043: BJ Barham
On Episode 43, we’re joined by BJ Barham of American Aquarium. A few weeks back, we sat in front of the Blue Light stage for this 30-minute conversation about their upcoming album, Things Change, working with songwriter-producer John Fullbright, and AA’s newest lineup change that happened only a few months back.
Interview Transcript
Note: Transcripts aren’t always accurate since they are computer automated and haven’t been edited for spelling, grammar, etc.
Thomas Mooney 0:04
Everyone, welcome to episode number 43 of the new slang podcast. I'm Thomas Mooney, the editor in chief of new slang here in Lubbock. And this week's episode is with BJ Barham of American aquarium. This was originally supposed to come out last week, but unfortunately last week, I was sick with the flu the entire time. So that was a whole lot of fun. Yeah, anyways, I guess last last weekend, American aquarium, they played here at the blue light here in Lubbock. And that's when we did this interview was round soundcheck. So it was a lot of fun. Um, what's really interesting about seeing American aquarium this time around is that their first show is like the as the new lineup was here in Lubbock, and seeing them, you know, four months later, three months, three and a half months later, how much better they've gotten as a band, how much more comfortable everyone is onstage? I think it's kind of funny is that, you know, that first show, you could see that these guys are they've all been in these bands, and they've all played, you know, 1000 times. And they're cool customers, I guess. But still, there's like this, like, the lights were in their eyes. They're all kind of nervous that first time through. And this time, you know, three and a half months later, they've played so many shows together in such a short amount of time, they've already recorded a new record called things change. It's going to be coming out in the spring. And yeah, you can just tell that they they're a band now. And so yeah, we talked about this new record that coming out the transition between bands, why they were able to get inside the studio. So quickly, working with john fullbright, all that kind of good stuff. So yeah. I'll go ahead and just stop talking on this little intro and go ahead and get to the interview with BJ. So yeah, here it is.
Like last time you guys were here. It was like the first show that you guys played the very first show of the day lineup.
BJ Barham 2:23
Yeah, it was a butterflies and nerves and watching a band that had met each other. Three days prior. start something new. It was a fun. Yeah, it was loose. It was sloppy. It was nerves. It was moments of brilliance. It was a lot of different things on one. Yeah. But it was a hell of a starting point.
Thomas Mooney 2:47
And what have you learned about this band since then,
BJ Barham 2:50
ah, this is the band. This is 20 years from now people look back at America Graham and this is the band. This is finally surrounded myself 100 people that want it to be 100% It's amazing. What positivity does, it's amazing what people what you can get down with people that want to be at their job.
Unknown Speaker 3:15
It's,
BJ Barham 3:16
it was an eye opening experience. I started American aquarium in college. So American aquarium was all friends. Anybody that ever joined the band, it was like a six degrees of, of me and one of their friends recommended them or something. This is the first time I went out and I recruited professional musicians to play in this band. And it's night and day. It's It's awesome. He's getting on stage with them every night, they're happy to have the work and they're happy to be involved with something that they can stand behind. And I'm just happy to be able to carry the songs on so yeah, love. It was a it was we still talk about that show. It was like the first time or like, we got up in front of everybody. And we said wow, this is this is gonna click and this might actually work.
Thomas Mooney 4:03
Yeah, well, like, one of the things too is like, basically everyone in the band had been a part of like really major Lubbock staples at 1.0 basically single
BJ Barham 4:13
person in Texas called the right man, you got like a super band, like you went out and you've got like members of other bands that we all love. You know, I think I think Ben Hussey might be more famous in in this band and I every show we go to you know there's there's six market fans that show up there's you know, damn coils, there's statesboro review, like all the bands, he's been a part of, they come out and they recognize being immediately or will load in, and whatever they're playing over the loudspeakers. He's like, Oh, I produced this song. Yeah, I produced this one too. Oh, I remember not produce this one. And it's, it's just amazing to be surrounded by such talent, especially in say, Texas. When we're here, it's like all these dudes. I don't have to tell them anything. It's like they know all These clubs, they know all the people they know all the Booker's and the sound guys and it's it's, it's pretty awesome.
Thomas Mooney 5:06
Yeah. Well, I mean, one of the things I think probably surprised a lot of people was not just like you going on with another American aquarium, but like, in turn also, you guys are releasing a new record pretty soon. Yeah, that's a really a quick turnaround that was there like ever any thought that maybe I'm going to use the songs for another BJ barn record? Or was it always just kind of a.
