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Prize fighter. All roads lead to this. Welcome, boys. It's nice to see you. How are you? >> See you, mate. >> Great, man. >> Yeah, you should be. You should feel good. You should feel great.
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I mean, you know, if the music reflects the humans, um you're in tune.
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>> You're in tune to to to each other and to yourselves.
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And uh hasn't always been that way for humans, for all of us as people. There's push and pull.
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There's tides you got to deal with.
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Uh but it's all flowing the right way. Congrats. I love this record. I'm very excited, mate. Thank you.
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>> It's my favorite thing we've ever done. >> Yeah.
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And you want to you want to say that every time, >> but you know, let's be honest.
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Sometimes you're lying to yourself, even if you don't know it at the time, because every album reflects a different point in your life.
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And sometimes it is the pull.
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It's it's a push or it's a different little bit of friction.
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What got you to this place where it's seamless, it's it's it's flow state?
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>> I think time is our friend.
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Um, it's interesting hearing what you're saying there about the push and pull because we I think have to trust that the longer that we do this, the more opportunity there'll be that we hit that moment together.
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And this was just one of those moments when it all just aligned.
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You know, we'd finished Rashmir and we were feeling creative. We felt good.
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We felt reconnected and galvanized and energized creatively.
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And then and then Aaron walks into the studio and he has this like special energy to him.
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He's a very unique human being.
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>> Can you describe that a little bit if you can in words from your perspective what that energy entails?
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>> He's like the coolest indie kid in the world who has the best pop sensibilities of any indie kid I've ever met.
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And it's all hair and baseball caps and like >> baggy clothes.
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And then he's like a creative genius I think.
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And we, you know, have had a long relationship with him.
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I mean, the national make it onto my desert island easily.
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>> And then we did all the demos for our third record in 2015 in his garage in Ditmas Park in Brooklyn.
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>> See, pre-tailor it was garage money. >> Hello, Long Pond. >> Yeah.
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Well, he's Yeah, he's just he hasn't changed at all.
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He's exactly the same creative and human being that he always has been, which is why people gravitate towards him, I think.
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And he has this imagination creatively that feels endless.
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He's most like Forel, actually, who we'd also just been with and seen.
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and seen. So the stars aligned you know we had the process with Dave Cobb for Rashmir we had Fel and then we came to Eron I think like a bit like shed of some of our insecurities like in better shape than we've been for a while maybe since the
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beginning and >> Farel had said this thing to me in Paris he like gave me a really heavy pep talk at one point >> where he was like you don't have to impress anyone >> you don't have to like you already impressed them. >> You just get to go and be yourself now
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>> You just get to go and be yourself now and make what you want to make.
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That leading us into bumping into Aaron was so perfect cuz then when we saw Aaron, we were like in in a good place and then it came out so fast.
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>> Isn't it funny how, you know, people talk about angels coming into your life, coming and going, moments like that.
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Sometimes it is just a conversation that you need to hear one person.
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Yeah, it's Farel, of course, but it's like Fel wasn't doing that because he was Farel.
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He was doing that because he knows what it is to be to be pushed and pulled >> and how you just don't do your best work unless you're comfortable with who you truly are, right?
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>> I think it's a big part of a producer is to play the kind of psychologist, you know, you're >> and Fel does it very naturally.
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I think Aaron in the band dynamic of the National was doing it his whole career and as a producer, he does it as an extension of who he is.
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You watch him as a dad, you watch him as a friend.
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He's really good at like >> unlocking things in people and it doesn't always turn out to be a song.
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It can just be a a blockage.
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Um Marcus Dra's another great example of someone who knows how to speak truth when you need to hear it.
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And you know that's people think of producers I think as kind of these technical wizards and a lot of the time >> you know they they don't know.
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>> They have a great engineer. >> Yeah.
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They have a great engineer, which Aaron does. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> definitely.
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It's interesting though, you talk about that safe space, safe space that people can create for you in order to feel comfortable to go deep, but then also they've got to find a place where it's a bit dangerous, right? >> Yeah.
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And like Bowie talks about being slightly out of your depth.
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And like certainly like a lot of these songs, you know, if I speak to the lyrics for a sec, like they were first thought, best thought.
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They were like, and these lads and Aaron together were like, don't overthink it.
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>> Um, so I go all over the place on this one in a way that feels really playful and fun and at times a bit vulnerable and scary, but like mostly just in a way that felt that's why I feel most connected to these songs to any songs I think I've ever written.
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I feel like >> deeply deeply like they're saying exactly what I want to say.
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Well, I hope so because if I was to read between the lines, and by that I mean the first line on the album and the last line on the album, I would suggest it's your final album.
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>> What's the last line on the album?
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>> Well, the first line, as you know, is well, here's my final serenade.
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And the last line on the album is, uh, the chase is over, my love. >> Ah, really nice. Yes.
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>> Does that just dawned on you? >> Yeah. Yeah.
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You're the first one to reveal that to me. It's great. >> There you go. Beautiful. >> There you go. >> It's an ending.
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It's definitely an ending.
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>> It's a beginning of the end and then the end of the end.
