Country Artist Josh Ross - Do What You Love Artwork

Benchmarked

Welcome to Benchmarked with Marc Messier and J-G Larocque. We are all in on Leadership, Coaching, Mental Performance, and overall support of those seeking to be the greatest version of themselves. It's all about leading the players and coaching the coaches. We will venture through our 9 Elements of Successful Leadership and bring you interviews with powerful leaders and influential athletes, as well as interesting stories from our time on the bench and in the classroom. Being a good leader requires a continued evolution and growth. This show strives to provide you with the tools necessary to grow and become the best possible leader and have the greatest possible impact on those you lead. Are you ready to level up your leadership and coaching game?

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Benchmarked

Country Artist Josh Ross - Do What You Love

June 14, 2022 • Messier Larocque Performance Group • Season 1 • Episode 24

Josh Ross is an up and coming Country Music Singer-Songwriter-Performer who is as genuine as he is talented. Now residing in Nashville to pursue his dream, Josh has recently signed a record deal with Universal Music Group and continues to race up the charts with his hit songs "Tall Boys" and "First Taste of Gone". Both have hit over 2 million streams.

In this show we share the following:
-Following your heart to get where you want to go
-The importance of balance in lifestyle/health/work
-The power of acting like you can't fail
-Things happen for you, not to you

Connect with Josh Ross:
https://linktr.ee/joshrossmusic

Connect with us:
https://linktr.ee/BenchmarkedPodcast

Thanks for listening to our show. We want to hear from you! Leave us a comment and/or a review.
KEEP CRUSHING IT!

Mizuno

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00:00:00:03 - 00:00:23:01
Speaker 1
Hey team, welcome to Benchmarked the Leadership Coaching and Mental Performance Podcast with Coach Mess and Coach Larocque. Thanks for joining us. Now just a warning before we get started for our listeners, I might start singing tonight. Just a warning. I know you called me the other day in the middle of a Garth Brooks song and my wife was just like, Oh, thank God he called.

00:00:23:16 - 00:00:44:19
Speaker 1
But anyways, I am so excited for this guest today. This is awesome. I've known him for now, man. I think at least 15 years. It's crazy when I'm trying to add up and do the math. Yeah, it's crazy. And I've had the privilege to watch him grow into a successful musician. A songwriter, performer and athlete. He's to.

00:00:44:19 - 00:00:45:19
Speaker 2
This day.

00:00:46:07 - 00:01:08:16
Speaker 1
And I don't know of many people, I don't even know if I want to admit this live in public. The only student who is officially taking me down in a wrestling match, the full takedown so that stories to come still. However, if you know him, you would also know he's one of the most genuine, thoughtful and inspiring people I know.

00:01:09:03 - 00:01:21:03
Speaker 1
He just recently signed on with Universal Music Group and is continuing to climb the country music charts in leaps and bounds. One of my favorite people on this Earth, Josh Ross.

00:01:21:22 - 00:01:24:17
Speaker 2
There you go. Look at that intro, man. We already.

00:01:25:00 - 00:01:26:00
Speaker 1
Buddy. I was.

00:01:26:00 - 00:01:26:16
Speaker 3
Just like, I'm ready.

00:01:26:16 - 00:01:27:09
Speaker 2
To go on stage.

00:01:29:11 - 00:01:29:15
Speaker 3
Hey.

00:01:29:23 - 00:01:43:10
Speaker 1
If you want to sing, you could do that here. This is all. It's all open. So but, man, I know when we JD and I talked about doing the podcast, Hulu went on and the type of people we want on, you're the type of people we want to have on this show, like, is.

00:01:43:18 - 00:01:43:23
Speaker 2
That.

00:01:44:04 - 00:01:51:21
Speaker 1
It's a great story. And I just want to think is you are doing I mean, it is like I've known you since you were in freshman in high school.

00:01:52:05 - 00:01:52:12
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:01:52:24 - 00:01:55:08
Speaker 1
Now seeing where you're at now is just so awesome.

00:01:55:13 - 00:01:57:05
Speaker 2
29, I guess roughly.

00:01:57:13 - 00:01:58:05
Speaker 1
Is that what it was?

00:01:59:02 - 00:02:01:05
Speaker 2
Oh, my God. Yeah, I'm getting old.

00:02:01:20 - 00:02:06:02
Speaker 3
Yeah. Well, let me guess. I was going to say.

00:02:06:21 - 00:02:08:23
Speaker 2
Like, I got the three day legs or on right now.

00:02:09:12 - 00:02:26:01
Speaker 1
Well, I mean, that's the other thing is you and I have been also training together since you were a freshman in high school. And that to me is one of the fun parts, is now when you come home from Nashville and we get to train together, whether we do a lot more lifting now than we used to are then sorry, then we do running.

00:02:26:05 - 00:02:35:18
Speaker 1
We still do a lot of running, too, but now it's more the lifting stuff. But to me, that's that's our sacred time. I really enjoy those lifting sessions that we get.

00:02:35:18 - 00:02:36:13
Speaker 2
And yeah.

00:02:37:09 - 00:02:40:00
Speaker 1
It's also our catch up sessions on on where you're at with life.

00:02:40:08 - 00:02:41:00
Speaker 2
Life stories.

00:02:41:19 - 00:02:42:06
Speaker 1
Man.

00:02:42:10 - 00:02:43:07
Speaker 2
I appreciate you guys having me.

00:02:44:18 - 00:02:52:00
Speaker 1
I got to tell you a story to start off here. Or maybe Josh, maybe you want to tell the story about the first time we interacted in the weight room at school.

00:02:52:10 - 00:03:12:19
Speaker 2
Yeah. So Mr. Massa, Coach Massa, I call him, was probably one of the more intimidating, you know, coaches and I think I met Coach Stacy or one of the other coaches before. And at that time, I was trying to, you know, get in the working out. And I was the cool kid that had the torn off sleeves like you just walk over and pull them off.

00:03:12:19 - 00:03:22:17
Speaker 2
And and I remember walking away one day, and, and Coach Max came up to me and he goes, Hey, you might wanna put your sleeves back on once you're, you're you're by such a bigger than your form's.

00:03:24:01 - 00:03:24:05
Speaker 3
Right.

00:03:24:14 - 00:03:25:06
Speaker 4
I came in, it was.

00:03:25:10 - 00:03:39:07
Speaker 2
Like I was. Yeah, it was, it was it was embarrassing. I was a little, but it was good and good motivation. That was my first interaction. Then, you know, from then on, I was picking fights and wrestling in the weight room. I don't think you're really allowed to do much that now now.

00:03:39:16 - 00:03:57:12
Speaker 1
And I and I don't know if I've ever told you this story. Josh and I'm going to do it publicly right now. But when you actually threw me down, I think I can't remember for you in grade 1100 12 at the time, I tore up my shoulder that day, but I didn't tell anybody because I wanted to suck it up so bad.

00:03:59:03 - 00:03:59:19
Speaker 3
I used to go, I used.

00:03:59:19 - 00:04:02:23
Speaker 2
To go like, you do like three rounds. I always remember it. Three rounds. Yeah.

00:04:03:05 - 00:04:03:11
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:04:03:15 - 00:04:07:17
Speaker 2
And you're always getting down on the ground. I try to get you down on the ground like a headlock kind of things. Like.

00:04:08:22 - 00:04:14:06
Speaker 1
You know, you, you can't do that anymore. You know, the scoop and slam to remember the scoop and slam wham.

00:04:15:01 - 00:04:16:20
Speaker 2
So that's when we had the carpet floor.

00:04:17:01 - 00:04:41:10
Speaker 1
Yeah, the carpet floor now. So you've you've seen a lot of transitions in that. So and one of the things, though, even though I chirped in that first interaction, I thought, you know, I like this kid. He's got some he's got some confidence. He's got some pizzazz in him. And, you know, you came back and that's what I liked was you came back and you continued to come back and you grew and you got, you know, older and you got bigger and you got stronger.

00:04:41:13 - 00:05:06:18
Speaker 1
He got faster so I mean, this is like from where I've known you early on to where I see you now, it's just it's so rewarding and refreshing for me. Because, you know, I saw you as this kid, this young kid, and now you're just you're crushing it and you're just doing it. And so I wonder if you could take our listeners on the journey of like, you know, the you left high school.

00:05:06:18 - 00:05:15:07
Speaker 1
You were you're you're chasing the dream of of playing, you know, football at university, even in the pros and then, buddy, I didn't even know you could sing and play the guitar.

00:05:15:18 - 00:05:31:03
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's it was kind of a weird I mean, I didn't even play football growing up, you know, got in high school and when I met, I think it was it was one of the coaches, I think was maybe Stacy said, you know, you come out drive, you know, the junior football. And I came out. I knew nothing really about the game.

00:05:31:03 - 00:05:51:04
Speaker 2
Honestly, I didn't really watch a lot of football growing up, played a lot of hockey and stuff like that. But quickly love the sport and love the mentality and kind of does the team atmosphere and what that meant and having people beside you that you kind of trust. And so I quickly gravitated towards that. And and then kind of from then on, it was it was lunch breaks were workouts and.

00:05:51:11 - 00:06:15:24
Speaker 2
Yeah, and those be like the famous thing was the, you know, give me a hard time about I was like, where's Josh on lunch? Well, he's working out. Yeah. And then he got into the. Yeah, the getting it full like, you know, the testing and getting numbers up and stats and all that. And I eventually decided I wanted to observe completely applied student to when I first started so, you know, I didn't really have any dreams of going to play at the, you know, the university to play football.

00:06:16:23 - 00:06:38:16
Speaker 2
And I did, you know, bump up all my marks and and kind of start doing that. So that that was a long process in its own. And, and then, you know, I was fortunate enough to, to get selected to play at Western and get a scholarship for football there. And yeah, it's a the singing thing. It was always it was actually we used to have a I don't know, remember Mrs. Lloyd?

00:06:39:00 - 00:07:02:15
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. She was probably one of the only people I ever like actually sang for. And it was like more of a joke. Like, I used to just walk around the weight room when I was, like, working out and, like, belting country music. And people were like, not half bad, but I didn't really take it seriously. And then, yeah, after that whole process, I ended up going to the Western, and I had two ankle surgeries, which kind of sidelined a lot of what I had, you know, thought Plan XL.

00:07:02:15 - 00:07:20:11
Speaker 2
And, you know, the testing numbers are always there, but the the playing in the game, I think I, you know, I spent a lot of time try to play catch up on on the game itself. So for me, that was that. And then, yeah, I kind of led near the end of university. I started just picking up the guitar more and playing around, you know, college university campuses.