BJ Barham 5:31
So the Rockingham in like the fall of 15, I guess. And those were the last songs I wrote for two years. The last couple years of the band were tumultuous. They it was toxic, it was a lot of negativity. And my creativity is not conducive to negativity. It was too much of just people, we were all done. We were done with each other. And we tried to it was like the, the marriage that tries to you know, make it last for the kids. You know, it's like, we tried our best to make it work. And it just didn't, and it fell apart at the end. And over the last two years of the bed, I didn't write one single new song. And that's a problem. When I call myself a songwriter, and other people call me a songwriter. And I make my living writing songs. Yeah, when I go two years that writing a song. That's a problem. Within the first two weeks of this band joining I had a new record written. And I don't think that's a coincidence. I don't think that's uh, Oh, wow. It just all came to me at once. It was being surrounded by players that were like, excited, and told me it's like, hey, we've got faith in you, man. Like, just sit down and write? Yeah. And so I did. And like I said, it took me about two weeks to write this record. And I couldn't be more proud of it. Lyrically. It's the best thing I've ever put to paper to put to paper. Now I'm in that weird purgatory where the records done, and it's waiting for a release date.
Yeah. And it's like, oh, I want everybody to hear this thing right now. It's I've been putting away acoustic videos. And in my marriage, like you've already put up like six acoustic videos, you need to like, yeah, leave something to the imagination. But yeah,
it's weird. Because a lot of folks, we're very, very tied to the old band, the people in the band, the music that we made together, that's what they thought of when they thought of this band. And there's a lot of people that, you know, I'm sure we lost some fans along the way, when certain people weren't here. I'm sure they don't come shows anymore. And I'm sure that they don't listen to us as much as they used to. And that's part of growth. I think every band I've ever loved has lost fans with records and lost fans with new members coming in new members going. That's part of this business.
Thomas Mooney 7:52
You know, it's Well, honestly, like, if you think about just how, think about how long y'all were together, and most bands don't make it that far. For sure. In as far as years go, even like your favorite most awesome bands. like they've only had little runs, right?
BJ Barham 8:09
Yeah, like American aquarium, is the only band I've ever been in, I started the band is the only band I've ever been in. And I consider myself extremely lucky to have kept a band together for almost a decade, the same group of guys to around the country, for better for worse. Every night 250 to 300 shows a year, the same people, I consider that a feather in my cap, like in a feather in all those dudes caps, that we were able to put aside nonsense, and the road and substance abuse and countless broken relationships to make it work for as long as we did. And I'll always look back on it fondly. Yeah. But it's a lot of folks like, Oh, are you going to keep the band together? And like, my only response was, of course, I'm going to keep the band together. You know, I started the band. None of those guys were original members of the band. And I still have something to say. So as long as I want American aquarium to keep going, I think it's gonna keep going. Yeah. And for a long time, I denied saying that because it just sounded egotistical. It sounded cocky. But I've been reminded that like, I write songs for this band, and as long as I want to sing those songs every single night, this band has a fanbase. I was worried that people are going to show up. And every show we've played, attendance has went up places that we used to couldn't put anybody in
Thomas Mooney 9:32
Midland, Texas last. That's what Ben was saying last night. We are the
BJ Barham 9:36
next is a couple years ago there. 15 people last night there was almost 400 kids in Midland, Texas. You know, we're selling out San Angelo tonight in Lubbock sold out we're selling out Dallas Fort Worth, Austin green Hall, you know, legendary venues. Yeah. And that kind of set it aside for me is like, oh, people are still paying attention. People still want to hear the songs and I've got a group of guys that Want to play every night. And so it's, I'm in a really good spot. I was in a dark place. Last February, March, when everybody wants everybody quit. I was in a really rough spot, because it's like, imagine your wife telling you, she's leaving you, but multiply that by five, you know, five of my best friends, five of the people that I literally have spent a third of my life with said, we quit.
