the first few episodes tried to do them completely unscripted and it didn't work for me well it's hard mate not everybody can do what I do you know what I mean challeng your gck where's that button please I can't drop one on myself now you know what I do I do I do have one of embarrassing here you go that [Music] one music like this man is just like the frequency that we need to to put us back
together and since I've discovered your music you've certainly been there for me as as a listener and as a fan so thank you for that that means uh the world from you thank you man you know listen as as fans of Music we we search for people who speak the language that we need it when we need it and you just have this ability to be able to speak through your instrument and it's great
to be able to talk to you in more dep depth about your music and where we meet in commong ground here at Apple too there's lots of stuff to get into how are you today man what's going on I'm very well I'm um calm if you will today which is good have you had to work hard to get to that place brutally hard are you kidding me I'm like it's uh it's a struggle every day just just remain
calm it's uh today I got up I said I'm going to run a lot because it always puts me in a better place and uh and just just you know not try to be anything else uh other than just being in the moment that's my biggest thing in life now where do you think you're most present in life when do I think I'm most present or where good question good question on a question bit of both I'm struggling right now like this month in
particular particular um just with location as well you know uh whether I want to remain living in California it's a big it's a big one for me I have a lot of Reason um and a lot of pool pulling me towards the east side again and and Europe as well just because of this music it's just so European based if you will provance really changed you huh oh it did it'll do that all too natural
yeah that feeling over there so listen I mean that that's that's you know that's the unsettlers but I mean again their first world problems for me they you know I have the op you know the option to to choose where I want to live but uh it's still it's still something that's sort of like I'm trying to figure out right now you work hard for that option that's that that's a byproduct of backing yourself at a very early stage
in your life and deciding that the Safety and Security that comes from taking an opportunity but also prevents you from potentially following the adventure you choose you choose the adventure and and and and a lot of people when you get to that place where the adventure is before you go well aren't you lucky but they they don't often acknowledge the risk and the courage it takes to actually not take
the security and the safety and the direction it doesn't get any easier actually as you get older and the more risk you take that sometimes we'll say they they say the easier it gets but not really um the complacency aspect of things um even in my music for example um choosing to go where I went with with solo piano music over the last five years or so um was just because I was
just kind of hitting my head against the wall in the other side of music and I just wasn't the output wasn't matching the effort that I was putting out so for example if I I thought I was putting some my my creating some of my best work in the pop but it wasn't getting out to the world so tough isn't it it's yeah so I mean you know there's a plethora of reasons that that that are we're going against that
it could be politics it could be just many things but when sometimes people just like to have their ideas heard and honestly it's as simple as that it's like hey it's a great song but I have a job and and to keep my job I kind of need to have an opinion and and my opinion could actually alter the entire trajectory of the song Just because I I don't know what it's like to serve at
the altar of the music I know only know what it's like to have my opinion heard sorry I just I've I've experienced it you know it yeah I've had my I've had my name taken off things bro but no away your choice yeah because it was it there was nothing of me left it wasn't a protest it wasn't like I don't like it it was like no it's great it's just there's what I worked on is gone so what so I don't I I don't need
my time credited I would love my work credited my time is mine I could choose to work on a song and end up not on it at all I still don't expect credit for I mean that element of the LA Speed Dating uh process as we call it here call that so it's exactly what it is you get into a room and especially when you have you're you have it when you're hot for a minute should we should we describe what
this is like this is this is a really interesting thing so Stephan as a song writ a very successful songwriter and collaborator before the Stefan that we know now who's now creating soless balance and account for all of us even if he's struggling to find it himself uh would go into a room and go like this and and an artist walks in an artist goes like Oh my God you're on my fourth
session of the week and then they hey great to meet you what are you feeling and you're like I've just met you I have no idea that's not the point of music right or art I mean if you look at it as a group therapy type of idea when you walk into a room but like I said when you have that hit song everybody wants to be a part of your Vortex for that for that minute in the world and all of a
sudden you're you're thrusted into every big room and with every big artist but that's not what got you there what got you there was the the struggle um the real hard days the long days um the losing your money not knowing where you're going to get you know you your next meal is going to come from and there backing yourself the backing yourself of course that's it I mean it's it's a day so what am I going to am
I going to turn TI and run or am I going to keep moving forward so that kind of wore me down and uh you know I I did it it it even when you're successful um the constant kind of keeping up with the Joneses if you will in music um and trying to create another hit song and I I've been part of many and some really big ones it's been a thrill and an absolute honor but if I go back to to
