I do feel good about our conversation about how they really got to a point in their relationship where they almost broke up. Yeah, my wife and Dan's wife are very close and so I knew a lot of that stuff as it was happening, but not my business. I didn't know what they were gonna do. I don't know if they were going to break up. I don't know if Dan was like I'm retiring, we'll hold off for a while. But you know, I'm glad they really went into it here with me, and I think that since we kind of have that relationship, they were able to do that a little safer.

00:01:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely.

00:01:28
Speaker 3: So we do an hour over an hour with Dan and Shay. Listen known these guys forever. They have a new record that's out September fifteenth, so by the time you hear this, it may already be out. The week it's released, it's not out yet.

00:01:42
Speaker 5: But I don't know.

00:01:42
Speaker 3: I don't know what else to say except let's just get to it. They are two of the judges now in the Voice, but they're one judge. They're each half a judge. How does that sound?

00:01:50
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:01:50
Speaker 3: One button, one button, two people. You guys went here, and Shay was very honest about how you know, he never really thought about being on the Voice and was like, I don't know if that interested me, and then when they said, hey, it may be an option, like it's all I ever wanted to do in my whole life. That Yeah, that's kind of how it works in my head too. So okay, here we go. The new album, Bigger House is coming out. They got a bunch of new great music. They have a mini documentary called The Drive, which came out in July on social media. Check it out here. They are Dan and Shay. I've got allergies pretty bad and I'm not hurting. But if I sound like I'm about to cry.

00:02:20
Speaker 5: It's because we made you so much, not because you're here.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it could be because you're here.

00:02:24
Speaker 5: Look at that picture looking over your shoulder, man, and it'll do it to you.

00:02:26
Speaker 3: Yeah. I look at that in that states here all the times just happened to come in here.

00:02:31
Speaker 5: But this picture is always up a you cho. I saw it in TRS interview. I was like, what's that picture?

00:02:35
Speaker 3: Other people come over and it's just they're like, why is there always a picture of Dan and Shay in here? So so it's the allergies I was in. I was in therapy two days ago, and I have a real problem with crying. Not because it's a masculine thing, but because it's a vulnerability thing. And so I always tell my therapists like, I would love to cry more like, I would love to not be embarrassed of crying. Not because it's a masculinity thing. I don't have a dad, but because again, I'm just scared of like being weak and vulnerable. And my allergies got so bad that my therapist thought I was crying and I was like, breakthrough.

00:03:11
Speaker 5: Yes.

00:03:12
Speaker 2: It was like.

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Speaker 3: It was like, see, look see how easy this is. This is working, and I'm like, what see, how see let's see your emotional nobody's judging you. I'm like, I got allergies, bro. So that's where we are right now. Good to see you guys too.

00:03:25
Speaker 5: Man, thanks for having us.

00:03:26
Speaker 3: It is I mean, I'll start Danielson closest. I guess I haven't seen your hair in real life since you cut it. I saw a video that maybe Caitlin had where there's a deer in new yard and your dogs were chasing it. It was the first time I saw your hair because you ran out the security.

00:03:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, that was ridiculous. That was ridiculous hair.

00:03:46
Speaker 3: That was good.

00:03:47
Speaker 5: Thanks man. I'm just trying to steal your hairstyle.

00:03:49
Speaker 3: I don't do the thing. How big decision to cut it? Or was it we're finished with this season? This hair was growing for this season, let's cut it.

00:04:00
Speaker 5: Yeah. I feel like it was just a fresh start. Honestly, like the music sounds a little bit different. It was just it was an opportunity to, you know, start from scratch. And the long hair was really a hassle. It was a pain. I mean it was.

00:04:10
Speaker 3: It was a whole thing, just a routine you had to do.

00:04:12
Speaker 5: It had a routine, especially before shows or before like a TV thing. It's like over an hour's worth of you know, you wash it and you put something in it, let it curl up a little bit, and then you curl it a little more. It was just a process. I was calculating the amount of hours a year I was spending on my hair. It was just way too much. I was getting weeks back when I cut.

00:04:30
Speaker 3: It, and probably a lot of money because you have to buy products are not cheap. No, even for my hair, they're not cheap. And I don't have I mean to have.

00:04:37
Speaker 5: See, I wish I was a hat guy. I look at all these other acts in their hat Guys, I feel like that takes so much pressure off. You leave the house, you just throw on a hat. It's like, man, that guy's killing it.

00:04:44
Speaker 3: Or even just a temporary hat guy or an occasional hat guy. Yeah, So if you're not feeling it, you still had on. Yeah, But guys, then you're committed to hat because if you're like a like Dustin Lynch, I'm always like, you know, Dustin hates one of the Keble hit every single freaking night he's performing, and.

00:04:57
Speaker 5: He's carrying it around in that verse.

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Speaker 3: Somebody, and you know, he'd sometimes like to be like I just like to either have my hair or wear a ball cap.

00:05:04
Speaker 5: And he has good hair too, yep. But you either got to be full hat.

00:05:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't.

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Speaker 5: You can't. You can't be.

00:05:09
Speaker 2: Somewhere in the middle. It's it's like Eric Church and sunglasses. When do you see him without it, You're like, what is what do you? How dare you? You're almost offended?

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Speaker 5: How are you not wear sunglasses?

00:05:19
Speaker 1: In here?

00:05:19
Speaker 3: We were at Pebble Beach together, Eric Church and I. We were there was before a part three. We were both playing this part three like Championship, and I was talking to Eric because he lives near me. I'm gonna say where anybody lives. Nobody knows where I live. So we were talking about that and I just remember thinking, this is not the Chief. This is a guy in a golf shirt that's just like Eric is there on the Chief one the Chief.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's the most like it was the most relatable when I saw him golfing, which I feel like when you first get into golf, I know that you've seen this before too. When you're first getting in, it's super intimidating because you just think everyone's way better than you, and then you get in, you're like, so everyone just kind of sucks. And I remember watching him I think it was out the Pebble Beach one and it was just like they went to him right on camera on TV and the broadcast and he just hits, you know, a stinger, but.

00:06:10
Speaker 3: It was it was like it was yeah, that's what the kids say, you know, yeah.

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Speaker 5: This is a stinger.

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Speaker 2: And he just hit it like on the ground, like thirty free feet in front in front of him, and it was incredible.

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Speaker 5: I remember the most relatable.

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Speaker 3: Thing like what's your handicap? And when he said it, I was like oh you're You're like me. I remember thinking I don't really consider interest me anything like me. But I was like, oh, you're like me. I just want to do all the superficial questions up front. So Shaye, at this point, you freaking ripped you fit?

00:06:36
Speaker 1: What's the deal like trying to get there?

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Speaker 3: What are you doing now?

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Speaker 2: So it kind of started out I was just fasting.

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Speaker 5: I just i'd cut out alcohol.

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Speaker 2: So I've been a year sober and I didn't really set out to do that. And I was talking to Jake on about this because I he went sober and asking him kind of about that and my life is just better without it. And I started six months was kind of my goal of like, I'm not going to drink and I'm going to do some fasting and just eat whole foods and cut out sugar and all that, and that worked. I In six months, I think it was, I'd lost about sixty pounds and I was like, well that was awesome, and I just felt better mentally. And so after that, I kind of started actually going to the gym with a trainer and started trying to put on muscle, and that's kind of where I'm at right now. My goal is like by next you know, summer, if we go on the road to just be offensively ripped, you know, like a Riley Green, he's.

00:07:26
Speaker 3: Offensive, annoying, like we have to Yeah, we can't even address it. We're so annoyed by it.

00:07:30
Speaker 1: You can't even talk about it.

00:07:31
Speaker 2: Where it's like I don't understand why you even walked into this room, like you should have wore long sleeves, like we were all talking about it. It's the elephant in the room, kind of ripped, like a temagraw ripped.

00:07:40
Speaker 5: I love the comments when Riley Green posts a picture, it's like, yo, man, my girlfriend's on this app. Yeah, like that's the level you gotta get to.

00:07:45
Speaker 3: Well, it's also too it's Riley or any of the even Sam or whomever. You're just sure they get it all the time because they are so ripped and so good looking. You're like, I don't want to talk about how good looking or even mention it because they have to get it all the time.

00:07:58
Speaker 2: It wasn't the first time they've heard it, and maybe in that hour right like people probably just like tech, I imagine they get texted of like hey dude, like what's the deal you know what I mean, why are you so ripped.

00:08:08
Speaker 3: Just cutting all that stuff? Just as an I fasted a bunch depending on I try to healthily fast depending on what project I'm working on, or even for clarity in my mind, Like I do find that when I'm fasting, I do think clearer. And I don't know if it's because of what I'm not eating or because of what I am eating or the hours that I'm eating. And I've read a lot of different studies and read about European soccer teams that have done a lot of fasting. Yeah, because it's way more of a European thing than it is an American thing. But Mike d who produces this, and it's like my main guy. I mean, he lost one hundred pounds by by just going I'm not drinking sodas anymore and walking and he went from there. Were you able to see small growth like that? And that's what kind of kept you in.

00:08:51
Speaker 2: It was for sure. The fasting thing is super interesting because I've read a lot on it.

00:08:57
Speaker 1: You know, you do all this.

00:08:58
Speaker 2: I did research on it of like what is fasting? What are you getting from it? Is it just to lose weight? And there was At first, it was just like the weight loss, and I was also walking.

00:09:06
Speaker 1: I would walk.

00:09:07
Speaker 2: I told myself if I could walk seven miles a day that that would do something, just to see what it would do.

00:09:12
Speaker 5: So I was.

00:09:12
Speaker 2: Walking seven miles like on a treadmill or outside, depending like weather, and I would usually end up just walking on a treadmill for seven hours and I'd catch up on my shows and all that kind of stuff because I never had that time to just be in one place and it just kind of.