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I mean, it's >> Now, obviously, I'm being a slightly facitious.
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I'm not suggesting that this is, you know, that that 7 minutes into this interview, we freaking break a news. >> Let's announce >> it.
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Yeah, but we should have in 2020, we should have split up in order to do the reunion thing.
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So, maybe we just do it now instead.
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>> It wouldn't have mattered cuz we all split up.
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I mean, can you imagine if you broken up in 2020 and then we went into quarantine?
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it would have been like, "Well, that was a fizz, wasn't it? Everybody's broken up.
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No one gives a It's like, we're going to come back in 3 years and everyone's coming back at the same time." Um, >> okay.
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That that actually the fact that that kind of dawned on you with that little observation suggests that it just just qualifies what you're saying that, you know, to some degree you're still in your subconscious on this record that you it hasn't dawned on you yet what you've written. >> Oh, no.
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I mean, I know what I wrote, but I just uh forgot the exact last line.
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I know that we decided for that song to be the last song with real intentionality.
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I mean, >> um, it's the most instinctive, but also the most intentional record we've made, I think. >> So, >> yeah. >> Um, yeah.
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I mean, a lot of the songs were written, you know, on the sofa with the microphone live and like write a lyric, bang it down, >> write another one, >> and then do move on to a different song.
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You know, it was really far. I mean, what did we do?
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10 days of long Bond eventually together. It was really fun.
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>> Sounds like the most fun ever.
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It sounds like literally you can't wait to wake up and you don't want to go to sleep.
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>> And I didn't want to stop as well.
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And I still don't want to stop.
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Like that itch remains unscratched to me. Like I want to do more.
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>> It's the most um as I said before, it's it's the most in tune I've heard the band since the beginning when no one was retuning you, >> you know, >> including audiences actually. >> All of us. >> Yeah. >> All of us. We're all the retuners. >> Yeah.
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>> Yeah. because we fall in love with a part of you and then like oh but I want to be that but also maybe I don't want to be that because that's just expected and I want to break free of that and blah blah blah blah Grammy album of the year reune you know it's hard not for it to just alter your perception of who you
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are as a band and this doesn't feel like any of that's playing into that this time >> but there's been a journey to get back here >> so how much context do you give yourselves in this journey to to talk about this record about the the losing of friends the albums that may mean something to you but don't means something to someone else. The life The life well-lived. >> Mhm.
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>> Of all the ups and the downs and the challenges, it is all do you hear it all in this?
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Does it feel like you're coming back to >> Yeah.
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I mean, and Marcus was just talking about the first thought, best thought sort of process.
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And I think we've been sort of striving for that feeling and that that sort of self assuredness and that that purity of instinct, I think, on all of our records.
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And I think sometimes, you know, what you're talking about being externally tuned or having, you know, an outside perception of who we are as a band is very counterproductive to that effort. >> Yeah.
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>> And Eron was the guy, you know, he was, it was that kind of safe pray of hands.
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Like Marky said, the timing was amazing.
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Having just been with Dave Carb and having had Farel inject this kind of almost like reassemble our naivity, our naive joy of music making, you know, he kind of pulled it all back together for us.
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And Rashmir was an amazing kind of um exercise of writing and playing together.
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together. And then Eron was there to basically just allow us to to re-enter that real free safe creative place which you know is the only environment you can really make your your most personal and truthful sonic you know effort I think >> but when it's all very it's beautiful but but when you're striving for change when you're in the middle of breaking free of something that that you don't
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want to be just known for that and you want to go over here and try this and do that and you want to turn up >> and rock out and do all these things >> and then someone comes to you and sort of says, "Hey, you know, there's an essence of Mumford and Sons here that hasn't been that you haven't really explored for a while >> and it's a friend that's known you for that whole time." >> Yeah. Is there a part of you that still >> Yeah.
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Is there a part of you that still wants to kick against that even for a second?
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Just be like, "Hang on a minute, man."
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Like, you know, you're missing the point.
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The point isn't to be mom and sons.
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point is to be who we are today, moving forward, whatever.
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It's a hard conversation for someone to have.
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I think sometimes when you say to somebody, you might be missing who you truly are a little bit here.
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>> That's what I think Erin did so well.
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I think there's this album to us feels so future facing.
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Like it feels to us, you know, explorative in every way in your writing, Marcus, you know, in everything we've done on this record, it feels so fresh and new to us.
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It's just the essence that's been, you know, rediscovered somehow, I think, you know.
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And that's like it's not even a that's not even a cerebral act. It's like a soul act.
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>> It's sort of, you know, >> it's very cool. >> Yeah.
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We'd like renewed our vows. >> Uhhuh.
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>> We'd, you know, gone and done our exercises. >> Mhm.
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>> We we got the muscles working again on on Rush and with Fel.
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We'd found our confidence.
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We kind of like fallen in love with the band again.
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And then we were like, now let's go and really write the best songs we've ever written, you know.
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And it was like, and that's why we call the prize fighter.
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Let's get back to the ambition and the hard work. >> Yeah.
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>> Like unapologetic nature of the band that we started with. >> I love that.
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I love the fact that you bought hard work into it because um you are a hardworking band. You always have been. >> Yeah.