everyone and I sort of dissect them in hindsight I realized that everyone was done from a place of innocence and TR and truess if you will if that's such a word but we weren't trying to create anything other than just a great piece of song music and then you do and then we tempti it and it becomes a thing and everyone's like do that thing and it's like but that thing is Magic I don't
know where that thing exists and some people are incredible they're conjurers they're magicians they're able to conjure the magic right they're spellbinding right you know Justin tra spellbinding love Justin can walk in a room still to this day and be like good luck babe and it's like wow one of the greatest pop songs of the last 10 years no question about I know he didn't write it just himself and Chapel was in the
room and Daniel was in the room but wow what a moment right a moment that's spellbinding they're able to conjure the magic and yet to your point bringing it back to your story if it's starting to from what you're just describing it if it's starting to dispel the magic a little bit you got to find where the magic is right you got to go where it's at its purest I always said I never came
into music for anything other than just to move people it was a crutch for me when I was going through you know my hard times as a kid my parents separated divorce and all that kind of stuff but you know music was always there I come from musical family but doing music to hit number one I got to be careful how I say this but we're we're also in you know Grammy times and everyone's just concerned
about the prize right and and the trophy and you know I've been there got that been nominated as well and and and I'm saying I don't it it it's an honor it's not what I'm saying but that's not the point of what we do at least the good ones you know the my my goal every day especially with my piano music more than ever now is to to sort of get up and try to create something that's relevant but
before relevant that's emotional and that's going to affect people and and be a friend for somebody who needs this sound these Vibes that can maybe console them for 3 minutes and 30 seconds as they listen to that do you know what a beautiful day sounds like to me is waking up and it's raining and there's an instrument in front of you and it's perfectly miked and you're feeling
something really deep and you're not quite sure where it is and you sit behind your piano with a cup of coffee and you go searching for it it sounds like a great day it's a great day I have a glass of water I don't drink coffee but I do everything else my piano's always pre you got to Ru it man I mean it was I painted the picture I mean just like you know no no no no you you know it um
you're an artist um that's why you're really good at what you do um you understand the psyche just a great day I mean it's just you know it's just it's something that you that like you say you work towards that opportunity and and people may struggle to understand how that quantifies as a as a traditional day of work but trust me when you hear the music and you realize the places you've had to go to write the music and
to get it out of you I hear it and that's what the authenticity is the authenticity in I in your music is not just the notes and the playing and the arrangement and the tempo it's the feeling that you've created thank you thank you that is that is the whole thing that's what I strive for those 14-hour days you know when you know it when you listen to it surfly you kind of go oh it's piano music it's kind of
sounds simple and elegant not nice and pretty but that space between this note and say that note is not as easy as one may think you know and it sometimes takes literally courage when you're by yourself especially when you're producing yourself to listen back to yourself and say it's just I didn't leave enough room it's when you're when you're talking um to somebody or giving
a speech for example and the pacing can affect the impact of your words the same thing with music and what happens if you don't allow instinct to lead that process despite the diligence you're applying to the to the overall is it is it becomes this process of overthinking and that's the worst thing that you can do correct I I got and I some sometimes still do get caught in the Trap of I'm trying to say
so much or too much in this time and and you got to start removing things from the boat for it to start to sink to float back up to the water before it starts to really sink and you just have to know which elements to remove yeah well put well put beautiful it's um it's beautiful music you made an observation before about like you know the perception of piano solo piano particular and instrumentalists we grew
up at a time when people who got behind instruments um it was very glossy it was very shiny they were selling a lot of Records there was candles on the you know right you know who I'm talking about a legend in the game an icon a goat you know RC he can't just RC he's the goat man he's the goat but I mean when I was growing up RC was not necessarily you know Richard was not Richard Clayman was not the guy that we
were aspiring to be as kids right beautiful player but but I'm saying it sort of set the sound of that music on a path that I think in a way for me as a kid I'm just talking about my experience was disingenuine well I'm not afraid to say it for me no and it impacted and there's a bunch of those copycats around today I always said my virtuosity even though I can hit those arpeggios at the
same speed as RC and you know and and I'm not it's just it was just trying to like to smoke in mirrors in many ways right my virtuosity is the space and spirituality of emotion and that's what I really try to aim for it never feels like a performance with you that's the thing I love I never feel like you're like check out his chops no because I can do that if I want on Instagram and and in
between my sets on concert and and I can razzled Dazzle if you want but that's not the goal of my my piano piano music if you will it All Began for me probably 20ish years ago I would go to Just dinner parties and I would hear just bad music in my opinion being played and you know those parties and and and and like and the frequencies were wrong whereas when you have what we call jazz or
