[00:00:01] Luke: All right. I got a question for you. This should probably be at the end of the conversation, but I'm a wild card. All right, Brad. If you were locked in a room, voluntarily, a social experiment, if you were locked in a room for seven days straight, and there's a nice cozy bed in there, you could relax, no torture or anything like that, but there was one artist playing through a sound system for 24 hours a day for that seven days, and you could not turn it off, what artists would that be?

[00:00:36] Brad: Different songs? Whole catalog?

[00:00:38] Luke: You could pick the whole catalog.

[00:00:39] Brad: Oof. Sheesh. That's a tough one. The music I have the most of at home-- it's like the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel. I like catalogs of music, so it'd have to be a pretty expansive catalog, I think. I think the Beatles have like 270 songs. I don't know.

[00:01:08] I don't know. It'd be hard. I'd want something calming that I could listen to after a while, but that's a tough question. I don't know. I think I'll go with Michael Jackson, actually, because I'd get up and dance at times. Then there'd be some calming ballads in there. I'm going to go with Michael.

[00:01:31] Luke: I was intuiting that it would be the Beatles before you even mentioned them as one of your top artists. Because, of course, when I thought of that question, I was like, what would I pick? And I'm like, I don't know. I feel like any artists would start to wear on my nerves. Then I thought, well, maybe classical or something, but then that could make me go insane.

[00:01:50] Brad: Yeah, yeah. It would be a tie between Michael and the Beatles probably because they're the two earliest influences on my musical life that made me want to pick up a guitar and be on stage. It'd have to be that, but I feel like the Beatles might be too much rock and roll for seven days straight. That's why.

[00:02:16] Luke: Right.

[00:02:16] Brad: Well, maybe Michael Jackson, but yeah.

[00:02:19] Luke: All right. Cool, cool.

[00:02:20] Brad: That's a tough one, man.

[00:02:22] Luke: Yeah. I know.

[00:02:23] Brad: Put me on the spot--

[00:02:24] Luke: Sorry to hit you with that right off the bat. What was your dream when you first started playing music? Where did you see it going? What did you want to say? What did it mean to you when you were a teenager and started writing your own songs and stuff?

[00:02:39] Brad: And the reason why I mentioned Michael Jackson is because when I was a kid, seeing Michael as an entertainer and the peak of what an entertainer could do on stage inspired me. So before I even picked up a guitar, I was dancing like Michael Jackson in elementary school. And we didn't have YouTube then.

[00:03:05] So you had to watch his videos and just study his moves. But I think what I also saw there was an artist with a big message to the world. And that's something that carried through, I think, into once I found the guitar and was listening to other music and started miming the Beatles before I knew all my chords and stuff.

[00:03:33] But I think by the time I was 18, I knew like, this is where I belong is on stage. And I had had other moments prior to going out and to pursuing that just on stage at talent shows and stuff and just the connection with the audience. And I think that's all I was ever really after, is just connecting with people through music.

[00:04:00] Because I'm not very good with words, but when I sit down and I can hone in on what I want to say with a song, and somebody else can say, I understand what you're saying, I think that's what I've always been after. It didn't matter if I was famous or anything. I think early on I did want to go that route of, I want to get my big record label deal and have my hit song on the radio just because that's what you just assumed that you did. But over the arc of my career, I think that that was always just the underlying hope, is that I could create something that others could connect to.

[00:04:46] Luke: When I was a kid and I was really into music, rock and roll, it was exceedingly rare that there were any kids, prepubescent kids or even teenagers that were really proficient musicians. And if there was one, it would be one kid in the school that could play Led Zeppelin songs or something.

[00:05:08] But it was really rare, and I always felt like, oh, they're just born with that talent. Now I'll be on social media, on Instagram, and the algorithm is feeding me stuff of five-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 15-year-olds just killing it. And so I wonder if new souls that are more musically inclined have incarnated in recent years, or if it's just so easy to learn stuff on YouTube now.