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This doesn't come very easily, you know. you got to work for it.
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And and a lot of that has been on the road for us, you know, saying yes to every show at the beginning and just being >> Yeah.
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just just saying like I don't think anyone gives you this stuff.
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We're certainly not a pop band that can be kind of manipulated and maneuvered.
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>> How does success feel when you got it?
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When you two, three albums in, you can't you're headlining every festival you want.
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You're pyramid staging it, Grammy album of the year.
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All these things come to those >> and I remember coming off the pyramid stage when we headlined Glastonbury. >> Yeah.
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>> And being like, I just want to make more records.
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We need more songs >> because we only did it on two records, >> which is long enough for every song from each record. >> Just long enough. >> Yeah.
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And um and so we I remember we talked about, you know, some of the artists we most admire in recorded music, you know, having to really like leave songs out that people absolutely love.
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Like audience members going away each night being like, they didn't play that.
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>> Yeah, that's a good problem to have.
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>> That's the problem you want to have.
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That's what success looks like to me in music.
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Like having a career long enough where you can have to leave songs out.
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So we're starting to we're starting to get there.
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I think we still got work to do, but um we're starting to get there.
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>> Do you feel like you always will?
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Isn't that part of Isn't that part of the actual DNA of this band? >> Absolutely.
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And I think we just want to keep making >> But that's why I asked what success felt like because the work ethic is not in question, but you are okay.
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I've known you all a long time, right?
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You go to fun fancy That's cool. Who wouldn't do that?
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You know, you have you have a chance to live a great life. You have means.
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we have all these things.
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When you put that next to the work ethic of the band before you came back to this record, were there ever moments you were like, "Fuck, I don't know how this feels like.
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I don't know if how does fame feel. How does success feel?" All those things.
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It's not where you came from.
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You came from an attic in someone's house writing songs into a garage into this.
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You know, it's >> I think the >> unlikely success story is what I'm saying.
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>> I think the processor chip in our 20s wasn't really scrubbing very deep.
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you know, we were we were kind of we were saying things to each other.
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We were marking the occasions as they were happening, but I'm not sure we were really feeling it and certainly weren't reflecting on what was going on.
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And I think some of the time that has transpired since 2018, since Delta >> that then led to a bunch of things happening in our band gave us a real opportunity to kind of actually start to feel what the answer to the question.
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So life took life became priority at that point.
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>> Life and but then also like I don't think I would have ever really known what success was until maybe a year or two ago.
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>> Like I'm sure it looked like we were being successful.
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I'm not sure we were like in it.
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>> And there's an element of confidence that we're coming at this from now because it feels like we really are >> a band that has something to say and we do stand on those stages now in a different way.
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like we I feel like we own that stage.
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Whereas there was an apology to it >> 10 years ago.
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It didn't look like we were apologizing.
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It looked like we're >> 100 kids running around like >> this is what Marcus was saying.
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They're coming off the back of the biggest headline slot you can do and the first thing you're thinking of is man, I don't know.
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We >> I feel like we're great yet.
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>> No, we weren't qualified.
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>> I feel like we're just maybe going to be qualified soon.
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We're nearly like getting to the point where we've done enough.
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We're experienced enough.
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We've written enough songs that we actually are starting to figure out what >> it's got to be a hit when we qualify you and you don't quite sure why you got qualified.
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>> We're all saying you're totally qualified. >> Totally.
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And that's why probably music shouldn't be made into a competitive sport.
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But >> um >> but I mean it's just it's just a journey that we're we're on and this particular point of this particular journey like we're the closest we've ever been.
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>> We're enjoying it the most we ever have.
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And I think at times like when you're striving, when you're a baby band and you're just thinking about the next thing and what Ben I think is also saying is like we're not really present to the thing that's happening.
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For whatever reason right now we're more present to the thing that's happening and we love it.
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>> Ah, you see I I I I took a quote out of something that you said.
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We're putting everything we have into this now.
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And I zeroed in on the word now. >> Yeah.
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>> Cuz I've always felt that from a Mumford and son's point of view.
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I've never felt like you've showed up unready and without having put your heart and soul into it.
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But something about that use of the word now there just felt pointed to me like it just felt different.
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>> Yeah, it does feel different and it feels like it's coming from a place of like true unanimous confidence in the music. >> Love it.
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>> I think this music can take us >> places for a long time. I really I really do. And um and just Yeah.
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And but actually like finding real joy in it and real fulfillment in it.
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And of course it's tiring.
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We played 100 shows in 25.
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We'll do a lot in 26, probably some in 27.
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This just we're like this is what we do now. >> Yeah.
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>> And I think there was always sort of a semi-doubt about whether this was really what we were doing >> in the baby years for sure. >> Yeah.
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>> And um >> it just feels great.
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And so the shows have been so much fun.
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And I think having some space, you know, obviously from releasing music and from touring probably a really good thing cuz we come back to it with a new appreciation certainly for our audience.
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I can't believe these people given up their time, energy, and money like the golden triangle of human effort to be here.
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We just got a new realization for it. >> Yeah.