00:09:26
Speaker 1: It fell off.

00:09:27
Speaker 2: But yeah, I saw just a small growth, you know. Mentally was the first thing. I think that kind of was improved where I was like I can It sounds stupid, but like I was remembering stuff a lot better, and I didn't think that I had like a bad memory, so like short term especially, like I was just like, oh, that's kind of strange, Like I know I can remember that whatever it was, like phone numbers from back in the day.

00:09:50
Speaker 1: Like my brain was just functioning at a higher level.

00:09:53
Speaker 3: Maybe no sugar though, too, Like that's a big one because sugar is such a freaking and I would eat all day every day and sometimes I do, but it's the worst and it's gonna in my what I've said for a long time about this is and I could be wrong, but in ten fifteen years, we're going to look at sugar maybe twenty the same way that we now look at cigarettes. But we're like they just all doctor smoked cigarettes, and like I said, this is a cigarette I would recommend, like sugar is awful and awesome.

00:10:21
Speaker 2: I could literally talk about that all day long because I went down the rabbit hole of like sugar and what that is and just and I won't spend too much time talking about this because I'll spend an hour talking about it. But the processed foods and things that we have on the shelves, I mean, it's ninety nine percent of the stuff that we have. It's so much junk because it all turns into sugar at the end of the day.

00:10:37
Speaker 1: And it was wild going down that rabbit hole.

00:10:39
Speaker 2: And my sister did a diet called like the candy to diet, which is like basically cutting out all sugar, and she had Crowns disease. And she's talked about this publicly before, like she's like had Crowns disease, limes disease, and ulcerative colitis, and she did that with the cutting out sugar completely and anything that turned into sugar, and she got rid of literally all of those things.

00:10:59
Speaker 1: And it's pretty wild.

00:11:00
Speaker 2: To look at, you know, using food as medicine rather than kind of the first instinct to go to, you know, straight medicine.

00:11:08
Speaker 5: It was wild to just cut out sugar.

00:11:10
Speaker 2: What that did for her personally and what it did for me, I mean just thinking clearer and being motivated. And I think fasting also has a lot to do with a lot of the energy I was feeling and just like the focus. But there's all kinds of science behind that. But it was really I started to see it in small ways, and then after six months it was a massive I mean a little bit every day, a small percentage. You look back in six months and I just didn't recognize myself now, you know, it being a little over a year, I literally don't feel like the same guy. It's kind of why, I mean, I look completely different. But it also just like the way that I think and approach life and the way I approach music, like I'm obsessed now where it's like I want to take this whole deal as kind of a athletic feat you know, to be able to be a musician and we're playing shows, we're running around on stage like I want to take that kind of approach like athlete would, taking it very seriously of like, all right, our fans deserve, you know, our best performances, and to do that, I need to be at my peak performance of whatever that looks like. It doesn't have to be getting shredded, but just being prepared and making sure that I'm you know, taking the time to work on myself in those ways and mentally is a big part of that.

00:12:20
Speaker 1: All those things go together.

00:12:21
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, health, mental health. You feel like it's affected your mental health in a good way.

00:12:24
Speaker 2: One hundred percent.

00:12:25
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:12:25
Speaker 2: And I think one thing I noticed and learned is that your gut health and your mental health there the two are so connected that I just didn't realize that ever in the past. And as I kind of gone down that rabbit hole, it was like, Okay, I'm eating healthier and now I'm thinking clearly, and I haven't had a panic attack in a year and a half, and it was like, there's probably something to that, you know.

00:12:48
Speaker 3: There was a little relief probably a month or so ago, because Mike then this will be when the album is out. A week before it comes out. Okay, so most people listening to this, they won't have heard the record yet, but some of it's out. And so Dan had sent me the record and was like, hey, he did the thing that I just love the most. He was like, don't tell me how good or bad it is. She tell me what song sticks out? Because I hate when people are like, is it good? All they all they all they want is whomever it is. We all want this as humans, right, yeah, validation, yes, like and so then I have to be like, it's good.

00:13:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know what.

00:13:24
Speaker 3: It's gonna be fine regardless of who is sending it if it's at this level. But Dan was like, tell me what songs stick out. So I definitely take my time with it because I don't really do that. I don't listen to a lot of music that before it comes out. Hey, I was in a lot of music anymore now because there's just so much. So I just really have my stuff. But I do love you guys and definitely respect you guys a bunch. And so Dan's like, check it out, don't tell me what's good, tell me what sticks out, just straight up and I was like, oh, so I told Caitline. I was like, I'm so glad Dan asked me to do it that way.

00:13:53
Speaker 5: Hey, you have permission always to be honest, though you know that I do what I do.

00:13:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's like everything's gonna be good because you guys want you guys aren't going to spend the time, not that you're not gonna write that songs. You may write a bad song, but then you may not cut the bad song. Then if you do cut a song, then maybe isn't good. Somebody's gonna go I don't think that should make the So there's just a lot of gates to get through. So I knew what I was gonna hear was gonna be good. So I listened to the record three times all the way through, and I'm just like, what pops?

00:14:17
Speaker 5: What pops?

00:14:17
Speaker 3: So I sent Dan a couple of songs. I was like, this is my favorite song, this is my second favorite song, and then I just kind of waited for Dan's response, and the one that I sent him, I said, and you'll vouch, I said, save me. The Trouble is like the best. It's it's it's the best. YEP, Like that is such a single. Had no idea.

00:14:36
Speaker 5: We announced it as a single like three days later, had.

00:14:38
Speaker 3: No idea, And so I I just I love that song. I mean that it feels sonically different enough to hear a maturation, but not that you're running from creatively who you guys have been.

00:14:59
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's exact factly why we chose it as the first single, Like, that's what it felt like to me. It was honestly, it was so validating when you said that was one of your favorites, because we've got so much respect for you as a friend. You know, your ear for music. You took a chance on us before anyone else, you know, and you take a chance on a lot of new music, and you've broken a lot of artists and country music in your time here. And not just trying to guess you up, it's just the truth, you know.

00:15:18
Speaker 3: To keep keep on them.

00:15:19
Speaker 5: I will, I will. The shoes look great, shirt looks great. House man, it's awesome. But yeah, that song when you said that was one of your favorites or you know.

00:15:26
Speaker 3: Favor that was number one to me. Yeah, it's amazing.

00:15:29
Speaker 5: We felt the same way. We felt like there was this moment we were trying to go back and forth pick the first single, and that one was always at the top of the list to us. And there was this one epiphany moment sitting there. I've got the phone on the island kitchen and it's playing and I heard Save Me the Trouble, and I was like, how could this not be the first single? And that was what I texted everybody. I was like, how could it not be? It was just something about that song that stood out, maybe not necessarily above all the rest, but it felt like it didn't alienate what got us here in the first place. You know, if you've loved Dan and Shay records in the past, it has that. It has the harmonies, it has the you know, big explosive chorus. But I feel like it was a taste of the evolution what the rest of the album sounds like. There were some other songs on there that may have been a little bit more organic or maybe more country than some of the stuff we'd done in the past, which I think it fits cohesively on the project when you hear it in context. But if we had come out of the gate with something like that with no context, I feel like it may have been too much of a shock, Save Me the trouble just felt like the right first call. And man, it's it's been flying up radio charts crazy.

00:16:25
Speaker 3: So yeah, definitely a graduation, but also you didn't change countries totally, still in the American school system, you know. I mean, it's so yeah, I loved that, and then it's called Bigger Houses, So what's why? What's the why?

00:16:42
Speaker 5: Just why?

00:16:43
Speaker 2: As far as the the album, sure, well, whenever I'll go back, I guess to that song to give it context. But the first time that I heard that song, we were kind of done with the record.

00:16:54
Speaker 5: At this point.

00:16:54
Speaker 1: We had kind of had all.

00:16:56
Speaker 2: The songs were done, and Dan had written the song Bigger Houses with our buddy Andy Albert, and I don't know was it who else was in that.

00:17:04
Speaker 5: Song, Andy, Jordan Minton and Jordan Reynholms.

00:17:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, so a bunch of more core writers that the boys. And I hadn't heard it yet, and he was like, had sent it over. And usually Dan, you know, prefaces any song that he writes that I wasn't on. He'll preface it like I don't know if it's like that good or whatever, But then he'll send it and I'm like it's probably gonna be phenomenal. You know, if he's sending it to me, I know it's gonna be good. And I was actually back home in Arkansas and I was visiting my family and I was on the farm that I grew up in, and there was just something about hearing it in that context of a place that I learned the lesson the first time of the lesson that is in that song from that was what I was taught growing up, you know, of where happiness lies. And it was just a really it hit me really hard, and I was like, man, we have to have to record this song, like this is it's my favorite song that we've ever done. I can say that now after we recorded it. There's just something about it that is so genuine and authentic to my upbringing and kind of where I came from that I just connected with it on a really deep level. Even though I didn't write the song, it was just like, man, this is I would have liked to think that if I was there in that room, like these are the things that I would have wanted to say, And it just resonated really hard with me, which I feel like on this entire album.

00:18:17
Speaker 5: It was just very representative.

00:18:19
Speaker 2: Of like where we're at in our lives, and even the heartbreak songs are the fun songs. It just felt very much where I'm at, you know, songs like then Again and always going to Be. It's just where I'm at my life, and.

00:18:29
Speaker 5: It just I feel like bigger houses.

00:18:31
Speaker 2: Sonically, it was pretty stripped back of how we you know, that song was written of how kind of we write something. We wrote this entire project kind of just on acoustic guitars and a piano, and like there wasn't any tracks like the entire time and nothing against that, you know that pendulum swings back and forth always, but we just wanted to kind of do it how we had done it in the.

00:18:50
Speaker 1: Very beginning of just getting together and telling stories.