[00:05:38] You can pretty much put in any song, how to play X, Y, Z song, and someone, yeah, they might not be playing it perfectly, but it'll show you the chord changes and the melody and things like that. Have you noticed that there are just more talented younger musicians than ever before, or is that just my perspective?

[00:05:56] Brad: No, I've noticed that particularly with guitar, because my Instagram feed is the same way. It's five-year-old or some 13-year-old girl or something, and they're amazing at it. And I don't know what the secret is behind that, if it's the internet or what, because you hear these awesome stories about these legendary musicians that taught themselves just by listening, by ear.

[00:06:21] They would slow down the record back in the day. You had to have the record, slow it down, listen to it. And that was how you learned back in the days of vinyl. Or there's a great story of Nat King Cole teaching himself piano by drawing the keys on his windowsill because he didn't have a piano to practice on.

[00:06:42] And so he would practice on the windowsill. But now, there's such a wealth of information out there. To me, it's confusing. Where do you start? Where do you begin? There's so much information. But I don't know how that feels from a beginner's standpoint. If you're just starting out, it's all right there and you can navigate from the beginning and find your way with it. So maybe that might be why we see so much talent nowadays, or maybe there always was so much talent out there. We just didn't see it because we didn't have the internet.

[00:07:24] Luke: Right. You just had your little middle school and there was the one kid that was good at guitar. You didn't know about every other school.

[00:07:29] Brad: The next town over, there's two kids like that. And the next town over there's-- yeah. So it's hard to say.

[00:07:36] Luke: It's just something that trips me out because I'm just like, wow, there are so many people that can really play. And I go, how did they do that? When I was a kid, it was like you said, you had to have a really good ear to be able to pick something up from just listening to it. Or you would go get a guitar teacher or piano teacher or something, then they would show you. But now you can go on all these tutorial videos and not really have to play so much by ear.

[00:08:01] You can just match whatever they're doing. And I've done that different times. I'm like, oh, I wonder how you play this song. I'm like, go on YouTube and there's 20 guys teaching you how to play it. And then they're fighting with who's doing it right. My all-time favorite band is the Stones.

[00:08:17] And so as you probably know, Keith plays in all these open tunings, usually open G. And so you'll have these wars of guys on YouTube that are arguing about the tunings, and you'll see people trying to play songs that are not in standard tuning, and standard tuning, it doesn't quite sound the same. And then you'll have these other guys saying how everyone's doing it wrong. It's funny. But there's a lot of great tutorial stuff out there for those that want to just play around with it.

[00:08:44] Brad: Right. It is interesting that the easier it's become to learn an instrument over the last, I don't know, say, 100 years, that music continues to get simpler and simpler, whereas if you look at Mozart or Beethoven or some classical artists that had none of that, they studied underneath somebody relentlessly from childhood, how complex that old music is.

[00:09:13] But they didn't have the luxury of what we have now. So I wonder if that ties into just, I don't know, dedication or our laziness today to be like, well, there it is on the-- I'd already learned it. I don't know.

[00:09:37] Luke: Right. You've evolved into, for lack of a better term, a protest artist over the past few years. I don't know if you call yourself that, but not all of your songs, but many of your songs are making a statement about our culture. How long did it take you as a songwriter to start offering social commentary or counter narrative messages as opposed to boy meets girl, pop song or sing a song, writer song?

[00:10:07] Brad: Well, I always wrote about what was going on in my life. So I started five times August right out of high school, 2001. And what I was going through was my first breakup. So all those early songs were just 18, 19-year-old me going through a breakup. And I kept writing those songs just as I was growing up, because that's what you're doing at that age. You're dating and going through those relationships that shape you.

[00:10:32] You're dating and going through those relationships that shape you. And every now and then I would write a song that maybe had a let's come together kind of vibe to it. It wasn't necessarily social commentary, but it my, I call them we are the world songs where you're just trying to say, hey, let's come together.

[00:10:57] I wouldn't call them controversial or anything like that. Whereas, by the time 2020 rolled around, I'm a father of three kids. I'm married. I'm not going through those same things I was going through early on in life. And I'm looking around wondering where all my rock and roll heroes are.