classical or music that breathes it it kind of creates a different Ambience to the conversation that's being held in a group of eight to 10 people at at a very intimate dinner party as opposed to I mean there's a place and time for ra there's a place and time for youm there's nothing like it you know better than I do MH but everyone kept on asking me you know what's a good chill album do
MH not new age with birds and waves it's too smug no and not arpeggios something that is still it's classical um and and is um in my opinion you know composed it's a be was a beautiful Discovery for me in quarantine really was you know they coming out of that that that space where I realized that I had I had boxed in this type of music into an environment that we've established as more performative
beautiful a lot of people love that lot record I mean the 80s were very good for a certain type of musician making that kind of music I mean of course dude they were the original Ed Sharon model man takes his little baby Grandad on the road for 300 shows a year and comes back he's got the bag man I'm telling you yeah a whole crew of people getting off that jet with the bag I'm telling
you right very successful no shade respect no I was waiting for that I I got to put one I that's really cool to be in in studio when that happens I got I got to put one on him I got to put one on I got to put one on the generation before us many generations before us but in quarantine I went uh I was just listening to everything good I just listen to Everything I was like well let's just see what the streaming
thing's really about because I'd been in the country about four or five years built Apple music and was like had been working within streaming but hadn't really really gone as deep as I could I was like it's all there let's see what's in there that I don't know and I stumbled across this type of music being played by you by some of your contemporaries I hope you consider your contemporaries like the Nils FR
absolutely you know olur and people like that I'm like whoa this is really moving me at the time when I need it and that's what has unlocked this beautiful idea of what quote unquote chill is which is not this smug hey I wish you could be here where I am I've got it all figured out type it's like hang on no I haven't figured anything out I'm searching I'm a Searcher I'm wandering well said I mean
I I don't know what else there is to say that's what it is though right that's what it is have a good story with that one though um with my first album I had been doing this 20 years prior in Canada and it did really well they were biggest You Know instrumental albums in the country but just wasn't getting outside those corridors almost Richard CL did you have the big hair were you doing the
were you doing the big performance stuff everybody wanted showa pads didn't you showa pads in your suit I but I lived through that era I I'm I'm a child of the 80s well drank red wine for an entire decade all anyone drank was penio well said it's true though right yeah cheap it's all about the profit scalability M you know it on the booze but right before the pandemics when I started to
feeling I I need to make a different turn here and then um just everything the details of the you know my first album that reut up with Deca in 2020 we were kind of having to debate whether my face should be on the front cover or not this is an interesting debate and I'm like no it's the music this music is about what I feel good art should be is about the interpretation that that Zayn
has that Jane Doe has that Bobby has and let's remove my face from from album covers and we we before the pandemic we took a picture of an empty room and a piano it was it looked like it was a quarantine room all of a sudden people thought it was the pandemic album Tales of Solace because it it was released literally within two weeks of March when the world shut down but the music was
that intimate I had locked myself into my studio in La for for three to four weeks and I just recorded you know about 50 plus hours of music just record record record record and I would that's why for me there's a sincerity to the music is I would just cut the sincere parts that's how it works for me that's my secret s with the benefit of hindsight listening back and understanding that that was that it
translates to you even after the fact because because the moment probably tricks you sometimes correct so I'm just having conversations improvisatory if I can say that is that's just a word conversations with my piano for the most part and um and I will because I'm a producer I had you know privilege of kind of listening back as I was doing mundane things going oh that moves me uh between 234 and say 56 uh
560 or 559 I'm going to cut that that part out and then I would of course if it needed a clean in a clean out I would do those punchings but the bulk of what you hear on my piano albums are these just sort of VIs improvisations so was that to some degree looking back on it with some hindsight was that was that kind of a transitional process for you because because it was such a different
different move for you such a such going back to this place where you which was not where you'd been in studios making hit records correct you're like I kind of need to produce myself to give myself the courage that I can do it in the moment sadly I'm a perfectionist and I struggle against that by the way is a bummer yeah and I don't mean that in any sort of um acclamatory or proud way um you know I think it's important to
recognize when you when the struggle or the struggle to have things perfect gets in your way you need to you need a real problem you need to recognize that and when I I I recognized that probably 10 12 years ago in the studio I would you know with vocals comping um takes I I would Slaughter musicians when they come in and would play on my records because I would just take more than I needed and
nothing wrong with that I had the mind to S of go through even with Seline for example I mean she's literally one of the greatest instruments in the world you ran you you put it through it well she wanted to on one song on one song I mean you know Seline you you're done two three four takes Max and you've got everything she can sing the phone book but there was one track where there was