00:18:52
Speaker 2: And I feel like that that song in particular, really it connected the entire album was a song that was very representative of what where we were at in our career and our life and the things that we had been through and where we were focused. And I feel like, I mean, the overall message of the song is, you know, the thing about happiness I've found is it don't live in bigger houses. And obviously it's not just talking about bigger houses. It's the things that we chase after. You know, there's nothing wrong with you know, having nice things and whatever it is.

00:19:20
Speaker 1: We all like those things.

00:19:21
Speaker 2: But it's when you start to set that bar and you start chasing after that high, when you're chasing after a feeling that is an unattainable goal because you're that bar is always going to get raised. It's like, all right, you win three Grammys, you can win six, somebody's one twenty. You know, somebody's won thirty Grammys. It's like, there's a bar that you can set for yourself and these experiences that you almost come to expect that are just you're never going to reach that goal. And I feel like we had to have that moment where we looked around and we're like, Okay, you know what, we need to bring it back, reel it back a little bit. Step one is to appreciate what we've gotten to do in this incredible career that we've had and thankful for that, and know that moving forward, if we can find joy in the process of making this album and getting to do something that we love, we can't control what happens after that, but we can control the process and if we can find joy in that, we don't have to worry about what happens after that and winning these awards and having all these hits and streams and whatever it is. If you can find joy in those small moments, you don't have to worry about the rest of it. And I just feel like that song, it just really resonated with me, and we just felt like it was the perfect representation to kind of place the badge of Okay, this song represents this entire project as a whole, and that just needs to be the name of the album.

00:20:40
Speaker 1: And it's been really.

00:20:41
Speaker 2: Cool so far. I feel like just the badge of Bigger Houses. I'm really proud to put that song as almost a stamp on the album to let people know what this album is going to be about and what it represents.

00:20:55
Speaker 4: Hank Ty the Bobby Cast will be right back, and we're back on the Bobby Cast.

00:21:09
Speaker 3: I remember watching the Drive, the social media document whatever you gonna call it content. I text Dan I was like, hey man, that was awesome. Like I felt a little uncomfortable. Knew a lot of the stuff that was going on too, you know, our families are close, but I was like, wow, you got that that felt, so I'll just say good because it was real and it was honest. But sometimes you can see when it is a bit strategized. Sure, but that was uncomfortable and in the best way. So I guess my lead into that is, you guys were going through a lot. You decided to share it a lot with each other. Why did you why did you decide to share that then, and why was it important to put that out there?

00:21:54
Speaker 5: I think selfishly, it was good to share it, the vulnerability, putting your vulnerability out there to the world. I feel like it's helpful to us, you know, for personal growth, for growth in our relationship with each other. But you know, if you look back on the course of our ten year career, everything's been pretty squeaky clean, you know, And for the most part, that's what it is for artists. I think there's a big authenticity movement right now, which is amazing. You'd love to see it. I'd love to see people putting their actual heart out there on the line, and I think that's important for fan connection. But for ten years, it was like only posting the best of the best in the highlight reel, you know, on social media, and I know, that's the nature of the beast, but we felt like if we were going through that, there was likely somebody else. And also it gave context to this music that was about to come out, so I, you know, there is a little bit of that, but we felt like if we were going through this, there was somebody out there, one of our fans, somebody in the industry, and that was the most reactive piece of content we've ever put out there, not necessarily in views or virality, but the amount of industry people, managers, artists, writers, just friends, friends from back home texting me like, man, that was really brave you guys, Like that was inspiring to me, Like that, you know, inspired me to speak up or communicate with somebody that I hadn't communicated with in a while. And I don't know, it was just like the messages that we got. There were long messages too. It wasn't just like love you guys, come to Cleveland. It was like paragraphs, like people explaining what that meant to them. That was a powerful piece, but it was it was true, It was honest, it was genuine. That moment that night we talked about, you know, my house and what was at March twenty twenty two or whatever. That was the most pivotal moment in Dan Shay's career, like more so than any award, more so than any song, any show that we've ever done. That moment changed at all because for ten years, you know, life gets in the way when that when you're going so hard. You know how we were working hard, and we started out one hundred and fifty shows a year. You're on the road constantly, and if you're not going out of your way to work on that relationship, especially in a duo, a duo was such a difficult configuration. I mean, historically a lot of duos fall apart because it's fifty to fifty. I think it's harder than a marriage. It's like it's equal split and you're on public display at all times, and if you're not being open with each other and going out of way being proactive with communication, things can fall apart. And you know, we say in a trio there's a tiebreaker. Solo artists kind of pays their own way, but a duo you really have to work at it, and we weren't working at it. You know, there was nothing people are like, So was there like a specific incident or was there a fight. There really wasn't. And we've said that before too, that there maybe that was the problem that there wasn't a fight. We weren't communicating, you know, if something was bothering us, or you know, I was being an idiot or whatever, Sha was doing something, we weren't speaking about it in real time, and we were just like letting things fester. And I think that's where things kind of got in the way. And then throw in COVID where you know, we're on and off the road for that two year period and it was just such an emotional roller coaster. It was a lot of story to tell. And you know, Shane and I once we got to this place after that we can talk more about that in a sec two that come to Jesus night at my house conversation. After that, we were just it just felt like the air had lifted. We were like in such an amazing place, the closeness of our relationship, of our friendship stronger than ever before. And we would get on the phone, Shae would come over the house for what we said in the drive is true, Like we made this goal to hang out more, to spend more time together. Three days a week. Whatever, Shaye comes over, we pick up a guitar. Right. If we don't have an idea, we just hang out, you know, just whatever, watch a movie, do it, do something, just hang out, spend time together like we did when we first started, and then Shae would leave and we'd call each other be like, dude, today was sick, you know, like or if we wrote a song, it'd be like that song sick. And we didn't even know we were making an album at the time. It was just like and we didn't know if we were going to still be a band. It was like, let's just see how this goes, like let's reconnect, let's be friends again, you know. And we would get on the phone for an hour and a half. Like there were some nights we were I remember pacing around my backyard getting bit up by mosquitoes and we're talking for like I think it was like ninety minutes or something. When I'd look down at my phone just like, dude, this is like just feels like a new era, a new chapter, like these songs were writing. You're so fun, Like what if we like told this story to the world, you know, and then you get asked when when you put out a record, the label says, hey, let's do a day where we go do liners. Hey I'm and I'm Shay and we're Dan and Shay, and this is what our album's about. For each song is track by track. I was like, I think it'd be really special to tell our fans to give context to this album, like what we just talked about. I was like, if somebody had been recording this phone call that we just had, just us talking about what we had been through, we're going through, what we're dreaming of, you know, like that is that sums it all up. And we just one day was like, dude, we should just like go for a drive, Like, get in a car, go out to Kingston Springs. We spent a lot of time out there when we first got going. You know, we couldn't afford a meal, so we had friends who would feed us out there and you know, beautiful place to hang. So we got in a car, they rigged it up, put a couple of GoPros in there, put some mics in the car, and we just drove. No managers, nobody sitting there like saying prompting any of the conversation. We just I don't even remember where we started, but it was you.

00:26:48
Speaker 2: I think we got lost about six times on those back roads and we legitimately drove for hours. Yeah, it was like it took a second to it going because we were you know, we knew that we were being filmed, and so we had to like settle in and we're like, let's just talk. And then we talked for like three hours, and we used so little of the content it probably took them forever to go through and find easable pieces because we really just ended up having that conversation of just like talking through exactly what. Because that that conversation literally sparked I was like, man, I wish people could just hear that is the context of the album what we just had on this phone call. And I was just like, let's just go for a drive. And it really one of these days we'll probably put out some more footage of the drive because it was director's cut all of it. The director's cut all of it. There'd be a long that'll be a movie.

00:27:32
Speaker 5: Half of us is like that a cop behind us, you know, like stupid stuff like that.

00:27:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, half of it was there was like this big camera like going on.

00:27:38
Speaker 2: I was making sure I didn't hit anybody while filming this. That would have been really bad, but it was awesome to kind of also rehash that. It was another one of those moments and our just our personal lives that we were just a couple of guys out in the middle of nowhere driving talking through the craziness that was our career over the last ten years.

00:27:57
Speaker 3: Sometimes when I make a change in my life, it's got to be because it gets to a point that is so drastic that I can realize it where it's, oh, I'm not in a good place. I mean when I went to on site, I wasn't in a good place. So it took me to actually hit we'll call bottom.

00:28:14
Speaker 2: You know.

00:28:14
Speaker 3: My mom would go to rehab, she would hit bottom, and then she would go would you say in you guys' relationship, because you got to hit a bottom to get to actually have the desire to get out of it or to get back in it.