00:07:20:11 - 00:07:42:00
Speaker 2
And, and then I entered some of the Emerging Artists Showcases and Ontario Boots Arts Festival. I think that was like my first, my first big show and taught me a lot. Again, I was like behind the behind the curve. It was like, seems like everything I've tried to select in my life, it's like I find it later than other people, but I think that kind of helps motivate you, and I think it's something to be said.

00:07:42:04 - 00:08:01:19
Speaker 2
I remember you or somebody that we talked about playing summer football, and you always were very much like, maybe isn't the best idea because, you know, one, you get burnt out. And do you I mean, I lost my love for hockey kind of growing up just because of how much I was playing it. And whether that be the foreign practices with that or whatever it was.

00:08:02:21 - 00:08:22:08
Speaker 2
So I was fortunate. I found football later that kind of drove me to chase that and, you know, go Western. And then same with music. I musically and immediately, you know, started trying to plant roots in different areas and places and get down to Nashville and figure out what it meant to be a country music artist. And more more than that was a songwriter.

00:08:22:08 - 00:08:24:18
Speaker 2
And how do you say the things you want to say.

00:08:26:05 - 00:08:48:00
Speaker 1
Man? I like and one of the things that's always impressed me is even when you were 15, 16, I always felt like you had a maturity level of a 20 year old and now you're, you're I feel like you're an old soul. Yeah. How did you fall in love with country music? Because I know and I've known your parents for as long as I've known you and your dad's a rock and roll guy, isn't he?

00:08:48:03 - 00:08:51:16
Speaker 2
Dad's like, Yeah, Guns and Roses, Metallica that, you know, and.

00:08:51:16 - 00:08:53:03
Speaker 1
Nothing wrong with that because we like.

00:08:53:03 - 00:09:09:11
Speaker 2
To say that those are our work out, you know, music. But I had a family friend when I was about four years old that introduced me to a guy named Steve Earle. He was a country singer in the eighties that did really well. I was on Corporate Road and I kind of just fell in love with with that at a really young age.

00:09:09:11 - 00:09:27:23
Speaker 2
And of course, you go through the motions of like what's popular music? And I kind of, you know, listened to the rap and pop and but I always love country music. And when I was in the in grade nine and ninth grade, there there was a guy, I think it was Jared, Jared McKinley, I think his name was.

00:09:28:12 - 00:09:44:07
Speaker 2
And he was super passionate about country music. And I kind of got back into it then. So I always kind of loved it and just didn't really realize, you know, what I wanted to do with it. And it's crazy. Like if I were to, you know, look back now and said, oh, no, you're going to be singing for your career.

00:09:44:07 - 00:09:53:12
Speaker 2
It's like, no, there's no way. But it's it is crazy. But it's been a very exciting journey and not dull by any means.

00:09:53:12 - 00:10:19:20
Speaker 4
So and when you talked about you listen to me, you listen to the rap, you listen to the pop as a high school student because there's there's my school students who listen to the show. When you talk about fitting in, I guess that's you know, everyone's kind of listening to what everybody else is listening. I still remember in class, even to this day, we're like, nobody wants to play their playlist because they worry about like it's a reflection of you write your playlist is a reflection of you.

00:10:20:04 - 00:10:26:19
Speaker 4
Yeah. So for you in high school, what was that like? In Utah? And we had a point like, yeah, I am who I am.

00:10:27:12 - 00:10:49:10
Speaker 2
You know, being honest, I think I always battled with trying to like as coach my said was you know, feeling like I was my brother and sister ten, 12 years older. So I was grew up around older people. Even in the ninth grade, I was hanging out with people that were in the 12th grade and I had a hard time sometimes fitting in with kind of my age group based off of, you know, just life experience.

00:10:49:10 - 00:11:07:23
Speaker 2
I think it was, it was part of it. And music definitely that too. Like, yeah, you know, you wouldn't, you wouldn't play your favorite songs because you don't want to be judged on it or you just want to, you know, fit in at the party or whatever after a football game or whatever. But it's cool now because I get to kind of say what I want and this is exactly how I feel about it.

00:11:08:01 - 00:11:09:00
Speaker 2
Say. So it's good.

00:11:09:08 - 00:11:41:01
Speaker 1
You might be one of the biggest cases of why I shouldn't say the biggest cases, but a critical case of what we always say. Things happen for you and not to you. Oh, yeah. And, you know, you think you had speed, you had you had top end speed that, you know, 40 yard dash you were putting up great num your vertical jump to this day is probably one of the best I've ever seen you just a very explosive athlete like with those two ankle surgeries kind of set back your football career.

00:11:41:01 - 00:11:55:03
Speaker 1
But it accelerated a whole other, you know, phase of your life. So you could have taken the option to be like, oh, poor me, I'm not going to continue on playing, you know, pro football or anything like that. But now what you're doing is just on a scale is just so amazing.

00:11:55:12 - 00:12:15:07
Speaker 2
Yeah. I'm like, you know, I've always gotten fixated on something, and for a long time there it was you know, health and fitness. And I still am trying to make it about life. That's life balance. Now, I'm in an industry that is, you know, very health and wellness is, you know, very much off to the side for the most part.

00:12:15:07 - 00:12:43:01
Speaker 2
And I'm finding that balance now is is the key. And and I know that, you know, fitness and health and all that really shaped my life and kind of held my life together when other things weren't. So it's very important, I think. And honestly, recently I've been finding that again. We have you know, it's been a couple of weeks since we caught up that I started that like 75 day hard thing because, you know, I can't be going out and drinking three to five nights a week or, you know, socializing or meals out.

00:12:43:01 - 00:12:54:24
Speaker 2
And it really does take a toll on you, you know, mentally, physically and then also financially, too. So it's you know, finding finding that balance now is has been honestly the toughest thing for me.

00:12:55:17 - 00:13:15:23
Speaker 1
And I've I've seen you kind of morph a lot like you. You're able to. Yeah, I would say you're genetically gifted because you're able to put on muscle, you're able to lean down. But just overall, being healthy, I could see I know we've had that conversation in the last several months about maintaining that healthy balance, balance, eating, drinking, exercising, fitting it all in.

00:13:16:06 - 00:13:21:20
Speaker 1
So now it's not necessarily about like putting on muscle or doing that. It's just trying to get out and be active, right?

00:13:22:01 - 00:13:36:07
Speaker 2
I mean, everybody likes the beach muscles. We all want to look good on stage or whatever it is. But for me, it's the mental. The mental part is the, the biggest thing. And I think I sent you screenshots a couple of weeks back of like I had that renzo's scale where like does your body fat in your weight.

00:13:36:07 - 00:13:52:15
Speaker 2
And I'm like, why is my weight gone up and my body fat going on? But my body water has gone completely down. It's because I'm not, you know, drinking water. I'm dehydrated because, you know, I'm having a bottle of wine or something, you know, and not having this, you know, before bed. So it's like I need water. Yes.

00:13:53:04 - 00:13:54:15
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. It's interesting.

00:13:55:14 - 00:14:05:17
Speaker 4
So how are you able to are you starting to come back to your habits? Like you get away from your habits, you're finding better habits you had failed to succeed. Like, where is where is the plan?

00:14:06:02 - 00:14:30:02
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think, you know, I just I had some critical moments for myself of, you know, is this who I want to be as a person, you know, and do I want to be, you know, the crazy wild singer or do I want to be somebody that's respected long term, too? Like, you know, it's sure it's fun and a lot of fun right now, but it's a slippery slope and I kind of started to realize that I think was the biggest thing.

00:14:31:02 - 00:14:47:23
Speaker 2
And yeah, I'm not one of those. I think everybody is so different. And that's something I've really realized. And what works for, you know, one of my friends or for any of you guys, good chance it's not fully going to work for me. Parts of it, my I've always been one person that takes things to extremes. Like I either completely do it or I don't.

00:14:47:23 - 00:15:06:22
Speaker 2
And maybe that's not the healthiest way to to do it. But it's like I've gone from, you know, not training in three months to now I'm on day ten of two workouts a day, you know, meal prepping everything and it's gone from my body is probably like, what the heck is going on? But just, just finding that for me, that's I guess my balance is just like one or the other.

00:15:06:22 - 00:15:15:20
Speaker 2
And I know I can't do this forever. I'm not going to do this like I enjoy having a drink with my friends and stuff, but I'm going to have to find that balance somewhere in the middle. I guess.

00:15:17:04 - 00:15:18:14
Speaker 4
That the title of your next song.

00:15:19:23 - 00:15:20:13
Speaker 2
On the balance.

00:15:20:13 - 00:15:23:10
Speaker 3
Yeah. And this is in the middle.

00:15:24:00 - 00:15:39:20
Speaker 1
When I consider myself fortunate that it sometimes give me a little sample as we're training. And you're also the other thing to tell you is you're also one of the only people that I train with who I allow to OCS I don't even like let my kids OCS most of the time. But you.

00:15:39:23 - 00:15:40:14
Speaker 2
They love that.

00:15:40:18 - 00:16:02:10
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah, they won't like to hear that. But you can OCS. But one of the things that I've found is like your your self. I find like and since you've started recording as an artist assigned, you're you're the maturity in what you're putting out is just unbelievable. Like the especially I know your last two songs are what is it?

00:16:02:10 - 00:16:14:21
Speaker 1
Tallboys is over 2.5 million known streams and oh my God. And the first taste of gone is just such a great song to like at that one. That's pretty recent still right.

00:16:14:21 - 00:16:35:03
Speaker 2
First came out in February. I think we're about 2 million streams just out today. It's a so it was at 26 on Canadian country radio which is great. But yeah, I mean that's just again it's like the process of, you know, when you first get in the weight room, it's like you're not strong and I mean you're your vocal cords and it's all a muscle it's all draining.

00:16:35:06 - 00:16:57:03
Speaker 2
It's like, you know, learning melodies and learning pitch and all that is very mental. It's honestly crazy. It's very much like training. And I found in, you know, four and a half going on five years of singing, every day I get better. And it's, it's that same like, you know, you go train like you go do vocal warm ups, you go perform.

00:16:57:03 - 00:17:06:14
Speaker 2
And it just it's a it's a memory, it's a muscle memory thing. And just developing that, that, you know, the habits when you sing and how you treat yourself really is what it comes down to.

00:17:06:14 - 00:17:19:01
Speaker 4
So you're you're a reflection of the five people you hang out with the most, you know, if you give us names or anything, but who are those five people right now that you think you're going to guide you, help you, I guess throughout this process.

00:17:19:14 - 00:17:37:06
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, my five I'd always put some of my family members in there just to keep me grounded. I think, you know, for the younger listeners, I know sometimes it's very hard early on. I mean, it was it was I've always kind of at times butted heads with my parents or with what they thought was good for me.