Thomas Mooney 10:31
Yeah, you're
BJ Barham 10:32
on your own. Good luck. So I'm didn't say good luck. But it's it's I had a dark moment. You know, it was, it was a lot of questioning, you know, the same questions you're asking, like, should I keep doing this? What do I do? Should I just go solo? You know, Will people even respect American aquarium from here on out? And like I said, I'm sure we lost some fans. But what we lost, we gained? Yeah. in multiples. Every show, it's not just Texas, it's all over the country. Our shows have gotten better. And the band has gotten tight in the band. We're a band now. We've played, you know, almost 100 shows together now. It's, it's a machine now. It's tight. It's like we know, the set. And we we went back and we're bringing back a lot of the old fan favorites, that like maybe the last version of the band didn't want to play. They got tired to play in these songs. She's like, yeah, I play that anymore. This page is like, let's play what we want to play. Let's have fun. Let's play what the fans want to hear. And that's really refreshing for me as a songwriter for somebody to dig back to maybe the second or third record and be like, Can we try to play this one again, I really liked this song. Instead of having like eight years, or just being burned out on a song, having fresh ears be like, Nah, I think this was still good man. Can we try it and then bringing it back in? And watching the fans react to it? It's a cool feeling.
Thomas Mooney 11:54
Yeah, well, one of the things that, like just fan bases in general, I feel that they want to believe in the fantasy that, you know, your band's going to go on forever. Or a really great example of this is recently like the whole patriots Bill Belichick and Tom Brady aren't find out. They kind of don't like each other. Yeah. But it's like, you know, a business relationship. And I think people would be surprised not saying that you guys did not enjoy. enjoy each other's company at some point. But obviously, also you can, you can get tired of people and years from now there will
BJ Barham 12:34
be every single one of me in the old guys on stage, we're having the best time of our life. But toward the end, it got to the point where we were like when you go out to eat and see a 16 year old couple that doesn't talk to each other. They're out to eat. They're eating. They may be asked like, how's yours? Yeah, I'll take a bite of that, you know, the conversation was gone. Like we knew everything about each other, for better or for worse. Yeah. And it just got stale. And they got tired of just going through the motions of cuz I wasn't writing songs. Yeah. It wasn't like I was bringing this new stuff to the table and being creative and kind of constantly keeping them challenged. I wasn't, I was letting them down as a songwriter. But one of the reasons I wasn't writing songs is because how unhappy I was. And it was it was kind of this weird. You know, one thing can't exist without the other. But like, for sure, like, there's people that came to shows and they saw six dudes who were best friends playing songs together, I'll never deny that. It was a lot of people were surprised. We were like, yeah, it's over. You know, and then certain members came out and were very outspoken about how I wasn't happy. And this, this wasn't what I wanted to do. And I wanted to pursue something else. And I didn't like this person. I didn't like that person. And people were surprised like, Oh, no, like, we thought it was a perfect like symbiotic relationship. But it was a business relationship toward the end. people showing up and it was a paycheck and and we did we played our shows, we put on the best show we could and I don't think anybody ever came to a show and left nothing and they got their money's worth. Yeah, we always tried to set the bullshit aside for 90 minutes every day and do our job.
Thomas Mooney 14:15
Yeah, well, I always thought you guys sounded so like, just especially near the end there. You just sound it's one of the best man's I'd ever heard live. The first few times. I remember seeing you guys play. I mean, it was more than the, you know, like a bar band kind of like just more energy than you know, a good show. And towards the end. Like you guys just sounded amazing. Like it just felt effortless. You know? Yeah, it was, you know, at that point, we played almost 3000 shows together. If it didn't sound effortless by then we were we were doing something horribly wrong. When you play that many shows together. It has to start like you know, like I said, I'm 100 shows him with These guys and it feels really, really great. Imagine multiplying that, you know? Yeah, like 3000 shows, it's like, we knew exactly what each other were going to do to a fault. On stage. We knew exactly where the songs were going. We'd played them 1000s of times. It was a it was a great, I can say we had a great run. Yeah, me and that version of the band had a great run. But, you know, I'm, I'm looking forward now. Yeah. Well, these new songs. I know like in, in I guess like rockin cam, you had kind of made a little bit of transition where so much of your writings, very first person, for sure. And in Rockingham. There were some songs that were more in that third person narrative. Yeah. How much? Have you continued going down that route of of having a little bit more of that in the
BJ Barham 15:51
aquarium mindset, which is funny that my solo stuff is all like, fictional narrative. That's not me talking. And then all the American aquarium stuff is just kind of really personal. Yeah, almost too much. I'm like the overshare at the bar. songs, you know, it's like, Wow, that's a lot of information that maybe you should have sat on for a second. Yeah. But the new records the same way. It's the new records. The first time I've written about a lot of different subjects, usually it's about, you know, relationships not working out, for better or for worse. And this record is called things change. And it's just that it's everything that's changed in my life since wolves was recorded was recorded the summer 2014. Since then, I've gotten married, I got sober. I had a band quit. I had a band join. We had a presidential election, and I'm having a kid in April. Yeah. Needless to say, the well was deep. Yeah. For what am I going to write about? You know, and then all of that was in front of me. So there's at least one or two songs about each one of those things I just listed.