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>> Now, >> um in a way that's really really fun. >> Fun. It's fun. It's fun. >> And it should be fun. This should be fun.
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And it's, you know, that's a line on the record like it really should, you know.
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>> So, what was So, looking back on this time in Long Pond and these 10 days of writing and getting these songs out, I'd love to know a couple of moments of just pure fun or pure clarity and just cuz often we get caught up in this like talk about the album as it in its completed form and be a bit more macro with the recording, but no man, 2026, I'm like this is all about memories.
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What are some of your fondest memories of that 10 days?
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From the stupidest to the funnest to the hardest. >> I've got one.
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I'm sure we've all got different ones, but um there was this guitar riff that Marcus had been um messing around with, which is the song Begin Again. >> Yeah.
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>> And uh the first time I remember hearing it was in Paris, actually.
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We were recording in an amazing studio there.
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And uh this was way before we brought it into the studio with Aaron and um and then started playing one day it was like well what else you guys got?
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you know, it was like a kind of every day it was like, let's kick the can, let's voice notes, what ideas, what what's going on.
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You know, there wasn't much prep before the 10 days.
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much prep before the 10 days. And I remember when that kicked in, seeing I was I'm I still am so excited about that song and for people to hear it >> and seeing Aaron's reaction to it and getting it >> and then building the the sonic landscape of that song
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with someone who really inspired like the national how they take the epic and the dark places is something that we've always >> kind of wanted to around with as a And >> yeah, there's a romance to the to the misery that they something the chemistry in that band also Matt the way he sings the wigs do it. Afghan wigs do it. They Afghan wigs do it.
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They douly will take you to the depths of drug addiction and you're like I kind of want to go for a day >> and see what it's like >> and but at the same time with like soaring electric guitars in the background like you know and it it like does this and the the kind of closeness of a vocal like you're talking about with this like big sound.
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So, I remember when we kicked into that song, it was like day five or six or whatever, and I was like, "This is going to be fun." >> Epic. >> Epic, epic, epic.
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Do you remember that moment? >> Yeah. Yeah.
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And I was going to say my one Well, I had to I mean, I had a few.
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Honestly, it was my favorite recording experience we've ever had.
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I would in the mornings I'd drive into Hudson.
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Eron would be like, "Everyone go exercise in the mornings."
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cuz then we come into the studio like a bit, you know, like we've figured some stuff out >> and then I drive into Hudson and go and get um coffee and sit in the corner of a coffee shop and write poetry >> and this is where I get to jump in and real and this is real. No. Yeah.
19:36
No, this is and this and I love that cuz I read that and I thought, you know what?
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You know, this is what's happening to everyone else in that town.
19:43
They're walking in and they're like, hell, man.
19:47
It looks like Marcus Muffin.
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And then someone's whispering like, "Leave him alone. That's a banger.
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It's like, >> you know, it's f I've just I've been writing poetry and actually, you know, and then we did conversation with my son, Gangsters and Angels, which is probably my favorite song I've ever written.
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And >> I was on the sofa with the microphone, SM7 microphone.
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Ben had come up with this chord idea.
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He was like, let's write like an Irish hymn.
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And we'd then taken it in and started working on some stuff.
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And I just like showed them some of the ideas from the morning.
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had been reading a lot of whin and was like and Paul Kings North and was like I think I want to write this about this and and like would write a line look up to my right and my left and Ben and Ted were there and be like yep and then another line and then you know it wasn't writing by panel but it was it was like >> the friendship >> and the trust >> and the confidence that I needed to be able to write some of those lines.
20:44
And then the other one for me was like >> just quickly hold that thought.
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Was it the first time that had happened that you felt like that involved in the writing process from a sort of left and right point of view like where it's like line by line like guys are we we doing this?
20:57
>> No, there's always been that.
20:57
I mean there's always been that but I think it was um there was a different light in the room on this on this record for sure. >> I digress though.
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You're going to give another one?
21:08
>> The other one for me I was um Alley Alleycat because I I wrote it in prison actually.
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I go in and do some po poetry workshops in in in in jail with the lads and um and came out one day with that poem uh and and felt slightly guilty about like uh about that process and had this poem up and and thought it was very random and you know had written it in a 5minute kind of exercise you know with the with the lads and and then um and and then took it in and and we built this track for it and it's it's my favorite song on the record.
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I love it so much as a song and watching so knowing the process of how it was written it was like it was >> serious and playful at the same time >> it said what I wanted to say exactly what I wanted to say. >> Yeah.
22:04
Um, but Erin and these guys like the the the alchemy of being in a band with a great producer at the right place at the right time means that you can do you can do anything and that's the forel spirit you know.
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>> Have you played have you gone can you play can you play music when you're in there doing the workshop doing the poetry workshops in prison? >> No. >> Yeah.
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>> You can't take your phone in. >> Yeah. Yeah. So yeah.
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>> But um >> have you told them though that it's something? >> Uh yeah I did. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. >> It's funny. >> That's awesome.
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Can I just stay there for a second because it's, you know, it's it's shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows you well that you would do something like that.
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But for people who don't know this kind of stuff, it's it's a fascinating conversation topic.