00:17:37:06 - 00:18:11:05
Speaker 2
But having my parents in my corner now has been one of the most beneficial things, especially like for me, being in this probably relates to kids that are in college. You know, you're out with your friends and your closest friends are maybe out five nights a week. And the influences can be really tough. And me now I'm at a point where trying to if you're picking five people, you better pick the best five people that are going to elevate you and, and, you know, make you healthy so yeah, I mean, I got certain people that I know, I was like, this is my guy to go work out with.

00:18:11:05 - 00:18:36:22
Speaker 2
This is, you know, this is somebody that I mean, I got my roommate now he's been prepping with me on Sundays and you know, two months, two months ago on a Sunday, we'd be out, you know, downtown going check out stuff. So it's, it's just having a balance of my five people really for me and you know, I've always considered myself a very close person to and I lean on him for a lot of advice, you know, whether that be on the fitness and nutrition side and then just, you know, life life skills.

00:18:36:22 - 00:18:39:12
Speaker 4
So it's not.

00:18:40:11 - 00:18:48:24
Speaker 1
A I remember when you said you're going to Nashville and I appreciate that, by the way, but I think you give me more credit than I'm due I'm just lucky to is.

00:18:48:24 - 00:18:49:18
Speaker 2
Wearing my T-shirt.

00:18:49:18 - 00:19:16:20
Speaker 1
So I mean, I know I thought I got to wear the Joshua and here's here's one of the things that the reason why I wear this t shirt and I love the message. Do what you love so this is get this up beautifully for me. Josh, can you talk to us about and I kind of remember the transition because we you know, I was always following your career making that decision to move to Nashville.

00:19:17:22 - 00:19:18:06
Speaker 2
From.

00:19:18:12 - 00:19:19:07
Speaker 1
Here. Like.

00:19:19:17 - 00:19:36:21
Speaker 2
Yeah, it was it was a big, big decision. I mean, I started taking trips in 20, 18 and I learned, you know, like we used to go to the Nike spa camps in the states and things that it again is like what leads you to be a better you know your profession and that songwriting is huge in Nashville and then the artist and obviously country music.

00:19:37:20 - 00:19:54:18
Speaker 2
So I started coming here in 2018 and realized you know after spending some more time in Canada that I really did need to be here full time. And when I came out of school from Western, I took a job which had a great salary, you know, probably what some people, you know, dream of making years out of school.

00:19:56:07 - 00:20:14:04
Speaker 2
And I was very fortunate with that job. But I was taking these trips back and forth and my boss, who is actually a family friend, he kind of got to the point where he was like, hey, if you take another trip to Nashville, like you are not going to have a job when you come back. And I remember, you know, so it was a it was a Sunday and I wanted to leave on the Monday.

00:20:14:04 - 00:20:31:10
Speaker 2
And one thing I will say, and it's his name, his name is Kevin you know, he with being a friend. And I said, what do you think I should do? And he goes, as a friend, I tell you, you need to go as your as your boss. You're fired. And I was one of the hardest choices because he's like, I know I have to play both roles.

00:20:31:10 - 00:20:47:12
Speaker 2
And and I left and I came to Nashville and I got here and he's on Instagram or something that, you know, I was making my trip down and I got in the writing room with two guys and we sat there and were trying to figure out what to write that day. And I was about to go cut a record that was $20,000.

00:20:47:12 - 00:21:03:16
Speaker 2
And I didn't really have a lot of money. And one of the guys, Matt Willis, he was like, Well, at least you're doing what you love. And because I literally I literally had a text message from him saying, Well, I guess you don't have a job. And that was a probably a really big turning moment. And in a way, like I was panicking.

00:21:03:16 - 00:21:24:18
Speaker 2
I didn't know what I was going to do for, you know, money and and what I had saved. I was, you know, student loans, student stuff. It's like you're paying for a lot of different things. But if that honestly didn't happen, I don't know. You know, it's like one of those things, again, like meant to be situation where, you know, I would have taken me longer to quit that job or, you know, I would have done like how would that process have happened?

00:21:25:21 - 00:21:42:11
Speaker 2
But it worked out the way it did. And I came back home and after that trip and, you know, live with my parents for a little bit. And then I moved here, you know, kind of pre-COVID time in Nashville, got hit by a tornado shortly after I moved here and then go it happened and I moved back home for a while.

00:21:42:11 - 00:22:05:07
Speaker 2
So now since that, I moved back during that whole COVID stuff and I've been here for about two years. And that's been honestly a crazy balance, too, because, I mean, there's times where I was coming home and I didn't even understand really what was going on in Canada. And not to say that you know, what we were doing here in Nashville was right or wrong or whatever, but I was used to I think it was as of April of 20, 20, like, I mean, I was still going out, no masks, no nothing.

00:22:05:21 - 00:22:21:18
Speaker 2
And then you go to Canada. It was like complete lockdown. 14 day isolation. We're checking on you. I'd have like the OP showing up at the house like it was crazy, you know, at that time dating a girl to you and trying to balance a relationship. Cross Border Covered was also very tough.

00:22:21:18 - 00:22:51:05
Speaker 1
So man I it's unbelievable. And for us we talk a lot about the process in our show and to different people and we apply it to so many different things. And I've thoroughly enjoyed watching your process because you say like I see you, you know on Instagram of you're writing with different people. You're exposing yourself, you're performing, you're putting yourself out there, you're doing big shows, you're you're doing local shows, you're doing all kinds of different things.

00:22:51:24 - 00:23:08:04
Speaker 1
And I think a lot of people see it that the glitz and the glamor and the hat, oh, he's got this on. But I don't think a lot of people are able to really look behind the curtain and see the grind and the process and all that effort that you have to do to put into it just to get a couple of streams right.

00:23:08:04 - 00:23:10:23
Speaker 1
Like. And so can you talk to us a little bit about that?

00:23:11:10 - 00:23:32:12
Speaker 2
You know, that's the crazy thing is, you know, like these dreams pay is a big problem right now we're having in all genres of music. But I mean, a stream on Spotify, you're getting like .002 of a cent, so it's like, you know, people think things are going really well. So first of all, for anybody who thinks that I can tell you right now, all my friends from college are making way more money than I would be, you know, out of the gate.

00:23:32:12 - 00:23:58:06
Speaker 2
And now finally, things are kind of, you know, getting in a better spot for me. But yeah, it's a it's not what it seems. It's a lot of late nights. It's especially like we're talking about the training thing. It's like, well, you're expected to go, you know, right from 11 to four every day, more or less, and then go to an event at nighttime and you're out an event from, you know, nine to one in the morning or nine till midnight.

00:23:58:17 - 00:24:29:01
Speaker 2
And then at some point you're trying to fit in to work out some, you know, and it's it is a lot and it is also an art which I've really realized that the creative space is a very sensitive space. You know, we are very much judged on how we feel. And when I release something, it's hopefully something that comes from a heart, it comes from a real place, and people are going to judge that and I've had to learn, especially, you know, even with the most recent song, which is, you know, what was probably one of the more difficult songs for me to write.

00:24:30:01 - 00:24:48:21
Speaker 2
It's a song that I get to hear every day and it's doing the best I ever have. But I've had to like, you know, understand that people are going to judge that song or they're going to judge, you know, my emotions basically. So here it all ties into it. It's crazy. I mean, I'm super lucky and I'm excited kind of with everything that's going on now.

00:24:48:21 - 00:25:11:11
Speaker 2
But yeah, it's it's a it's an interesting, you know, people's look on Instagram. And I used to I remember seeing this quote once, and I always wanted to like try to find it, but it was something like you see all these couples that post photos or kids that post photos and they look everybody looks happy. And it's like for every for every one photo post on Instagram, there's like a thousand photos that are like not happy, but like, why don't we, you know, why don't we share those a thousand photos?

00:25:12:10 - 00:25:28:00
Speaker 2
So I always found that interesting because there's definitely a lot of those. You get a lot of nos, I think. But when you get that one, yes, it's pretty it's pretty damn cool feeling. So yeah. So I kind of keep you going when you get that one. Yes. It's like, well, all the news or I guess worth it.

00:25:28:00 - 00:25:48:07
Speaker 4
So the add to that and you know, we're broken records right now and saying this, but you're remembered for your successes, not your failures. So like Kobe Bryant has the most missed shots in NBA history. Yeah. Pete Rose for baseball has the most outs. Cy Young, you know, has the most losses. There's so many things. But people remember you for success is not your failures.

00:25:48:16 - 00:26:03:18
Speaker 4
People will you'll remember all your failures. But it's just those that won success or, you know, if you're in sales, you're going to be told no, a thousand times in that one sale, you can be the game changer. It's I can just imagine that must be what you live pretty much every day. Yeah.

00:26:04:02 - 00:26:33:11
Speaker 2
I think I think they say there's you have a great chance of being drafted to the NFL than you do signing a publishing a record deal, which is crazy. Wow. Like a major record deal. And it yeah, it's it's like like I go for meetings still now. I mean things are finally kind of better. But for two, three years I was taking, you know, two, three meetings a week that were nos and or like keep sending me stuff is very much this is a town of well, we're going to keep watching how you're doing.

00:26:33:11 - 00:26:46:08
Speaker 2
And then, you know, once somebody bites and everybody kind of wants to buy it or care about what you're doing, but for a long time, it's just like, keep sending me songs. Keep keep working hard at it, you know, keep in touch. And it's like, thanks for the free lunch, but it's a lot of a lot of nos.

00:26:46:08 - 00:26:48:20
Speaker 2
And and then you hope for the. Yes, eventually.

00:26:48:21 - 00:26:49:22
Speaker 4
So what kept you going.

00:26:50:19 - 00:27:09:02
Speaker 2
I think I think you have to have like a burning desire inside of yourself. I don't think it can be really the people, you know, like, for instance, my mom's a huge believer in free spirit. And having her in my corner has been always awesome. Same with my dad, but they can only say so much and your friends can only, you know, say so much and you have to sit yourself down.

00:27:09:02 - 00:27:36:11
Speaker 2
I think and I haven't been able to do it with a lot of things in life. I don't think like to just have conversation with myself. But music was one of those things where I, like, honestly felt in myself that like I have something to say and I want to show people who I am as a person and hopefully impact people in a way, whether it be, you know, thousands of people at a show or an afterparty at my apartment, you know, it's like music touches people just like sports, you know, like there's a reason why people love it so much.

00:27:36:19 - 00:27:49:08
Speaker 2
It's because it's an outlet and yeah, for me, that's what it is. It's the people. It's it helps. It helps myself. It's my, you know, like going to the gym or like throwing a ball around. It's it's my therapy.

00:27:49:08 - 00:28:13:14
Speaker 1
So you are having an impact. And one of the things that I guess I don't know, I'm biased because I've always loved country music, and I love the rock and roll. So maybe that's why your dad and I get along so well, too, but I find country music. Is that your tell? I know. I've listened to a lot of interviews with country artists, and they say I'm tell I'm just telling a story where I find with people fall in love with the lyrics.

