The What Podcast Bonnaroo's Survey Questions and hey, nothing's Big Summer Season 8, Episode 27 Published July 2, 2025 https://beta.thewhatpodcast.com/episode/bonnaroos-survey-questions-and-hey-nothings-big-summer Guys, we don't know anything. You don't know anything. I don't know anything. I have a very strong feeling we're back in 2026. I think it's got to be in June. It's got to be on the farm or it's not a Bonnarooo. This is a summer festival to me. And I think for 20 years, we have solid solid data that this timeframe June. Well, they have cornered the market on June. Welcome back to the what podcast I'm Barry. That's Brian. That's Russ. How you guys doing this morning? Doing well, as good as we can. Yeah, doing really well. Yeah. Are we feeling better with three weeks removed from the not so great best week of our lives Bonnarooo 2025. I'm feeling better. I'm gonna go ahead and just say it. I'm feeling better because there's a version of this. That's maybe I'm forcing it but the not so great but you know, I don't know. Maybe it was pretty good but not you know, I don't know. I'm it's an inner inner word struggle here. But yeah, I'm definitely feeling better. I'll go ahead and give Brian a plug Brian your stone on air show. You talk about Bonnarooo quite a bit and I'm going to reference we can send people over there. I'm not going to we're not going to relive it all but I thought you grabbed it. You captured it. We had a great Thursday and Friday. I mean, I this was one of the best Bonnarooo's ever in a lot of ways, but also one of the worst. So well, thanks. Thank you. I do an annual here in Chattanooga just kind of a local deer diary. Just it's just it's just a hobby and but I do the annual recap just from my perspective only and a lot of people around here like that and I yeah, I appreciate it. First of all. Yeah, I there was a lot of things about Bonnarooo this year that after I was able to sit down and think about it. Like this is still and the obvious stuff that you guys know about that we enjoyed but it was more than that. It was a little more than that. So thank you very much. I appreciate that. Yeah, no, it was go look up the stone on air podcast if you want to hear it. Yeah, I commend everybody go listen to it. It's really good and it it nails and that's the reason I bring it up and Russ you tend to look at the socials a little bit more than we do Brian and I though Brian looks at it more than he wants to admit. That's not true. Okay. Anyway, sorry. Yes, I do look at it just not as much as everybody else but go ahead very and so but that I think that's where I am. So we're three weeks removed. I feel better about it because and I'll be honest. I reached out to our friend Brad Parker, the director of Bonnarooo and just kind of like I didn't ask him any questions just basically. Hey, how are you? And he said one thing I've learned people are very passionate about this festival and we knew that going in we had it 1000% confirmed while we were there and we'll talk about that in weeks to come. But I think that's my message or that's my takeaway from the last three weeks. Obviously some people had their hearts ripped out Brian. You summed it up soul-crushing heartbreaking. I mean pick any word you kind of joked and what was it you told your brother? You said before we got on on the air today. Yeah, I said we were talking about a variety of different things and he doesn't get the spirit. He doesn't get the essence of all of it and that's fine. But he's a big sports guy and I was like, you know, this this isn't just like the ball game got canceled like they have been so much here in the South recently and we'll have a doubleheader tomorrow. Right. Yeah, there's a ball game every week. It's not the same kind of thing because I think a lot of outsiders would be like, well, you know, hey, you still got to go. You had a little bit of fun and you know stuff happens. Well stuff like this doesn't happen even though it's now happened twice. Yeah, it's difficult to explain sometimes but everybody in this ethos that that listens to our show and the people that we interact with mostly get it. But but we also know, you know your question Barry who you know, who's tired of or who's had been told we're tired of hearing about Bonnarooo in your regular life and that's everybody there. Well, yeah, you mentioned comments and all that YouTube. We now have a community section on our channel and some people have already started posting there if you want guys want to go look at that. We got one from John Cena's cousins. They posted some pictures of their camp and some of the muddy aftermath and then Travis Beckett posted saying it was great seeing us Thursday on the live podcast and had some nice things to say and then another guy posted what looks like a van stuck in the mud trying to leave. I guess Friday. Yeah, keep that kind of stuff coming. And when I when I talk about the I stay out of the comment section, I do look at our our show comments. It's it's the reddit Bonnarooo weeds. Those those threads get so stay out of reddit. Yeah, so long and like anything on Facebook and some of these other socials. I just can't stand it. But I I do look at our show, especially through YouTube and talk of the YouTube channel just looks better and better. And so thank you guys for coming. So I don't want to I don't want to deter people from from participating. Yeah, and we'd like to see more. I mean if you come on the YouTube channel on the community section posts or whatever you can make a post you can put some pictures up comments, whatever. We'd love to see it. Maybe put some on the show. Can we set up a phone a phone line that we have used for contests in the past and gotten great response. So if you'd like to share basically what Bonnarooo means to you, we'll just keep it real simple. You can say anything you want to basically, but what does Bonnarooo mean to you? Why is it important to you and that number 423 667 7877 call? I'll be honest. We're doing this because we want to hear from you, but it also maybe provides a little show content going forward. Yeah, we could play it on the show and do remember it is voicemail. So you can't call and talk for 30 minutes. I thank you. Thank you. Taco is about the limit. Thank you brevity is the king of this kind of thing. And I'm the worst. I'm the worst. I'm the guy who like keep it at a minute or get out of here. Yeah, he's got a he's got a he's Brian's gonna spend five minutes telling you why you should keep it to 30 seconds. 