a couple in inflections in the vocal that she really felt she can do better and better and she she went like 82 takes later which never happens with amazing I love that but I I spent the six days going through all 82 or what have you and um and I had but again I doing these albums is been therapy for me and just a kind of an undoing of that because I don't approach my piano music in the same way that's not to say that
there are a handful of songs in my piano albums there's a couple The Wanderer where it is a little more scientific I did cut many takes of the wander because I was struggling with Tempo you know you know because this stuff is not done to click right it's not it's not like pop music when you decide you know great pop ballads typically somewhere between 58 and 64 bpms right no it's jazz in that
regard and Jazz I mean jazz is a bit different I would say in you know it depends if you're dealing with records like kind of Blue by mil Davis but in the sort of 80 to to 100 BPM you are not beholden to any particular tool in order to capture an experience only the moment that you're in and then you have to basically decide whether that moment was authentic for better and most importantly and For
Worse absolutely like you got to accept that if that's the take the that's going to bug you is just going to bug you I always have keep it simple and even say the last handful of of hit records I was involved with my first one big one which was Selene a new day um a long time ago that's when I I I was I was in my mid 20s early to mid-20s and I said I wrote all over my studio I said
simple just keep just the voicing simple like keep it down to three or four chords I mean how many Post-it notes did you put on your studio I had pictures probably 12 to 14 that's not too bad had scene seven you go guys got like 300 pieces of A4 paper saying simple on it I don't know these guys are kind of psycho crazy man but my my God it's my new one though is Kill Your Darlings right so it means like you know
when you're coming up with something you're improvising and you're like it's all really cool but you know it's not supporting the story and the purpose of that album oh yeah yeah you got to get rid or at least pack it away for now and because you know a great producer is a reducer as we know and you know you have to literally reduce down to the essentials and if you don't know how to
do that and you just just you think everything every take is great then you don't have a hit record it it won't communicate that discipline is incredibly it so Kill Your Darlings meaning your your wonderful little things either figure a system to keep them from some other project but if they're not serving the goal of this one my goal is to make you relaxed and make you just introspective typically on
these albums so if it's if it's something that just really takes you away from that or I'm trying to be fancy I got to ask myself you know what's it serving I go to your music for a feeling good good good that's it that's it I I I go to you and in a selection I go to Wing victory of the Sullen for a different feeling but I go for feeling regardless I I go because I'm open and I'm willing and even if I'm
scared because there's a feeling I'm I'm unsure I want to feel on that day I kind of want to bury it with a drink or or work or something else but I but I can't I'm like all right well then I I need a companion and and this is this music is the first thing I go for you know is is music because um I've made a decision I'm going to be unafraid of the feeling oh that's well said you know so it's
it's like then I need help unafraid of the feeling yeah if you come up with a song callede unafraid of a feeling I'm going to be so proud and also come I want points I'm afraid of a feeling oh back oh yeah you got one I'm afraid of the feeling it was such a strong 80s/90s D yeah the uh was it Boston yeah well that's More Than A Feeling trouble maybe we just don't do it in FAL set and
sounding exactly like More Than A Feeling we might get away with it um so you went to uh you went to a beautiful place a beautiful part of the world to record this music it's the dream right I mean I don't imagine it's a commercial recording studio anybody can just book it feels to me like it's got strong Invitational Vibes to it um you know cuz it's it's special not just because of
like you know where it is and what it is but also no mystery who who Who's involved right of course um and it also I mean where where it sits right now in that story which is not to be talked about but I mean it's obviously a beautiful property worth fighting for so let's talk a little bit about the experience of going to provance from recording in this like very historical Studio too I think most people know of
it as a creative space and a winery only in the last 10 years for obvious reasons but it's actually been that jacqu lucier who's passed on now six years ago um formerly owned the property and um uh the wall was recorded there by Pink Floyd there you go big records from wh the Wham and and shade magical place beyond it's spir I say spiritual I mean you don't have to be religious or
anything but there's there's a spirit there as you said it's um a lot older than we think there's parts of the grounds that are 3 400 years old with with just this kind of these old buildings there and I um I just surrendered I didn't go down there with anything composed for 28 days to 30 days and I just I I I went there because I wanted to experience what we call you know true monk mode was to just to not
have TMM yeah that's what to get away from the influences of everybody for a minute and also to be on the flip side of of the time zone here in La so I just wasn't being bothered by anyone till like 6:00 700 p.m. how long did you give yourself before you began playing the piano we were hit in the ground running by day three and by I say by day four and a half day five um I I felt
completely in the middle of no I miss yeah and then this weird thing happens around halfway through by day 124 you realize you're still barely halfway through and you're excited and yet you're you're afraid and you you feel alone like really alone cuz you are alone at that point it's a skeleton crew though right it's an engineer it's a t correct correct and I would see them maybe in the morning at night time my my