Thomas Mooney 16:54
Yeah. Well, that last long you guys sound check to the world's on? Yeah, yeah. That sounds super relevant.
BJ Barham 17:01
extremely relevant. It's, it's the first verses about me and my wife watching the results come in on election night. And her cry and not knowing what was going on? Like, how is this even possible? Like, there can't be this much hate in the world? Yeah. And then coming to the realization that me and her lived in a bubble. And a lot of people lived in a bubble, and that a lot of people think differently than we do. Especially when you get behind that voting booth, and nobody else can see what you're doing. Yeah, you know, you know, we have a lot of different views and stuff. And so I wanted I but you know, I wanted to write a tasteful song about it. So the song's called The world is on fire. And I don't think anybody can argue about the current state of where we're a fractured country.
Thomas Mooney 17:45
Yeah, broken country, or two countries, the two countries.
BJ Barham 17:49
And it's a, it's this whole mindset and the whole song, I'm not calling anybody wrong, or stating that I'm right. And you're wrong, because that gets us nowhere. It's just stating that like, I'm getting ready to bring a child into this world. That we think it's again, everybody wants to sit back and think that we live in this perfect country. We don't. There's a lot of things wrong. There's a lot of hate and a lot of animosity, and a lot of stuff that we've thought has been put to bed for 4050 years, that is slowly bubbling back up. And people are feeling like they have the right to say things. Yeah, we thought that we move past as a country in the in the 60s. Yeah, that we haven't. That's obviously still very much a problem. Yeah. So that's just a song that addresses that. There's a few other songs. The first time on a record I've ever been anywhere near political. I've there's love songs on the record to my wife, talking about the struggles of marriage and keeping through and working at it. And there's songs about bands quitting on you, which I don't know how many people can relate to that. But it's written from the point of view of a friend who lost a friend and hopes that maybe one day that friend can look back on the friendship positively. There's songs about you know, my sobriety, two or three songs about my sobriety, there's songs about the new band, and just kind of going out and, and taking the world as much as you can by the balls and and adversity. Yeah, it's the records about roadblock. How do you get past Roadblock, getting past roadblock? And I think it's pretty relevant to my current situation. But I also think that Joe Schmo who's an electrician during the day is going to be to listen to the songs and be like, I get it. I totally get what he's saying right there. Yeah. You know,
Thomas Mooney 19:43
I know like, in the past, you've said that you've been so like, a lot of these records, they come in, like on rock and cam, I know you have a lot of those songs came when you were in over in Europe. And like, I know you've mentioned how one of the records you guys you basically wrote in In the studio for like a month you guys recorded Yeah. So and it seemed like just a lot of your stuff comes in these periods that are just a two week period three week period that just does a lot of what my music comes from. Yeah, well, I know like, that's where you're doing all the writing, but you have like a notebook of ideas that you go back to or are those ideas just all coming at that time,
BJ Barham 20:24
I have a notebook that I keep up with, like the one liners, song ideas, song song titles, I write a lot of song titles and then write songs around titles. But a lot of like one liners and notes and like daily observations, things I pick up that I think are unique, or ways of saying things like traveling around the country, hearing how someone says something or like I, I get dialect thing or Yeah, or regional saying that I think is fun. Or I think that I've never heard the song before. And inserting those in, because I think anytime you can add those personal touches to song, even if it's a fictional song, when you add those small personal touches to a song, it's what makes it believable. Yeah, it's what makes it real. When you can have a character that sounds like some somebody's uncle or somebody. Yeah, you can they believe the song. Even if it's coming from a fictional point of view, it's you have you had enough of those everyday personal elements into it. And it's a real song.