00:28:25
Speaker 5: That's a great point. If you never hit that rock bottom, you might not realize something's wrong or that you need to make a change. And I hit it for you, guys, I absolutely hit rock bottom. I'll you know, speak on my side of the story and you know, shake and speak on his But that date was December. It was like first week at December of twenty twenty one. So this was when we finished the arena tour. You know, you work your whole life to get to a place where you can sell out an arena tour. We did. We put that on sale in October of twenty nineteen, you know when ten thousand Hours with Bieber came out, put this tour up, sell out MSG We sold out Staples Center, two nights at Bridgetone, like all these bucket list milestones. We're riding high, it's amazing, and then boom, COVID happens. It's all gone, and it's like, man, what that'll mess with your head? So we're juggling that for a couple of years. We finally get back out there. We did the tour. Shout out to our team and you know everybody out on the road, the promoters, you know, in the fans for hanging out of those tickets. Like it was a tremendous success given the circumstances. But I think I was chasing a lot of the wrong things, you know, speaking to the bigger houses thing a little bit comparison, we all know that comparison is the thief of all joy, and I think we all get caught up in that, especially when everything is so on display with social media. You know, you can look at stats, you can look at likes. Everything is just so right there for you to compare yourself to the best of the best of what somebody else is putting out. And I think I was caught up in that in a crazy way. On social media. I was, you know, being a content guy because we're too stubborn to have somebody help us with it, which we need to change that at some point. But you know, we're on the biggest tour of our lives and I'm like, well, crap, you know, we sold out last night. Let me make this video of us doing you know, we're in tall set at the Bok Center, and like we got to get this content of us like jumping in the crowds here and that stuff's all cool. But it was like all to like let the industry know that we're out here doing well. And I was chasing that too much and not enjoying the moment. I was like maybe looking forward too much to what was next, and I just really spiraled. It made me resent music because I wasn't doing anything that was related to music. It was like all in the name of trying to get content, and it was like I was not appreciating the fact that there were fans there singing the words back to us, and that wasn't appreciating the fact that I was getting to sing with my best friend or play with our band who we grew up with. Like all these incredible, incredible moments passed me by, and December, you know, came around twenty twenty one. We finished the tour in Boston and I got off stage more like defeated than I had ever been. And you know how it is, It's like it's really hard to be in this position. And I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about it, but I think that's why a lot there's a lot of mental health issues and depression in our industry, because if you're really struggling with something to the public, you feel this responsibility to be a superhero. You feel this responsibility to be unbreakable. You know, like on stage you have to be like, this is the best night of my life, when in deep down you could be like, I'm really hurting right now. You know, and this was before we knew to talk to each other, to be open about it with our fans. You know, this is a whole new chapter in an amazing era. But that moment I got off stage and I was like, I'm done. I don't know if I could ever do this again. And I didn't really say that to anyone. I think Abby kind of knew it. But she is so patient, so incredible, so encouraging with me to kind of work through these issues, you know, work on myself. And I came home from that and I like literally laid on the couch. You know, I'm always going, always doing something, just like you man, always on the move, always grinding, And that was like the first time in a long time that I just kind of laid there for like two weeks to process everything. I was like I might be done, I might retire whatever, moved back to my hometown figured out, but like I've I'm burnout. It was like the most extreme burnout I had ever felt, and I felt like I needed to get myself right first before I made any progress with Shay and our relationship, whether we were going to keep the band together or whatever. It was like I needed to get myself right on a personal level, I need to fall back in love with music, and I you know, after doing a lot of soul searching, I realized that previous year I'd written four songs total. Two of them were Christmas songs, two of them were for another band. And that is the thing that brings me the most happiness and fulfillment is creating being in the studio making music. And I wasn't making any music, and I was like, maybe I start there. So I went out on this little trip for There's a band called the band Camino good Buddies of Ours killing it right now. They did a little writing retreat for their album out in Colorado. I was like, you know what, I'll head out there with the boys. It's no pressure, you know, like not writing for Dan and Shade thing where we're saying like, okay, we've had these kind of hits. We need this thing. It's like just a little bit more free form. And if I don't get a single song out there, I'll get to go skiing. Like it'll be fun. So I did wrote a couple songs and I was like this is fun, Like there's no pressure. We're not writing for a specific you know, Dan and Shay thing like just making music for the sake of making music. And I came home, did the same thing with a couple other buddies. I was like, just trying to do it a couple of days a week, and I was like feeling so elated. I was so happy once you know, that went on for a couple months, and I just got to this amazing, amazing place and I was like, you know what, I got to get myself right with Shaye. We were about to go out on tour with Chesney, which is Stadium's bucket list tour. I mean that's like for a support slot, that's the pinnacle of it. And we had that booked and I came to this place. I was like, I got right with myself. I owe it to myself, I owe it to Shae, and I owe it to Dan and Shae the entity to figure this out. Whether we end this band and we right off into the sunset, we should go and enjoy playing in these football stadiums, or this could be a launching off point for the next chapter. And I was like, I got to hit Shae. We got to have this conversation tonight. So I called Shay and I was like, yeah, that's what I was calling.

00:33:54
Speaker 2: You did no, I mean, and I hadn't talked to him, you know, and yeah, this was a this It was kind of a conversation. I had kind of knew his kind I knew he you know, kind of how he felt, of like I knew he's burnout. I didn't know the extent of what was going on, but he texted me and was like, hey, man, you want to come over tonight. And I was like, okay, he wants to talk about something.

00:34:15
Speaker 1: I thought.

00:34:15
Speaker 2: It was like this is going to be kind of it honestly in my in my heart of heart. So I was like, I think that this might be the end of our band. And I was like, yeah, man, when you know, when do you want to do this?

00:34:25
Speaker 5: You know?

00:34:26
Speaker 2: And he was like, I can come over there right now. And I was like, oh, okay, he wants to talk like right now. And then I was like, I mean, you talk about a full blown panic, you know, because all this stuff started coming up and I was like, oh no, Like I was not prepared.

00:34:39
Speaker 1: This was like a normal.

00:34:40
Speaker 2: Sunday night or something, and I'm like, I'm gonna I told my wife. I was like I'm going to meet with Dan and I and we didn't really talk about it, and we both kind of looked at each other like I think I'm going to go in my band with my best friend that I haven't been close with in several years. It was just kind of this whole understood like this, we'll deal with this when we'll do the wreckage when I get back, you know. And I just remember driving over there just like sweaty palms, be like dude, this is this is heavy, you know. And I was like, this was giving me emotional right, this is to teach you how to this is just.

00:35:10
Speaker 3: Paying you forgive me an example people.

00:35:13
Speaker 2: But I was like, man, this is like the last ten years of my life is about to end, you know, and this is about we're about to you know whatever. And I get there and it was just like this, you know, what's up, dude, you know. And I remember we sat there and Dan just like starts to apologize for like the last ten years. That prompted me to apologize for stuff. And you know, that's the long and short of it. That we sat there until I think I got over there, like maybe I don't know, seven thirty after I put the kids to bed.

00:35:39
Speaker 1: I went over there.

00:35:40
Speaker 2: We stayed up and talked till like three in the morning and just hashed through all of these things, and a lot of that was like, all right, we need to really appreciate like what we've gotten to do, whether we continue to do this band. It wasn't like we were dancing around the fact that we both were kind of feeling like we don't know if we're going to do this anymore. But it was like, like, man, let's let's ride off into the sunset. Either way, let's Dan and Shay. Is always going to be was something that Dan said. He was like, We're always going to be a tattoo on somebody's arm, always gonna be a first dance song.

00:36:11
Speaker 1: And I was like, that's great.

00:36:12
Speaker 2: I remember, like because this was kind of after we had had our like really heavy talk, you know, and we had kind of gotten the tears out and all that kind of stuff, and I remember like watching him like grab his phone and type in that title, you know, and I was like, that's a great title, and and it was just it.

00:36:30
Speaker 1: Was just an incredible night.

00:36:31
Speaker 5: Man.

00:36:31
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, I feel like a lot of people are scared to say you know, like, oh, yeah, we got together and we cried, like just a couple of friends. That's that's pretty lame, Like no one would want to say that out loud, but like it was, man, a lot of tears were shed and a lot of stuff was really figured out. And it wasn't like we figured out all of our problems, but acknowledging that.

00:36:52
Speaker 1: It mattered enough to both of us that we would try.

00:36:55
Speaker 2: And it was just after that, it was our plan of action was to all right, let's hang out through times a week, let's get together, and let's have no agenda.

00:37:03
Speaker 3: It's just the relationship more than what the relationship could do. Exactly was let's make sure we do the relationship.

00:37:10
Speaker 2: Let's be let's be friends again. Because I feel like that's something that people don't see from the outside to be very easy to be like, yeah, we're in a band, and I feel like every duo in history, especially in country music, I mean, we've had so much devastation. You know, that is wreckage that has been left through different duos, friends of ours that have that have very publicly happened, and what you don't see is like the behind the scenes stuff that is just like their friendship is. If that gets wrecked, it's just a matter of time. That's a ticking time bomb of you know, your of your band separating because you're just going in different directions. And even though Dan and I are such different people at the core, like on every level, that's the reason that it works is because we have extreme respect.

00:37:51
Speaker 1: For one another.

00:37:52
Speaker 2: And even when your when your lives are kind of going like this, it's so important to kind of realign yourselves. And even though like you know, I've got three kids at this point, Dan's got dogs, we've got our families, like we have our own responsibilities, but acknowledging like, hey man, I respect the hell out of you for what you're doing, and no matter if I believe the same thing that you believe or not, I respect what you believe. And we both have this band in common, and we have our fans in common, and I think the world needs to needs to view that too.

00:38:22
Speaker 1: You know.

00:38:23
Speaker 2: It's like we have so much you know, separation in our country and all these things, and it's like no matter. I feel like when I was growing up, that was kind of the message, like all right, you believe this and I believe this. We're gonna scream at each other and then we're gonna go grab a beer, you know, And I feel like that's kind of been lost on the world, a little bit of the the value of a good fight.

00:38:42
Speaker 6: You know.

00:38:43
Speaker 2: That's the next video that's coming out. It's the follow up to The Drive. It's called The Fight. It's gonna be really good. But I feel like it was, you know, we had to learn to respect each other enough to have those hard conversations when we knew that if things are if I have a problem now, like it's even happened in like the last you know, six months or so, where we're like, okay, this is I think this is how it should be. No, I think this is how it should be. We talk it out and it's like, awesome, this way is clearly better because we both care, we want the same thing, and we learned how to like focus that stuff and really put a focus on communication, just like in any marriage would be. If you just don't talk about something, That's how us guys most times like think like I fixed it.