days were were long and and I was just able to just be unhinged and not be affected by anything else else and that's uh kind of recorded a lot of music there I know the answer to this question but it'll give us it'll open the door to to a little bit more of your life what or who did you miss the most a family but my son yeah um he's you know back then back last year he was 12 and
it just kind of this realization um that um my career choices sometimes working with other artists sometimes have taken me away from the kids it's the sacrifice oh it's it's real and people say well you got nothing to complain about you're making money and stuff like that it's not that it's the sacrifice it's the sacrifice because I can't get those years back yeah look if anyone and it
doesn't it's not just about the Arts or musicians that's an easy that's an easy target MH cuz we love music and then we also love to tell musicians that they should be lucky that they get to make music such a weird thing to me but anyway whatever it's not just about the Arts man anybody who commits them you could be decide you want to go and and and and be a part of creating major advancements and technology that help
save people's lives in in in modern medicine you are going to remove yourself from relationships in order to focus on that goal well how do you feel I mean you your father as well it's the sacrifice it's yeah that's a big part of not to tell my story it's a big part of why I'm here in La at Apple was that I was touring and touring and DJing and DJing and I realized that it was going
to be one day I'd wake up and my kids would be we would love each other as much as we do but but I wouldn't know them as well as I want to so I made that call I made that call how old are they you mind me asking one's 18 and 116 and and my wife and I we've been married 25 years this year like my family situation is something I'm exceptionally grateful and for and proud of but those decisions
had to be made because I realized thankfully that I was making a sacrifice of course of course for money and for shows and for adventures and things like that but it comes at a cost and the cost was the people I care about I wasn't getting to build a balanced environment with them so I totally relate to that feeling that you're having thank you and and you know I mean I it drove a lot of
the inspiration uh for better and for worse but as long as I was you know I vlogged a lot while I was down there I you dized a lot I you know book I I write a lot and and and it is what it is but you walk through that pain you just need to just you just I not to avoid it well you get to yeah CU it's called your craft it's really you need to yeah that's and that's what I think the piano does for me it's just again therapy so
what was a good day what was a good day lifestyle wise down there what are you eating what you drink did you drink did you partake in the one do you drink do I drink I only drink wine um oh bu I'm in provance well that worked out badly and being French and Italian I mean it's it's it's it was it was like you might as well like Southern States barrel-aged whiskey is all I drink so I went to
Rance to make a album and my crew there um the entire team Damian and everybody um they uh they they treated me well and um and and and the dinners uh I'd say Farm a table beautiful that's as well something that I realize how important food is I I know know that again not everyone's able to do but when you say when you eat nutritionally well um and I did drink every night even though I I used to I'm like I said it's
part of my Heritage to have a glass or two of wine that's it just wine and water that's all I drink um but there of course it was just there it was just ontap and you know I would I would always have a glass or two by 8:00 and 9:00 and I would let that after hours because I had a strict regime when I was there Zayn is like I would get up at 7 o'clock sharp I'd be I'd be at the gym
by 7:15 and there's like a really cool raw gym there I'd work out for an hour to an hour and a half then I'd have breakfast and the breakfast was delicious just like Farm the table and then I I I'd shower and I would uh basically record from say 10: a.m. to 2:30 have a quick lunch like because I already had a big breakfast but I remember this well I was back in the studio by 3 3:15 and I would record till
about 6:30 7 o'clock and there was that was golden hour and I would take a walk just reflect would you listen back to anything you'd recorded in that work sometimes but I when I was even listening I Would Walk The Room in the studio and that's I I always call it that that's the best way to listen to music is when you're not in it yeah yeah yeah remove you have to remove 100% you
can't I can't even be physically SE seated at the piano I have to be walking and doing something else it's the sweetest spot I think when you've made something for a period of time and then you're just distant away from it that when you press play on it for the first time you don't recognize it right that's when you're like wait oh good I've got fresh ears on this of course fresh ears yeah and and then I'd
have dinner um and dinner was exceptional it was uh mean some of the best soups it's a stous thing soup is like the soups are like Richard Clayman I mean they get a bad WP but soups can be delicious I often would someone would say what do you want for dinner soup I'm like really is it Monday oh God why are we having soups you know good soup man ah good soup and uh and then pop a
bottle and let's go that's what when the wine began and I would see what surprises would come from say 9: to like 11:30 to midnight and repeat it sounds like a beautiful life down there um it certainly is a prestigious environment to create music there's an admiration for art and a reverence for art and an artists just general there and and the vibe there is to sort of support that
time uh to give you that time that that sort of space to to to do something and not really say you make up excuses for yourart like I came back and even though you know in hindsight you I wouldn't make you know how a director will say I'd love to change that scene I didn't have enough time to do it I I I I don't have that with that it was like you said it's a feeling and I just let it be and