[00:11:20] And so that taught me what it meant to be rock and roll in a musician. So it took me all that time to get to that point to, I say, put on my Bob Dylan shoes and start saying something through my music. And that way I knew was going to upset my audience that I had, because I was so middle of the road for so long. I just liked to write a love pop song and leave it at that, was primarily what I wrote.

[00:11:53] But there was a little break there where I was actually doing kids music prior to pandemic, all the pandemic stuff, because I was a dad. So my heart was in this very pure children's music project, which was really interesting to go from having my heart completely on that to going into this dark world of plandemic and wondering what the hell's going on. I've got to say something and speak up.

[00:12:24] And it took a lot for me to get there throughout 2020 because I was creatively shut down. I didn't know what to say because I was so focused on this pure innocent project. And then transitioning, wondering how do I say my piece on this?

[00:12:45] It's really irking at me. Nobody's saying this musically elsewhere. And so I wrote a song called God Help Us All, and I put it out in early 2021. And that was a result of just prayer pretty much of just going like, what should I say here? Can you help guide me? And it's a pretty long song.

[00:13:09] It's a five-minute song of just me venting. And I thought that that would be the one song that I put out saying something and instantaneously lost a bunch of fans and then started getting this new wave of fans saying, thank you so much for saying so.

[00:13:27] So I had two things happening. I can't believe you would say that. I'm never listening to your music again. It's so upsetting. You're dangerous. Goodbye. Doors closed. To, wow, I just found this song that you put out. Thank you so much for saying what needs to be said. And that encouraged me to let me know I wasn't alone. And I started writing more songs like that because I just felt like it was needed to let other people know they weren't alone.

[00:13:53] Luke: What about the song, Sad Little Man?

[00:13:57] Brad: Yeah, Sad Little Man, I think it was about the sixth song that I had written in this protest series. I didn't consider myself to be a protest artist. It turns out that's what I was doing by writing, was protesting the mainstream narrative. But Sad Little Man came about-- from one song to the next, I kept leaning into what I was doing more and more.

[00:14:27] As careful as I thought I was when I released God Help Us All, the moment I dipped my toe in that water, I sparked something. I sparked anger over here, and outrage, and then some appreciation over here, and that sparked something in me that made me go, okay, well, I'm going to say this next time.

[00:14:52] And then I put out a song called Jesus... What Happened To Us? Which was a companion or an addendum maybe to God Help Us All. And then after that, I put out a song called Out of Your Damn Mind, which was calling out all of the woke TikTok people that were going crazy, making out in masks and posting their insanity online and kept leaning more and more into it.

[00:15:16] And so by the time I got to Sad Little Man, which is calling out Anthony Fauci, I was calling out somebody that was basically put up on a pedestal at that time. Nobody was calling him out on anything. And he was referring to himself as the science. He was treated like a God, as I say in the song.

[00:15:38] That put me on another level that I didn't anticipate, which was that song started taking off and going viral because of who I was calling out and his sort of status in the mainstream narrative. So all of a sudden I start seeing I'm getting shadow banned here and my YouTube videos are being suppressed and some of them were getting taken down and flagged.

[00:16:05] I was getting more noticed by people that didn't want me to say what I was saying. And so from there, I continued to lean into it, but I was never a rebel in that way. It's just that from one song to the next, it's almost like an experiment, a social experiment of this guy that was clean cut.

[00:16:27] I have no tattoos. I was never a partier. I'm just a dad speaking up for his kids at the end of the day, thinking the world shouldn't be this way. And for some reason that upset people. So the more I lean into it lyrically with my songs and push that and say, well, if you didn't want me to say that, I'm going to say this now. It's interesting.

[00:16:48] Luke: Which rock and roll should be.

[00:16:50] Brad: Right. To me, I'm like, I'm not really doing anything different, but for some reason it's different now. Where are all the rebels? Why am I the rebel? Because I'm the least rebellious person that could be making this statement right now. But unfortunately, I don't know, somehow I'm here doing it.