423 667 7877. I'm glad you mentioned pictures because another thing that I have really enjoyed the last couple of weeks is our friend David Bruce has started posting the photos that he took in the short days that he was there. I am Bonnarooo. He was in our camp came back home with me and spent Saturday night here at the house. His work is amazing. It's a it's one of the things. He captures the spirit. You mentioned the spirit of it Brian. I think I think David he he loves this as much as anybody and he captures it in every single photo. Well, that's the uniqueness of what he does. He does he goes for the the everyday man and woman the every the every moment the every other hour type rather than the concert footage photographer. They both have their own place and he does that you know different and I got to know David for the first time this year and I mean I've been around him two or three years in a row. But I mean as you guys know I get a little aloof and I kind of like oh hey nice to meet everybody see ya and so this was the first year so that's even another part of what made this year great another relationship that right that he went out of his way to to be even you know more engaging in a in a way that was palatable to me. So I appreciated that from David. Absolutely which sort of helps encapsulate why I'm feeling better about it back to the Brad Parker comment about people are passionate about this thing. Guys, we don't know anything. You don't know anything. I don't know anything. I have a very strong feeling. We're back in 2026. I know the survey came out. We're going to talk about that. I think the survey was done because they needed to do something. Here's the reality and I think Brian you brought this up last week. People keep pointing out that of the last six years three have not happened. Well two are complete outliers or this year's the outlier whichever way you want to look at it. Yeah, and I brought that up a lot on the my regular show too. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, you can't predict COVID and you can't predict a hurricane in September. This year was we had a hundred year rain in the Tennessee area. That's not going to happen every year. The survey, you know, do do do we want it to go every other year? Do we want it to go in the fall and if we do what we'll get in the way? I think you got to ask those questions. It has to happen in June. It has to happen in Manchester. It has to happen just like it always does and let's go. The questions they've asked before and they've always said this doesn't mean that we're going to do it. We're just kind of curious what people think. Yeah, don't take it as gospel. But yeah, I agree. I think it's got to be in June. It's got to be on the farm or it's not a Bonnarooo. That's right. And we'll be back next year in June. Do we want to get into this survey for a minute now or sure? Yeah, go ahead because I didn't take it initially. I was going to and it dropped between our last show and we actually talked about things that were very relevant to that survey. We just got lucky that that's what we talked about. But to speak to it, we are professionals Brian. You can go ahead and we know what we're doing. We're the best podcast in the streets. Certainly the oldest. Anyway, and so I shout out thanks to Mary on our discord because she grabbed those screenshots because like you said it closed before we really got a chance to look at it. Right here. Thanks. Thank you. So I went to go take it and then it had already closed. So it's a very short window on that. I have a big problem. This is just me in regular all-day life. I just junk data polling just weren't analysis data gathering distribution kind of crazy society in America. We just we psychoanalyze everything and I'm not going to call it a slanted pole because it's not but it yes. Yes. No is almost never a good way to ask a question get an answer. Do you like Bonnaroo? Yes or no? Yes or no, I don't. It's pretty good. I like it a lot. It's actually I thought it was more open-ended. It was more like, you know, I don't remember the one but I've got him right here. So yeah, would you want would you want to see it move? It's kind of like yeah, but I want to I want where's my comment what they asked though. We're at comment. It is nasty. Yeah. Yeah, it's like I want to comment. You attend. Yeah, but even that like would you attend? Well, I mean, I don't know like I don't know what I would attend. I would definitely attend. Do I want it to be in October? No, right, right, right exactly. It's not a full real. I don't think it's asking the right question. Yeah, there was a and but there was where was the but yeah, where do I type my comment exactly? Here's another thing. It's the most measly thing ever. It's five questions. So we'll just run through real quick. Would you attend Bonnaroo who have happened in 26? I mean, yeah, I mean, I think I don't know maybe my mom or maybe maybe I would say no. Yeah, or maybe my best friends getting married in June and I don't know about it yet. Yeah, would you likely attend if it happened every other year? I think that's a fair enough question to gather what people think but it's still yes or no. Well, I mean, yes. No, I just just not a clarifying I am looking into this too much. I get it. But