it was encapsulating that moment there's a song on the album called you can't run from yourself and it grabbed me very much and there's there's a couple of ghost notes in there little moments in there that you play that um are beautifully I don't know what they'll be a more technical term than I would have but I I refer to them as almost sort of discordant but they they provide such beautiful a beautiful twist in this
otherwise really lovely Arrangement and it's clear that that's the that's the wrestle that's going on this idea of like hang on the uncomfortability is the point I think in that that's good ear though I mean that one is fully one take and it wasn't composed it was just an improvisation da da da da so why did you call it you can't run from yourself because uh I think I was trying to do
that for many years um and that piece of music spoke to you on on those terms yeah I mean I think that's what why I was I am and was a workaholic especially in the pop side of things just trying to just not deal with certain things in my in my heart and uh it was easy to get just stay an extra five hours every night in the studio and make that vocal that much better I call it
self-destruction by Distraction yeah yeah so I mean I mean I'm I'm aware of it now I'm I I'm more or less over that but um but I mean you know I've struggled with that as well and that song just seemed like a very apropo title very interesting that you found a piece of music through improvisation that perhaps was a was a Clos of some Loop there if you name a piece of music that then really it's an acknowledgement
and by acknowledgement it's a sense of awareness of the issue huh I I mean it's it's in sorry like the just back up there for a second what you said you back up there sorry sometimes people tell me what to do again really it's a fight or flight man I can't help it it's like you know someone says hey can you you know what do you what do you think what do you think oh
my bad sorry it happened again I can't believe it you're a gangster no more than you what you going say probably no you were saying that I found a piece of that kind of encapsulated a feeling through improvisation I I I guess that's what it is I think we subliminally when we talk when we are our loosest if that's a word like when we're just talking conversation that's when the most honest things come out
facts and there's a piece called sea change on my first album of tales of Solace sea change was is literally 2 minutes and 52 seconds long 2 253 and it was an improvisation as well I I don't I barely remember it but when I was listening back to the hours and hours of of of those recordings I stumbled upon this perfectly thing and it became one of the singles if you will and it was
you know on top of some a lot of The Big Chill playlists and all of a sudden three four years ago this song was streaming over a million a day for piano music that's a lot like you have one piece of music that's streaming streaming over a million times we're not talking a pop song we're talking just and then that song became so transcended that was during the the the Biden campaign and Springstein ends up using
it for his campaign speaks poetry over it's in all these ads and syncs and had I not caught that sort of 2 minutes and 53 seconds it wouldn't have literally put me in that place to be was leading is not the right word but to be a leader in this genre and and that that piece of music was really important these little micro decisions that we sometimes we we take for granted we got to realize as producers you have
to pay attention cuz sometimes it's those those tiny details which are the most important ones that will you know change the world that's the magic of it to me is that it exists at all times look it's frequency we all know this we we we I'd like to think that as we struggle to relate to one another at a pretty pretty intense level right now on a macro scale that somewhere deep
down we we're kind of pulling away the these kind of really tough layers and we're realizing that actually the the simple truths are already there they're just we're just burying them the frequency is there and we just have to tap in and music to me has always been the great the great sort of north star of that of course principle I mean all of us who are in it because we love it is is that's why we're into music it's
an emotional thing period And I just one of the things I've learned to love more than ever is the fact that I know less about it the more I know it and listen to oh that's well said yeah you know I I I know less and less you would think after a life of of dedication to mus I would I would listen to the way those chords put together and feel like I'm I just know it but I actually know it less
in a strange way and I think that I think it's just I think it's it's it's how we apply it to our life it's how we choose to choose to lean in or lean out correct there's a lot there it's a life and service really and being served by beautiful art it's beautiful the music I do now again is is perhaps a bit selfish it's is there to serve and help me through my own thing and it's working
isn't that funny how that works Joanie Mitchell said if you can't move yourself you can't move anybody else right or you can't move the world so it's like she also said God is dead nii nii is dead God did she say that she was on stage at the Hollywood the other day oh she was she just leaned in and just went God is dead nii and then she took his and she went nii is dead God how brilliant love greatest shortest
joke I've heard in a very long time oh my God you get the last laugh yeah Joanie Joanie Joanie Joanie does to God she's still she's still part of everybody she's affecting everybody now which is wild what's your favorite joury sort of do you have a now favorite album or uh my favorite record by or favorite song um is Cactus tree wow yeah it's the tuning on the guitar it's the lyric
um I mean only recently I'd say in the last few years that I've actually paid attention to that lyric from a female perspective and what it means and and it and and musically it's stunning here's something people don't know is is I I've listened to so much Joanie and she doesn't she wasn't educated in the guitar right so she came up with her own sense of tuning which is really cool so in by doing that she she