[00:17:12] But yeah, that's my attitude right now, is leaning into it more and more and seeing what boundaries I can push, who I can upset with it in a way, not intentionally, like, I'm going to intentionally upset these people. But what's the most clean way for me to say something that upsets people in a way.

[00:17:36] Like Sad Little Man, I don't mention Fauci by name. I don't mention vaccines. If you listen to Sad Little Man on its own, the song itself could be applied to any character in a mainstream culture that has power. It's not until you see the video that you're like, oh yeah, this is about Fauci, which, it's a little animated video of him being a snake oil salesman going from town to town.

[00:18:05] Luke: It's a great video. And we'll put it in the show notes for everyone listening, lukestorey.com/brad. When I found your music, it was just so refreshing because during that whole period from 2020 until now, there were very few artists speaking up when something was clearly wrong.

[00:18:30] So with Sad Little Man, I probably saw the video the first time I heard the song, and so I knew it was about him, but it also became clear to me that it's more of a statement on an archetype of a petty tyrant. it's like, he's just one cog in the machine. But if you look throughout history, history is full of weak men that somehow jostle their way into positions of power and abuse that power.

[00:19:01] And that's something that obviously we've seen. If you look at these people, him and Bill Gates and all of them, Klaus Schwab, these aren't strong men. They're weak. They're pathetic, and they must know it on some level. And so they get this thirst for power, and start to abuse that power.

[00:19:22] Next thing you know, you have people like that calling shots that really impact lives. It's like, if the artists aren't speaking out and going, hey, let's take a look at this, who's going to do it? It's just like, what the hell? So I applaud you for speaking your truth, come what may.

[00:19:44] And I know as a podcaster, I'm in a little bit of a different lane, but in early 2020, when I started to see through this, I didn't know what the thing was, but I knew what we were being told was not what it was. And I remember there was a deciding point in terms of who I was going to have on the podcast, things I was going to post on social media and so on. It was like there was a jumping off point where I was like, all right, I'm either going to sell out, be quiet, and keep my revenue safe and just have my own little feel good podcast over here, or else I'm just going to start speaking my mind.

[00:20:20] And I elected to do the latter and had a similar experience of you. A bit of pushback from people that didn't agree and thought that I shouldn't be platforming certain people or posting the things I was posting. But more than anything, it really galvanized the audience in a way that I think it has for you, where people are like, wow, all these podcasters are keeping quiet and pretending like nothing's going on when we're like in the middle of the biggest psyop in history.

[00:20:51] So I don't know, just something to me, I don't care if I'm deplatformed. I don't care if I lose my income. Whatever it takes, it has to be said. Think about, dude. It's like some of the messages in your music or messages from people that I talked to on this podcast.

[00:21:08] I had Dr. Peter McCullough here the other day. He's a very credible cardiologist. He's not a conspiracy theorist. And he's just laying out facts about the bioweapon and probably referring to it as that. If there was one person that heard that interview, it actually hasn't come out as of this conversation, but if one person hears that and is like, yeah, maybe not so much on the boosters or for their kid or whatever, just that conversation saves one life. That's enough. That's enough.

[00:21:40] Blow all my shit up. I'll start a new brand. I'll start a new company. I'll figure something else out. It's just strange to me, and I'm not trying to virtue signal. It's just literally the way I think about life and the world, but it's so crazy that specifically in music that, I don't know, 99.999% of the people that are creating messages that impact culture are just like, I'm not commenting on this. Or they became shills and boot lickers for the state, which is even more gross. So I praise you and I thank you for maintaining your integrity.

[00:22:16] And also, this your freaking song, Ain't No Rock and Roll, I told you when you walked in, I'm like, dude, it's rare that I go on Spotify and just put a song on repeat and just listen to the same song over and over again. And I have done that on multiple occasions. I did it again yesterday in preparation for this conversation.

[00:22:36] That is such a great freaking song, even without the video. But then when you put the video, it's game over. So I was wondering if you would humor us and entertain us and play a rendition of that song acoustically right now, and then we'll resume the convo.

[00:22:53] Brad: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:22:55] Luke: Excellent. Thank you.