would you attend if Bonnaroo who is a few weeks later in the summer? Yes. No. Yeah. Okay. And then a good one that I circled fair question still don't believe it falls into a yes. No, would you attend Bonnaroo? If it was late September early October, I thought that was at least a good gathering question. You guys don't understand if you think that it's late September and early October. I mean, maybe I'm wrong and you disagree with me here, but I don't think you understand what you're getting yourself into in October. I mean, you know, cold cold nights warm potential days. Yeah, hot hot hot or cold cold cold. You and I you and I went to exit 111 in October at the farm. It was off. It was there. It was cold. Yeah, I was there. It was very cold. You were there too. And yeah, you yeah, you went it was a nice warm day and I'm going to the farm like I'm used to and I don't pack for it right and I live here and I should know better and I was freezing. It was good weather. Like it was a seasonable regular weather day nice and warm during the day very very very chilly at night. And so I you know, does that some people who love fall are going to be like, yeah, you're speaking my language man. Right. Yeah. See like I can't be around anyways. I'm prepared. I bring Mr. Heater. I know what I'm getting into not everyone that goes to this thing is going to have is going to have that level of preparedness. They're not going to have enough supply. This is a summer festival to me. And I think for for 20 years we have speaking of data. We have solid solid data that you can that that is not open to do interpretation that this time frame one week later one week earlier, what June well you they have cornered the market on June you want to start moving into other areas and you're infringing on other established events national regional whatever it might be. I think the home run is sitting right there. I think the question is I agree. Do you live nation see three do you want to have a camping festival in rural Tennessee? That's the question and it's either yes or no for you guys. That's the that's the real question right? Yeah. And June is still the most predictable stable month for weather. Yeah. This hot and dry. This was the outlier not the other two. That's that I think that's right. And the other thing that I found fascinating is four weeks ago. Everything was rainbows and unicorns. This was a great lineup. One of the best lineups ever that Friday lineup was killer. We couldn't wait and and in the two and a half weeks since and again, I shouldn't do it but I do some of the some of the comments. I mean people are nitpicking. I mean we're pulling things apart and blaming live nation and here's the other point I want to make for all you guys and Brian. I know you're not a fan. Live Nation is Brad and Cory and tuba and Ken Weinstein and all the people that run this festival. These are the people that run this so that throwing live nation under the bus while I get it and certainly there were mistakes and we can talk about the exit strategies and what could have been done differently and we will get into that eventually as we get more actual details. But a lot of it is anecdotal if you're the car that got stuck in the mud. It was a shit show and I get it now and you should be angry and there's nothing anybody can say I get it. But you know at some point we got to figure out. I'm glad you mentioned that because you know live nation is almost like the boogeyman that you know everybody is quick to say oh live nation screwed up live nation should have done that but like you said live nation is it's the same guys that we talked about for 51 weeks about how awesome knowing her be I've got a one ever sorry, but when things when things go right no one's ever like oh live nation did such a great job. Exactly, you know it it doesn't go both ways but it should because it's the same people without without live. Yeah without live nation a lot of things right. We have no Bonnarooo. Yeah, they don't survive covid and they don't survive a hurricane without live nation. So if you're going to blame them, let's give them the give them some credit. Yeah, I got I like to share this real quick. It's it's just a long message from a local person who's been going to Bonnarooo for years that I don't know well, but I do know as oh hey, maybe we'll see each other this year that kind of same kind of thing. We're talking about the other week. Sure like somebody I would never know if it wasn't if it wasn't for this and she said I want to listen to the show before I comment and it said okay there. I listen I agree with you guys on almost everything. I unlike you talking to me can't stop reading the reddit threads and people are mad and anytime someone tries to toss in it's still Bonnarooo and will always go quote unquote. They get called a live nation plant or a bootlicker. It's wild goes on to talk about the trying to get out on Friday and into and into Saturday and so there's a lot of stuff and when this is the things we might go into more down the road that I I don't know really what was going on out there and I do believe it was probably pretty bad, but I don't I think there was no way around that right. We also live in an in a in a society of America these days where anecdotes equal proof right like everything in everybody's life. Well, my dad had trouble getting a kidney transplant. Therefore health and care in America is horrible. Don't sorry about your dad, but it's not really doesn't really matter and like so we use this anecdote but here let me tell you my story right and therefore here's why everything is horrible right and that's we're getting a lot of that a couple things though. One thing that I mentioned on the my local show that I don't know if we talked about here that a lot of people were saying that there was no help people disappeared as far as staff. Well, a lot of the staff is