00:28:13:14 - 00:28:44:03
Speaker 1
They fall in love with the song. They fall in love with what you're saying. You're telling them a story. It's a peek into your life, but it resonates with people. And I've seen people comment on your Instagram like, Hey, I love this song. It's helping me get through this tough time, whatever it is, I don't like for if you were a song, I love it because it just reminds me so much of my, you know, just falling in love and just man and like, it speaks to me and I play it on repeat sometimes I know it bugs you because it's on my workout playlist.

00:28:44:04 - 00:28:46:03
Speaker 3
Because that's.

00:28:46:21 - 00:28:58:11
Speaker 2
That's the rewarding stuff. You know, it's like when when you get a message from somebody and, you know, like even today I got one fortunate actually the song got added on all the stations, which is really cool. So they'll be playing and in my hometown or our hometown now.

00:28:58:15 - 00:28:59:13
Speaker 1
Fantastic.

00:28:59:22 - 00:29:20:19
Speaker 2
But, you know, you get a message from somebody, it's like, you know, the song Help Me with this. And for me that's like the super cool thing and whether it be an emotional song like the most recent one or like The Party Fun, you know, both songs of the summer. Like it is cool to see how it impacts people and kind of just yeah, it's it's very rewarding when you start becoming recognized for things for sure.

00:29:21:12 - 00:29:21:19
Speaker 2
So.

00:29:22:20 - 00:29:45:21
Speaker 1
So you mentioned your mom and your dad, and how important is family in this? Because I know your mom, she loves you. You're you're the you're her baby. So to see you chasing this like it must have been tough for them and and I know you're home a lot and stuff like that, but it's I'm sure there has to be a challenge, but like what's the role of your family in all of this?

00:29:46:04 - 00:30:02:04
Speaker 2
I mean, I can never imagine. You know, I think of my parents as like, OK, I'm going to go to Western, get a degree, you know, whether I had scholarship help or not, it still cost them a lot of money. And to go, OK, well, now I'm going to go be a country music singer. One, I have no musicians in my family at all.

00:30:02:19 - 00:30:19:06
Speaker 2
So they're probably like, what the heck does this mean? My mom, again, big free spirit, she's just like, you know, go chase your dreams. My dad is more you know, he goes to work every day. He's probably up at five. He's at work for six. He gets home at three or four. And, you know, he's done that basically his whole life, if not longer hours.

00:30:19:06 - 00:30:42:09
Speaker 2
And I have the utmost respect for my dad in that sense. But I know it would have been difficult for somebody like him where it's like, well, my son's going to got this degree and he's now going chasing this random you know, not random, but it is a very random career. And I think it took it took a while for it to click.

00:30:42:09 - 00:30:58:00
Speaker 2
And again, it's like not saying my my dad didn't believe me because I think he, you know, he always has and from the moment, you know, he's younger and sports or whatever, but it's one of those things where somebody comes into the office at work and goes, I heard your song, your song, song on the radio. And the for him now, I was like, oh, crap, this is actually happening.

00:30:58:00 - 00:31:19:10
Speaker 2
You know, it's like one of those takes it takes a minute for, for everybody to kind of catch on where. Yeah, I it's for my parents. It's definitely been an adventure. And I think my biggest, you know, dream is having my own family someday and hopefully, you know, the music career keeps going well and, you know, I can have my family side stage or on the road and get to see stuff because I think that's a very important thing.

00:31:19:10 - 00:31:36:24
Speaker 2
And I still how to like have that balance because I think that's something I'm already starting to run into and I'm going to have to figure out is I'm not going be around a lot. And what that means is, you know, I'm only home on some weekends or I'm only home, you know, six days a month. Like, what does that mean if I'm going to have a family?

00:31:36:24 - 00:31:56:18
Speaker 4
So my parents perspective, like we're you know, we're talking back to Dad, mom, I'm trying to think from a father's perspective or any even mother, like I'm sure that all they want is the best thing for you. And I'm trying to think my perception of same thing with my dad and pursuing anything where they just want you to be safe.

00:31:56:18 - 00:32:12:03
Speaker 4
They want you to be comfortable. You know, so some things when things are outside the box, which obviously what you're doing is outside the box is scary for everyone, especially probably for our loved ones, just like we just want them to be happy. We just want to make sure that, you know, and that nine to five is a comfortable ride.

00:32:12:03 - 00:32:29:17
Speaker 4
That nine to five job for everyone is comfortable. Anything outside of those like. Yeah. So like it's, you know, me being a father right now and again, I've seen that and that's that's all you want for your for your kids is comfort and safety. I guess at the same time now you're in a different country. Yeah. Cutthroat movie business.

00:32:30:06 - 00:32:31:23
Speaker 4
So I could see I would be super scared.

00:32:32:07 - 00:32:50:22
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, it's a yeah, definitely very, you know, cutthroat at times. And yet being in a different country during, you know, that whole pandemic thing, I think I was one of the first people to get covered and like I almost couldn't come home for Christmas of I guess it was 20 Christmas 20, 20, because I had it like and it was like unheard of.

00:32:50:22 - 00:32:53:24
Speaker 2
Everybody thought I was going to like, you know, not be around or like, what's going to happen.

00:32:53:24 - 00:32:59:08
Speaker 1
You face time to me. And I think you're like laying on the couch or something like that. And I was like, What's going on, man?

00:32:59:09 - 00:33:18:13
Speaker 2
It was tough. Like, for a couple of days, but I remember being like, Mom, dad, like, I'm fine, you know, like all my friends, like, everybody got it at the same time. It was, it was crazy, but yeah, yeah, my parents are I can only imagine, you know, I look forward to being a parent someday, and I guess I can't really say no if my kid goes, Hey, I want to.

00:33:19:02 - 00:33:19:10
Speaker 4
Go.

00:33:20:11 - 00:33:21:20
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:33:22:02 - 00:33:42:10
Speaker 1
But, you know, you're the type of person that I believe when you say you're going to go to Nashville, I say, oh, you're not just going you're going to be successful. That's the way I've always known you. So it's almost like I don't say failure is not an option for you, but I think you've always acted like you are going to achieve what you set out to achieve.

00:33:42:14 - 00:33:42:21
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:33:43:09 - 00:34:01:15
Speaker 1
With a lot of people. I never thought you were coming, but I there is a turning point and I can't remember we'd worked out, maybe had breakfast or something like that and you left. And I looked at the girls and Lisa and I said, he's never come back. Like, he's, he's he's, he's in. We're going to see him.

00:34:01:15 - 00:34:21:23
Speaker 1
He's coming back. But he's, he's, he's, he's in Nashville now. So to me, it was a proud moment. Sad, but it was it was I'm happy for you. And we're thrilled and elated because to see young people doing that and taking that live because it's easy to not do that. It's easy to have the comfortable job like you had and not pursue your dream.

00:34:21:23 - 00:34:25:16
Speaker 1
And that's what we're trying to encourage people is like be comfortable being uncomfortable.

00:34:26:03 - 00:34:43:02
Speaker 2
Yeah. I think that's what forces you to, like, you know, throw yourself in a different country. And I'll tell you one person I literally knew one person this entire time when I moved here. And yeah, you just got to you got to go for it. And I think one of the things I that bothered me the most in the beginning was people say, oh, you went to college or university.

00:34:43:02 - 00:34:56:17
Speaker 2
You have a you have a backup plan. You know, it's like, well, yeah. I mean, technically, I guess I do, but I never thought of it that way. And I still don't to this day. Now I know I can go do other things and, you know, probably excel at something else if I if I want to put my mind to it.

00:34:56:17 - 00:35:10:08
Speaker 2
But I I found that thing. And I think once you find that thing in life that can be, you know, if a nine to five year thing and or sales is your thing like that, that's your thing. And you go be passionate about it and you go be the best version of yourself doing that.

00:35:10:15 - 00:35:34:07
Speaker 4
But it sounds to me like you burnt the boats. So you ever hear that story about being in the boats? No moment. I'm going to I'm not going to get a justice. But basically the Aztecs were basically the they were it basically. Right. They're amazing warriors. And they're amazing. And the Spanish were going to go over and kind of take over.

00:35:34:16 - 00:35:34:24
Speaker 2
Right?

00:35:36:12 - 00:35:52:23
Speaker 4
So they go over and the captain says, OK, we're going to go over there, go to the island, so we're going to take their gold. We're going to take everything. We're going to take over like the Aztecs were. Like you said, they're it. So so they got to the island, the Captain Burns, all of their boats and all the soldiers like, what are you doing?

00:35:53:10 - 00:36:11:04
Speaker 4
Because there's only one way we're going back because we're going back with their boats and their gold. That's the only way there's no turning back. It's cool. Right? So basically what I'm hearing, some of your stuff, like you literally burnt the boats. Like, this is, you know, when you left the mess basement there in the dungeon, you left there basically kind of burning the boats where are you going to do that?

00:36:11:07 - 00:36:20:16
Speaker 4
There's no no other way. And like, you know, people are telling you, you got you know, you have a college degree, university degree back up. But when I just saw your face and your eyes, like, that's not even an option anymore.

00:36:21:02 - 00:36:43:05
Speaker 2
And I think you just got to have once you find that thing and that's what really changes it. And that's what like island completely that I'm I'm more I guess for like my biggest fear of fail, I guess is failure is you know, it's the like letting the people down that also like for instance, like the song that's been doing well and on radio and stuff like that.

00:36:43:23 - 00:36:59:16
Speaker 2
I've had more satisfaction in the people that have been reaching out to me since 20, 18, 20, 19, be like we're so proud of you. Like we always knew like and for me those are the people all along that I've been like, I cannot let these people down because I just like, I always just felt like is like me.

00:36:59:21 - 00:37:19:08
Speaker 2
Like it is myself too. But I definitely, I've always had this like I cannot these people are invested in like, you know, and another thing, it's like when you start paying other people and people, you know, you're paying other people's bills, you know, like you're paying other players. And it's like, if I don't have money coming in, I'm not paying their bills and they're not eating, they're not feeding their families.

00:37:19:08 - 00:37:40:06
Speaker 2
And it's one of those situations where it's like, yeah, you don't really have another option. Like you got to that or you got to go. Like, I built furniture when I first came here because I didn't have enough money to pay studio fees. And I would, you know, off air, but I would sell furniture on Facebook that I hadn't even built yet so I could make extra cash while I was here, you know, like stuff like that.

00:37:40:06 - 00:37:44:11
Speaker 2
And you just kind of figure it out along the way. And, and yeah, it's interesting.

00:37:45:00 - 00:38:08:00
Speaker 1
Man. I like to be and again, you're, you're, you're still young. You're still kind of in the beginning phases of this, right? Like there's is there how how does walk us through that? I'm screwing up here, but walk us through how this relationship with Universal has come through. And because I think this is a big leap for you, is it not?