Thomas Mooney 21:21
It's Yeah, lievable. Well, that's like the I think all those little details. That's what makes a bill obviously believable. It's kind of like the difference between you've always had a dream or you've had dreams where they feel so real. But sure. When you wake up you go, Well, that was often the dream, you know. And that's what's the difference between having those like details that really are touchstones for actual life.
BJ Barham 21:45
100%. You know, it's the dreams where you're like riding a giant dragon and chasing a unicorn aren't real, but the dreams where you're like, in your hometown, you're walking around somebody, you know, comes up, says something to you, like, that's what makes it real. And so it's my songs, I try to incorporate those guys that you know, walking up and saying something to you, like I tried to make the narrator of the story, somebody you know, somebody you hang out with a bar with somebody. And I think a lot of people feel like they know me already from, you know, social media or meeting the shows. And so they're hearing these songs, and it's even that much more believable, knowing me as a person. Yeah. That's why I think American greens had success. I don't think I'm the best writer, I don't think I have the best voice. I think I write relatable songs. I think I write songs that people can hear and say, I've been there. I can take my personal life experience and put that into that song. And that song means something more to me now. Because I know where it came from. I think that's why America, Graham's always had success. And I think that's why our fans are so fervent. I think that's why there's so we don't have mediocre American aquarium fans. There's not like, like a song or two. There's guys. Like, I know this entire record by heart. And I have three tattoos on me. And I have like, four handwritten lyric sheets up on my wall right now. Yeah. That's our fan.
Thomas Mooney 22:56
I got a question about the lyric sheets. Yeah. Like, at what point? Does your hand start hurting all the time? Okay. All because like, I came here, who was I was talking with about that. And I was like, is he like, he just asked to have like,
BJ Barham 23:11
you know, bionic, like year round? Yeah. But I promote them at Christmas time, because that's when most people ask about him anyway. And, you know, after you get about 20, or 30, deep on those things, yeah, your hand starts cramping up, I do them on flights a lot. Okay, if I have a two hour flight, I'll just have my Nope, I have my notepad. And I'm just sit there and I'll just bang them out on a flight. And my hands hurt a lot. You know, I'll stop and go sit on the couch, my wife will rub my hand and then 30 minutes later, I go back and get back to it. But at the end of the day, I tell myself, I'm like no matter how much My hand hurts, I guess somebody is willing to spend their hard earned money for me to write down things that I made up years ago onto a piece of paper so they can frame it or give it as a gift or give it to their child.
I'm not going to complain about that.
Thomas Mooney 23:59
Yeah, of course. Yeah. That that's
BJ Barham 24:00
a small thing that I can do to make somebody Christmas or birthday or just day. Yeah, better. And that's where I've always been the guy that wants to go above and beyond. For the people that support what I do. There's a lot of people that think they're entitled to be rock stars that think they're entitled to be the voice of a generation. I'm not that guy. I'm glad my songs mean something to people. And when they tell me they mean something to them. I go out of my way to make sure that my songs always mean something to them. I never want to be the guy that somebody says, Yeah, I met that BJ bomb guy and I had such high expectations for liking him. He was such a dig. Yeah, I never want to be that guy. Because I've met those guys. I've met my idols that I didn't want. I wish I'd never met him. I wish I just listened to the songs and not met him in person because they're terrible humans.
Thomas Mooney 24:47
Going back to this record, Johnny fulbourn. Yeah, he's one of those talented dudes. he's a he's a guy who produced this record. He's got
BJ Barham 24:55
away with songs and words. Yeah, john, is a ofor And, and one of the people that I look up to he's a contemporary, that I am absolutely enamored with his writing. Every time he puts a record out or a song out. I'm flabbergasted at how much better he was when I said, there's no way he can write anything better than, you know. highroad. And then he put something else on your I thought that guy like, yeah, that's really great. And so I just kind of I like making records away from home. And I've made one record and Raleigh, and everything else I made record multiple shows, and they record Oxford, Mississippi and Mater. I tried to branch out and make records. And so I knew that I was either going to make a record and tell us or Memphis I wanted to go somewhere very similar to Muscle Shoals, a place that has a rich musical history that kind of has seen its heyday in a while. Yeah. And Memphis was one of those and Tulsa was one of those. And the deciding factor was john Fulbright agreeing to produce the record.