volunteers, especially down on the ground not certainly not all but a lot are and the only compensation the volunteers get basically they might get a few meals and this is not new live nation did not ruin this. This is how this has been from the jump. I've known volunteers for 20 years. You guys have to yeah, my daughter ran the program for three years. Exactly. The main compensation is a is an admission to the festival and when there's you know a panic borderline panic situation and the only compensation was the festival you just canceled. Well kind of on your own on that one and so that's not the volunteers being bad people are not falling through on their on their end of the deal. They got to get out of there too. But one comment here that was in reference to that point the volunteers from her her again also anecdotes here. I get it. So this is just somebody else the volunteers were a lot more hostile this year in the few interactions that I had with them from from the past. And then the last one that I think that Bonnaroo lacked what the where they lacked was emergency risk management. Obviously everyone was going to party like crazy on Friday night and all of that partying was more spread out because center who was closed basically meaning just that's going to create a lot more confusion and that's your own damn fault, but it's also understandable but her comment was there's having more medic fleets and 24-hour response, you know, just one one person's opinion and then also the self-service thing. I didn't realize this but we should have known when everybody is camped out sitting around all day on their phone. Of course none of the phones work right a regular port time every only I'm making stuff up a half the people are going to be on their phone or a third well for a day and a half every single person there was on their phone. So therefore no phones work isn't I agree. Isn't this a good argument though to bring back radio Bonnarooo if they had you know, I'm going to say hell yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I figured what you would agree. But yeah, I mean they that could be turned into a you know, 24 7 communication thing and you know, it's impervious to cell phones because it's just radio the the infrastructure sitting right there 45 minutes up north in Nashville lightning 100 many of people we've known over the year good friends of ours. They'd be happy to do it. Think about it. Bonnarooo think about it. Bring it back. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I remember sitting there Friday and we talked about this before talking about what was going on in the room the discussion. Oh, yeah, the fly on the fly on the wall. I'm the wall. Yeah. Do you how do you how do when do you announce that it's canceled and what's the exit plan? You know in theory you say, okay plazas or pods as I like to call them 10 and 11 you're out first. That's never going to work. That was this. That's the silliest idea going to comply and I mean I just can't imagine and what happened is exactly what happened even even on a good year. Everybody leaving on Monday morning or Sunday night. It's a traffic. It's a lot. It's everybody wants to leave at the same time at their own convenience. Now you throw in mud and water. So yeah, and I'd like to know to everyone says, oh live nation screwed this up. Okay, give an example of a festival where everything went a hundred percent. Right. Give me an example of a canceled festival and everyone got out exactly according to plan. Yeah, you know, it's going to be it doesn't matter who it is. It's going to be a shit show either way. It's funny you say it that way too, because there was just a little weather concern on a thread somewhere. I think it was reddit and I was like the weather pattern. This is before it's almost like. I'm looking back like, whoa, I was maybe onto something. I didn't realize it, but I was like the weather before what we've had here. If this continues, this will be a problem. It will be fine, but it will be a problem. And somebody was like, well, will it be fine or will it be a problem? Are you entering this thinking that there will be no problems? Because if you are you're already out to lunch on this one. Oh, I think I said you guys are in our super group text on Tuesday. Maybe I said this could be a problem. This mud is going to be an issue. And I think it was after you sent a note, Ross, that you and David had helped somebody get out get unstuck, right? Yeah, that was that was Tuesday Tuesday and you were alone Wednesday because you were alone in a field. It was Wednesday because yeah, Joe and Tara had shown up. Joe used his truck. I had the chains MacGyver. You had to go pull out a truck from the mud. And yeah, you're right. This was Wednesday. This is before the thing even opened. So yeah, that probably should have been a clue that and I think I sent a text and said I got a bad feeling and you guys were like, what are you talking about? What do you know? And I'm just saying I wasn't ready to believe those things. But that's the fact that they you know, they delayed opening center or not center at Arou on Tuesday by a couple hours specifically to try to let the ground dry. Yeah, I mean I was going to do nothing. No, there's no Ryan. Brian you and I have seen it when they put the sawdust down and the plywood down and we've seen those threads where people said why didn't they bring in plywood and I mean like how much I mean you have to buy out the world. Somebody's right under you can't get that much on such a short notice. You'd have to order that months in advance somebody somewhere was like electric forest has like fresh dirt that they found and you're like what are you going to do with fresh dirt in the middle of Tennessee when it's raining torrentially for two days? You're going to have much like, you know, I get it. People are so passionate and I love that about