00:39:25
Speaker 3: It's our issue too. I don't say anything about it. I let it live, and then I just keep pushing it down. But my wife knows she has to go and get it because I will not. Yeah, and it doesn't put her in a great place. And I don't like it. I'm like that a lot of times. But I'm and also I feel like I can fix it in my head myself. Sure, totally, And just like I'm gonna go and fix it. I'm not even gonna teke the process, but I'm gonna come back and it's gonna be fixed.

00:39:45
Speaker 5: Yeah, yep.

00:39:46
Speaker 3: And that gets me in trouble, But you're right, it's a relationship. And you guys marriage also, your marriages to your wives, like one on one's tough. Regardless of the situation it is.

00:39:57
Speaker 4: The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the Bobby Cast.

00:40:10
Speaker 3: Do you guys, one on one on stage, do you have and maybe they're not absolutes, but do you have signals like, hey, cover for me, I need to go and pee or maybe not pee I wish like on the show me and oh my guess they know my little They know if if I'm holding up a finger for this, if I twirl my hand for that. At this point, we've been together almost twenty years, We've been.

00:40:33
Speaker 5: Doing it for a long time.

00:40:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, if I do a little of this. They know, go longer, go shorter. I gotta turn my mic off. I gotta what is that relationship like with you guys, or even a quarterback and a wide receiver where you're on stage, you're performing, you're playing the game, but you got to cover for each other, but you really don't say it.

00:40:51
Speaker 5: I feel like it goes unset. I feel like it is so lockstep. We find ourselves like jinx, you know, so many times like thinking the same thing, saying the same thing on age. I feel like the chemistry it's just like the show. I mean, it's just we've thought about like we have a hand signal if like one of us needs to get a drink, but I know when he needs to get a drink and same same goes. It's just the eye contact. We lock eys, like okay, cool, I know something's going on with his in ear pack. He's gonna run over. I'm gonna get on the mic and find somebody with a sign in the crowd and buy him a minute and a half or whatever. You know, those kind of things just you spend that much time together, it's uh. And also it's a chemistry thing. Man It's something we noticed when we first met. You know, I'd never felt that making music with somebody before. In the writing room, we would finish each other's sentences and oh, see doing it right right now?

00:41:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, right now it's crazy.

00:41:41
Speaker 5: And now Mike's involved, it's crazy now.

00:41:44
Speaker 1: Man.

00:41:44
Speaker 5: It's a lot of it goes unsaid. We're learning that. I could probably say as we started taping the voice. You know, I know it airs next year, but we started taping the voice and there's one button. We're in this big chair that's connected. There's one button, and we were like, dude, we got to come up with some signals, like two taps on the leg, and like, we had these grand plans we were gonna make because everything's like cameras in your face, you're miked up. You know, everything is is fair game, and uh, we had these grand plans to like make signals. Whenever we liked something, we're gonna hit it. We kind of forgot to do that. Time got in the way, and I feel like it's still so lockstep. If we're like we look over cool and we hit that.

00:42:21
Speaker 2: I can read the panic on Dan's face.

00:42:23
Speaker 6: Yeah, my hands are twitching. I'm like I don't know about this. I hope Shade doesn't push the button and then we don't do it. But yeah, man, you spend that much time with each other and there is just a you know, intangible chemistry between the two of us.

00:42:34
Speaker 5: When we're on stage or we're writing or singing harmonies. I know when you're gonna go for a high note or I know coming out of chorus too. If you know we'd been singing a lot and you're gonna go for a chill version, I'll back off on the harmony, you know what I mean.

00:42:45
Speaker 2: Those things it's almost creepy sometimes, like it's like the twin thing.

00:42:49
Speaker 1: I mean, this has happened, especially on the Voice.

00:42:51
Speaker 2: I noticed it the most because we were doing a lot of you know, you do a lot of interviews in between, you know, the whole deal. It's a whole process. And it was so fun because that we would literally say the same thing at the same time. And I was like, we do this a lot, and it's crezy, like we can't even use those takes because it looks like, oh we say that, even like responses, it looks like we'rehearsed. Like I mean, there'll be things like you know someone's talking to us and you know we're an interview and we're like for sure, for sure at the same time, like what is happening, dude, it's like we're just kind of look at each other like totally because you spend you know, your all of your time with someone and like we're we're in the same conversations and you just kind of learn. It's like a marriage where you're like, you get you kind of pick up each on each other's lingo and things that you say, and it's like almost to a creepy point, like at the same times, like when someone gives you a question, because we're getting those questions all the time, and so it's like our response is just getting grained in our brains and it's kind of weird and sometimes but it's awesome.

00:43:48
Speaker 1: It is awesome.

00:43:49
Speaker 3: Awesome, God a picture of that. Oh my god, no one's gonna believe this. When you started putting this project together and you weren't writing to really write a record, you were just writing to write and you were gathering good songs. Basically, if I'm Right, Always Going to Be was the first song from this project that made the project like as far as like a timeline of all of it.

00:44:14
Speaker 5: The first song you wrote, Yeah, that was the first song we wrote for the record. I think it was. Yeah, it was the first one we recorded, first one we had a mix on Yeah that you know, Shae mentioned it earlier, but that night when we were talking, we were like, we got to figure this out. Our fans, the industry, everybody that we've come in contact with, the we owe that to them. They deserve that because Dan and Shay, It's always going to be a tattoo on somebody's arm, It's always going to be a first dance at somebody's wedding. It's it's going to be a moment for somebody that, whether we break up or not, Dan and Shay is always going to be And like Shay said, I wrote that down on my phone and I was just like, that's that's a special sentiment. And you know, obviously we evolved it, we brought the girl in of the song and you know, just made it more of a life thing. But we're really proud of that song. Man, it's a special one, and the fan response on it's been amazing. But yeah, that one kind of set the tone for the rest of the record. Esthetically, sonically, I don't know. That song is just kind of like the backbone of the record that Bigger House is. And then again, I would say you're kind of the ones that.

00:45:07
Speaker 2: Those three songs are kind of those three connected. I mean, when I think about the album, those three songs and obviously a lot of the other songs are in the middle, and there's some of my favorite songs not in that list, but those three songs kind of wraps up the album to me because just the lyrical content and sonically of kind of where this project was going. And and we didn't think too much about, like, you know, we knew that there would be somebody being like, what are these guys are trying to be super country now?

00:45:36
Speaker 1: And it's like this is the stuff that we grew up on. Like we've been doing this a lot longer than you've been hating on it, you know, And.

00:45:42
Speaker 2: It's like I think that this kind of traditional country sound has come in and that very naturally. There's some songs in the record that are a lot more country that we've done in a minute, but that's what we've been writing since the very beginning of our career and long before we met, you know, is the stuff we were influenced by, Brooks and Dunn or straight Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, all these people that we were influenced by, and it was just so much fun too, and it was it was interesting for me too to kind of take a back seat and watch how Dan's production has has.

00:46:14
Speaker 1: Grown over the last ten years.

00:46:15
Speaker 2: I mean it's like we started at five oh seven and we were making these horrible you know, like demos. They were atrocious, and then that just evolved into him. I mean, Scott Hendrix says he has the best ears he's ever heard, and Scott Hendricks is the most decorated producer in Nashville history and probably of all of music. I mean, he's this, you know, he has crazy good ears and it's so good at finding songs and all this stuff. For him to say something like that about Dan is just one testament to how good he is. But watching that evolve and kind of hearing how this sound has evolved for this record, because it is very it's a lot more country than stuff that we've done in the past. It sounds like it's a little bit more of our first record, and a lot of people have kind of referenced that like, this reminds me of you know, early Dan and Shay with what we fell in love with, you guys with, And I think that is just because on that very first record, there was no agenda. It was two guys that were very poor getting together and loving music and writing songs together. And that's we stripped everything back to that. We just were getting in the room and we're like, all right, let's write a song, not because we have to, but because we get to do this for a living and because we love to do it. And it just kind of turned into this thing. And the sound that came from that was just very organic, and it wasn't like all right, let's try to make this this. It was like, all right, we're going to get in the studio. We're going to play these songs. Most of the time we would get in there in the studio and just like play it acoustically. Sometimes we didn't have a demo for a lot of these songs, played it on acoustic guitar, and we went in and we played it and it was just these incredibly talented musicians and it just turned into what it turned into. And I'm so proud of how it turned out, and I'm so proud of of how Dan has evolved, and this is definitely your best work so soon. And it was just it was cool though as a as a fan of music to have a record that sounds like this, and I'm like, yeah, I'll put my stamp on that for the rest of my life. You know, I am so proud of this album Over any I can say that, over any album we've ever done.

00:48:11
Speaker 1: I've loved.

00:48:12
Speaker 5: Obviously, they're like your kids.

00:48:14
Speaker 2: You like your songs, you know, you listen to them and you're very proud of them. But I think as a whole, not just the songs and what the product was at the end, but the process that it took to get there. I've never been more proud to be a part of something in my life because it changed, It changed everything for us, just the process, but also just in my life. And I've said this a couple of times recently, but it's something I realized throughout our band and throughout like our life as a band. You know, we kind of we grew up. Obviously, we both got married, and then we I've got my kids and all this stuff, and I kind of had my family life and then there was my band life, and there were two very separate things, you know, you kind of live your life in those two separate train tracks, and it was for the first time I remember after hearing you know, Bigger Houses getting the cut back for that and always going to be and then again in these songs, and I was like, this is the very first time that I feel like my personal life and my band are fully connected. And this is exactly what I'm going through right now. I'm going through what Bigger Houses is talking about. I'm spending summers now in Arkansas again with you know, back on the farm, and I'm listening to these songs being like this is theff like whether it was like a lesson that I learned or like the girl that I dated in high school, Like I'm here in this place of these lessons that I learned, and it was just an amazing final puzzle piece of the evolution that I've kind of been on personally, and it just kind of it all kind of came together perfectly. And I don't know this just it's such a new step for Dan and Sha our band, but also like our lives, like we're just I don't feel the same that I did, you know, a year and a half ago, I feel like this is such a step forward and a breadth of fresh air. And I just think that it's so genuine from us and it's so authentic to us that I'm not We were never worried about like are people what are people going to think about this? Are they going to think it's too country? Or are they going to think it's to this or that? And it just never crossed our minds because we loved it. And at the end of the day, if you love your music and you're proud of it, that's that's the win. And if you know your fans are going to love it, I'm not worried about what people on the outside.