Thomas Mooney 25:57
Yeah. Well, like, like so many people say, like, you just said, right there. He's one of the great lyricists of our time. And that's what most people think of him as like,
I don't
BJ Barham 26:11
I don't know if many people would think of him as a producer voice though. Like what was what was the like the his records? Okay, yeah. But like, even still, like, what was the ultimate factor of like, even having? Well, him as like his things is a guy that runs a group of songs, and he'd be honest with me, tell me if they sucked or tell me if they were good. And there were a couple moments where he's like, holy shit, this is unreal. And it was one of those things where the boys were like, john fullbright just said, that was unreal. Oh, yeah. We're on the right path. I love his records. Yeah, I
love how nuanced of his stuff he's really good at taking things away. Which is what I think is the hardest thing about having a band is bands want to add and add and add and add and make it big. And Jon's really great about, let's take as much away and it's still have that same bite, as you know, three different guitars on top of things. Yeah, let's take it away. The strip the song away to where it still works on a very primal level. And he was that for us. He was that guy that said, you're doing too much simplified. You're doing too much simplified until it got to the point where it's like, that's the song. That's what it should be. Like, there was one song on the record one day at a time. We came in with a full band arrangement that was a full blown rock and roll Tom Petty song. It was a big bombastic song. Yeah. And on the record, it's an acoustic guitar. He's like, you can't record that with a band. He's
Thomas Mooney 27:37
like, that's a solo song.
BJ Barham 27:39
And the band, we were all just coming. I really like the band verse. He's like getting get in the booth and just record it with an acoustic guitar. Slow it down. And I promise you, and I got in there and I played it. And what you hear on the record is the first take of me playing with acoustic guitar, the boys I walked out, which I think right, yeah, the band should play on that. Like that's, that's the song. Yeah. And we would have never done that. If it wasn't for john Cobra. We had this big bombastic thing, covering up an extremely personal song.
Thomas Mooney 28:04
Yeah. How long were you guys recording this days?
BJ Barham 28:08
We were up in Tulsa for nine days. And we've we got some, you know, fullbright did a lot of the backing vocals and he did all the keys. Byron berline came in and played all the fiddle on the record. JOHN Moreland came in and sang on the record. We really tried to take advantage of Oklahoma. We tried to take advantage of being in this hotbed. This revival of music. Yeah. That Tulsa area is something's in the water. I don't know what it is. But but but, you know, Felker fullbright, Moreland Parker meals at JD MacPherson. Some of my favorite voices of the last 10 years have came out of Tulsa. Yeah. And they're all kind of the same age and it makes me mad, because I'm like, What did y'all Did y'all just get together and decide to take over the world? Yeah, they're absolutely great. And it was really fun to be in that town and be surrounded by the history of that town and going out with Fulbright and meeting the people that kind of were there when it was in its heyday. We did a couple songs. You know, t guardzilla, which is David t garden. He was the drummer for the silver bullet band, who's drummer for Clapton. He was the drummer for JJ Cale. Yeah. And him just listening to stories of guys like that when like, yeah, Tulsa used to be super cool.
Thomas Mooney 29:21
Yeah, no, of course. Yeah.
BJ Barham 29:23
It started. Like I said, you can just see the city changing. Now it's turning in. It's getting back to where it was. It's turning into a super hit music town. Yeah. And we were just happy to be there for a week and a half and make, arguably, in my opinion, the best record his bands ever made. Yeah, I say it about every record, because I'm an egotistical musician that thinks that my most my newest record is the most brilliant thing I've ever done. But sonically, I think this record is, is absolutely it's a game changer for us. I think a lot of people who love the band are gonna love it. A lot of people who wrote the band off a long time if they hear this record, they went Oh, I'll go back and give that a chance.
Thomas Mooney 30:01
Yeah. Yeah. I used to be a major Eric Clapton fan. Yeah. And like Clapton, Mike all his deeds were Tulsa guys. Yeah. Yeah. There's a reason for that. Yeah. It's there's something cool about it, man. Oklahoma is just I think, I don't know, like you said, I don't know what it is about Oklahoma. I think it there's been a lot of great songwriters just in this last decade that have just come out. And and I don't know if it's necessarily like, you know, I was talking with Evan about this is like, it's not necessarily fun living in rural areas, you know, and
BJ Barham 30:37
songwriters came from Podunk towns, because there's nothing else to do except for write about how shitty your town is. And you get pretty eloquent about right and how shitty
Thomas Mooney 30:45
I think that like is one of the major contributing factors is like, I don't know a lot of people have said that about loving over the years is that there's nothing to do here other than, you know, there's not there's not many Trust Fund kids.