this. It's just sometimes it does go totally sideways and there is a level of you know, the Rick Rubin comments or his kind of philosophy the you know, the renowned producer Kanye sure Beastie Boys right against machine all those he that was running in the last year so that it was kind of like the audience doesn't matter kind of thing. It was it's the idea that you should just create and not worry about what the audience thinks I subscribe to this theory in this is more of a customer base. It's a little different than the audience, but there is a little bit of a level of guys going back to live Nation. I know very you said, you know, I'm not a complete fan. Well, I'm not a big fan of huge conglomerates and then on any level for sure, but but but live Nation, you know, you got the data already you understand what this is you figure this out. Don't worry about what reddit thinks we really kind of comment mentioned this last year or last week and so that's why I'm like, you know, put out this five question survey. If you want it's going to keep a little bit of a news cycle and some buzz going and that's that's fine. Do that NFL is cornered this market use the same model, you know, just regularly having things out there for people to digest but don't worry about it that much. Don't worry about these answers, you know, you're the pros. You got this. Do you want to do it or do you not and back to what I put Brad Parker's point. We love this festival will be back. We're coming and there's a but there's a plenty of us. There's there are people who had a bad time and will never come back and I'm sorry. I hate that and I can't blame you. I mean my god the stories that you know people who traveled across country and got there and it's stuck in that and I get it. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I get it. If you saved up your vacation and your money all year to come do this one thing and it ended up like this. I mean, yeah, of course I get it. I get it. I want to risk it again. I'm glad you brought that up taco. It made me it just sparked a memory here and I wish I'd wrote it down. I'm sorry I didn't but the two or three or four however many it was festivals on the East Coast that offered free admission for Bono wristbands any of the southeastern places of business of bars of small events that offer discounts to people with wristbands. That's a huge thing and you guys deserve huge credit for that because a lot of people places around where we live didn't do that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. So thanks to everybody who did that because it's it's such a nice sentiment. Most people aren't going to take you up on that and so thank you for doing it. Yeah, just good business. Yeah, it's pretty simple stuff. Like I don't know anything and I know that but anyway what we got today. We're going to wrap things up with Barry. All right. I'm so excited. This was one of the one of the things that we love the three of us love about Bonnarooo or the band interviews that we get to do. We love to work. We love especially on Thursday and Friday. We love to set up these interviews with bands. We honestly don't care whether they're well known to us or brand spanking new. We just love to talk. But I almost like them. Bakes basically equal ports of the man. Hey nothing. I'll take either one of you. Me too. Me too. And we especially because we've done it for so many years. We love like following and we landed on. Hey nothing and Tyler Tyler and Harlow and I didn't know a lot about them. I knew a little bit going in but man they were so cool. And now I now I'm a huge fan. They were fun and their buzz was already picking up a little bit. They have a you'll fight you'll hear it in here. They have a huge summer schedule that is that is just in the end. Yes of any band up and coming. So I think they're playing. They're playing Shaky Knees in September and I can't wait. That's one of my most anticipated acts now. Thanks to this interview and just getting exposed to them through Bonnarooo and they couldn't have been happier to be involved in that is a joy for people like us who are all well for me anyway, who's always terrified that I'm going to get somebody who doesn't have any interest in talking and they yeah, right. They were fun and they were and so good stuff really happy to have them 20 years old and they're far more mature beyond those years. And when I was 20 if you talk to me with a microphone get out of here. That's a good point. Now they were terrific. They walked right up sat down and we just had a conversation and that's what I love and I cannot wait to see what happens with these guys. I'm Barry. That's Brian with us is Hey Nothing with Harlow and Tyler. Yes, are you guys? We're so good. How are you? Yeah, you just got on campus as you called it. We did tell us about the excitement level. Oh my gosh, you start this feels like a dream come true. Yeah, really? Yeah, our first Bonnarooo we went with Harlow's dad in I think 2022 and we just remembered watching every set and kind of hoping that one day we would get to do that. Yeah, but I mean like yeah, it's insane. It really is really good here. Yeah, and you're actually doing the thing. I'm going to say the dream can't be that long. Y'all are quite young and you've made a splash very very very very fast. Absolutely. How's that been? I mean you start playing some music next to you know, you're a Bonnarooo. I mean, it's not normally on the trajectory. No, it's not normal at all. I don't know. We had a lot of we dream really hard. You know what I mean? And I think we're very surprised by the success we had but we're so grateful and just so we're just taking it as it comes and we're really excited and happy about it. It's our dream. We're living our dreams. It's just our dreams. Let's go back to you standing in the field with your grandfather. Did you at that point crystallize a dream? I'd