00:50:19
Speaker 1: If they don't like it, they don't like it.

00:50:21
Speaker 2: But if you try to write an album that you think other people are going to like, the haters are going to like of like people being like this is not country. Like if we're trying to make a record for them and we end up just hating it, then, like you said this before, like then everybody hates it and you hate it.

00:50:35
Speaker 1: And so what was the point in that?

00:50:37
Speaker 2: And I think just trying to approach this record with a very authentic you know passion for wanting to write songs that we loved and that our fans would love the result that came out of that. Even if this record never came out, this is always going to exist in our hearts and our minds, and I know obviously it is coming out, but I think our fans are really going to feel that throughout this entire project, project just in a couple of songs, I think they're gonna feel that through what it took to get here.

00:51:04
Speaker 3: It feels like, at least for me, when I was like, the most beautifully creatively reckless is when I have nothing to lose, because what are you gonna do? Who cares? You? Just do what you want, take big chances. But then once you start to have some success, well, I don't want to mess I want to mess it up. Then you have more success and you're like, boy, if I mess it up now? Really? So then you start to adjust where you're creating and how you're distributing, and who's listening and why, and all of a sudden, you're doing twelve. I struggled with this for years and years, but then with you, guys, it feels like when you finally kind of red calibrated yourselves and yourself. It was almost back to that point where what do we have to lose? Now we went to the low yep, So it's like we almost we almost broke up, So why don't we just go do what we want to do. Worst case scenario is, well, we do what we might have done anyway. But it feels like that's that beautiful creative place that you guys are in now where you just get to create and you're not putting pressure on what you might lose, but instead you're kind of putting it on what you might gain because you're being truly you.

00:52:12
Speaker 5: Also with shows too, we've only played a few this summer, but we're going to play a lot more next year. But playing shows, I feel like in the past it was always like, Okay, it's got to be picture perfect, and we do take a lot of pride and making sure we're choreographed. It's like, if we spent money on this light hitting here, like we should make sure that we're standing that light. Yeah, exactly. Also, the fans deserve it, man. These ticket prices like they're expensive. It's expensive to go to a concert. Now, people deserve the best that we can give.

00:52:38
Speaker 2: Them.

00:52:39
Speaker 5: But I feel like in the past it was always like this overly competitive thing, trying to be like, all right, we got to kill it here at Massive Square Garden to night so we could come back and do MetLife next year, like we got to just keep going. Now, I feel like there's this sense of freedom when we get on stage, just like, dude, this is sick. Like our shows have gotten longer because we get on you know, in between songs, and we're like, man, this is Undridgs.

00:52:59
Speaker 3: You got song? Can you believe it?

00:53:03
Speaker 5: I just played tequila.

00:53:04
Speaker 3: Believe it? Dude, You've just said this eleven times.

00:53:06
Speaker 5: It's exactly what it is. So maybe our showmanship's gone down. But we're having more fun up there than ever before. And I don't know, I feel like being in that place is more sustainable than anything, you know. I feel like when you let go like that, you make a great album or you put on a good show, and that's what gets you to Met Life or that's what gets you to win the awards or have success, And if you don't, at least you had fun in the process and.

00:53:26
Speaker 3: At least you created something that you believed in. Because again, I got into a place too, where I was like, I don't even like that that much, yep, And when it would not do well, I'd be like, it didn't do well and I didn't like it. I'd rather have not done well and I'd have loved it, because then at least I would have loved.

00:53:39
Speaker 5: It's exactly at least one person likes it.

00:53:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, at least I would have been like, that really was me. And because then you're just questioning, like if I just done it the way I really wanted to do it, a TV project like that, where I'm like, I didn't want to do it like this, and I kind of fought and then I gave up fighting for it, and then it would just do okay, and I would go, man, I don't like it, and everybody else didn't either. At least I wish I would have fought for what I really liked. Yeah, And I coming that pressure.

00:54:05
Speaker 2: Too, Like I'd rather take the pressure of like, rather than try to blame falling on somebody else, Like I would rather be like, Okay, we when this happened on Tequila, you know, our label, a lot of people were like, we can't push this this ballad, you know, after you know, we had pushed another single and we you know, we thought it might be a hit, but when it was going to take a long time and we were like, man, this is this is not it. And when I heard Tequila for the first time, I was like, this is a single and I don't care who is going to try to stop me. Good luck because I believe in this so much. And it was a ballad and it was like just it was like the wrong time to probably put out a ballad in most people's heads, you know, thinking like I don't know if this is going to work, But I feel like I was so okay at that point where it really felt like we have nothing to lose, and it was like, nah, dude, we're going with this, and I really don't care what you guys say. This is the song because I know I can stand up on stage with conviction and sing the hell out of the song and make people believe it.

00:55:00
Speaker 5: I'd rather do.

00:55:00
Speaker 2: That, and it's my fault if it doesn't, if it fails, and I'm okay with that.

00:55:05
Speaker 1: I'm fully okay with that.

00:55:06
Speaker 2: If you stand behind your art, you're willing to kind of go down with the ship, you know, But at least I'm the Captain, you know, and I can go down proudly with that happiness. And that was our biggest thing, exactly, and that was our biggest hit, you know. And it's like, not that you're trying to, you know, be free form for the sake of gaining the success of that song, but I just think that you're much more likely to have those authentic moments when you, like you said, you just let go and you're like, I don't care if someone doesn't like this. I love this, you know, and I'm willing to do that. And honestly, a song like Save Me the Trouble was was very much that way for me. I felt like it was the perfect like, you know, it felt like it really kicked down the door. Rather than like, I hope you guys like this offering that we have. It was just like, nah, this is sick, dude, Like I think this is absolute flames. And I'll tell everyone that on the street if they'll listen to me. And I could stand behind that, and I I really don't care, dude, Like you hear these notes, These are sick, you know, Like I love this, like I'm gonna go perform the hell out of this, and that was a good feeling of like, I really don't care if people like this or not. I really hope they do, and my insecurities are going to really come out if they don't.

00:56:15
Speaker 5: But I love this song.

00:56:16
Speaker 1: And I'm okay with going down with that ship.

00:56:18
Speaker 2: And again it's we had our biggest ad day that we've ever had on radio. And again it's not I didn't do that as a formulated thing. It just was like I have we have nothing to lose, like this is I'm proud to put my stamp on this, and that's just a It's really fun place to be because you just stop worrying about what people are gonna think about it. You just kind of like, no, I'm doing this. And I feel like you get less heat from haters when you kind of approach life that way because at least you're like, at least you're doing it on purpose.

00:56:46
Speaker 3: And they know they can't affect you that much if you're not exactly if you're just kind of like suck it. Yeah, Okay. Three final questions. Just talk about the voice for a second, because I mean, I don't know, you just spoop Danitay on the voice as the main chair Flippers. You know because yeah, you guys had been on before though, but right as like helpers. Have you ever been on the like you've been on the Blake's team.

00:57:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, was the mentor thing right.

00:57:09
Speaker 3: So it's when I first saw it, I was like, Oh, that's cute. They're going back to Mint. Then I was like, oh my okay. I was said, Oh my god, they're freaking going to I was so pumped for you guys. So how did that come about?

00:57:20
Speaker 5: Man, that's one of the craziest opportunities. We're very grateful to the team at The Voice for extending that invite. We got a text one day it was like out of the blue from our manager Jason. He's like, hey, I would really like you guys to meet the producers of The Voice, like they they love you guys. It was like sure, man, because you know that kind of gig is like everybody in every genre is going after it. I knew they were trying to replace Country, but I knew they had already gotten Riba. I was like, there, no, there's no way they're going to Getriba and another country act. There's so many. I mean, it's just like who's who you know? All those chairs are all like a listers and then us we went to this meeting, We went to this breakfast as it was at the Thompson Hotel, sweetest people ever, and we just we were ourselves, you know, we told them the ideas that we had. We were like, what if there was like this double chair, you know, we shared this big chair in one button. I feel like that's a cool dynamic that hasn't been I think they had done it maybe in Australia or another country, they hadn't done in the US. I felt like that was a cool idea to shake up the voice a little bit and just I don't know, there was something about us being ourselves there and I think it did well. When we were on with Blake, Blake was like the king of the Voice. So anybody who goes on with Blake's gonna look good. But we didn't expect anything. A couple of months went by went by. I was like, surely they give it. They probably already taped the season, so you didn't hear. We didn't hear for a lot.

00:58:38
Speaker 2: And that is to give context. This is kind of after we had really like gone through everything and we're like doing you know, questioning it as friends again and this was like, honestly for me, I don't know if you felt this, but like, I never dreamed had that dream to want to do a show like this until we got that text message and I was like, yeah, it's my only dream.

00:58:59
Speaker 3: It's my only I've never dreamed of something more in my life.

00:59:02
Speaker 5: Every day he was group, oh my god, you know any updates is like, the meeting was yesterday.

00:59:07
Speaker 2: Dude, Bro, I've never had so much anxiety on something. And it was good because thank God that we had prepared for this because I had lost all this all this weight and was like, all right, I'm glad at least, like if we're gonna be on TV, it's gonna be now and not like a year and a half ago whenever I was, you know, eating everything that my eyes touched. And I was like as soon as we had that meeting, it went really well and we're like, you know, these people are super super sweet, and we did go into that meeting and being like.

00:59:32
Speaker 3: Man, it is what it is.