00:38:08:07 - 00:38:30:24
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, it's the biggest probably decision I've, you know, made in my life, really. I would say in one way, you know, other than maybe moving here or something like that. But it was a situation. I mean, I, I turned down two or three other opportunities along the way and, you know, to play back to my parents, you know, probably like you know, when's he going to accept and like basically it's like an offer, you know, and, and universal.

00:38:30:24 - 00:38:50:04
Speaker 2
And I started talking about three months ago, I had met one of my managers in 2019 at the Alberta Country Music Awards. He was actually more towards manager at the time. And he just said, you know, get your butt down there and start working. And we've always just kind of kept in touch. And it was, it was really weird.

00:38:50:04 - 00:39:03:15
Speaker 2
You know, there's one day I get a text message on my phone and we were like, you know, still talking, sharing songs and stuff. But it was, it was a photo of him taking a photo of a zoom that he was on with like eight people. And it was like universal. He's like, we're talking about you. And I was like, That's really cool.

00:39:03:21 - 00:39:26:00
Speaker 2
And that kind of sparked it. And then, you know, it took three or four months to kind of figure out, you know, our deal points. And I think these deals are like 100 something pages. It's crazy the amount of, you know, languages and something and a lot of learning. For me, it's like, now you business manager, you have a label, you have management, you have, you know, a lawyer, you have all this stuff and things that I'm still learning every day.

00:39:26:00 - 00:39:50:07
Speaker 2
I'm like, What? You know, some things. I'm like, what the heck does that mean? You know, reach out to people on figuring it out. But yeah, it was one of those things where it just it took time and, and it felt like a great fit. I've been very adamant on chasing a international, worldwide kind of approach to country music and not not that Canada's you know, there are certain artists that only play in Canada, which I think is great, and same as Texas.

00:39:50:07 - 00:40:12:13
Speaker 2
Texas does the same thing. But I wanted to travel the world and see the world, and I very much wanted whenever I signed something for it to be structured that that's the approach that we try to make it work on both sides of the border. So I'm fortunate that big part of it's funded through Universal Canada and then also my management and their joint ventures out of Nashville in the States and L.A. too, which is great.

00:40:12:13 - 00:40:12:24
Speaker 2
So I.

00:40:14:04 - 00:40:20:10
Speaker 1
Love it. Love it. No doubt. Just so you know, my offer still stands. I'd love to drive the bus, the tour bus.

00:40:20:16 - 00:40:21:00
Speaker 3
OK.

00:40:21:05 - 00:40:22:19
Speaker 2
And this has been the joke since day one.

00:40:25:01 - 00:40:43:02
Speaker 2
So yeah, I mean, my dad, I'd be surprised if my dad listens to this. Like I think about all these things like I really honestly do. And NASA's always joked about the bus, which, you know, I'd rather him come on the bus and just be like a train. But my my dad's also my dad's also always joked about I want to drive a bus.

00:40:43:02 - 00:40:50:13
Speaker 2
But my ultimate goal and you won't hear this and hopefully someday I can play it for him. He's just not technology inclined like.

00:40:52:02 - 00:40:52:04
Speaker 3
I.

00:40:52:09 - 00:40:57:02
Speaker 2
Would have to send him this link and be like, like, you gotta turn your speakers on and like this, you know?

00:40:57:07 - 00:40:58:08
Speaker 3
Oh, my God.

00:40:58:10 - 00:41:06:00
Speaker 2
But here, I want him someday. Just like, show up. And so he thinks he's driving the bus, and then the bus drivers can be there and be like, you just you're just going to come sit.

00:41:06:04 - 00:41:09:23
Speaker 1
And just and just be a dad and be a proud dad and enjoy it, right?

00:41:10:02 - 00:41:11:10
Speaker 2
Which is that's my goal.

00:41:11:16 - 00:41:31:08
Speaker 1
And, you know, and I imagine like you said earlier, like Gigi and I talk about our own kids, like how much we get just such a thrill of watching our kids doing what they're doing and doing what they're passionate about. It's special. It's actually pretty cool. So, you know, it's one of these things that watching somebody grow and this is like we we call it watering the bamboo.

00:41:31:13 - 00:41:47:01
Speaker 1
Right. And we've said this in a lot of shows before, like it takes like four years to see bamboo even come out of the water and then it grows exponentially so I always think of you like there's a lot of things, analogies, something. And I think that's you you put that time.

00:41:47:01 - 00:41:58:21
Speaker 2
And that's right. I mean, it's been about four. Yeah. For four and a half years. So it's yeah, definitely a little water every day. And and, you know, hopefully it spurts and keeps going. And that's the that's the dream.

00:41:59:01 - 00:42:05:08
Speaker 4
So exponentially that's when I said you said that we're just like, man, awesome. We're exponentially exponential. Is that the.

00:42:05:08 - 00:42:20:22
Speaker 1
Word of the day for the show's exponential? So. Well, it does, right? Like, you know, this to Gigi don't like it, but it doesn't grow like a foot a day after that and or something like that. Like so we talk about it with young athletes. Like, sometimes it's just you got to stay patient and you got to continue to, to, to fertilize it and keep going.

00:42:20:22 - 00:42:33:03
Speaker 1
And you're doing that with your music career, which is really cool. Now, I want to ask is what's the percentage of artists that write their own songs? And this is something I honestly don't know, like because you're writing your own songs, which is very impressive.

00:42:33:07 - 00:42:47:18
Speaker 2
I try. I try to write. I mean, I listen to a lot of outside songs just to just in case there's something that I feel like, you know, I could've wrote or and I want to sing it. But I would say it depends. I mean, some of the bigger acts like, you know, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, they don't.

00:42:48:02 - 00:43:03:10
Speaker 2
And they do cut a lot of songs inside songs. But I say a lot of the newer artists try to write most of the stuff. I'd say it's probably about 80%, you know, or but it's like there's writing and then there's like, you know, throwing a couple of lines in there, getting your name on it. So that's always hard to know.

00:43:03:10 - 00:43:09:10
Speaker 2
Do some people go like, Oh, this artist, you know, wrote this crazy song, and it's like, No, I know the guy that wrote that. And like, he didn't write it.

00:43:09:18 - 00:43:10:02
Speaker 3
It's like.

00:43:11:21 - 00:43:14:01
Speaker 2
It's, yeah, it's funny, but it's.

00:43:14:01 - 00:43:18:01
Speaker 1
Like most of our stuff, gee, we kind of just snap most of our stuff. Sticky eyeballs, right?

00:43:18:10 - 00:43:20:10
Speaker 4
Yeah, I could do that now.

00:43:20:19 - 00:43:35:20
Speaker 1
How do you like a lot of our talk as a live performance and mental performance? Like when I see you on stage, what goes on like in the preparation to go on stage and perform? Like you seem like you're having fun, but do you ever kind of like sit back and be like, what is going on right now?

00:43:36:03 - 00:44:00:02
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, I always remember like that 20, 17 budgets. It was very similar to playing my first football game and like starting and I remember distinctly throwing out before I played the game and I did the exact same thing before that. My nerves are so bad that I literally threw up before I had to go sing. And I still get I think that's a great thing, by the way, is like having that nervous used to get mad at me all the time before games.

00:44:00:02 - 00:44:16:01
Speaker 2
You feel like you're so stiff in the warmups. He'd be telling me like, go chill in the locker room and wait for a while until I come back out before the game because he'd just be like, like you're like a bag of bricks. It's like. And I still. I think it means you care. Like, again, it goes back to I mean, obviously it's a fine line.

00:44:16:01 - 00:44:31:24
Speaker 2
You don't want to, you know, disrupt your performance. Too much, but I think if you're just like, oh, yeah, like, it's another game. Like, where, where's your is? If I think if it matters that much and your heart's in it that much, it, it makes you feel that way. And and so, I mean, my, my pre, you know, of show rituals.

00:44:31:24 - 00:44:39:24
Speaker 2
I just cranked music with my, my band and we do like a little Salvatore shot and go up on stage and go and do the thing. So it's.

00:44:40:04 - 00:44:40:08
Speaker 3
Like.

00:44:41:22 - 00:44:42:09
Speaker 2
What's that? Sorry.

00:44:43:00 - 00:44:44:11
Speaker 4
No, go ahead. I'll let you finish before.

00:44:44:20 - 00:44:51:23
Speaker 2
That's that. That's it. Yeah. We just do, we do that and then after just, you know, kind of hang out and, and depending on what's going on the next day. So yeah.

00:44:52:08 - 00:45:10:12
Speaker 4
The performance itself. So you're going through the concert, the game and I'm trying to sound like an know help talking about. But isn't there, is there focus points, is there resets, is there, is there something mentally happening through the process or during.

00:45:10:19 - 00:45:29:04
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean depending on the show, like a lot of people don't realize like we were like I wear those like they call me in ears and like a lot of our you know, we spent a lot of time rehearsing and it's like going to practice like in everything's in your ear. Like you have a clicking cues like, you know, like the song is saying to a click, like everything's on time.

00:45:29:07 - 00:45:48:18
Speaker 2
Like in certain shows, it's like you press play and you know, your show is, you know, 44 minutes and 37 seconds long and that's all you got. And like, you know, in between, for instance, like, Tallboys, we have like a breakdown and, you know, I'll run out and spend time with the crowd, but in my ear I got like, OK, you got four more passes and you got to be back about like it.

00:45:48:18 - 00:46:03:20
Speaker 2
It's telling me that and everything's very like, so you're focusing on a lot of, you know, different things at the same time, which is really cool. But yeah, I definitely like learning, you know, crowd engagement and, and, you know, taking certain moments and, you know, when's the last time to like engage with fans and that kind of stuff.

00:46:03:20 - 00:46:13:13
Speaker 2
And this is, goes back to the fitness. I got to get fit because things are panning out the way they are. I'm going to be busy and I'm going to need to running around on stage and singing is quite hard.

00:46:15:11 - 00:46:27:07
Speaker 4
But I want to share so I want to share a story with you. I think it might be beneficial if not just be a great story that I tell you anyways. Yeah. So Joshua Simonov, he's the mentor performance coach. Sorry, he was at the time for the Sydney.

00:46:27:20 - 00:46:31:03
Speaker 2
OK, you know, that is an event a bunch of year.

00:46:31:15 - 00:46:45:09
Speaker 4
Yeah, there's, you know, amazing there. So he's a mentor, performance coach. He was there and now it's our other friend under the chance to be on the show here in the near future. He's a new performance coach, but he was working with one of the clowns and it's the clown from Vegas. I wish I had the picture. I can show up in the show.