like to do that. I mean when that was that even in your universe or yeah, I think it's always been our dream since we were little. I think like a lot of kids can attest to like growing up wanting to be a rock star but all of us. Yeah, just about every single one of us. Exactly. So you never really think like that's going to be me like, of course I'm going to make it. So it's been like no way to know. Yeah, it's just been wild to like actually make our dreams happen. Yeah, well on that point. Sorry very real quick because I wrote this down just a minute ago. How many people told you that this is a silly ass idea? Let me piggyback because that's yeah, being here with your grandfather. Obviously he was supportive, right? I mean, he's cool enough to have brought you to come with you to Bonnarooo. So yeah, like double up with that question getting into playing music. You're very young youthful and that's great. But how many people told you that's a fun little dream you got there? I think we had like equal amounts of people be like this is kind of crazy and all but we also had like a lot of like my dad and like, yeah, my mom be. Yeah, those kind of just being like, yeah, do it. Yeah, and I don't think we ever saw it as people being like you guys are crazy. I think they're just being realistic. Yeah, and we were honest about that way. Absolutely. Family is going to be supportive, but you know, yeah, that's just a it's a wild. It's a wild dream. Yeah, absolutely wild wild dreams are worth pursuing. Yeah, my mom definitely did not want me to not go to college. That was a thing. For sure. That's a good moment. And I was like, well, we'll just see. And now we're here. Did you do did she set like the whole time limit? Give it a year. Give it to then you got to go back to school or was it I'm sure that that conversation was had. I kind of remember that a little bit. Yeah being like, all right, but if it doesn't work, I don't really like the give it a year necessarily, but I think it was more like a kind of a nudge of like just know if this doesn't work out. You can always go back college. When did you know it would work out? When did it become still don't? You got, you know, today's a pretty good that you can maybe do this. So I think there's always going to be anxiety or just like not even anxiety just the idea that tomorrow we could wake up and we could live normal lives again. And I think we're both pretty comfortable with that. We're just happy. Yeah, we're just like happy that we get to do it. Yeah, we really take it as it goes because one it really was like one day we were in high school and like playing the cajon in the backyard and then now it feels like we blinked and now we're here. Exactly. It's really crazy. Yeah. Well, I mean on your on your schedule so far this year. Tell me if I'm getting this wrong. You got summer fast. Milwaukee. Yeah, still never been to summer fast either. Lollapalooza. Yeah, Hinterland, which we just had a long conversation with the promoter and head Booker of that festival in Iowa. Yes, shaking knees in Atlanta. Yep. Yeah, I mean stop me when you're when you're impressed. Yeah, so like I mean that's a that's a really strong summer. Yeah, it's the strongest summer ever. Yeah. Like yeah, do you worry that like there's those guys that come out of college and their quarterbacks and they play in a Super Bowl. Yeah, and I think it's going to be like this. Oh, yeah. We'll play summer fast. Bonerul, Lollapalooza. Every year. Every single year. But it's a hell of a start. When did you guys start playing together? Well, we met when we were 11. The first time we were 20. We're both 20. Yeah, we met when we were 11. I think the first time we hung out outside of school. We were playing music together. Yeah, and we were really bad at it at the time. Of course you were. Yeah, bad. But I look back in five years from now and think you were bad now. Oh, yeah. Two days ago and I'm like, yeah, I think that's a good cycle have to be constantly like critiquing your younger soul, critical in a healthy way of kind of what you're doing and just making sure that you stay dialed in what you're doing and you know what you want. And I think you could have but how close were you to knowing at 11 what you wanted to be doing at 20? I knew. Yeah, you were better about it. Music wise. I was very, yeah. Wow. I had the idea in my mind from a very young age. I don't know why or how it just kind of made sense. I think it was more just music made sense. It didn't necessarily mean like and it'd be in a rock band and play music festivals and go on tour, but it definitely wanted I wanted life to be centered around music and I remember hearing Harlow sing for the first time and being like, you got to do this with me. No. Yeah, and I feel like like since we met it the whole time. It was just like you being like, I'm I'm going to do this thing and I want you to like, yeah, I remember being like I'm doing this and I really want you to do it. I love it. I love it. And I and I and I got a I got to do it too. I have to do it too. Let's explore that a little bit because you said at 11. So you're about to go through some of the most traumatic years. What about human beings? Yeah, the last thing you typically want at that age is for anybody to be looking at you much less know what's going on inside and potentially be critical or analytical at all. Yeah, that could be so how tough was that? I mean, that's always helpful that it might have been helpful to have somebody who you know, I think it's helpful to have each other to kind of be able to share those things. I'm not really sure we weren't super or at least personally I wasn't super like scared to be myself to that capacity like I think we both were comfortable being ourselves with each other. Yeah, and we got through it with that. Yeah, it's like if we didn't have each other, it probably would have been terrifying and