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I don't talk to many people who go into prison and and do sort of poetry workshops with inmates and figure out, you know, what what what's going on internally there.
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So, how just can you give us like a basic idea of what that experience is like and what you've sort of learned and experience from a human point of view um being in an environment that is by its very nature um an an imprisoned environment restricted and you're searching for internal openness. >> Yeah.
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And intimacy and human connection >> and creativity as well.
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And some of the poetry that comes out of those those rooms is totally inspiring and beautiful >> and um and really fun actually. Yeah. And um >> Yeah. It's it's it's cool.
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I mean it's you know >> I don't know.
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I don't know how to describe it. >> It's been rewarding. And it is rewarding. >> Yeah. Very rewarding. Yeah. >> Yeah. Amazing. >> Yeah. Absolutely legend. Very funny people.
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I met some really funny people. Beautiful people. >> Yeah. >> Hilarious people. Broken people. Yeah. >> Fragile. Vulnerable. And um and yeah. Yeah.
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I mean, you can't underestimate the importance of like human connection in those places.
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>> I think what these lads were describing um was something kind of similar in that it's like a very quick recognition of what what's happening.
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>> So when Marcus was talking about conversation, my son gangsters and angels. >> Yeah.
24:04
>> Like right insist that everyone always uses the full title. That's really Thank you.
24:10
>> Not say it's hard on a set.
24:10
It does get shortened on a set sometimes and I get annoyed.
24:16
>> I'm going to You should really say brackets, but okay.
24:19
>> Brackets, gangsters, and angels.
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>> Uh, >> I got fired cuz I abbreviated the song. No, no, no, mate. He's a lovely dude.
24:27
Very, very particular about that >> It's our favorite song. So, say the full title.
24:34
title. Um and similarly with begin again you know like when when these ideas emerge there's an immediaccy to them and almost a rec they're so sort of recognizable >> in our identity that everybody sort of knew what to do which may and that's
24:52
come from all the things we've talked about you know farel moment all of the training with uh making the rashmir record and being in that sort of shape >> um there there was a lot of alignment you we've been kind of shuffled into um into order. But it's just such a joyful
25:05
But it's just such a joyful thing when you're in that shape as a band because it means the creative process is just so >> yeah quick. >> Everyone's nurturing.
25:14
You're all just woring at the at the It's like that's what I hear when I hear this this >> No one is overextending themselves because they feel some kind of way about their life.
25:28
>> Ego is kicking in or something's happening you don't even know about.
25:30
But I just really want to get this idea across because my whole identity is wrapped up in it.
25:34
Can I not just >> Everybody is just serving >> so much more fluid than that.
25:39
>> Everyone's serving the song.
25:40
>> Serving the song >> whole way through the record.
25:41
And I think Erin is very good at handling egos.
25:47
>> Um and so everyone felt I think you know in included and supported and that meant that we none of us felt like we had to v Yeah.
25:58
for opposition and and so like the song was just being served the whole time.
26:03
>> When you say he's really good at sort of like managing egos and whatever, which is a totally fair thing to say cuz we all got one. >> Yeah. >> Everyone's got one.
26:11
>> Um how how does he have you sort of stepped taken a step back and seen how he does it?
26:16
Like how how does he how does he approach the room when something is playing a role that probably doesn't need to be there?
26:23
>> He he sidebars quite a lot.
26:23
I remember thinking that he like he he puts a pin in a moment.
26:29
He'll recognize like an ego flare up and then there'll be like a an opportunity for a chat.
26:33
It's not normally like a group conversation. It's a one-on-one.
26:38
I think ego is an important >> wow >> part of the creative process though, you know, you have to bring it into the studio.
26:45
It's not a great thing to have there, but it needs to be there.
26:47
And >> it just comes from a place of like I just know it's going to be better if you just trust me.
26:51
just it's a it almost comes from a place of trust >> and it's really hard because in exercising that ego to the fullest extent you're really breaking potentially breaking trust.
27:02
>> Well, I think to be a songwriter in the first place you have to be a narcissist cuz you have to believe enough in your story to tell people.
27:08
>> Is it narcissism though? >> Yeah, I think so.
27:09
You have to be the center of your universe to be able to like express something that you feel deeply and then want to share it with people and want other people to hear it. >> Deep, isn't it?
27:19
Cuz I'm thinking about that and you're right.
27:20
Technically, you're absolutely right.
27:21
I'm not going to question it.
27:22
But I have something I need to say.
27:26
So, I'm self-absorbed enough to recognize that, but also I've got to get out of my system because I don't think I really want to keep it anymore.
27:34
Whereas, I think narcissists want to keep it and hold it.
27:39
So, you're technically right. Do you know what I mean?
27:41
There's something in there that isn't it's not as cut and dry as that. Like, is it's a desire.
27:45
You got to get rid of this Like, I need to get out to the cathosis.
27:50
Randy Carl saying to me like, "Are you going to write a book?"
27:52
And I responded just I was like, "I'm just not an effective enough narcissist. >> I can't write a book.
28:00
>> I can't I don't think I can't do it.
28:02
>> I'm definitely a narcissist, but I'm not just I'm just not good enough at it yet to write a book."