00:59:33
Speaker 2: Because the conversation was like not like hey, they're auditioning you for the part, It was like, would you guys ever even be interested in this?

00:59:40
Speaker 1: And it literally started in my head, I was like, yeah, I mean that would be I think that would be cool. And by like seven pm that.

00:59:46
Speaker 2: Night, I was talking to my wife and I was like, if we don't get this, I'm gonna be rad by a house in La I mean, I was so like, I didn't think that I would want to do this, But now that I'm thinking about it, this makes so much sense. I feel like we would be so good at this and I would really enjoy this. And I was like, I mean pacing, I mean this. It took months for us to get an answer at all, and I think I was going back to Arkansas at that time, and my routine for like that a few months that we didn't know anything was like work out in the mornings, think about the voice for six hours, and hang.

01:00:19
Speaker 5: Out with the kids, and then go to bed and then text.

01:00:21
Speaker 2: In the middle of that, I'd text you guys about seventeen times, being like.

01:00:24
Speaker 1: Any update, have you heard of them?

01:00:25
Speaker 2: You've been following them to their house or anything like that, And so it was it was a whole thing. But after I think I was in Arkansas when we got the news and Jason had texted us and we kind of gotten some updates.

01:00:36
Speaker 5: We knew.

01:00:37
Speaker 2: We found out like, okay, Riba, she's taking the gig.

01:00:40
Speaker 1: We knew that she.

01:00:40
Speaker 2: Had had an offer out there, but they had met with everybody like these A list celebrities, and we knew we were having conversations with and I was just wrecked, Like my stomach dropped, and it was like, man, that's a real bummer, Like why did you even text us in the first place.

01:00:54
Speaker 5: Why did we have the meeting?

01:00:55
Speaker 2: You know, because I was like I was living life. We were absolutely killing it, having so much fun. Just everything was good again. And then you've dropped this on our plate and dangle it in front of us, and if we don't get it, it's gonna really suck.

01:01:06
Speaker 5: But Dan and I would have like these.

01:01:07
Speaker 2: Therapy sessions every night, like it's okay. If it doesn't happen, it's like, no big deal. Maybe it's for the better. We probably should even do the voice.

01:01:13
Speaker 5: That's a horrible idea to do. And it just it came through.

01:01:17
Speaker 2: And long story short, we got a text message and I think I think Jason said do you have time for a call. In my stomach, I bought craped my pants and I was like this is gonna be that's the worst. And honestly, I think that there was an Arkansas it was I can't remember, maybe a baseball game.

01:01:32
Speaker 1: I don't remember what it was.

01:01:33
Speaker 2: It was a razorback game that me and my brother in law were like watching together, and I'm already like, you.

01:01:37
Speaker 5: Know how it is.

01:01:38
Speaker 2: It's like I get so invested in Arkansas Razorback sports that I'm like, it doesn't matter if it's bad Nitt, And I'm like, this is it's a pretty good season for him, you know. And I remember I was already like on highlight and we got that text and I was like, oh my god, this is.

01:01:52
Speaker 3: Test it all? Did you test it all? They just met you?

01:01:55
Speaker 1: No, that was the That's why I think we were going to get it.

01:01:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, never did. Yeah, I thought they had gone down the road to somebody else. Maybe the mentor thing we did. And we'd been on the show a bunch of times performing and stuff before. But yeah, it was crazy. And then once they told us, it was like dragged on for months after that. For the announce it was like, guys, we're thinking they'll announced by Thursday, probably three. We should have a graphic by like Wednesday, at noon and it was like Thursday at three came around and we had no graphic.

01:02:19
Speaker 3: And there's no announce It doesn't feel like exact actually committed to it.

01:02:22
Speaker 5: And this was like a long time. It was like, we should have something by Friday, you know. It is just like we'll have something by the end of the week. We'll have like an official announcement. And then because we were trying to like balance that we were about to announce the album, we were about to put out a new single, and it was like, oh, it's getting kind of dangerously close. And then it didn't happen within like a week of each other, because I was like being quiet on socials, you know, trying to let it die out and do the thing. And then it was like, oh crap, the Voice announced like three days before the single. I was like, it's too big to not post about it.

01:02:51
Speaker 2: So and we were asking too, like for pictures of the double chair, you know, because we were like, I don't know what this even looks like.

01:02:57
Speaker 5: And I remember texting our.

01:02:59
Speaker 2: Day to day manager, I was like, have you heard anything, Like we were supposed to have a picture of this.

01:03:02
Speaker 1: Thing like a week ago, and they're like, yeah, They've made it. It's a whole deal. It's gonna be awesome.

01:03:06
Speaker 2: I'm getting you, I'm getting you the picture tonight, and so like I'm just like waiting. Finally, like we get this email and I was like, oh my go, this is gonna be so sick to see like our name on the back of the.

01:03:13
Speaker 5: Chair, the whole deal.

01:03:14
Speaker 2: And it was this cartoon animated rendering of what the chair was going to look like.

01:03:18
Speaker 5: And I was like, God, is this a joke to you?

01:03:20
Speaker 3: All right, this is the only thing I've thought about.

01:03:21
Speaker 5: For the last seven months. How am I supposed to you know, go on without this?

01:03:24
Speaker 3: But I would have been so anxious with no announce because I would have announcement before it changed. But they haven't announced it. That means they're not fully committed. But right until you go public, yeah, they don't have to say anything if they changed their mind.

01:03:36
Speaker 5: And once they once they went public, it was on. We were chilling. Yeah that was great.

01:03:40
Speaker 2: But it finally happened in Jason and calls how would you like to be?

01:03:43
Speaker 5: Coaches?

01:03:43
Speaker 1: On the voice? And I was like, I mean the colored drained from my face.

01:03:46
Speaker 2: I passed away for a couple of minutes Arkansas, I lost, and then it was a great night.

01:03:50
Speaker 5: It was Sir Patrick's Day actually, because I was Abby and I were at the bar with Megan Morony and her friends. She doesn't even know they were down at the beach. We were down there at the same time, and they texted us and they're like, hey, as we're like doing the Saint Patrick's date. She's like half our age, so they can you know, they just got out of college. I feel like they can drink on a different level than Abby and I were like, oh, we're kind of tired. It's like three in the afternoon. We're getting ready for bed already. They're like, come down to the bar. We went out of the bar. It was a long day. We'll just say that they were having a good time. We were two and Jason called. It was raining. It was a whole thing. There's nowhere quiet, you know, Saint Patrick's Day. People were popping off and I like stepped outside. I was like hello and it and he was like, how would you guys like to be coaches? On the voice? I was like this is I can't tell anybody this. So I couldn't even tell Abby for like four more hours Dan ran into the bar.

01:04:35
Speaker 2: He's like, listen, everybody, Yeah, have you guys heard of the voice?

01:04:38
Speaker 5: Yeah?

01:04:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, They're like, no, Noah.

01:04:41
Speaker 5: That's cool man. We're grateful for the opportunity. It's been fun so far.

01:04:45
Speaker 4: Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor. Welcome back to the Bobby Cast.

01:04:58
Speaker 3: Two questions left you and I opened a room at Wags and Walks the petitdoption center. It's and Hermitage, right.

01:05:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, and thank you guys for contributing in such a big way for so many you know, it's amazing, man, what you guys do to help out with Wags.

01:05:10
Speaker 3: So what's happening there with the physical situation at wagsuse For a long time, there really wasn't one.

01:05:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was all foster based, so you know, and that's a tough thing, man, trying to find foster's especially some of these dogs are in really really tough situations. And you know, we've done the hospice foster thing where a dog's only given you know, a couple of months to live, and I mean, that's that was one of the hardest things we ever had to do. And there are a lot of great people out there who do that. But up until I think maybe a month or so. It was actually the night we released Save Me the Trouble and announced the album. It was like the most chaotic moment in our household. They'd been working on fundraising for years now to open up a brick and mortar center, and it's unbelievable. I mean, the amount of people that donated, that chipped in, that offered their services, you know, for these fundraisers that they've done, just absolutely incredible. This town really rallied for them, and they busted their asses. Heard Katherine, everybody on the team at WAGS really worked hard and they've saved thousands of dogs. At this point. You've been to these fundraisers, I mean, they're doing the thing. They open up a spot and it's just unbelievable. They've got like all these kennels where dogs can decompress safely, quietly. They've got veterinarians who are donating their time that are there at all times, twenty four to seven, taking care of these dogs and it's a really beautiful thing. Man, it's awesome. And they've hosted a couple of adoption events and I think it's a really good Abby's actually there right now.

01:06:30
Speaker 3: Really, yeah, one of our dogs is from there. For those listening, they don't know elers from Wags and walks. Okay, final question, and we're just gonna be a word. But what's the word that you would assign for each other right now? At this stage? Is just one word? And here's what I want to do, So you guys don't hear each other's word and then change it. You're going to say it at the same time. It's going to sound like a real cluster. But then we'll go back to it. Okay, So this is my word for Dan right at this stage of you guys' career, friendship life. What's the word you would assigned to him saying for you?

01:07:04
Speaker 5: No hints, Mine's kind of I have it in my head. It's kind of weird. I'm gonna have to explain it after, but yeah, it's good.

01:07:10
Speaker 3: We'll have time to explain it.

01:07:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did the other night on stage, but I will tell that story after we get off.

01:07:15
Speaker 5: The hardest man, the hardest man in country music.

01:07:18
Speaker 3: That's a good another way, hold on, we gotta say it.

01:07:20
Speaker 5: The other day, I was trying to dance, said.

01:07:21
Speaker 1: Something very kind on stage.