00:46:46:04 - 00:47:00:17
Speaker 4
So we talked to him. He's an older gentleman. He said, how he goes, how do you because they do like 400, I think 15 shows a year. Like it's just crazy the amount of shows they knew because how do you do the same show every day? And the clowns like I can't remember the gentleman so I got to say clown.

00:47:00:18 - 00:47:17:13
Speaker 4
I feel bad saying that he was how do you do the same show every day and never do the same show every day? It was just like we talking about you know, when they brought me here to Vegas and they said, this is, you know, it's a set place, a residency. Yeah, yeah. This is where we're going to be in this where you're going to do.

00:47:17:13 - 00:47:35:11
Speaker 4
And it was I walked in there and I picked out one seat and the whole stadium was I picked out one seat. It was every day I do my show. My job is to make that person in that seat. Laugh, because you said it's a different person every day. It's can be somebody. It's a bachelorette party. It could be somebody who bought the tickets and saved their whole lives for this.

00:47:35:17 - 00:47:47:14
Speaker 4
It could be a CEO of something. It could could be a little girl, could be a little boy, Make-A-Wish, whatever it is, it's always somebody different. So I'm always trying to meet that specific person. Laughs. So it was I never do the same show twice.

00:47:47:22 - 00:47:49:04
Speaker 2
That's cool. That's neat.

00:47:49:09 - 00:48:08:04
Speaker 1
I love it. It's almost like you're you're repeating yourself, but you're doing it to somebody else. So you get a different energy back type of thing. And that leads me to the idea, like if you played Boots and Hearts, which is a massive show, you play bars and stages in Nashville, you have a preference, and what's the vibe like there the difference.

00:48:08:14 - 00:48:31:14
Speaker 2
I somehow for some reason, I for for fun purposes, I enjoy like the larger crowd. I think in a way you can kind of get away with more like not that you can make more mistakes, but like you can, you know, you can engage more if you need a moment, you know, you can make the crowd sing or you know, that kind of stuff where for instance, like last night we call them songwriter rounds or, you know, throw three people up on stage and you get three songs each.

00:48:31:14 - 00:48:53:20
Speaker 2
It's just you an acoustic for a room of, you know, hundred 5200 people and you know, you don't mess up because it's like everybody's so oh, they're definitely different. So I don't know, they prefer one or the other. I think you know, both are different sides of the that's called like a craft. And yeah, it's just getting, getting better at both of those.

00:48:53:20 - 00:49:00:24
Speaker 2
And it's like even last night, I was like, did I have to play that round? No. But is it great just to get out and play and, and show phase two, I think is the other thing.

00:49:00:24 - 00:49:17:04
Speaker 4
So just like, yeah, it's just like that. I think Seinfeld and all those amazing comedians, they always go back to those venues, let's say 100, 200 people in the show because that's their prep, that's their 10000 hours that they're putting in basically to refine their craft basically in those settings.

00:49:17:04 - 00:49:45:00
Speaker 2
I guess that's actually Metzl saying earlier about, you know, when you're waiting for your opportunity and stuff and I think don't ever you know, if anybody listening to this and that I learned is there's something really cool feeling about standing on the sideline watching everybody's playing, but you know, you're putting in the work and I have honestly that is probably when you asked me what fueled the keep going is there's like a burning feeling when you know that people are starting to pay attention, but it just hasn't happened yet.

00:49:45:16 - 00:50:00:14
Speaker 2
And I would feed off that for anybody, whether it be on, you know, football field or baseball or, you know, you're just waiting for your chance. It's like if, you know, you've put in the work you're going to get your chance and you're going to take advantage of it. So enjoy that honesty. Enjoy the moment when you're not doing anything yet so.

00:50:02:07 - 00:50:22:02
Speaker 1
That because then you get on you just get on that grind even more. So somebody to explain it to me with podcasting, Twitter is probably very similar. It is producing and you're putting yourself out there to try to get more streams and downloads but they say it's like a hockey stick, right? Like a horizontal hockey stick where you're just going and going and going and it's just kind of like a flat line.

00:50:22:02 - 00:50:45:08
Speaker 1
And then all of a sudden something clicks and it sweeps up, right? So and that's where they say consistency. And I've always seen you being consistent. No, like since I started even like training and stuff like that, you're a consistent person, which to me is disciplined, right? So we always say, like, motivation fails you at times, but discipline serves you all the time.

00:50:45:19 - 00:50:55:03
Speaker 1
So like that's where to me this is the difference maker for you is you're being successful. You went down there and you haven't stopped since you've moved down there to to get this going.

00:50:55:13 - 00:51:14:01
Speaker 2
Yeah. And it's not always going to be that and it's not always going to be easy. You know, in life, things get in the way, too. And you, you know, a lot of horrible things happen to people. And I get that. And but to use that as, as a crutch sometimes I think is sometimes, you know, a thing that people do.

00:51:14:01 - 00:51:38:08
Speaker 2
And I mean, like, I've been through different relationships and I've, you know, anybody here, it's like, you know, I've been through some of the toughest probably in regards to that. And at times you know, you want to pack things in. But if that's going to be your excuse for why, you know, you're going to go back to Canada is, you know, because somebody, you know, broke your heart or, you know, I lost, you know, I lost a grandparent, you know, and but you got to like what would what are they what would they want for you?

00:51:38:08 - 00:51:51:02
Speaker 2
You know, like my grandparents or my moon or something, you know, whoever me. So I think not, you know, using those things in ways that are that are positive and being determined, like you said. And and yeah, that's that's the key. I think so.

00:51:51:10 - 00:51:53:08
Speaker 4
Those all sound like really good country songs, right?

00:51:55:04 - 00:51:57:07
Speaker 1
Gigi just wants to mention in a song.

00:51:57:10 - 00:51:59:16
Speaker 2
I got a guy. My heart got broken.

00:52:00:08 - 00:52:01:12
Speaker 1
Well, you do have a dog.

00:52:01:12 - 00:52:02:04
Speaker 4
Where's the pickup.

00:52:02:04 - 00:52:02:13
Speaker 3
Truck?

00:52:02:22 - 00:52:04:16
Speaker 1
I like to get a little dog and.

00:52:04:21 - 00:52:08:01
Speaker 2
He's in the bed. I put him in there because if I walk around making noise everywhere.

00:52:08:15 - 00:52:25:07
Speaker 1
And so. And then I was thinking of you today. Josh, this is so embarrassing because I know you're truck guy and I washed my truck today because I said I cannot face Josh on screen knowing that my truck is dirty because I know.

00:52:25:13 - 00:52:27:21
Speaker 2
I'm 20 years older and still clean.

00:52:28:06 - 00:52:35:20
Speaker 1
Yeah, like Gigi, his truck is the cleanest. It's all. And so he's always giving me, like, give me ideas. I'll use this product.

00:52:36:00 - 00:52:49:23
Speaker 2
I guess I just clean it the other day, and I was like, the first time I tell you, I have it like a reset. I think every once while you sit down in just like, click a button for yourself. And my honestly, first thing I did before anything, my places like I spent a lot of time in my truck.

00:52:49:23 - 00:53:07:21
Speaker 2
It needs to be clean. And it was gross. And I think again, like, that's the stuff around you. So, like, if you're living in a mess, it's probably going to reflect your life. And that's kind of lately I've had to turn a new leaf on a lot of different things. I mean, if you're clean, like cleaning my truck was one of them, I guess.

00:53:07:21 - 00:53:08:22
Speaker 3
So you're.

00:53:09:04 - 00:53:12:07
Speaker 4
You're a product of your environment, then that's a product of the environment.

00:53:13:00 - 00:53:16:09
Speaker 1
Do you make your bed every morning? Because that's always a big low down.

00:53:16:09 - 00:53:26:16
Speaker 2
I will never like I mean, good for like I'm probably beat will probably do. I love that for me. Oh, man. But I do not make my bed and I will. I hopefully I'll marry somebody.

00:53:26:16 - 00:53:28:02
Speaker 3
Somebody told me.

00:53:28:13 - 00:53:31:00
Speaker 1
Did you? He'd tell me. He probably doesn't even know what shams are.

00:53:31:06 - 00:53:32:23
Speaker 3
No, I don't even know.

00:53:33:02 - 00:53:33:22
Speaker 2
To what it now.

00:53:34:14 - 00:53:41:20
Speaker 1
OK, well got to do that. I'll give you a pass on this one, buddy. But you're getting you're going to get a message later on today. But today at.

00:53:41:20 - 00:53:56:24
Speaker 4
Practice, I usually like this today. You didn't say it in the postgame speech last year. Yes. We date that anyways on the weekend. You didn't use it. I use it today at practice. One of the kids didn't have his belt on properly. I looked and I was like, you look like an unmade bed.

00:53:58:16 - 00:53:59:21
Speaker 1
And the other kids like, yeah, he.

00:53:59:21 - 00:54:00:08
Speaker 3
Does.

00:54:02:22 - 00:54:05:08
Speaker 2
I guess is a reflection because I mean, I definitely. Yeah.

00:54:06:03 - 00:54:12:06
Speaker 1
Oh, we'll be sharing. I'm surprised. And it's funny, I've known you like so long and I've never shared this habit with you.

00:54:12:15 - 00:54:16:04
Speaker 2
I just got to do a cover on it. Like, I had like the duvet with no cover on it.

00:54:18:18 - 00:54:21:01
Speaker 1
Oh, boy, we have to talk, man. We have to talk.

00:54:21:14 - 00:54:22:08
Speaker 4
About other Nashville.

00:54:22:08 - 00:54:25:03
Speaker 2
And girls are probably like, What the heck's wrong with this guy? Yeah, yeah.

00:54:25:11 - 00:54:29:21
Speaker 1
So, OK, so this is a yeah. And JJ, this is a road trip for.

00:54:30:02 - 00:54:30:08
Speaker 2
Like.

00:54:30:12 - 00:54:53:12
Speaker 1
Man, we got to but benchmarked live from Nashville. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Sick it could be trouble. So here's speaking of trouble. Not that you're trouble, but, you know, this leads me to my next question for you is if you could go back and like talk to 18 year old Josh or 20 year old Josh, what would you say?

00:54:53:15 - 00:54:55:14
Speaker 1
What would be the advice you would give him?

00:54:56:09 - 00:55:30:21
Speaker 2
Oh, man, um, take it. Actually, you know what I do now, which I probably shouldn't do. I've kind of gone back and forth. I was very old soul when I was younger. You know, I was always like, I want to be married at 25 and have kids and have a life. I was such a planner and I think having a plan, I think having a goal is is great, but, but enjoy each day and don't stress so much about where you're supposed to be and kind of like focus on the day to day because I think I spent a lot of time and honestly probably maybe suffer at times, you know, in a career or

00:55:31:05 - 00:55:46:21
Speaker 2
school or whatever it had been because I was like, well, I want to go. I like like I just was more worried about getting there than like the things I actually had a duty to get. There were now I probably need to take that advice and actually I can probably make plans now and I probably should start doing that.

00:55:48:06 - 00:56:07:11
Speaker 2
But especially when I was younger, there's no like I've been through five different careers. I've owned two different companies of you know, moved seven times in the last two years. This is my seventh place. So you don't know where you're going to be necessarily. But if you're, you know, mind and heart and what your goals are in the right place, you'll figure it out.

00:56:08:15 - 00:56:15:11
Speaker 1
JJ We always say to rate like fulfillment and gratification often lie on the other side of hell.

00:56:15:11 - 00:56:15:17
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:56:16:05 - 00:56:36:05
Speaker 1
And for somebody your age, you've been through a lot and you have taken on a lot, which is which is really cool to see because not a lot of people are doing that now. They're not they're not taking the risks because it's just not safe, right? Or it's not, it's not it's frowned upon to take those types of risks in this environment.

00:56:36:12 - 00:56:45:12
Speaker 2
Yeah, no, definitely. There's definitely a lot of, you know, standards that people feel like they need to follow, which, you know, some rules are great but some rules are definitely meant to be broken.

00:56:45:12 - 00:57:13:21
Speaker 1
So do you find that you're like, and I catch myself too now because we're always we're always as cousins and, and accountability partners. Did you and I are always reminding each other to be where your feet are, right? Be in the moment because there's always a million other things to do. So, you know, you know, for example, like if I'm coaching with JJ, one thing and I got to cut the grass and I got to do this and I got to do that, but I can't wash my truck wash and I got to wash my truck.

00:57:14:13 - 00:57:35:21
Speaker 1
Oh, it's bad, man. And so, you know, being where your feet are, enjoying the moment, enjoying the people that are around you and giving the best you can for everybody that's around you at that time to me is a big thing. So you seem to be like that because it seems like you're you're easy to be around. People want to be around you, but not only that is you are where you are.

00:57:36:09 - 00:57:37:02
Speaker 1
Does that make sense?

00:57:37:02 - 00:58:01:19
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah, totally. I mean, and put your phone down. I think it's another thing like everybody's so worried about. You know, I went to the wall and concert here in Nashville and it's phenomenal. It's all about bridged on three nights in a row like crazy, unbelievable show. And but I can up like there a girl beside me with her mom and she spent more time looking at her phone recording the concert like she didn't like, you know, and I start thing was like exactly that.

00:58:01:19 - 00:58:14:18
Speaker 2
It's like just be in the moment. I think there's a time, you know, phones are great, technology is awesome, tech talks awesome, you know, any of that kind of stuff. I get it. I get why we do it. Well, there's something to be said about, like looking at it through your own eyes and actually enjoying it.

00:58:14:18 - 00:58:27:23
Speaker 4
So who are who are some artists that you look like? You said you went to a show is a great show. You find you look at those events or concerts in a different way than you did five, six, seven, ten years ago.

00:58:28:05 - 00:58:42:06
Speaker 2
It's crazy. Like, you know, you don't it's like meeting your heroes, too. It's like the same kind of thing. It's like you start analyzing. Everything's like, well, they're doing that in their show. And all I can tell they're doing that. And I wonder if the fans saw that, you know, like, are you like picking out? It's like watching, you know, football tape.

00:58:42:06 - 00:59:03:09
Speaker 2
It's like like I didn't do that. Right. And so, yeah, it definitely changes your perception on things. And you meet you meet people along the way, too, that, you know, we're like, maybe your heroes and stuff. And I have to say, you don't always want to meet all your heroes. That's one thing I've I've also learned. It's there's something about admiring somebody for what you see them as and and just leaving it at that, too.

00:59:03:09 - 00:59:05:18
Speaker 1
So, OK, I can read between the lines.

00:59:05:24 - 00:59:06:15
Speaker 2
I gotcha.

00:59:06:15 - 00:59:13:05
Speaker 1
I gotcha. And I've had that situation before, too, or I've walked away from that and be like, that's a disappointment, right? Like.

00:59:13:14 - 00:59:14:14
Speaker 2
That's not what I always thought.

00:59:14:23 - 00:59:20:19
Speaker 4
Yeah. Yeah. But at the same time, don't you realize, like, they're human beings, like, all. Yeah, whoever it is. Yes, they're human beings.

00:59:20:19 - 00:59:34:14
Speaker 2
We're all human beings. That's an that's a crazy thing is like and country music is really cool in that way. And for anybody that ever wants to come to Nashville, I think it's a great place to come to. But you know, you can go to a local bar and it's still a cool genre in the sense that a lot of the artists are out and just traveling around in.

00:59:34:14 - 00:59:54:24
Speaker 2
You realize like, you know, I could go somewhere in Midtown right now and the probably somebody that's, you know, quietly, you know, successful artist and they're just hanging out. We're all humans. And I think, you know, whether you're in the NFL or, you know, any sort of profession, we're all people. We all have a, you know, feelings. And and you need to remember that at times, too.

00:59:54:24 - 00:59:56:15
Speaker 2
I think so.

00:59:57:08 - 01:00:19:05
Speaker 1
Wow. Now, if you could give advice or we're going to do something a little bit different here because it's a little bit different format. So if you were to give advice to somebody wanting to jump into what you're doing and follow that same path, what would you want to know or pass on to somebody that's about to start on this journey that you are now down the road a little bit further on?

01:00:19:14 - 01:00:42:09
Speaker 2
Yeah, I don't be scared to reach out to people, you know, and ask for advice. I think you don't ever say anything. You're never going to figure anything out. And they're fine, you know? And I asked so many questions, and I probably had people going like, this kid's annoying me, but well, there's a fine line of, you know, actually knowing people and and being persistent, but definitely being persistent.

01:00:42:09 - 01:00:58:11
Speaker 2
Ask questions and don't be scared to take a leap. And I think doing it in a smart way also, you know, like, don't just go like, tomorrow I'm going to go be a singer. Moved to Nashville, I think, you know, it took me two years to set it up in a way that kind of made sense. In the way it happened did organically.

01:00:59:12 - 01:01:08:16
Speaker 2
So I think that's the thing and just you to trust the process put in the time and and that's you know, go with go with what you want, know, whatever else is telling you you should do.

01:01:09:06 - 01:01:21:02
Speaker 4
Messing with the easier line here. I got it. It's been practicing in my head. If you want to go fast, go alone you want to go far go with somebody with a team like you're using. Go ask questions so you know you want to go far obviously.

01:01:21:09 - 01:01:29:02
Speaker 1
See what's next. Josh what I like what's why anyone can win here. Obviously there's radio coming in. Yes.

01:01:29:04 - 01:01:39:08
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. So we saw this on the radio, which is which is great. We're going to kind of work that we got a little show on in June which they haven't announced yet. And and Tron, will there be some opportunities for people to how much will be cool?

01:01:41:06 - 01:01:42:16
Speaker 4
Where do we know where.

01:01:43:05 - 01:01:51:09
Speaker 2
We at whatever. It's at the rocking horse in Toronto. So be a smaller venue, which is cool to be another larger artist and myself, which is exciting.

01:01:51:16 - 01:01:53:19
Speaker 4
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's no larger artist.

01:01:53:19 - 01:01:58:05
Speaker 1
So you're on the benchmark. You're on the benchmark podcast.

01:01:58:05 - 01:02:00:08
Speaker 4
Here, OK? That cat hasn't been on Benchmark.

01:02:00:20 - 01:02:01:00
Speaker 3
Yeah.

01:02:01:15 - 01:02:17:06
Speaker 2
This is true. That's. Yeah, no. And so that and then just releasing we got some releases over the coming in July and then over some opportunities at the CCMA Awards in September. The charts again this year too. We'll see how that stuff pans out. Wow, that's awesome. All good stuff.

01:02:17:24 - 01:02:32:10
Speaker 4
It's good, man. Mess turned me on to it months ago this winter. I don't remember when it's been a while. I'll still kick in some of that music once in a while. Just, I don't know if it's a good time or place, but now we've got the pool open, so some of that music is going to be on the pool playlist now.

01:02:33:20 - 01:02:49:23
Speaker 1
As well. And I think that's really what's fun for me is, is when I talk to people that are like, You don't want to go to Georgia? And I was like, Well, listen to his songs, man. Like, just go and then they'll extremists. And they're like, Oh my God, it's really, really good. I was like, Yeah, it's really good stuff.

01:02:49:23 - 01:02:50:13
Speaker 1
So it's.

01:02:50:19 - 01:03:06:11
Speaker 2
You know, it's crazy. Like, people it is cool. Now see people it's like, again, it's like people eventually come around in like you don't forget do like you don't forget the people that were like, he's never go play football or he's like, he's not going to do that. And then once you do it, it's like, and the next thing, nobody wants to be your best friend.

01:03:06:16 - 01:03:10:22
Speaker 2
And it's like, well, that's how it works. I know who my best friends were through the whole thing, you know?

01:03:10:22 - 01:03:14:21
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah, yeah. You're super. Yeah. All the people are coming out of the woodwork, right?

01:03:15:06 - 01:03:16:02
Speaker 2
It's interesting. So.

01:03:16:03 - 01:03:32:23
Speaker 1
Well, and that's I heard that I read that line. There's I was listening to a podcast and there was a guy, Andrew, Andy Frizzell, and he said, When you become successful, people think you change. But that's not what it is. You don't change. It's the people around you. That change, which I was like, Well, that makes a lot of sense, right?

01:03:32:23 - 01:03:38:21
Speaker 1
Because now they're looking at you through different lenses, judging you a lot more. Yeah. So I can understand that.

01:03:39:00 - 01:03:57:00
Speaker 2
Yeah. I thought that that's a cool thing. And then also the other one that somebody said the other day, oh, like to do with famous people and stuff. And it's this everything changes people and, and I've never fully agreed on that. And some of the other reason is it doesn't change people just magnifies actually who they are. Yeah, OK.

01:03:57:06 - 01:04:09:03
Speaker 2
I thought that was the coolest thing because it's so true. It's like if you've always, you know, maybe not been the nicest person, but now I have an opportunity to do that, a greater scale. You're going to do that and like those kinds of things. So yeah, it's cool. Wow.

01:04:09:12 - 01:04:33:02
Speaker 4
I'm thinking back. So I meant what I'm thinking back some of your music and now that I'm getting to know you a little bit more when I'm listening to an artist because I'm a professional singer or evaluator or something, you go ahead and listen. But there you go. Said, Well, those are words I'm picking for you. But like, you know, Tallboy is like, you know, when I'm listening to it, I can I can see what you're saying.