28:05
>> It's a great response to someone who wrote a bestselling book. >> Yeah. Yeah.
28:12
>> I'm sure there was a lost on her for a second. That's funny.
28:18
>> Be a good book though.
28:18
But I mean, I don't know.
28:19
When you're a musician, I think that um it's all in the music and the book is really there to serve a deeper purpose to give people an insight into >> Oh, I love different expressions.
28:30
I mean, we're enjoying like some of the the opportunities, you know, for expression, not just in music, but in artwork >> and other storytelling and photographs and >> yeah, it's good, >> you know. I I it's it's just fun. You do.
28:45
I mean, and probably books are just another form of artistic expression, which is dope.
28:50
Like ours chosen one as a band right now is music and and probably will remain that way.
28:55
But I love the idea of >> lots of other ways to get, you know, >> did you know straight away when you saw that? >> Pretty much. Yeah.
29:04
>> I mean, it's great merch, but I don't think you can sell it at festivals, right? Have a Woodstock 99. >> Yeah.
29:09
You can't put that in your hand luggage.
29:11
>> No, you definitely can't. Nightmare. No, I know.
29:13
Because Eddie Vidder, you know, he he gives them out, right?
29:14
If you like, he hands you one.
29:17
>> Part of the idea behind this was was trophies and and Eddie gave me one and I got him to scratch in the back of it with like a comp school compass, you know, EV mm.
29:26
Oh, >> you got your personalized >> photo. Yeah. Yeah.
29:28
And he and and it's I said that we were on a cool artwork. Cool.
29:33
And I went and grabbed it.
29:33
I was like, I always know where this is at all times. >> See, there you go. Beautiful thing.
29:35
A little synergy right there.
29:37
>> He gave you one as well, did he? Yeah, he did.
29:39
>> Oh, >> No, don't be mad. HE'S MY MATE AS WELL.
29:42
LISTEN, I thought it was just me.
29:42
Well, just just just you cuz you got him to cuz you're smart enough to get him to scratch his initials in the back of it, right? It's one of one.
29:49
You got some great people showing up on this record.
29:51
We've spoken about a few of them >> already, but it's collab corner.
29:53
Welcome to the collab corner.
29:57
>> You wanted to work with him, so we get to do it. >> Nice guy.
30:02
>> Uh, no, I love I love the fact that you've got Chris Stapleton on this record.
30:05
Like, uh, that's a real one right there.
30:07
that that that that is an artist there who speaks the same language.
30:11
You guys speak the same language.
30:12
It is a a desire for depth above all else.
30:15
A desire to reach somewhere real. And if you get it, cool.
30:18
If not, I'm going to say it anyway.
30:18
You know, I mean, that song either way might be the most heartbreaking breakup song >> I've ever heard.
30:28
>> You know, you can you can >> he's a generational talent. >> Yeah.
30:31
Or you can stay, but I'm I'm not going to love you either way. >> I mean, hell.
30:35
I mean, give it to me straight, Chris.
30:39
>> So, let's talk about your relationship with Chris Stapleton, shall we?
30:41
And why he's ended up on Price Fighter, who wants to take it? >> All Eyes on Ted. >> Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. Wow.
30:49
Um, I mean, obviously as fans of his, I I think there was just a general atmosphere around this record where with Erin's help, once again, we were reminded of how collaborative we are as a band.
31:05
And for some reason, we've never sort of expressed that in the studio.
31:10
We've always expressed it on the stage and, you know, in our lives, and we've always been so collaborative in so many ways, but we've never actually sort of done it on record.
31:18
Um, and it was just instantly baked into the whole plan of for for Prize Fighter that we were going to sort of have an open door policy and really embrace some of the people who we love musically we shared the road with and people who had just inspired us.
31:37
>> Chris was one of the latter, you know, he wasn't someone we had necessarily done a whole lot of live stuff with >> um at this point, but he was someone who we were just like kind of obsessed with. >> Yeah.
31:46
Uh the voice was just insane >> and the song kind of just like called for him >> and so we called him >> with the song and he said yeah.
31:57
>> Um how simple it can be. Yeah. Yeah. Totally.
32:00
>> Cuz you do get I'm sure even you still get in your head like ah if he says no.
32:03
Even if he's like I'm just busy I'm just I'm not going to shake that for two days. >> Yeah.
32:07
I think um I think with male vocalists, I can say this, I part of the reason I was looking at Ted is cuz Marcus definitely can't say this, but bringing other male vocalists into the orbit is tricky cuz I think we're blessed to have one of the best singers >> without a doubt >> in the world. Without a doubt.
32:27
>> And so when it comes to like >> compliments make you cry.
32:29
You're a weirdo, don't you?
32:32
>> No, I'm such a narcissist.
32:32
I'm like, finally someone else agrees.
32:38
>> Do you really think that?
32:38
Do you really do you really tell me? >> Yeah, that's funny.
32:45
>> I mean, it's just like if you want to open the door and you want to bring people in, you know, we'll talk about some of the incredible women who contributed onto this album.
32:51
But when it comes to male vocalists, >> it's rare because >> Chris and Hosia, you know, it's like there's not many people that can stand up with the emotional um punch and and deliver the lyrics, I guess, in a way that feels authentic.
33:10
Um, we were I think we were doing Rashmir outdoors um in the UK and we got the first is that where we heard the first >> bounce of uh of Chris's vocal.
33:21
It was just like >> it just felt like two men uh so naturally like weaving in in each other's like sonic like vocal sonic worlds.
33:36
It was really exciting to like have that play out cuz I think in our heads Chris is that and as fans of his he is that and I think when we first we're messing around with the song it had something that felt like it had some of his DNA >> in it.
33:52
>> He's also the first and only person we called. >> Yeah.
33:56
>> And then for rubber band man Jose was the first and only person we called. >> Y >> Mhm.
34:02
>> And then GG for Icarus was the same.
34:04
love that you worked with the only person we called. >> Incredible.
34:08
>> And then Gracie has been like the fairy I would say like the fairy godmother for this record >> cuz she heard what John Bellian who we haven't talked about who is >> one of my writing heroes >> had written with Aaron as a sort of first idea for what became the banjo song.
34:26
She heard that before we had heard it and she texted me and was like, "Have you heard it yet?
34:32
I can't wait to see what you could do with it.
34:36
>> And was Bali writing it with you in mind or was it just a session with Destna?
34:39
>> No, I think it was a session with DA.
34:40
They were just they're just creative pals like like Eron's always writing with Justin Vernon or and AS Mitchell and they're always you know or Matt from National.
34:47
He's just constantly like evolving like incubating creative ideas just for fun really. >> Yeah. >> Showed us this one.
34:54
Gracie texted me and then I texted her back a bunch of lyrics that I had, you know, been thinking about.
35:01
And from that, that was that was while we were mixing Rashmir, Electric Lady, and Aaron came in and played us that and Price Fighter, the song that, you know, became Price Fighter. And Ben and I cried. >> Mhm.
35:15
>> And uh and and then since that moment, Gracie has been like the cheerleader for this record that's been just so helpful.
35:24
She's been in the background floating around like the fairy godmother she is >> and just like touching her magic wand in moments and then of course when you know we sent her Badlands and >> I was not expecting what she delivered which I think is just totally magic.
35:41
>> It's it's it'sic it's hard to talk about Gracie at this point in her life given how sort of um so much life she has yet to live and so much music she has yet to make without sounding sort of like um patronizing.
35:52
But I'm just going to be straight up like the growth, the speed at which she has >> found her voice and the depth that she's able to go now as a writer and and as a as a writer, >> let alone as a performer.
36:04
She's always going to perform at a high level. >> Killer writer. >> Killer writer.
36:07
>> Killer, >> you know, is is so amazing.
36:08
And um >> I really love the state of young music right now.
36:14
Like I I look at at artists in their sort of 20 to sort of 30 range that are just >> making great forwardthinking and ambitious and interesting pop records and records >> like Sabrina Carpenter >> is off the hook.
36:28
Olivia Rodrigo is off the hook.
36:31
Like Olivia as a writer, right off, man. >> Proper artists, man.
36:36
>> Proper proper artists.
36:38
>> GG's another one of those where she feels wiser beyond her years, you feel like she's already >> well what a life lived already, >> right?
36:46
And so when she finds a way to articulate >> um which she is doing through her music, it's such a gift to the world and it's so fun for us to be able to collaborate with these people because um I guess we've been we've gone around the sun a few more times.
37:03
So, we've like >> um we've seen some as well.
37:05
And then you feel like you're kind of cross-pollinating these different lives lived and then it's coming through in the sound and the textures of the music and um we were just with Gigi actually in in Mexico last week and she feels like >> such a kindred spirit. >> She's amazing.
37:26
So, you do you feel Okay, this is a good one.
37:29
This came to mind when you were talking about going around the the sun a few more times.
37:33
You know, if you stick around long enough and do great work and artists come up behind you and start to want to connect with you and you create this beautiful like like generational senue, you know, then it's just an undeniable goat status that ultimately comes along and people start to look at you differently.
37:48
It doesn't mean you're any less contemporary or ambitious or modern, but it's just people see you different.
37:52
You're not competing in the same room.
37:54
They want to be in your rooms.
37:55
They want to work with you to get in your room.
37:57
That's how I've seen it happen over and over again.
37:58
Do you feel like you're there?
38:00
Is that part of the comfort zone now of realizing that you know what, we're okay being who we are. We're great.
38:06
>> I'm think I'm I'm personally starting to accept that for the first time. >> Beautiful.
38:09
>> And uh and it's really fun.
38:09
Like in we were just at Noah Khan's festival in Mexico. >> Mhm.
38:15
>> And you know, normally we're putting on those things and he came and played our thing in Burlington, which we did on this train tour. >> Mhm.
38:22
>> And as a quid pro gig, um we went and did his thing in Mexico.
38:26
And it was >> a quid pro show.
38:27
I think is the term you're looking for.
38:30
>> How did I miss that one?
38:31
>> Well, that's why I'm here.
38:32
>> How did I miss that one?
38:33
>> That's why I'm here, mate.
38:35
>> And uh and it was so much fun.
38:37
Normally, we're the ones organizing.
38:39
You know, it's normally our wedding that we're organizing and someone else's wedding. I was on vacate.
38:44
I was I was doing side quests left, right, and center.
38:45
I got to go be Sally for role model.
38:47
It was It was so much fun.
38:49
But it was all these artists, you know.
38:51
It was like Noah, Gigi, Tucker, role model, um, >> Camp, >> Camp, >> RC Drive, who I'm obsessed with.
39:04
>> Um, and they, all of them, I don't think they were just being polite, and they all had really nice things to say about our work and our career and what it's meant to them.
39:14
>> Noah particularly liked to at the time on stage to say some really nice about us.
39:21
And I think before I probably would have been like dismissive of it or like think that it might lead someone to think that I feel like I should have some ownership over what someone else is doing which is totally not the case.
39:31
We never saw that with Arcade Fire or with Fleet Foxes or with Old Chrome Medicine Show when we were coming up who we felt like we owed such a debt to.
39:40
>> Wouldn't be a band without those bands.
39:42
But that's just the beauty of music.
39:42
It does like you can pass DNA through >> without feeling any, you know, >> loss or >> loss. It's amazing.
39:50
And so and so to be part of their stories, >> it's really beautiful to me and I'm really grateful for it.
39:58
>> Well, you remember when I said it was an unlikely success stories, you know, when you were coming through, it wasn't it was really wasn't expected, you know, that you would that you would write these songs, these uptempo, really uplifting moments.
40:06
It really were just a kick drum, a four on the floor, man, and a lot of energy and motivation and let's do it.
40:12
And of course, looking back on it now, it's going to connect with the human spirit.
40:15
It was built by that, driven by that.
40:16
The beauty about an unlikely success story is it's a story nonetheless.
40:20
And guess who gets to read it?
40:21
Noah Kahan gets to read it and all these GG Perez gets to read it.
40:26
So yeah, you should take that as a fan of your music and friends of you guys.
40:30
I can say that >> you know. Yeah, you paved a way.
40:35
>> It's a beautiful we were part you know we're part of it.
40:38
>> Paved a way of many ways. >> Sure.
40:40
And we I think the part of where we're at right now is it feels like it's tool sharpening some of the stuff that you're talking about when we collaborate with these artists whether it's live or on record. >> Yeah.
40:52
>> I feel like they are reminding us of some of this which is a nice moment to appreciate but it's not like we're not this isn't a victory lap.
41:00
This isn't kind of our swan song despite what you said on the lyrics.
41:05
Um this is >> I didn't say there's lyrics.
41:10
It's uh it's almost more of a kind of a reset and um let's go again and let's do a lot um that we haven't yet had the opportunity to do so far.
41:21
I I don't think we've seen it all by any stretch.
41:25
And I think getting to kind of work with some of these artists who are a bit younger or doing something slightly different is just sharpening of our creative tools.
41:34
And I I hope we continue to welcome that into the studio. >> Yeah.
41:39
>> Um actually met Gigi in a collaborative environment um doing some sessions upstate.
41:46
And then >> um another artist who was there was this guy called Joe P.
41:52
>> Don't know if you're familiar with him.
41:54
Super amazing talented um artist.
41:54
And he had this uh don't know why I just thought of this, but he had this instrument called the French Connection.
42:04
super cool thing I'd never seen before.
42:05
And it was like a kind of somewhere between a theramin and a synth.
42:07
Uh but it had a keyboard and a string and I I fell in love with it at this kind of creative um retreat and uh I bought one and I took it into Long Pond and I was like, "Guys, check out this thing."
42:21
And there was like this giddiness of checking out a literal tool. >> Yeah.
42:27
>> And then started to drop it onto the track.
42:29
So, like in the background of the song Prize Fighter, you know, you'll hear this little sweeping sound that's a bit like a kind of um pedal steel, but it's a synth.
42:38
And and discovering that was through being a music fan and engaging and not being cynical and not resting on your laurels.
42:49
>> Because the mistake, I think, in what you're talking about would be to say, "Yeah, we're M and Sons. We got this figured out. We know what we do.
42:54
We're closing the doors and >> well done us."
43:00
Yeah, we're open >> and let's actually continue to learn and listen.
43:11
And that to me, I I think that's what this record is more like.
43:15
>> Um, so yeah, French Connection.
43:17
Anyone who wants to geek out on some synths, check out that thing. kidding.
43:22
I'm straight on that after this. You joking.
43:23
Um, you speak the truth, gentlemen.
43:27
Uh, both on record and on the record. It's it's lovely.
43:32
You know, we've known each other a long long time and I think, you know, with the benefit of some hindsight now, it's safe space to be able to say there's been times when we've spoken and I can tell that there's other stuff going on just in life just is, >> you know, um, this feels really free.
43:52
>> We were with one of our buddies last night.
43:54
and he said to us uh you know he was he came to one of the shows and said that it felt the best it's ever felt and he was like it just feels free and freedom is no fear and I feel like we're at that place. >> Yeah. Yeah.
44:09
>> Um and it's really fun.