01:07:23
Speaker 2: I was like, this is my favorite singer in all of music or something like that, and I was trying to hype him back up, and I was like, I was like, man, you know, if we hand it out compliments like, y'all make some noise for I was trying to say, the hardest working man in country music. But this is in front of like eighteen thousand people. It is like our biggest sellout ever in New Jersey. And I was like, y'all make some noise for the hardest man in country music. And I was like, like, I had no idea that I didn't say it. And I said that until afterwards. They were dying when I get off stage, Like you said, the hardest man in country music.

01:07:57
Speaker 5: So that was weird. So that would be my word for.

01:07:59
Speaker 1: You, hardy. Yeah, I'll think of a better one ready. Oh god, okay, give me a second.

01:08:05
Speaker 3: I'll give you a second. We got nowhere to go.

01:08:08
Speaker 5: It's true.

01:08:11
Speaker 3: You see our pool, like there was a crack in our pool. All the water freaking went out.

01:08:15
Speaker 5: Is that what's happening.

01:08:16
Speaker 3: When you yeah, you see it was a little.

01:08:17
Speaker 5: It was a little.

01:08:18
Speaker 3: I was like, man, no, no, it was completely empty. It's like a rock I got caught in no tube or something. And again, they're a much bigger problem. I'm just giving you a story.

01:08:27
Speaker 5: Filling it back up right now. Yeah, it takes a costume.

01:08:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, people are like, oh, but it's fancy. No, you take a water hose and you put it in it and you turn the water hose on.

01:08:35
Speaker 5: Dude, when we were filling up, I've never had a pool. We're just gonna keep going for hours. See while you think your work. I've never had a pool in my entire life. And John Esposito Espa, you know, formerly ran Warner Music Natural signed us to the record label. One of the greatest mentors, one of the greatest friends we've ever had in our entire lives. We both grew up in western Pennsylvania and no one had a pool. There was one kid in our high school maybe who had a pool. He was the rich kid. Both of us. We bonded over this. It was like growing. I asked Spel one night we'd been hanging out in his office drinking McCallen. I was like, when did you like know you made it? Because he's had an incredible career. You know, he's been all over the place. I was like, when did you know you made it? And he was like, being from western Pennsylvania, it was when I got a for my first swimming pool. And he's not wrong. It's like I knew nobody who had a pool. It was just the rich kid or whatever. And I was like, that was like, because I don't spend any money. I'm so frugal to a fault, to the point where it's like detrimental to my life. But we built a little swimming pool in our backyard when we moved into this most recent house, and I got in a raft when we were filling it up with the same deal, put the garden hose in, thought about asking the neighbors to throw their garden hose in to split the water bill a little bit. They wouldn't know what hit him. And I sat in a raft as that thing filled up for hours. There's a video, like a time lapse. I mean, just coming up deepsing, just rising, dude. It was crazy.

01:09:51
Speaker 3: But yeah, okay, got jay, I got done. Pool talk.

01:09:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, poll talk.

01:09:56
Speaker 3: Here we go. One two, three, crowd. Okay, let's go all start proud.

01:10:02
Speaker 5: It's because I'm proud of you. And that's a weird way to do this as a word to describe somebody else, but I truly am. I'm so proud because I've seen it firsthand, probably only second to your wife, you know, Like I've seen your growth as a human being, as a friend, as a singer, as a musician, as a participant on this earth. I'm proud of the work you've put in and I'm proud of all the progress that you've made. You're a changed man, I mean, and it's not just the physical appearance. It's just the way you approach life. It's the way you approach our band, everything about it. I feel so happy to be alongside you on this journey and to be your biggest cheerleader. I'm proud of you, man. Thank you.

01:10:40
Speaker 3: Yeah.

01:10:41
Speaker 1: Well, and what was it?

01:10:43
Speaker 3: Had unbulived? I was hard, Yeah, it was an erect.

01:10:46
Speaker 5: Erect Yeah, I don't know.

01:10:48
Speaker 1: I was gonna tear up as allurgies are bad here.

01:10:50
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah they are. It's something about this room.

01:10:52
Speaker 2: I chose the word grace for many reasons. You have shown a lot of grace to me over the last ten years, years of waiting for me to finally get to this point, and you've been ahead of me in that in that game of health and all these things. But you've also shown yourself a lot of grace, which takes a lot of guts to be able to do. I know from just going through this myself, it's a very easy thing to kind of put yourself down and be like, you know, this is mistakes that I've made in my past, and this is because I have felt this way as well. But things that you've that you've done, and decisions that we've made together, whatever it is that you feel like affected you know the rest of your life. And I've just watched you deal with that and have grace for yourself and kind of forgive yourself for you know, thinking a certain way or whatever it was, and having grace on me and also receiving grace from your wife and from my wife on.

01:11:50
Speaker 5: Both of us.

01:11:51
Speaker 2: I feel like grace could be described for kind of the journey we've both been on. But I'm super proud of of the journey that you've been on, and thank you for having grace with me finally get there.

01:12:00
Speaker 5: I love you dog doing it.

01:12:02
Speaker 3: Okay, So whenever you're listening to this, it's if you're listening to it on the day of albums out in a few days. People listen to this thing forever albums out now. Just pick which every one of those little selections in my voice you'd like to have. But it's called Bigger Houses September fifteenth. It's it's great. You know. I wouldn't say if I didn't mean it, would say.

01:12:19
Speaker 5: Thank you, man, thank you.

01:12:20
Speaker 3: I wouldn't lie it it's uh, it's out. I would just go, yeah, that's what. It's a whole bit in my in my stand up. We just shot a special last weekend, and I do a whole bit about what I do if an artist comes in and plays they're not good, yeah, and what I say and how I have to say things, and I kind of talk tell the audience like what they should listen to me for.

01:12:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do worry about that, like with artists that are coming in now to I'll just change it.

01:12:42
Speaker 5: Yeah, now I'm gonna go listen to it. It's like he said that in RYE.

01:12:47
Speaker 1: What the hell, Bobby.

01:12:48
Speaker 5: How are you doing? Man? I know you're so good at bringing the best out everybody else, But I don't know if anybody ever asks you that you work harder than anyone I've ever known and you. I mean, you got sports podcast, you've got music podcasts, you're doing this end up show, selling out all these big theaters, you're doing still do in the morning show. I mean, that's so much. And among other things, how are you doing?

01:13:07
Speaker 3: I'm tired, I'm good. Yeah, yeah, but we're about to take a break.

01:13:11
Speaker 1: So that's amazing.

01:13:12
Speaker 3: And if I would take a break, I would stay here and sleep. Yeah, but we're gonna go on a trip.

01:13:16
Speaker 1: There you go, And nothing says rest like travel that.

01:13:19
Speaker 3: Well, I don't have kids, though, I bet it's a whole different monster with kids.

01:13:21
Speaker 5: That's true.

01:13:22
Speaker 3: But you know that's for a whole other podcast. Sure, you know called the Dan Cast.

01:13:26
Speaker 5: Let's go, Yes, let's go.

01:13:27
Speaker 2: Well, next age get we should we need to interview you, a whole bunch of.

01:13:31
Speaker 3: You guys just have me here crying.

01:13:32
Speaker 5: I always wonder because allergies, we have to go do one little thing and we're like, oh man, I'm exhausted. Can we get like a ginger shot or something to wake us up? But you're going constantly.

01:13:40
Speaker 3: I think this will just be relatable content to us three and even Mike, who sits here, is that you just have to adjust and like I wake up in the morning, I hate it. I never wake up and feel great. Sure, never, not one time at three o'clock in the morning, I wake up and go like, what a beautiful morning. Ever, But I get better. I do in quality things, not as when I'm not feeling my best. So then when I am feeling my best, god dang, I'm rocking. So then I just try to feel my best more so that once I'm able to see how good I actually am when I'm just crushing it. I try not to kill myself all the time because I feel I can really do exemplary work. So but it's taken me to really just drive myself into the ground to realize just because just just doing things for the sake of doing them and having a bunch of stuff not as good as doing stuff really.

01:14:31
Speaker 5: Well, sure, things that matter. Yeah, And I'm.

01:14:33
Speaker 3: Really trying to dial in on things that I really love doing more than sure I'm not.

01:14:38
Speaker 2: I've turned down four.

01:14:38
Speaker 3: Or five TV shows that I'm like, you know what, maybe, but I may just hate it.

01:14:42
Speaker 5: How do you do with breaks and with rest? I don't same.

01:14:45
Speaker 3: I'm insecure. That's why it's not because I feel like I have a lot to offer the world. If I don't work, I feel like I lose momentum. And if foe minimum, howm I gonna get going on? Because I feel like, why would anybody want me if I'm not popping? So I got to stay popping. So I got to keep going. Not the healthiest, but I'm the healthiest have ever been because my wife has really absolutely been there, and I mean we fight about it sometimes, yeah, where she has to like, you're out of your mind, you're working too much, you're crazy, You're and I'm like, you don't understand. I turned into a child, total dude. Okay, when you're dying, do you think people are going to care about that you needed to go out and do this TV show that's you know about the Great? No, you don't even want to do it. So if you don't want to do it and we don't need the money and it's not really why do it?

01:15:29
Speaker 1: Yeah?

01:15:30
Speaker 3: So yeah, pretty good. We're gonna start crying now. I'm super happy for you guys. Love you guys. Obviously, we've kind of all us three, we kind of all came in the same time. It's kind of the class. We're getting older, but smarter, and at.

01:15:44
Speaker 2: Least it's going that way, because it could be like here, we are older and dumber and a lot less successful.

01:15:50
Speaker 3: Than we were when we met, and we could be having this conference with no microphones and you know, no nobody listening.

01:15:56
Speaker 1: It is mikes are hard, the hardest MinC. We did it again.

01:16:03
Speaker 5: I can truly say that you have the most direct my accept.

01:16:07
Speaker 3: Thank you, all right, bigger houses you guys. Check it out, Dana she I love you, guys.

01:16:13
Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production.