developed her own diction at the guitar and I'm trained and yet at the same time i' I've I've also uh tried to undo all the rules I've learned in classical In classical music right so with by listening to Joanie I crunch chords in the same way that she would Crunch and add just notes that you wouldn't think belong to that chord and I try to approach sometimes my my solo piano music like a folk guitar player who just
who has these really these interesting tunings I mean even like when I was at miraval or even when I'm trying to come up with different ideas I've got to get out of my own head right saying I've got we all have if I put my hands down they'll fall into a typical place where staff and mau's hands just fall down the piano but if I'm saying let's try to do something different I will reverse my
hands for example and I just do that and just to sort of like from an ambidex perspective and try to come up with different creative ways to force your brain to and it's it's amazing because you know I am inbex not because I'm um I'm gifted because I was I grew up in a Catholic um upbringing and I was told not to write with my left hand so I had to develop that as a young child but I have a strong left hand and
sometimes it gets in the way cuz I I'll sometimes add two three four notes sometimes in my left hand it's dense and I'm trying to just keep things as essential as possible now but anyhow a lot you know Joanie Joanie godmother whatever you want to call her she's she's she's she's infected all all the great ones yeah I mean just the just the sound on those records going back and
listening to them now just hearing jao play and just hearing the way that everybody was just just like serving one purpose to bring those stories to life and to get and to give them the most amount of connectivity because they're not the most universal stories like Refuge of the road everyone's going to be able to relate to that you they're very personal stories and some of them
very harrowing and yet the musicality and the arrangement around them was so nurturing and loving that um it's just I just love it when musicians come together and serve one goal yeah which is to make you feel something yeah just to just to just to give the song life and let it go and improve life cuz that's really what music is designed to do is to is to make life better that's it is that simple
it's really that simple yeah man what a great conversation I'm glad you get to have it with all of us on this Fiore radio man this really cool idea which um which has kind of come out of this really beautiful relationship we've developed here at Apple with you right over the last few years and um collaboration seemed very natural and now we also get to put it into an environment which I'm very passionate
about which is this this this new chill radio station and I mean it's anyone who's listening to this will understand that just through the nature of this conversation that both of us care about this environment um that we understand the pitfalls of it and what how and and how it's perceived right but also that we see the opportunities we see opportunities yeah absolutely to to to
bring it to people in a in through a modern lens and really inspire people through what is quote unquote considered chill in all forms you know I leared that through the process of recording F more radio um you always start with an idea and and well said to your point it has become firstly for me a very enlightening experience like I've done so much research search on the show I brought my skills as a musician as
somebody who's been devoted to music his entire life and it's educational if you will um and I think in a modern way for the most part it's a beautiful show I mean there's moments of real production in there that only you could really think of for the moment when you talk about silence and then you let us sit in silence and also just there's a lot of really beautiful reflection in there but
it never and it feels like we're on the road it feels like we're on a journey with you each time which I really love um it doesn't feel like you're reading off of a script in a studio somewhere I feel like wherever you are is is where you is where the picture is being painted yeah and I again tried really hard to do that even though I I I the first few episodes tried to do them
completely unscripted and it didn't work for me well it's hard mate not everybody can do what I do you know what I mean challeng a kick where's that button please I got jum one on myself you know what I do I do I do have one of these embarrassing here you go that one fellow Canadian Drake with that little drop they appreciate that oh my God that's so good yeah no it's true it's it's hard and but
what I like about it is that it's been it's been lovingly prepared oh that's that's well said that's that's what it is when I listen to it I feel like my time the amount of time you put into creating something artistic through this radio experience the least I can do is spend some of my time in enjoying it it's so thoughtful a show and I say that not to because I I think each episode I
spent Stefan just called himself very very thoughtful embarrassing we're tied now yeah one one I I will beat you at that I will be the most embarrassing trust me no I don't know I need that button over here now every um but lovingly yes I tried I I I tried to just give like you said if you're going to sit there with me for 58 minutes or an hour um I want every you know second to count as a pop producer
that's what you do right what you do man every second counts in in 3 minutes and 10 seconds this radio experience must been a nightmare for the perfectionist in you cuz you don't want to be improv with your radio show I mean it's no but I mean no but what here's you know I again I've always said this in art when people think I got to be free and there's no boundaries but no art Freedom
only comes with boundaries right goal po right there there's no game there's no football game without lines there's no hockey game without boards so the same thing in art it's until you say so for example my piano albums I go I am not going to put another instrument on these albums that's a boundary that's a boundary that's without framework you don't execute you just keep creating because otherwise you don't know the end