BJ Barham 30:57
Yeah. You know, that writes really great songs here. They're not my trust fund kids from Brooklyn, that that, that right, you know, these really blue collar anthems here, I'll give dogs a pass. only give a pass of being a fluent kids still write relevant music.
Thomas Mooney 31:15
But yeah, like one of the only guys who is like, not a Dallas fan, not a dog fan. I think they sound good. And like, I think they would be there like the if, if there was like any songwriter who was like, yeah, dolls is playing my record. I was like, Oh, it's gonna sound amazing. Yeah, but for some reason, like, just the the songwriting doesn't resonate with me. I
BJ Barham 31:35
think Taylor is such a great songwriter. It's so catchy and good. And everything I want. Out of Laurel Canyon. Yeah, it's like it sounds like a Jackson Browne record. And maybe that's why I like it so much. Well, I like Jackson browns, all their stuff sounds so it's distinctively California. Yeah. But it's also like, I'm a redneck from North Carolina. And I can still relate to some of the stuff they're singing about. It's it's kind of neat.
Thomas Mooney 32:00
Jackson Browne was always one of those guys who was like, there's probably like, a three month period was Jackson Browne is the greatest songwriter I've ever heard. He's, like, just, I don't know, like the he had a period there, where his songwriting was just fucking amazing, you know, around the pretender, I think like that area is just incredible. Anyways, though, let's go back to talking about now, like you mentioned, how you like to get into another place is that just too and I know like a lot of people have mentioned this but like to cut off like the the distractions of home of like, you know, showing up and having to go home and like, you know, pay the bills and go get groceries, just all that kind of stuff can interfere with making a record, make it feel like you're making a record. It's,
BJ Barham 32:57
I've done the Rockingham I didn't Durham Bible, the Bible I did in Raleigh. So I've done the records where you can like you go to a treat like a job, you go in from eight to five every day, and you're home to have dinner. I feel like when you live somewhere else, when you're staying in a hotel room every night. There's no distractions. You're there to make a record. You wake up every morning, nobody wants to just sit in a hotel room. You're there to make a record. And at the end of the day, instead of be like, Well, what do I do I have to go that glow teller market stay here. And maybe try to mine another two or three hours of music. Yeah, you always choose two or three hours of music instead of Well, my wife's waiting for me at six. I kind of need to go right in the mill have a great idea. Yeah, but dinner's cooking, you know? Yeah. That's what I love about living somewhere else making a record is removing that distraction, removing that reason to leave right in the middle of something cool. And that's what telsa was tell us it was great. Because I don't know to maybe once also, so I didn't have any it wasn't like let's go hang out with friends. Or let's go get some food or let's go to the bar. It was like we're here to make we're here to do work. We're here to make a record. Yeah. That's what we did.
Thomas Mooney 34:11
Yeah, did a did Fulbright showing you new new stuff. I know a lot of people were like all wanting a new Fulbright record.
BJ Barham 34:18
He made hints to like, I think that recording this record is gonna make me want to get back in the studio. Make another record? Yeah, that kid. That kid could could burp out an idea better than any record I'll ever make. But I have a feeling he'll he'll get back in the studio here pretty soon. Yeah, I think everybody's itching for a Fulbright record. And I think him being in the studio just creating music and I think he's, I think he got bit by the bug. I can't speak for him. But yeah, it wouldn't surprise me in the next year or two. If you see another fullback record coming out.
Thomas Mooney 34:50
Yeah, I lucky like he said, I just I love his records. But
BJ Barham 34:56
yeah, anyways, he's one of the good guys man. He's one of the People are built to brag to my kids and say yeah, I used to know him. The week. No, you didn't dad Shut up.
Thomas Mooney 35:05
Yeah. Yeah. Well, now you wanna go get a topo Chico. Yeah, let's let's get going. And thanks for talking to me. Well, thank you for joining us.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai