Olivia Foster: Alrighty, hello, this is Olivia Foster with Radio UTD, and I am here with the moss. So, we’ve got Tyke, Willie, Addison, and Caiden. How are you guys doing today?
Tyke James: I’m doing good. I’m holding the microphone.
Yes, perfect.
Willie Fowler: We’re all doin’ good.
TJ: How are you doing?
WF: It’s splendid. Beautiful day here in Dallas, couldn’t be happier.
Caiden Jackson: Nice, sunny.
WF: Pro Ellum. Probellum? Deep Ellum.
Oh yeah. Super sunny.
Addison Sharp: Deep Ellum. Remember the Alamo.
CJ: Uh, yeah, bright and sunny, beautiful day here in Texas.
AS: This is the homeland for you.
CJ: The homeland for me, I’m from here.
Yeah, you mentioned your from, like, thirty minutes away from Dallas-ish?
CJ: Yeah, thirty minutes away from Dallas-ish, a town called Prosper. Go Eagles.
Go Eagles, I guess. So this is your guys’ eleventh stop on the tour then?
TJ: Yeah, mhm. Number eleven.
And have you guys been to Dallas before? I’m assuming you have.
TJ: I have a couple times. Caiden’s from here. Willie once.
AS: Now’s my first time. I think Willie’s been here.
WF: Yeah, my first time.
TJ and OF: Addison’s first time.
WF: I’m a Houston boy.
You’re a Houston boy?
WF: Yeah, I’m a Houston boy, from Houston.
Gotcha, okay. But you guys all met in Hawai’i originally to start the band, right? That’s what I read.
TJ: Yeah, me and Addison grew up there. And then [Willie] went to school there for like, four years.
Nice.
TJ: And so we all met. And then Caiden’s kind of newer, actually.
Okay, yeah what are you doing here? I couldn’t even find your name online. I was stalking everyone so hard.
CJ: So, Brierton, who’s Addison’s brother, he just moved to Hawai’i, and then he’s moving to New Zealand to study Geology. I used to do a lot of videography for them, so whenever Brierton was leaving, they asked me to join.
So you got, like, Young Neil-ed in. Okay.
CJ: Yep, basically, yeah.
Cool. Alright, and how are you enjoying it?
CJ: Oh I’m lovin’ it. It’s great.
Are you McLovin it?
CJ: I’m McLovin it, you already know.
That’s the more important question, yeah. So you guys released, recently, the EP for Insomnia. How has that been?
TJ: That’s been good. That’s been really good. We had recorded the EP like two years ago, and written the songs even longer than that—not quite two years, right? It was two falls ago.
AS: It was probably September 2021.
TJ: September 2021, we had all the songs finished on the EP. And then, in-between recording them and now, we found a manager and signed to a label, and then we started releasing the songs. They’ve been received really well, better than any of our other songs. I don’t know, it’s just been really exciting, being able to experience new things and come play shows in places we’ve never played, and have people show up and sing the new songs. So it’s really fun.
Nice. How was writing all those songs two years ago, and are you guys working on anything now?
TJ: Yeah, I think the writing of the songs was really fun. We had never worked with a producer before. It was our first time working with a producer. I went to Hawai’i for a couple months back home, just kinda chillin’, right? And then, as soon as I got back, we started jamming a lot, jamming new songs, and we were like, okay, we’re gonna make a new project, y’know? However many songs we can get. And we have this producer we want to work with. When we reached out to him—his name’s Tone [Def]—he was super into it and was super down, which was way cool. Then we hit the studio. We had four days—I think we recorded all the songs in four days.
WF: I think it was a full five, six.
TJ: Five? I think it was five days, yeah. Five days, like a song a day, and then finished up. But yeah, it was a really fun time in the studio. It was a house studio, so it was really homey-feeling. We were able to just hang out. It was a lot of fun…. Was that what you asked? I don’t even remember now. I’m sorry.
AS: And yes, we are writing new songs, currently, and we have some in the bank, ready to go. We’ve been playing them at shows.
Are we going to hear any tonight, then?
AS: Yes, you will hear one tonight.
Oh, perfect. That’s exciting. Yeah, I think I originally found you guys—because, you guys have a terrific Instagram presence. I don’t know, like—
CJ: Oh cool.
TJ: Thanks to Caiden Jackson.
Oh, is that your work, Caiden?
CJ: That was my original role.
That was your original role. Okay, well, I’m a marketing major, so mad respect. You’ve done a really nice job there.
CJ: Thanks.
But yeah, I think I found you guys 2020, and you guys always seem really fun. And meeting you in person, you guys do actually seem fun. I mean, you have watched Superbad, so that’s a bit of a green flag I think.
CJ: That’s a green flag for sure.
Mega, mega green flag. And the soundcheck sounded great as well—oh, there’s a … it’s quite loud, isn’t it?
[loud airplane noises overhead]
TJ: Plane.
Yeah. It’s quite the airplane.
AS: 747, Dallas/Fort-Worth, flying in, checking in.
WF: Permission to fly-by.
AS: And the weather coming into Dallas Fort-Worth is a sunny, cloudy—
CJ: Cloudy day outside, about fifty-five degrees.
I really hope this does get uploaded to YouTube now, because people are just going to hear the sound of like—I swear it’s not pee, but it sounds like pee in the background? Yeah, it’s a different kind of venue.
CJ: Yeah, someone’s just peeing out here, it’s okay.
Different kind of tea party, yeah. You’ve heard of a Boston Tea Party, now get ready for a Dallas Tea Party. But yeah, I guess, are there any stops you guys are really looking forward to hitting on the rest of your tour, or is everything kind of the same level of excitement?
TJ: Well we’ve never played in Texas before. Tonight is our first Texas show. So we’re really excited to play Texas.
Yeehaw.
CJ: Yeehaw. Howdy-howdy.
Yeah, howdy-howdy. That’s it, you guys are technically from Texas, so you can say that.
CJ: Yeah, I can say that.
It’s like, your birthright.
CJ: Sup, y’all? Howdy, y’all?
TJ: Wait, did you take your jacket off?
CJ: Oh nah, I did. It’s just wet. From the rain.
Oh, was it raining when you guys got here? When did you guys get here?
CJ: It was raining, yeah.
TJ: About three.
About three? Okay. Gosh. Well—
CJ: Glad it’s not raining anymore.
Yeah. I’m a big rain person, but I take the train here, and it’s like an hour long, so you’re standing outside in the rain and your hair is blowing in your face and you’re just like, okay.
CJ: Yeah, it’s not too fun.
So I was really excited to get to come inside and listen to you guys soundcheck and watch Superbad with subtitles. But yeah, gosh. I had more questions written down, but it almost feels awkward to take out my phone now. Is this the biggest tour you guys have ever done? I mean, it’s your first time hitting Texas, so I’d assume so?
TJ: Yeah, yeah, this is our first actual tour, per se. We’ve done like, two, three shows in a row before, but this is fourteen shows. It’s been really fun learning a lot of stuff every night and just being able to do it—just play a show and then the next day be like, let’s do that again and fix it. Yeah, it’s been really fun.
That sounds awesome. Because, you guys have played with people from Jack Johnson to Young the Giant, haven’t you? I think I’ve seen stuff on your Instagram, and again, I was stalking interviews so hard before this—
CJ: Oh nice.
—because I was like, I feel like I can’t ask questions that other people have asked, I don’t know. I got, like, really in my head about it, and now I’m here rambling, but … yeah, so, I guess, what’s the difference for you guys, going from accompanying other bands, or maybe playing some more festival-type venues, to going on your very own tour now?
TJ: It’s been really fun to just go and—I might have already said this—but just show up, and there are two-hundred new people that are like, “Hey, we love your songs.” It’s like, oh wow, cool. And they’re singing along and everything.
AS: I think that’s what I would really like to emphasize, that we’re going to a lot of places we’ve never been before, and it’s just insane to see people show up. We’re like, “Let’s go to San Francisco,” and then people come to the show and they know the words, and it’s pretty crazy to see what that’s done.
I mean, yeah, I know people back in my hometown in pretty much Middle-of-Nowhere, South Dakota. I mentioned to, some friends that I was gonna come see you guys, and they all knew who you were.
TJ: Really?
AS: That’s crazy.
WF: Let’s go, South Dakotaaaa.
Yeah, South Dakotaaaaa.
AS: Let’s go see the Mount Rushmore.
That’s the opposite side of the state. That’s the cooler side. We’re, like, the flat side that has nothing.
AS: It’s south though, yeah? South Dakota? Or is that North Dakota?
Yeah, we’re the south one, South Dakota’s the south one.
AS: But Mount Rushmore’s in South Dakota?
Oh, yeah, it’s in South Dakota. It’s way West River, and then I’m way East River.
CJ: Where’s Badlands? Is that South Dakota?
Yeah, Badlands is South Dakota. Yeah, that’s like Mount Rushmore.
AS: Baddielands.
CJ: Oh nice.
Baddielands.
CJ: Baddielands.
Baddielands, yeah. So if you guys ever want to make it out to the Baddielands, people know y’all’s name there.
TJ: Nice.
Yeah. My sister was especially jealous. She usually gets pretty jealous, I think, because we listen to a lot of the same music. But she was so mad. She was like, “Have you heard ‘Insomnia’? It’s so good, I hate you!”
TJ: Well, we’ll play “Insomnia” tonight for your sister.
For my sister? Perfect, perfect, I’ll tell her. I’ll let her know. Alrighty, so, I don’t know, is there anything that you guys just want to ramble about? I think this has been a nice, rambly—how was the drive here? Was it rainy?
CJ: So, Tyke and I drove from Tucson, Arizona, to here a couple nights ago. We got into Dallas at about three a.m. Addison and Willie flew home to Utah for a couple days and flew back out today. But the drive… Something about these two not being in the drive was just really peaceful. Something about it—
WF: You shut your mouth over there.
CJ: It was a good drive, though. It was nice. There was a nice sunset in El Paso that we got to see.
Oh, perfect. I’ve actually never been to El Paso.
CJ: There ain’t much.
I’m imagining almost, like, a Bolt-style montage road trip, where you guys are hitting almost every kind of topographical area you can on the way.
CJ: Yeah, basically.
And there’s like, nice little folk music playing in the background, or Kermit the Frog or something.
CJ: Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.
WF: Kermit the Frog?
Have you heard “Movin’ Right Along”? I don’t know, it’s like—
CJ: No. We’ll blast that on the way to Denver.
Yeah, Kermit and Fozzie Bear, “Movin’ Right Along.” It’s like, the perfect little road trip song. Just so you guys know. I guess you don’t know.
CJ: We’re gonna play that, we’re gonna play that.
AS: I actually gotta stop this right now—we don’t listen to music on our drives.
You don’t?
AS: We’re anti-music.
CJ: Well, me and Tyke listened to music almost the whole way back.
AS: When I’m there, I steal the AUX cord and throw it away.
Really?
AS: And we talk.
Oh, you talk. Not talking. Talking’s scary.
TJ: Addison doesn’t like music.
Addison doesn’t like music?
AS: I don’t like music.
WF: It’s nice, because we’ll intentionally listen to songs. If we’re talking, a song comes up in conversation, then we’re like “Oh, let’s listen to that song,” and then we listen to the song intensely, and then, y’know, we go back to chatting.
Okay. What are some songs that you guys listened to intensely? Do you remember? Or were they just, like, so intense that you just had to block it out?
CJ: It’s traumatically intense.
Traumatically intense.
WF: Yeah, it’s normally trauma-based music. A lot of Indigo de Souza on this drive. It’s been great.
“Real Pain”? Yeah.
AS: You like that one?
Unfortunately, the first time I heard it, I had noise-canceling headphones on, which was super rough, but—
WF: Ugh, that production was… Yeah….
So amazingly done. So it’s like, trauma music, definitely that one, but I could see blocking out an intense experience like that. But what else do you guys listen to on road trips, when you listen to anything?
TJ: We call it “vitamin P,” but it’s just Pinegrove.
WF: Vitamin Pinegrove.
AS: Vitamin P.
Okay, I’m glad it’s Pinegrove, because for a second, I was like, I—okay. Y’know, why not. No, that’s good to know.
CJ: Wait, what—
TJ: Wait, what were you thinking we were saying? Like, Pentatonix?
We can go with that. We can go with that, yeah. Vitamin Pentatonix. Yeah. You guys have some, like, “White Winter Hymnal” and such, yeah—but it’s the Pentatonix one, so… Yeah. Block-out-able. That sounds bad. No shade to Pentatonix. What music were you two listening to on the way here that was not so intense that it was something that you had to block out? Anything that you guys have been listening to recently?
CJ: We’ve been listening to some U2, some Olivia Rodrigo. Just a little bit of everything.
It’s nice, though, to have eclectic taste.
CJ: Oh, we put on some country on the way through El Paso.
What country? That’s the—
CJ: Like Marty Robbins, old ‘60s country.
Okay, see, that’s the good stuff.
CJ: He’s got a song called “El Paso.”
WF: In El Paso….
Oh, perfect, okay. In El Paso… No, no, that’s good to know. Okay, I feel like I’ve taken up a lot of your guys’ time now. Yeah, we’re at about fifteen minutes for this, so do you guys have anything else that you wanna say before I release you to go back into the realm of Club Dada and Superbad with subtitles?
CJ: Let’s see. Do you got anything?
AS: You got anything?
TJ: Anything else to say?
CJ: You got something to say?
TJ: Umm…. Drink music, make milkshakes.
Wise words from a wise man.
CJ: Alrighty, we’ll end on that.
WF: Unless y’all got something to say.
I was gonna say, that’s like a mic drop, really. I don’t think you can get any better.
TJ: Mic drop.
WF: That’s right. [high five]
TJ: Boom.
CJ: Alrighty, thank you.
Alright, thank you guys. Bye.