and and then you make up excuses and it's never ever done and I'd like to think of myself as a completer somebody who completes the job in production because there's not there's people in art who just have a plethora of Unfinished products and and projects for example say in their garage or in their studio and and it's not done but I there's for me there's there's a beauty in sort of saying um you know what no
more BR Strokes on it it's that was that moment that was that time and that's what it represented moving on you know a friend of mine said to another friend of mine I love giving um quotes that are first taken and third person all on the same time uh he said uh the good news about finishing I do it in a British accent cuz it's much better in his accent he said good news about finishing
something is you get to start a new one you do and I think that gets lost on a lot of people when you get stuck in that sort of loop of like it's not done it's not done it's like you're denying the opportunity to grow and learn something new yeah well said there's nothing else I can add to that it's uh it's growth everything's about growth for me look at the life you've built for
yourself through through fire and brimstone in in some in some parts I know you've been through challenges M first time we met other you were very very transparent with me I really appreciated that you felt very comfortable and you told me you know you'd come through some some personal changes in your life and you were you were setting a new pathway for yourself and so you've been through all that now
you now you sit here you take stock and you get to put music out you've backed yourself as an artist you're backing yourself as a human you know you're acknowledging these these parts of your life and trying to move forward what does what does growth look like for you now what does the future feel like as a as someone in at this point in your life just uh touring I'm really exciting
about bringing mus not the I was looking for let's rewind like exp just like it's really good question you know okay yeah you win that was embarrassing embarrassing I hit you with the Deep one and and I'm like so at this point in your life having been through fire and bstone to come through the other side as a human being who takes a good long look at himself every morning and in the mirror and says you know what I'm
growing I am who I am where is growth to you and you go I'm going on the road mate sell some hard tickets get the lights on what do you what kind of answer do you expect here oh God you know I don't know growth right now it's touring let's focus on touring so you're going to go on the road I am I'm going to go on the road uh in 2025 I'm kind of going of try to go all around the world can you take your
family with you I mean this is a kind of experience with your 12-year-old During certain breaks in in schooling it depends at the time of year absolutely I you I've got a daughter now who's in um she had a very very exciting Art School uh here in the country and she's the photographer amazing and uh she wants to just you know shoot me she shoot everybody you know from a a photographic
perspective and she's she's Uber talented so um yeah that's definitely in the cards that's really fun I mean I think I think that's where the roads meet and all of the all the sacrifice and the hard work suddenly starts to come to 100% yeah this is where a lot of the fun comes in as a as a parent I think and sometimes you know there's a song on my album called 19 years and and um 19 years uh Peter Adia who's a podcas
or doctor uh from Toronto once said you are lucky you know if you lived uh to have 19 years with your kids the first 18 years is raising them in your house the last year is an accumulation of them coming back to you from holidays that's is the average you know if you live to be 72.5 years old or whatever you and this for the 19 years of the accumulation or is the extra year on top
of the 18 extra year on top so 19 years is what you have with your kids and I don't think I've had 19 years ruin no no it's going to ruin you so the song is so personal you'll see it's dry it's in your face it's like these singular notes it's just me going holy yeah like I mean what have I done like what have I like so so with that awareness and kind going I've worked my ass off
but I you know I'm No Regret but I have to really just do things differently yeah the way I look at it is like when the K when the kids leave home man like it's a real transition and they start that start to happen as parents we're always going to have a job yeah that's a job it's it is yeah absolutely and it's the greatest job on earth when they leave you get promoted right and you still miss some of the pots of
the old job W that's that's that's great where the sadness is Miss some of that job I liked I liked some of that job but if you look at it as a promotion look at what I get look at look at the elements of the job I could never have had when I was The Guiding principal of your life no well you know you know who can thank for that Apple they this this ridiculous thing for like you know on your phone
when your memories come up from 10 years ago when you're like your your your 13-year-olds one crushes me honestly every other day Comey really going to put that in front of me really I'm constantly taking screenshots so it's back at the Forefront of my my camera roll I can't find it I'm just like I'll never find that again it just be gone I've got to screenshot that can you imagine if
we were charging for screenshots what a business model that would be that that would be a business we would be smashing that wouldn't we you know put it in your photos surface it by chance then bury it in 25,000 photos well you got a screenshot at that'll be 10 cents a screenshot 10 cents would be yeah we' be billionaires I think I've had fun bro thank you me too let's do this again sometime and um man you know
the music you make is is it there's nothing more I can say man it it's for those people searching for the feeling of of things and you really know how to conjure it and whatever decision you made in your life to go forward and and to focus on this at least for now was the right one from my perspective that means the world from you thank you thank you brother good to see you [Music]