impossible. But the fact that we did have each other made it work. Yeah, no one no one loves being perceived, you know, but we I feel like sometimes most of the time like we are each other's like safety blanket and in the sense of like like you can always just like cast your anxiety on the other person like it's all good and they'll take it. I'm not a songwriter, but that's a good line. No one likes being perceived. We should write that. Yeah, no, absolutely. So what do you like better Indie folk or emo folk? If someone's saying that that's just two things I saw quickly with some good. That's a good question. That's hard. I know folk duo or Indie folk. I prefer a mo folk. Yeah, I think. Yeah, I think you know, but the email alive. I think yeah, keep it alive somehow. I think you know folk is a bit more specific and has a bit more of like a an intentional meaning to it. Yeah, and I think that's a nice. That's a nice label. Yeah, well, I've been sampling some of your music the last couple days and I've been I've been enjoying it and so you're from Atlanta and then your EP released last year is called Maine with the it has a the title track is a song main. How do you find yourself somewhere in the middle of Maine? What just a clever name you were in the state. Yes, writing music in Maine. How does that happen from a couple of Southern folk, you know, ATL ATL? Yeah. So my mom is from Maine. So I grew up going to Maine every summer and it's like my favorite place in the whole entire world. Okay, so there was a lot. Yeah, a lot inside your head and your emotions in your life that lead to Maine. Yeah, for sure. And then it like all came together when I took Tyler for the first time I had always wanted to and we'd been talking about it for forever. Yeah, and it's a beautiful place. Yeah, it's a really beautiful place. Never been would love to. Yeah, you really should go. It is the best place and we were also when we wrote that AP there are some pretty traumatic things kind of going on back at home and in our lives that we didn't really know how to deal with or cope with it all. So to be in the most beautiful place in America or possibly even in the world. It really brought out a lot of really brought out a lot of creativity and a lot of thing gave us just some some clarity and some insight and writing those songs helped us kind of get some things off our chest for sure. Yeah. Well, I apologize for going too much into a bio to find questions, but I got to run through a bunch of stuff quickly. It says amongst the describing of your music coping with dealing with however, was worded growing up too early too fast. Yeah, I don't know if y'all wrote that or your PR wrote it. I could have what does that mean? What does that mean to you guys as far as like what that's easy to say? What does that mean? I think because I think it's a I think it's something a lot of people deal with. Yeah, absolutely all ages, but maybe even more so now. Yeah. I think we were both. Fortunate and a little bit misfortunate. Having to had go having to go through. Some really hard things when we were younger and in high school that I feel like a majority of high schoolers don't really go through. And I'm not going to get into specifics, but sure. I don't know. We went we went through it. We had some issues that we had to kind of get through and I think we both because of those things felt a little bit outcasted having to be in like in the community of people that are dealing with everyday struggles and I don't think any struggle is like has more value than any other struggle that a high schooler is going through. But they were different for sure. Yeah. You had a you said you had a in your head at 11 kind of what you you're now 20 we talked about you kind of half jokingly but very should be very seriously. This is a great summer. Yeah, you're having a really good summer. What's what's the goal? What are you guys hoping looking forward? Are you planners? Are you goal-oriented type list maker types for so long? Our goal was this and like that's what I mean. We're having to reevaluate. Yeah, I feel like this summer is like a big like some milestone. Holy shit. Holy shit. Yeah, we just named them all off. I mean, that's that's that's so incredibly impressive to be able to throw a whole lot on your on your on your docket for the year tours coming up after all this possibly. Yeah. We love being on the road our main. I feel like our main passion and what drives us is like playing live. It's about the only way you got to make sure you turn you making a bucket this at the point that you're not going to sell any records not enough to make a living. Yeah, exactly. So it's yeah, we've we've we were there. Yeah more tour more tour more like how much do you credit a lot of this success and trajectory to social media and it's primarily Instagram and maybe tick tock first a lot of this. Yeah, a lot of it honestly. Yeah, we're very very grateful for social media. Yeah, it's the timing is really interesting because that group of people that you just saw walking by or Belmont students really that were just having that exact conversation. Yeah, people who book this and run this we're giving them advice. They were actually talking about how those social media numbers don't mean what you think they do, but they also can write that can mean they can mean something. Yeah, I was listening because I knew we were getting ready to talk to you guys and the question was how does a bad band get on their radar and get booked? Yeah, it was a whole lot of do this don't do that. You know, be good. Yeah, that's the first start. We've never really set any rules for ourselves other than just to be as authentic as we can and I think and try to display that offense authenticity online. Yeah, you know, I know you say a lot that people can tell when you're bullshitting your experiences and yeah, and when you're trying to be