01:04:33:02 - 01:04:50:04
Speaker 4
You live with that stuff. Like, I get it. But now that I'm getting to know you more when you're singing the songs, because at some point, like, I didn't really know you like did you really go through that? Is that something how you really felt? Because that's the connection that you get with an artist that at some point like and now as you're aging, let's just say aging.

01:04:50:12 - 01:05:09:20
Speaker 4
I'm here. The stuff you went through and you got your ass kicked several times in life that that means for me anyways from a from a listening perspective, that gives you that relationship between an artist in it and someone who listens to music. I guess so. Good for you. And then I don't want you to get your ass kicked the rest of your life and develop those better other songs.

01:05:09:20 - 01:05:12:13
Speaker 4
But listen what you're doing and just just keep telling your story.

01:05:12:19 - 01:05:15:03
Speaker 2
It's good aspects are good content, I guess.

01:05:16:17 - 01:05:34:07
Speaker 1
Now I want to know, like, I know the answer to the question, but I want our listeners to hear this. But where do you get your resiliency from? Because you've been through a lot and the ever since I've known you, you've, you've done like you were a motocross like you rode bikes. Like that was a I know that was a huge part of your life.

01:05:34:16 - 01:05:41:04
Speaker 1
Do you think that competition in that drive and and I know you've told me that you're trying to find a way to replace that adrenaline.

01:05:41:13 - 01:05:53:07
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah, that's been amazing. Yeah. Which is cool because music in a weird way kind of is I mean, there's nothing like flying through the air. That's a whole other feeling but I'll be I'll be OK. Don't worry.

01:05:53:13 - 01:05:55:05
Speaker 1
You've had a couple of crashes, buddy.

01:05:55:12 - 01:06:15:06
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. No, I think the resilience is just, again, it's like I've just always been more worried about. I want to always make everybody, like, just make people proud myself. Proud and and and yeah, just I just didn't have another, like, I don't want to do anything else with my life. I really don't like I that's the biggest thing.

01:06:15:06 - 01:06:30:24
Speaker 2
Like, I like another nose, OK? And the next sad song that comes out is hopefully going to come from one that, you know, I don't want to say it now, but if it's a girl that breaks my heart or something that happens, it's like it it fueled for what my next thing is. And that's, that's kind of it at this point.

01:06:31:08 - 01:06:33:05
Speaker 1
It happened for you and not to you.

01:06:33:14 - 01:06:35:06
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

01:06:36:01 - 01:06:39:13
Speaker 1
Man, I love you. I love this. This is different. This is a very different type of product.

01:06:39:14 - 01:06:53:16
Speaker 2
And so you guys are used to like, you know, sports and coaches, which is great. I mean, and that's I remember if it wasn't for sports, honestly, it that it taught me a lot. Like, I mean, the drive and the work ethic and getting up and showing up and just being there.

01:06:54:08 - 01:07:10:13
Speaker 1
You know, one of the things and I got to tell this story because it's safe to say that this person does not listen to this podcast. Josh, one of the things that I'll never forget a moment I'll never forget with you is you came back to help us coach. And you're going to you know where I'm going with this.

01:07:10:24 - 01:07:33:06
Speaker 1
And there was a conflict about a player and you stood up to an older person who was dead wrong, had a terrible perspective on developing a young person and doing what's right for that person for the wrong reason. And I'll never forget when you stood up to that guy and you said you just said, no, this isn't going to happen.

01:07:33:06 - 01:07:36:09
Speaker 1
And it was just so I was like.

01:07:36:12 - 01:07:37:16
Speaker 2
Well, yeah, I.

01:07:37:16 - 01:07:39:23
Speaker 1
Love this guy because you just stood your ground.

01:07:40:09 - 01:07:40:12
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01:07:40:17 - 01:07:51:18
Speaker 1
Confidently, somewhat respectfully was good. But he needed to hear that. Yeah. I was like, you know, this is the type of you're like, you're in my five, you know, like that to me. Is the type of people I want to be around with. And it's kind of cool.

01:07:52:10 - 01:07:57:21
Speaker 2
Yeah. I always remember. I'm trying remember what exactly? I think he was just trying to put a kid in a position that was like and he was a younger get to the.

01:07:57:21 - 01:08:02:02
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah, yeah. You don't wanted to move him up to win a game and it wasn't right. You know, he.

01:08:02:02 - 01:08:30:18
Speaker 2
Was wrong, but yeah. Not got there's a time and place. Don't be ever scared, you know, speak up. Because again, it's like you don't say anything. Nothing's going to happen, but also pick your battles when you do so. Yeah, there's been times I've spoken up and there was not in the right and I by the order. Yeah. So we learned that that mess also let me, you know, like, you know, the school was a little I guess it's different then but like I used to like, you know, I don't even know how to say this, but whatever I'm gonna say.

01:08:30:24 - 01:08:33:08
Speaker 1
It was a safe space here.

01:08:33:10 - 01:08:50:00
Speaker 2
Ninth grade, and he's like, you want to go pick a fight with that 12th greater than you go fight them. You don't do it here. You don't do it in front of my eyes. If it happens, it happens. But if that's where you feel like you need and I went and I said something and did I not get my ass kicked tough love.

01:08:50:00 - 01:08:52:15
Speaker 1
But yeah, it was it was a tough love life lesson.

01:08:52:22 - 01:09:10:06
Speaker 2
I think those are like, you know, not saying that the school system is not right or things aren't right or what I like but there is something about standing up for yourself. And and I was always the one that, you know, like, I found like I would stand up for the kids that got bullied because I thought it was horrible because I was also bullied when I was a kid.

01:09:10:23 - 01:09:27:24
Speaker 2
But like, now it's like you can't even say anything to anybody. And I don't know, it's like it's like counting score. Like, I went to my nephew's soccer game and they stopped counting score. Or once the team's up by seven and it's just like but it's OK to lose, like, yeah, these are things that I'm just I get it.

01:09:28:05 - 01:09:33:15
Speaker 2
And I get that it's important for everybody to feel like everywhere everybody gets a trophy, which is cool, I guess, you know?

01:09:33:15 - 01:09:36:13
Speaker 4
But yeah, I can tell. I can tell. You believe that.

01:09:36:21 - 01:09:37:10
Speaker 3
Yeah.

01:09:37:22 - 01:09:38:21
Speaker 1
Well, I mean, look at that.

01:09:38:22 - 01:09:39:24
Speaker 3
Like you just.

01:09:39:24 - 01:09:52:12
Speaker 1
Finished saying like, you got a hundred nos. So when this kid shows up in this situation where he's going to get no, that's the one thing is we're finding people like, what do you mean? I'm not the star? Why you make him the number one?

01:09:52:13 - 01:10:02:06
Speaker 2
Yeah, like, I can fail, and I still get a trophy. Like, I mean, I'm not saying you're failing, but it's like, there is like, where's the drive in that? Like, I want that trophy like, you know, how does that happen?

01:10:02:06 - 01:10:03:08
Speaker 1
Because when I earn it, right.

01:10:03:18 - 01:10:10:01
Speaker 2
That's the thing. So it's an interesting subject, and I try not to get into politics too much.

01:10:10:07 - 01:10:26:13
Speaker 1
So I would say we could go on for hours and hours on those philosophy things about what and what we should be doing in youth sports and stuff. But you know, know, you were always a good teammate. I thought that was another thing I wanted to mention was, I know why you're successful now in a band because it's like being a member of a team and you care about what they're like.

01:10:26:13 - 01:10:44:03
Speaker 1
You said it like you're worried about how this person is going to put bread on their table and feed their families. So that makes you want to work harder, which is we say service over status, right? So you're you're doing it, you know. Yes. For yourself. But anyways, that's that's one of the things I wanted to commend you for now.

01:10:44:03 - 01:10:53:14
Speaker 2
I appreciate that. No, it's been it's good. It's good to catch up and get to just talk about I it's it's crazy how the years have gone by, you know, to.

01:10:53:24 - 01:10:55:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. But, you know.

01:10:55:11 - 01:10:56:01
Speaker 2
So, you know.

01:10:57:05 - 01:11:02:06
Speaker 4
So ultimately you guys sound like you're 75 years old. I know. I sound like the umpires we had on.

01:11:02:06 - 01:11:19:01
Speaker 1
Oh my God. So anyways, Josh, we're going to let you go because I know you got some pressing things to do, but we're, we were excited to have you on our show and we're proud of you like we're proud of you like I know as wherever I'm probably like, I'm putting your name out there as many times as I can.

01:11:19:01 - 01:11:31:17
Speaker 1
For people because I want them to hear your music because I think it's really good. And, you know, we try to promote you as much as we can, but it's not just because of the music that's good, but you're good. You're the type of people that we want to be around with and associated with as well.

01:11:31:17 - 01:11:33:03
Speaker 2
So yeah, and.

01:11:33:12 - 01:11:35:16
Speaker 1
Looking forward to our next training session is right.

01:11:36:01 - 01:11:41:06
Speaker 2
I know. I can't wait to come back home there hopefully in a couple of months and I get my butt kicked every time I get home puts me through.

01:11:41:06 - 01:11:45:00
Speaker 1
I got to make it count right while we're there.

01:11:45:05 - 01:11:45:17
Speaker 2
That's it.

01:11:46:14 - 01:11:47:17
Speaker 1
G Anything else.

01:11:48:10 - 01:11:50:22
Speaker 4
When we go to Nashville? Oh yeah.

01:11:51:00 - 01:11:53:09
Speaker 1
That's a this is something that's hot now.

01:11:53:16 - 01:11:57:05
Speaker 2
It's getting hot. Yeah. Like 99 degrees almost every day.

01:11:57:07 - 01:11:58:12
Speaker 4
Whoa, whoa, you sound American.

01:11:58:12 - 01:12:00:09
Speaker 3
We talk. Oh yeah.

01:12:00:13 - 01:12:02:24
Speaker 1
It's like 35, 35.

01:12:02:24 - 01:12:06:01
Speaker 3
Celsius. Hell, I haven't been home. I've been.

01:12:06:03 - 01:12:11:04
Speaker 1
I've been threatening to come I just. I got to get out. We got to go. We got to go.

01:12:11:10 - 01:12:11:17
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01:12:12:02 - 01:12:16:18
Speaker 1
All right, well, that sounds like fun. We'll sort that one out, and hopefully we'll do a show while we're down there.

01:12:17:09 - 01:12:17:19
Speaker 2
All right.

01:12:18:00 - 01:12:23:16
Speaker 1
Well, that does it for this episode of Benchmarks. Thanks for listening. Until next time.

01:12:24:03 - 01:12:27:14
Speaker 2
He pressed an amazing the.

People on this episode

Jean-Gilles Larocque

Host

Marc Messier

Host

Benchmarked

Benchmarked

Country Artist Josh Ross - Do What You Love

People on this episode

Jean-Gilles Larocque

Marc Messier

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