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if I'm personally happy with our creation, if other people don't get it, I'm I still did my best and we did our best as a as a band.
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And I think that's been you know on all of our things over the years uh you know running theme where um if we focus on that rather than trying to create success uh then we're trying to do the right thing.
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[Music] How are you gentlemen?
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>> Slightly nervous because this is a big deal for us.
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We don't do things like this often. >> Yeah. No, I know.
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It's which makes it a big deal for me.
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So, let's be nervous together. How about that? Should we ride?
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Should we ride that wave of anxiety?
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Uh, bigger than all of us.
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What a beautiful album title. Very deliberate. Says a lot.
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We're going to dive into the meaning behind it all, but um, where were you when the title came to you?
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>> I think it came because of the track we wrote with Justine, really, didn't it?
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And then that just felt like the right track to title the album.
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So it's it often happens with above and beyond albums.
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We kind of make up the reasons a little bit afterwards as well.
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>> I think that happens in life.
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I think we were looking for like, oh, I did that for that reason.
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Obviously, uh it it's one of those um statements, sentences, phrases that um can go a lot of different ways, right?
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I mean, it can be used in a sense of like a positive, a wonderful experience, and something immersive that that brings quality.
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uh can also be something that's used to try to comfort somebody, you know, when they're going through something, man, it's just bigger than all of us, you know, like let's just don't don't make it about you.
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It's just bigger than all of us.
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Um, did that strike you did that strike you as as the the fact that it can be it it feels very adaptable to the human experience?
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>> I think it's one of those titles that can be interpreted.
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I think the song itself uh paints a world where we're all interconnected and everything we do affects everybody else.
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Um, I think for us the the other main interpretation of the of the title was the community that we've created. >> Yes.
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>> Um, I think we've always been uh consumer focused, if that's the word, or or or fan focused right from the start when we had a a forum that we ran uh that became the biggest trans forum in dance music.
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Uh, we've always been talking to our fans and getting their feedback about what we're doing.
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And so I think where we are now with the size of that audience, the Anjuna family as we call it, being so big, I think the whole endeavor feels bigger than all of us because of the the the the the community.
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>> Can we do a timeline check for the people that aren't so so up to date with the with the entire history of the band?
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When you launched the forum, um the very inception of building that fan base on day one, approximately what time frame was that?
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>> Well, I think it was around um year 2000 2001 when we were starting up.
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We're actually just celebrating our 25th >> 25th anniversary. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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You've been married to all these people for 25 years. >> Crazy, right?
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>> It's pretty incredible when you think about it.
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I think about these kind of fan forums and the fact that when they first started out, you know, I think the record industry looked at them as like, "Oh, look, that's an artist that's just it's got to go direct to fan because the they don't fit into the system, whatever."
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I remember the feeling surrounding this.
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And now, of course, you take a look at the artists that have been building these fan bases over periods of time, building your industry around that relationship.
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And boy, isn't it funny how it's working out just fine.
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So, but I I wonder whether it was initially a reaction to something whether the idea of of leaning into that experience and making it more bespoke, making it more about your relationship with your fans and doubling down on that was a reaction to something or did you react as it started to happen?
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>> I think um it was actually again partly an accident.
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an accident. It was partly intentional and partly accident because we tried to court sort of major labels and sign tracks and we we did a bit of that and what would often happen is you know you'd make this record they'd really like and then the follow-up single would come and maybe it wasn't as radio >> I just there it is you just prove the point exactly and that's exactly what
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I'm saying right they would say like oh you don't fit into our system >> yeah exactly >> so good luck >> and it was a survival thing in the end you know it was which is the accident side of it where um you know Building the community online really helped us because we were able to sort of communicate directly with our fans and give our music directly to them rather than go through these big corporate mechanisms. So yeah,
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So yeah, >> plus I worked at Warner for 12 years.
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I did that thing, you know, we we anxiously waiting for the playlist >> uh decisions every week and seeing some kids who' spent a year making an album, making a video, spending all their unrecoup money on on on the project and then 3 days into the week of release, >> yeah, >> not on the playlist, end of career, go back to working in sainsburries.
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And that's the last thing I wanted to do when I left Warness to be a musician.
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I thought, I don't really want to get into that system.
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And that system doesn't really suit musicians.
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It suits record companies cuz they've got plenty of fod they can put into the cannon and fire at this tiny hole that was radio one playlist and then the next one comes along.
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So it was the thirst of artists that enabled the system.
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But I didn't want to be one of the ones that slightly missed and hit the floor.
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I wanted to be here in 25 years.
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>> What a beautiful case study that time at Warers was for you, right?
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I mean little bit of money in the bank to be able to launch what you want to go launch and more importantly a whole lot of wisdom. >> Yeah.
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>> Uh in the mind bank to know that you don't want to do that.
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So this begins the you know the the unjuna you know the era of building your own world and and to your point it's a wonderful symbiosis between fans and art.
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>> Um and don't get me wrong we're going to catch up really fast to get to the big to get to bigger than all of us but I think for the importance of people who love your music but don't know because you don't do a lot of this.
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Um, what are the primary principles that you've stayed true to from day one when building your own world?
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>> I think uh from the very beginning of our band, we've always been a little bit bigger than the band because um we started a record label even before we started the band.
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So our label Anjuna Beats has been there um as a sort of real center of our community and it was always really much easier for us to like think of how cool the label is rather than like look at us and I think that's actually been a a really wonderful thing.
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>> You put all your merch creativity into the label at the beginning, right?
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To make sure the jacket was cool and then it's like look the people wearing the jacket we'll get there.
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>> Yeah, >> the jacket's got to be cool.
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>> It was always phase two.
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I mean, I don't know if at the beginning I was wondering whether we'd ever put ourselves on our merch.
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It just felt the label felt like the real like a really important part of the strategy to help Blo get on board with what we were doing.
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Uh and and the minute we started seeing Blok tattooing our logo to their body, you know, we know we knew we'd done a good job. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fascinating.
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It's it's one of those things though, isn't it?
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kind of leaning into um an industry even if it's yours to run and building it in out of your own experiences and your own heart and soul and what you believe in whilst you're also sort of figuring out that hey what we do creatively is now starting to make a difference and become a priority in our life and we have
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touring and all okay we can get away from Warers but we're still part of a machine it's now just the above and beyond machine so that balance I think often one often suffers I don't think of too many artist orientated labels where it's been a perfect balance between the two you're one of those groups that I think does strike that balance. What's
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What's the secret between maintaining a healthy anjuna world and an a healthy above and beyond experience?
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>> I think one of the things that makes it easier for us is the fact there's three of us because I think if you've got just one person I mean it can be absolutely exhausting.
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It's exhausting with three people as well. >> Yeah.
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>> But um you know being on tour we've managed to tour as twos in twos.
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So we get a bit of time off the road as well as on the road.
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And that that is a simple thing that's really helped us because it means you're very grounded and you come home.
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Um and you've got two other egos to keep the ego in check as well.
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You know, there's many parts to that I think help.
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>> Let's talk about the the the idea of ego as we get get closer to this album.
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>> Tony, what was the feeling like when work on the album started in earnest and you felt did it feel like the machine was starting back up again a bit?
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It did because we all had time away from it doing solo projects and being away during lockdown when of course we couldn't get together and we couldn't do shows.
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So our world really really changed over those those years.
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Um and I can distinctly remember us having lunch with our manager James and him saying are we going to do another album?
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>> Big question for James by the way.
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I can tell you right now and I'm sure James is a real a real one, right? Runs a real business.
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>> I bet his heart's in his mouth even asking that question. >> Yeah.
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>> Yeah. I mean it's it's it felt like we should do one but it had been it I think that would have been five years since the the time before so it was a long time >> spell had been broken right >> yeah and we needed to figure out how we were going to work together because during lockdown parvo moved out of the UK so we were this now this kind of international group with learning a
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different way of working with somebody that's not in the UK all the time >> um so the first thing we did not the first thing did we did But one of the first things we did to help the process given the newness of the arrangement of above and beyond was uh hire an external ANR man Dave Dresden from Gabriel and Dresden to be the point person to be the person making the difficult decisions for us. >> Wow. >> Wow.
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>> Almost like performance coach. >> Exactly. >> Amazing.
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>> And we all trusted him.
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He's he used to do ANR for London Records for Pete Tong.
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He's been around the block. He's a brilliant DJ.
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His knowledge of music is inexhaustible. Plus, he's American.
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So, he's positive >> right away. What a gig.
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What a gig for this guy to get. What a phone call.
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Hey man, you know, we'd love you to help us carve out the next.
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0 of this amazing thing that you're passionate about and you get to be honest with us and you get to be tasteful. gig. >> He did it great.
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>> Yeah, he was amazing >> as he should. >> He did it great.
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And what what was also great about it is with him I think he took a lot of the ego out of it and we discovered that actually we had a lot of the records.
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We already had a lot of the music.
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He was like that's a great song. That's a great song.
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>> And I think these songs were knocking around for a few years.
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We hadn't done anything with them >> and they were sort of bubbling there and no one wanted to speak out you know.
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That's beautiful because it takes away a little bit of the pressure of like, okay, where do we start, right?
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Which I can imagine when you've been away for a while.
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Look, I mean, there will be that moment again for real.
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Like these songs, there you go.
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You got an album out of it with some new ones attached, I'm sure.
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But, you know, but now it's going to be like, okay, when we come back now, we got to start somewhere, but you're back in that surely back in that mindset of what being a band is again.
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And there's some accountability as well because I think the downside of having your own record label management and kind of James always calls it an internal 360 model sort of thing.
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But the downside of that is where's the accountability because you're all so close to each other.
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You need someone external to sort of crack the whip and say hey you know and um also Molly in the office sort of formed a great team that kept us accountable with sort of meetings which is kind of weird because yeah I'm personally not used to that kind of structure all the time.
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I think you were more used to it, Tony, aren't you? >> I don't mind it.
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I think it was it felt like we were having too many meetings. Like not enough.
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You know, if you do a weekly meeting when you're making music sometimes, nothing's happening. >> No happening.
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And by the way, congratulations.
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You know, you just businessed the out of yourself. Well done.
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>> But it actually worked.
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We got used to the weekly meetings.
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We got used to them being a way of us keeping uh on track.
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And in the end, I think that the when you make an album as as a three-piece, >> Yeah. Yeah.
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>> the hardest thing is deciding what tracks go on the album.
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I'm sure it's a nightmare.
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>> It's a nightmare because all three of us are able to create tracks on our own.
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These two do it more than I do.
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But there is still this weight of work there at the end and not enough room for it to fit on.
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And which ones are going to go on?
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That's a source of enormous stress.
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>> The serving at the altar of the music is one of the hardest things you can do, isn't it?
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You know, at the end of the day, and it's really where the ego goes, I'm not done with you.
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>> You know, you think that, you know, you've grown up enough and had enough success, you don't need me as firepower. But guess what?
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That song's going on the album, isn't it? It is. Tell them.
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Tell them right now it's going on the album. It's a tough one. It's a really tough one.
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>> But it was great because Dave kind of I think we sent him originally about 45 tracks ideas >> and I think probably of those about 12 ended up on the album.
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The rest of them were all new creations. Mhm.
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>> Um but it was always pretty clear that he was going to decide what was going to go on and that made it a lot easier.
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We bought into his view and that took that whole stress away and you know, okay, I've got these five tracks to work on and that's >> and it's success. It worked.
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So he's fired now, isn't he?
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You got rid of them before. >> Watch this space.
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>> Um it's uh it's beautiful hearing you connect with with some of these writers and these performers that we know you have established relationships with.
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I think when we have people who produce and DJ and create art and artists in their own right, but obviously lean into a vocal space with others, people see it as an opportunity.
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Well, this new person's got some momentum.
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So, this would be a good opportunity for us to work with them.
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We'll pull our audiences together, you know, it's fine. It's totally cool. It's a play.
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>> But what's really nice is that you've got these these existing relationships.
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You can hear a lot of heart and soul going into the performances.
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It's like a >> you know, but but there's something there's a question here.
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I want to talk about the kind of vocalist you choose to work with.
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There's a prevailing purity in vocal performance that I think you're really drawn to.
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Um, a sense of uh searching for real enunciation and idea of purity is is the word I'm looking for.
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Does that ring true to you?
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Well, I think um really if I think about our songs over the years, it's always been very rooted in reality and life and I've been really inspired by the honesty of the the people Justine, Tony, Zoe, who've really put so much of their own story into the songs.
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And um and I think now having written songs with these people for such a long time, it's also really awesome to understand how those songs are almost like a little time capsule um of what was going on in our lives at the time >> and um and a lot of life has happened in 25 years and a lot of those songs are really marking some really important times in our lives. >> Yeah.
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How is it recording vocalists for you?
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Now, making music is one thing, but then sitting there and working with Richard, for instance, who when Richard shows up on this album for the first time, it it's it's a broken performance.
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It rises when it when it when the intensity of the music comes along, but it's a very honest beginning, isn't it?
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Vocally, it's by no means perfect in a great way.
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>> I had the idea um there's enough of you and me to start a fire for some time that was around and and the piece of music that Parvo had written years ago, >> it was resting on for about two years, I think.
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And then I was at the gorge.
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We do a big event at the gorge every now and again.
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It's an extraordinary venue in in Washington.
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And the verse started coming to me and I was been I had been listening a lot to Die Strait >> and there's a kind of conversational nature the way that he >> sings the song and that's the way that that song came together.
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The verse is pretty much >> Mark Noter singing and so it's >> makes total sense to me now.
15:31
So it's it starts in in in that sort of dark darkish sort of quiet place, but I think for writing for Above and Beyond, you've got to end up there.
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It's got to, you know, the there has to be that moment.
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And so the smaller you can start, the better that difference is.
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If you're going from really small and really humble to that, you've gone a long way.
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And that's how you get people to cry. >> Yeah.
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And there it is everybody.
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That's that is the whole point.
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If you are wondering why we're here, it's to make us cry. I love it. It's true.
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I mean, we we you know, we we go we go searching for these emotions in music. That's the whole point. It's it's a choice.
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I go to your music for a reason. I love a hard shift. I love Nana.
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I love a quiet bit and a loud bit.
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Drop it on my head all day.
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But I love the way that you got that that as a band you will somehow find a way to get there and I'm not even quite sure I was on the journey. Does that make sense? >> Yeah.
16:36
I mean I think it's true in even in a DJ set, isn't it?
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Cuz a lot of a lot of the time I sense um I've seen people afraid to go really small, you know, but you've got to go big to go small, >> especially at the start.
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That's how you know a DJ is really a real one when they when they go off the peak of someone's set and they start really little. >> Yeah.
16:55
It's kind of brave, isn't it, to do that and but it's scary, you know, it's much easier to kind of go in with a bang, but actually, >> yeah, >> you know, where can you go from there? Yeah. >> Yeah.
17:06
And I think we've always been very much about contrast, like emotional contrast in songwriting, um, you know, the arrangements of songs and also our show u how we're visually trying to play with contrast as much as we can.
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M >> and I think that really is very above and beyond.
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I think the the really focusing on increasing contrast in all ways.
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>> I mean these two guys write extraordinary music and we've been ever since we started when we were doing remixes taking an existing song and putting that >> lift in it maybe where it wasn't there before. >> Yeah.
17:47
Giving it the above and beyond treatment.
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And that's down to the music that these two guys write.
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They're too humble to admit it, but that's where that comes from 95% of the time. It's not a volume thing.
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It's a >> Yeah, >> it's a it's a cordal thing. >> Yeah.
18:00
No, it speaks to me in in a lot of different types of music that I listen to that that you seem to somehow are able to make an above and beyond experience.
18:08
I think about some of my favorite piano players in the modern age who really just touch this the keyboard in a very light way and I don't know how they choose those notes.
18:15
There's only three of them and yet they got me right. That's very much you.
18:18
I think about modern modern classical ambient space, you know, like Dustin and Wing Victory for the Sullen and you know, these beautiful beautiful groups that just to me are as heavy as deaf tones, you know, but it's ambient music and that's above and beyond.
18:32
It's like it all rolls into this overarching experience.
18:34
And so, how do you know when it's done?
18:39
>> That's a difficult question to answer. It's never done.
18:41
I mean that I think >> I listen to old tracks we've done and I think I wish I'd done something differently or um I think you just got to let go of it at some point and >> you all feel that way or is that is it is it just Jonno?
18:53
>> I think it's mostly Jonno. >> Yeah.
18:56
No, but you know what it's funny because it's true in in every band I I've I've almost ever interviewed where there's multiple people all invested at equal measure into an end result that one person seems to always have a harder time letting go than the others. >> True. Yeah, it's true. It's me. It's true. It's true.
19:13
So, you can't really listen to the music at the end of the day.
19:15
>> I once once it's made, I kind of move on.
19:18
Um, >> but in that uh >> you till you go on stage at the gorge and it's like I'm right back in it again.
19:26
>> Well, actually Tony and I listened through to it was long enough.
19:27
You see, we listened to Tri State and that was great.
19:30
It was great listening to our first album and then >> seeing what made that tick and that we kind of tried to bring that into Big Than All of Us a bit. >> How?
19:38
Um well we were talking about dynamics and chords and things.
19:41
I mean for me um what's also important is looking at that on many levels.
19:46
So just in terms of which tracks you have on the album.
19:50
If you've got simply you know if you've got nine vocal tracks maybe you need a couple of instrumentals.
19:54
That's kind of basic way of putting it.
19:55
But um with Tri-State >> when we made that album I just distinctly remember and it this might sound a bit grandiose but we were trying to make something that was timeless.
20:05
was we're very conscious of the fact that let's not just try and take a shortcut and kind of make it really fullon.
20:11
Let's let's try and make something that you'd want to listen to in in 10 years time. >> Yeah.
20:18
>> And that approach we tried to sort of get back into this album, I think.
20:22
>> Well, to me it makes a little sense having talked to artists for a long time because your first album if if you care if you really care and you're not just in a hurry.
20:28
If you really care, yeah, of course you want it to be that.
20:30
You want people to be able to refer back to where you began and and be proud of of the beginning of the journey as you as much as you are later down the line.
20:38
Makes sense on this one too because it probably does feel a little bit like a fresh start, does it not? It >> does. Yeah, >> definitely.
20:45
After after six years as well, I think it is since common ground. >> It's a long time. A long long time.
20:49
And we had CO in the middle and like Tony said, solo projects and stuff.
20:53
And so, >> you know, getting back into that took some time as well.
20:58
If it wasn't for CO and I'm glad we're talking about CO because for at least a year or two none of us really wanted to even utter it and mention it with it like it never happened.
21:07
It did and it affected the whole world and everybody went through something.
21:09
Um I'm focused on the arts and so I'm zeroed in on that conversation and so do you think you would have stopped if it hadn't been for co would you have continued or the decision already been made that you were going to have to separate and go and do your own thing from it?
21:23
>> We were just about to do acoustic three.
21:26
Looking back on it now, did you need a break of being a band, active band?
21:32
>> I I I certainly felt like it.
21:32
Um I was obviously still on recovery.
21:35
I had burnout on the last album >> and um I had a really tough time with co >> um at the time things felt horrible but actually now looking back at all the struggle and all the sort of learning the good that's come from the struggle I actually sort of think like maybe it was kind of good that all of these things happened.
21:57
things happened. Maybe that's why we have an album now because um you know we've all done a lot of growing in the past five years >> you know not to drag you through it but I'm fascinated about you know people who come through the other side of things
22:10
like that and realize that you know there's there's life to live and there's a lot to be grateful for and so when you think back about you know where you were when things got tough um are you any clearer to understanding kind of where the puzzle got mixed up for you? Well, I
22:22
Well, I think um I I probably lost myself in, you know, the the the busy, you know, touring life and and everything and um and eventually I just couldn't handle it myself.
22:35
So now I think I'm sort of re-entering everything with a new angle.
22:41
And uh >> how does it feel?
22:42
How's it look to you coming back?
22:44
>> Um it's actually really exciting.
22:44
Like we were just on stage in um Ultra in Miami >> and u that's back in it, isn't it? My god.
22:52
And the feeling at the show was so incredible that it was almost a bit scary like oh my god I haven't driven a car for a while but I'm going to get behind one for the Indy500 if that's okay and just have a crack at it.
23:03
Does it feel good to you?
23:05
>> That's awesome though.
23:05
I'm really glad to hear that you know but I mean it doesn't surprise me and I've talked to artists about this.
23:10
You know I was DJing a lot >> probably on the same festival Bill for you know here and there just much smaller tents.
23:16
Uh, but I was doing a lot of DJ touring for sort of 10 years back and forth doing, you know, a lot of the dance music circuit and um and I was tired and I was watching my friends um just burn rubber >> just and it scared me.
23:32
And I would say to some of my friends who were doing 300 shows a year when I'd see them, I'd be like, "You got a style." Like, "I'm fine."
23:40
It's like, "No, you're not fine, man."
23:43
>> That's the thing, isn't it?
23:43
You don't know what everyone else is going through.
23:46
It's you just don't know.
23:48
>> You know, the adren adrenaline is a crazy thing.
23:50
And when you throw yourself in front of 50,000 people five days a week and then your manager is like, "Congratulations, you just made $3 million and you're like, "Fuck, what what could go wrong?"
24:00
And then it goes wrong really quickly.
24:01
And I think that lifestyle is I like to talk about it with people who've been through the other side of it because we've lost good people.
24:09
Truthfully, I think >> it hasn't helped some people who didn't make it out. Yeah.
24:14
>> And um it's a crazy thing, right? >> It it is.
24:17
And I do think I mean to throw in the word toxic, there is a toxicity to it in the sense that there's a respect put on artists who can do these crazy schedules and do you know what I mean? Like >> Yeah.
24:29
It's almost like you look at you, bro. You're amazing.
24:31
Like >> did 300 gigs this year. >> Woo. Like what?
24:35
>> You know, is that a good thing really? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I don't know. >> Yeah.
24:39
That's certainly not good for making music. >> No, not at all.
24:41
Because I find it's like working out at the gym, if you don't use the muscle of working the studio, it goes.
24:47
You know, you've got once you get into a rhythm of being in the studio for 5 days a week, you you really get into it again.
24:53
But >> if I'm DJing all the time and on the road, I lose it. You know, it takes time.
24:58
>> That being said, were there moments before you guys took a break and in particular, you know, in the leadup to to the to that to that sort of album and that tour where you look back on it now and you're like, "Oh, we were bought in."
25:08
like we liked the feeling we got from from the success we were having because you have been a very very successful band.
25:18
>> I think we've all we've all had moments where the touring got too much uh and you know we've had to back out or um at the time when you're doing it like you said the adrenaline will keep you going whatever however much sleep you've had once you get in front of 10 20,000 people. >> Yeah. you're on. >> You're on.
25:38
Everything Everything feels great.
25:40
But then it's the long-term effect uh that the the sleep deprivation has on your mental health.
25:45
And it it's hit all three of us in different ways.
25:50
And and and I think the the rate at which we pursue the touring goal in the future will be different because of that.
25:59
>> Well, that slows things down, too, because when you get to put a lot of creativity into something, it's not just another show after another show, a gig after a gig.
26:04
It slows down the pace of it and allows you to to to immerse yourself more than if you're just going from like one slot to another, doesn't it? >> Yeah.
26:14
And I think the the cool thing here is like as I'm kind of coming back, I realized there's so many things that I love doing and I'm so excited to do.
26:21
And now, you know, creating the new show for us for the Bigger Than All of Us tour has been already just so exciting to see it come from a, you know, a 3D sculpt into like an actual humongous thing on the culture stage, >> which is mind-blowing.
26:38
I mean, you think about like, you know, what you get to create now to support your music and make an experience for people.
26:43
I'll talk about that in a second.
26:44
I got one more question on the on the experience for you, which is um what I noticed when I had stopped for a while and then I went back out was how loud everything is. Did it freak?
26:53
Did Were you just like, "Whoa, this is really loud."
26:55
Like, you know, the noise of the crowd and the noise of everything like when you break out of it for a while, it's loud, right? >> Yeah, it is. It is.
27:02
I remember the first uh gig that we did after COVID and um it had been so long since I'd done a gig.
27:09
I needed glasses on stage and I'd always worn I'd always I'd always worn glasses, but clear glasses just as a prop. >> Yeah.
27:19
But I actually needed glasses to read the decks.
27:23
>> Everybody else is a DJ's like, "I'm not aging myself out with glasses, mate. I play the wrong song.
27:26
I'm playing the wrong song."
27:28
You were wearing pretend glasses.
27:30
>> I was wearing pretend glasses.
27:30
So I I took off my pretend glasses and put my reading glasses on so I could do the mix.
27:36
But then everybody was blurry.
27:36
So obviously I needed a bit of a needed to go the bif focal thing in the future.
27:43
But that was just a bit of a shock.
27:43
But I've been doing gigs from my kitchen table all through lockdown wearing glasses and my eyes have got weaker. >> No, mate.
27:51
Your eyes got weaker because we're old.
27:54
Okay, let's just accept it for what it is.
27:55
I can say that for all of us at a varying degree. I'm next. >> I'm with you. Okay.
28:00
Well, I'm standing right next to you, okay?
28:01
So, we can talk about that with pure honesty.
28:06
>> Uh, it's so funny to me. That's my dream.
28:08
My wish that I had been wearing nonb focal glasses when I was DJing cuz staring at the crowd used to terrify the out of me.
28:14
I just would be able to focus on my records and be like, I see you.
28:17
I don't see Um yeah, the the new stage show is incredible.
28:23
And you know, the reviews from Coachella were out of control and everyone was so happy to have you back.
28:28
And so let's just talk about um you know another part of the above and beyond experience for us which is the level of commitment required to bring the music and make it feel immersive and make it feel like an event.
28:38
Um it sounds like it when you put it on and you go to an above and beyond show and it's clear for everyone there that you've put in a lot of effort to bring it to life.
28:47
So, we're going to get to the magic of that, but let's just start with the effort, right?
28:56
The financial commitment required.
28:59
You know, you would make a huge commitment to these shows.
29:01
It's you don't cut corners, right?
29:03
It's always been that way.
29:05
What drives that desire to put fans first even before bottom line, which is not common in the record industry?
29:12
I think we think that our existing fans are the way that we're going to get new fans.
29:18
So, making our existing fans excited is the way that we're going to grow.
29:24
So, we put everything we can into servicing, if that's the word, >> uh, it seems rather clinical to say it that way, but servicing our fan base to give them what they want so they go, "Wow, >> you really are a word of mouth industry, aren't you?"
29:39
I mean, the whole thing started with a forum that was just a word of mouth >> and it just it may not happen as quickly as a label can make it happen for you, but it lasts a lot longer, doesn't it?
29:50
And and Tony, you know, what Tony's articulated there about servicing existing fans.
29:54
I think it's often tempting to try and, you know, smash a radio hit out or some this sort of strategy, but um Tony's always kept us on course to sort of like what he's just said really, you know, making music and shows just servicing our fans.
30:11
Servicing our fans rather than looking over there, what what are they doing? Do you know what I mean?
30:17
Is it fair to say that Tony is is to some degree the punk rock conscience of the group in that regard? >> I think so.
30:25
Yeah, it's fair fair point. >> Right.
30:28
>> I don't know if it's fair to say it.
30:29
I've I've always I think I got burned not burnt personally, but I experienced people getting burned by the major label system, by pop music, per se, >> and it was something that I really didn't want to experience myself.
30:44
that short-lived burst of activity and then the descending glitter.
30:50
I think the whole point of Above and Beyond is that we've become something that has a fan base.
30:57
We take liberties with that fan base.
31:00
Acoustic was something that I, you know, I don't know where that fits in a major label's plan for a pop act to do that.
31:08
Um, but it made perfect sense for us.
31:11
It made our existing fans really excited because they could bring their mom and dad.
31:17
>> So suddenly now things are getting bigger.
31:19
So it makes sense for us for the way that we're doing things.
31:21
And I think I I do we have experimented with with plugers and pop music and playlists.
31:27
And it played out exactly as you might expect.
31:32
the record that >> wasn't going to go on the playlist that we released before the album came out as a kind of a a sort of throwin to the fans just to show that we've not gone mad before we release some pop records went on the radio and became our biggest radio hit and won a Grammy nomination.
31:49
>> And again, this is surfacing the fans.
31:50
This you you create bodies of art that aren't just above and beyond albums.
31:54
You give us meditations, healings, you bring us closer to nature.
32:00
you create things that ultimately serve a purpose in my day-to-day life that aren't just about listening to a great song or a great piece of music.
32:08
So, what has always been the inspiration behind that, behind evolving this through Anjuna and through Above and Beyond and the whole thing into like a very sort of immersive experience beyond just albums.
32:19
experience beyond just albums. I think we've always been almost a little selfish that we've been writing music for ourselves and I guess that's where the whole group therapy name came from originally when you know we are doing this you know with the primary focus of us being happy with what we do >> and then like with this album as well I
32:41
thought you know if I'm personally happy with our creation if other people don't get it I'm I still did my best and we did our best as a as a band and I think that's been you know on all of our things over the years uh you know running theme where um if we focus on that rather than trying to create success uh then we're trying to do the right thing. Who inspires you? You Who inspires you?
33:06
You inspire so many people.
33:08
I mean who are some of the musicians perhaps historically but also if there's people around now that you would consider to be you know a peer group of of sorts. >> Yeah. Yeah.
33:18
I mean, for me, it's it's stuff from the 80s and 90s that I grew up with.
33:21
It's kind of that's kind of locked in. I kind of Yeah.
33:23
I don't take inspiration from stuff that's around me so much.
33:28
>> Maybe maybe production and stuff from modern music, but just um so I grew up with a kind of mix of music that my parents listen to and then stuff that I found.
33:38
So, um, a lot of, you know, Petra boys, New Order, Depes Pesh Mode, all of that kind of stuff.
33:44
But then also my parents listened to Pink Floyd, um, even Steelely Dan and stuff like that.
33:50
Um, >> there's no even before Steely Dan Jean Michelle Jar who we we got to remix, which was that was a really really special moment actually.
33:59
Um, but then I got into dance music because I heard uh Paul Oakenfold's Go Mix on Radio One and I had it on cassette and I just kept listening to it and before that I didn't actually like dance music really.
34:10
Um, but that converted me and then yeah, the rest is history in terms of getting into dance music. Yeah. >> Yeah. What about you, Pablo?
34:20
>> Well, I um I spent pretty much, you know, the time after COVID getting back into dance music. So, I went clubbing.
34:28
Um, I hadn't really even felt like going clubbing because we've been playing so many shows.
34:32
So, for me, actually, I felt like I started again falling in love with the whole clubbing culture and and the sh and the feeling of being on the dance floor with people.
34:43
>> And what is that feeling like for you?
34:45
>> Um, I think I grew up always kind of feeling like I didn't kind of fit in.
34:48
I was a little bit weird or something.
34:49
And then when I went uh to a club when I was 15, I immediately felt like, okay, this is my place, you know, these are my people. Yeah.
35:00
>> This is the great irony about the clubbing experience in modern life, how people queue up to just to to try and be a part of something that's cool, is that it all started because it people didn't feel safe.
35:10
>> They had to go somewhere to find a community because it wasn't safe on the streets.
35:13
They had to go somewhere to dance and dance it off and get rid of it, right?
35:16
It's become this thing like I've got to get in the club.
35:17
It's like no no people people had to go to the club.
35:21
That's the only place they could go, >> you know.
35:23
And I've also like spent quite a lot of time in the Caribbean and I've seen how for example the migra type music is for to the floor high energy dance music and and um that was a really inspirational moment for me just to realize the connection of what we do and how it's connected to live dance music and how dance music is much bigger than the electronic dance music that we think about.
35:48
And there's so many awesome dance st music styles around the world that are done live and uh that's been a really big thing for me. >> Yeah.
35:58
I mean I went I Yeah, I had the same experience.
36:00
I went to Marley once and I and I saw people doing the same thing and I was like, "Oh, this is this is the best four on the floor music I've ever heard in my life.
36:06
It was just so much like rhythm to it."
36:08
And for a band that really have so much curiosity, I feel when it comes to putting sounds and feelings and the world into your music, you know, I can imagine that that will continue to inform what you do going forward as well because if that unlocks something new for you where it's like it's not just what goes on in our room, I'm hearing it all over the world. >> Yeah. >> Yeah.
36:29
And it's an important thing for people.
36:31
I mean, it's always been an important function for how people meet other people, how people feel more connected.
36:37
And I think um that's kind of what we are trying to do too.
36:42
>> Tony, what inspires you creatively, musically? >> Um I love music.
36:44
I love singer songwriters like Lizzy Macalpine and numerous others I can't mention now.
36:50
Um, I like bands like the National andM.
36:53
I think probably over the years have inspired me more than than any other single band because I think they took the mantle of rock superstars and wore it more gracefully than anybody's done.
37:11
>> So, you made a really important statement about 10 15 minutes ago.
37:13
We were talking a little about the burnout that comes from kind of chasing the success that's presented to you and not wanting to let it go.
37:20
and you said, you know, what I got from that, Tony, was that like we we're not we don't need to play that game anymore.
37:26
Like, we know who we are.
37:27
We know what we are as a band.
37:28
We know our audience is here and growing every time.
37:30
So, let's talk a little bit about what the balance is for Above and Beyond Today versus before touring, the work that goes into bringing this to life.
37:38
What does life look like for the band now you're back together with this new with real glasses on?
37:45
>> Where with real glasses on?
37:45
Well, I mean, it it's the same as it's ever been.
37:49
It's a It's a mixture of production and touring.
37:51
We're just trying to make the touring more livable and more survivable than than than we we did in the past.
38:01
But I think because we've got a bigger show now and there are buses and trucks involved, it moves at a slower pace.
38:07
That's the a thing I think that the DJ had that touring bands never had, which is, you know, no body weight.
38:15
Basically, you put that person on a plane, they can be in Tokyo tonight.
38:17
So, we're talking about >> Washington tomorrow night, you know, if there's a if there's a big amount of machinery and other people and tour buses and everything as it moves slowly.
38:28
And I think that's that's uh our next tour is going to be 16 amphitheaters with trucks and buses.
38:33
We'll do some stuff in between in in clubs in little towns as we pass through, but um the most of it will go at the speed that a tour bus can go, which is more survivable.
38:46
And with amphitheaters, the set times are earlier as well. >> Isn't that beautiful?
38:50
>> That's that's wonderful.
38:50
Yeah, I like my sleep too much. >> Same.
38:53
It's one of my favorite things about the modern the modern discourse amongst artists now is that we've all finally accepted to that we can admit that we all want to be at dinner by 9:00.
39:04
>> We put on a better show as well.
39:05
>> Oo, can I ask a question?
39:05
Are we any closer to working out which muppet decided that 900 p. m.
39:08
was the right time for anyone to go on stage?
39:10
Someone made that decision and it stuck. Why not 7? Why not be done by 9:30? Get nou by 10. late table. Love it.
39:18
Um, what is uh what is I think I know the answer to this question, but I think it's important for all of us that we hear from you that what is success to above and beyond now.
39:30
I mean, you know, you've you've become by any metric of value successful, very successful.
39:35
You have a very passionate fan base.
39:37
You've built a beautiful life for yourself doing this.
39:40
you get paid well to go and do great shows and you invested it the right way.
39:45
But what is success to you three now that you've come back and rekindled this this album making machine and and are back as above and beyond a a group?
39:56
>> For me it's it's quite simple.
39:56
It's the same as what Parvo said a bit ago about, you know, making music that we're happy with.
40:01
That's kind of enough and then you can't control all the other bits.
40:05
So hopefully people like it.
40:08
says, "The guy is never happy.
40:09
Can't listen to his own music." >> Oh, there you go. No. >> What about you, Pavo? Tony, what do you think?
40:17
>> Um, I think, you know, if I think of what's the most beautiful thing that we do, it's how we help people connect with other people.
40:25
So for me the success is like defined like if if people come to the shows and and um you know make new connections and everything that's real success in a way cuz that that's bigger than all of us you know >> well done.
40:41
I'd imagine that I'd imagine that that is a very forthcoming experience that that people love to tell you about the way that their lives have changed either at a show >> or at the music.
40:58
>> When you hear the music, you want to tell I want to tell you, oh my god, they just got it changed everything.
41:01
So, can we can we create a little bit of a a hall of fame for some of the the great things that have happened in people's lives or moving things that, you know, the music has or the band have impacted?
41:14
I mean, I've heard a few times, I wouldn't pick out a single story, but people who've gone through cancer and they've said that, you know, our music's helped them through it.
41:22
And I, you know, what can you say to that?
41:24
It's it's I mean what what I say is you know you would have found something and I'm really touched that you found our music but it's just I mean to like Parvo said you know when you can >> when you can be part of someone else's life in that way it's it's it's moving.
41:42
I mean I don't know what to say. >> Yeah.
41:45
It's is there's no I mean it it is to sit in that. >> It's humbling. It's humbling. >> It is. Yeah. It's very humbling. >> Yeah. Anyone getting married?
41:53
A lot of people getting married.
41:57
>> Yeah, they they've done it to Good for Me, one of our songs.
41:59
A lot of people >> Some people go down the aisle to Sun and Moon, which is a breakup song, but it seems to work.
42:06
>> Not the first time it has happened.
42:08
>> It's a bit like every breath you take, isn't it?
42:10
>> There's a few of those.
42:13
>> Uh it is what it is to whoever it needs to belong to.
42:16
>> And so it should be that way, you know. >> Yeah.
42:19
What an exercise in letting go.
42:20
That's really what this is all about, isn't it?
42:22
I mean, when you started this whole thing, you let go of any expectations that any label or anyone was going to do anything for you, and it's feels like you've just been finding good and valid reasons to let go ever since.
42:36
That's a really nice thing to say. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you.
42:38
Thank you for taking some time to talk with me. What a joy.
42:43
The world's biggest cult band.
42:48
>> That's what they call you.
42:48
That's what they It's hilarious. They won't let you.
42:51
They just won't give you flowers, mate. You're a stadium band. [Music]