something you're not. Yeah, like we're not the type to like and this is not a dig in like anybody who's doing this but like we're not going to like dance. We're not going to like like not going to do like a trend or like trend. It's it's like ironic making fun of that itself. We just want to be like, you know ourselves and then like if people like that great great and join us. Yeah, do you do all your social media or do you have a team that helps with that now? We do have a team that helps. I know you eventually you have to because it's that it's every creative outlet now. It's like oh you used to do this. Well, now you're a video producer on social media. Yeah, everybody usually is God damn it. I know how to do this really well. Yeah, I don't know how to necessarily do this. Have you so you guys have done well with that would it appear? Yeah, I think we didn't have a social team really until recently. We had people that were like pushing us to post and kind of like directing it a little bit. But now we definitely have more people that are like we have some people posting for us like just clips. I feel like as we grow the workload does increase. Yeah. Oh, it's a never-ending grind. Exactly. Just the social media alone. If you got the openings, I can help with my social media. Give me a call. I mean, it's exhausting. Yeah, it is so necessary. Yeah, and we were lucky enough to have like a team really super creative people. That's true. And they all like get us and like get our humor and get what we're going for. Yeah, so it all does like when it ends up on social media. It's us, you know, like it feels like us. It's our team. It's yeah, you're you're playing tonight should have asked you this at the jump any family going to be out there. Yeah, family here. Yes. Awesome. My dad that took us the first time we ever came my mom's here. My brother's here. My aunt is here. So yeah, a lot of that's so cool. And my sister my brother are both here as well. What have you on an AMA or something somewhere called you a refer to yourself as a handsome boy band. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, that's us. That's what we'll go with. Yeah, we'll drop the indie full chemo. But yeah, that's a boy. That's just handsome boy band is good for us. All right, guys. I can't thank you enough. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. This is awesome. I'm I'm really excited for you. Thank you. You can feel it. I love it. Just a little bit of housekeeping, I guess along those lines. We did that interview. And again, all of this happened before the cancellation. So this is our normal work. You know, mo so we talked to them. Russ did a couple of interviews with the Common John folks on what Monday night was it or that was Monday and Tuesday Monday into Tuesday morning. Yeah. And so we'll we'll probably run that in. I don't know if we're going to take we may take next week off since it's 4th of July and we basically had planned to take this whole month off to kind of rejuvenate but obviously news is happening. So sorry. I do want to throw this out. We were talking about Cory and Brad. I spoke to Cory a little bit last week. Nothing to share because he didn't you know, it wasn't it was his personal but he is as bummed as we are that this thing didn't work out. I guarantee you he is he's feeling it just like we are. He reads the comments just like we do and we probably shouldn't if you get a chance go see a boot scooting boogie nights concert. They're playing July 5th in Chattanooga. They're playing July 25th in Knoxville. So if you're close to either one of those, please go see a show. It's a lot of fun. And I just yeah that night has been yeah that 90s country thing. Yeah, and I didn't realize it was coming up in days here in Chattanooga. So Cory I'll see you Saturday. Yeah, unless it rains like hell. I meant to open the show with it guys. I went to our minor league baseball game last night. What it was special event free food. Come on down walked in took a right under the concourse. Ladies and gentlemen tonight's game has been canceled. Here we go. I was so it's you. You're the dark cloud. Yeah, it rain and rain and rain on the lake. Just you know, it happens. Yeah, it does. Well and at the risk of sounding like a homer that was the point of my what I said earlier. We want to think of live nation is some, you know, corporate concrete. It's it's Brad. It's Cory. It's tuba. These guys all started at festivals if not Bonnarooo specifically as fans and now they are in charge. So yeah, if you don't think they're soul-crushed you're wrong. Yeah, so good point. I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah, didn't mean to derail but that I just want to mention that you did. I'm glad you did too. So what was I saying? We may take next week off don't know if news happens. We'll be back. Obviously we're on top of this as much as everybody else. We want to know what's going on. But if nothing if there's no new news, then we may not have a show next week. We'll see how it goes. We're gonna we're kind of week by week on everything right now, just like Bonnarooo live nation. You guys, you know when I joke of a sports talk radio guy like down here is anytime somebody says, you know, a sports guy is their day to day. He's like, well, aren't we all? Yeah, no kidding. Give us a call on the voicemail line. 423-667-7877. Post on our new community tab on YouTube. Yeah, I'll check that out. I'd love to hear that. Yeah, post on discord, you know that will even if we take a week or so off the conversation continues there. I've even gone to discord a couple times the last week or two. So there you go. Look at me. It's the end times. It's the end times go check out I am Bonnarooo and his photographs. If you're looking for something else to keep you hype, go check that out. So, all right. Thanks guys for listening and we will either be back next week or we won't.