[00:22:56] Brad: Yeah.

[00:22:57] Luke: All right dude, I really appreciate your willingness to take us into a tune here. I'm fanboying out because I love this song so much. I'm like, this dude's in my living room right now playing this song. So stoked.

[00:23:09] Brad: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:23:10] Luke: And also I'll mention it's on this album, Silent War, right?

[00:23:14] Brad: It's on this single here actually. This came out after the Silent War album.

[00:23:18] Luke: Okay.

[00:23:19] Brad: We've got a 45 for it available.

[00:23:21] Luke: I love that you do vinyl too.

[00:23:22] Brad: Yeah. I think it's great to hold your music in your hands.

[00:23:26] Luke: Yeah, I was born in 1970, so vinyl is my entire childhood, so yeah. Love that you do that. All right, so we've got the single on 45, and then Silent War is the full LP.

[00:23:35] Brad: That's right.

[00:23:36] Luke: Okay, got it. Carry on.

[Live Music Playing]

[00:23:37] Brad: All right. Well, there ain't no rock and roll ever since they sold out Rolling Stone. All the words that were sung in the past will feel the same when we're looking back. All the old men sitting in their make up chairs with their gold record walls really couldn't care. All the fame feels the same when you've had enough. So they don't bother standing up.

[00:24:32] And there ain't no peace and love ever since the '60s kids grew up. All the drugs and the girls and the cash after all the songs it was gone in a flash. All those bad boy rebels and the attitude. What a show, we didn't know that none of it was true. Only self serve anti establishment. We were all so innocent.

[00:25:10] Because there ain't no rock and roll. And the blues has lost its soul. All the punks gave the man control. And every pop star's bought and sold. No, there ain't no, ain't no rock and roll.

[00:25:35] And there ain't no Joni, no Bob. No one stuck around for their protest job. All the stars in the big pharma whores shilling for a check from the corporate chores. While all the actors say what they're paid to say while the fans take the blame. All the once cool fools that were me and you, well, they pushed us all away.

[00:26:15] Because there ain't no rock and roll and the blues has lost its soul. All the punks gave the man control. And every pop star's bought and sold. No, there ain't no, ain't no rock and roll.

[00:26:43] And there ain't no boss, no queen, never was a rager against the damn machine. No, there ain't no fighter in the foo. No more rockin in those free world shoes. All the high, strong, Neil Young wannabes. Yeah, their silence has been deafening. All the suits lick the boots of the government. What they sang they never meant.

[00:27:19] Because there ain't no rock and roll and the blues has lost its soul. All the punks gave the man control. And every pop star's bought and sold. No, there ain't no, ain't no rock roll. No, there ain't no, ain't no rock and roll. No, there ain't no, ain't no rock and roll. No, there ain't no, ain't no rock and roll.

[00:28:14] Luke: So good, dude. Oh my god. Thank you. I love your voice, love the lyrics. Amazing song. So freaking good. I'm so excited to share you with the audience that hasn't heard you.

[00:28:28] Brad: Appreciate it.

[00:28:28] Luke: Yeah, me too.

[00:28:29] Brad: Thank you.

[00:28:30] Luke: That sounded to me just like the recording.

[00:28:34] Brad: Oh, thanks.

[00:28:35] Luke: Yeah, which, it's always a good test. There's a lot of trickery you can do in the studio with auto tune and all kinds of stuff. And I'm sure many of us have had that experience where you love a record, then you go see the band live and you're like, who was that?

[00:28:47] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[00:28:47] Luke: That was the essence of it. It's so beautiful.

[00:28:50] Brad: Well, thanks. Yeah. No, when I write a song, it always comes down to me and the guitar. Because I know I have to stand on stage and play it. That's how most my shows are. It's just me on stage with my guitar, which I've always really loved doing, but it's such a raw way of expressing the song.

[00:29:10] If you know it that one way, and then you hear it this way, which I think is cool because a lot of these songs, that's just what I do, is I write it on an acoustic guitar. And most of this album, actually, the Silent War album was recorded on a little 180-dollar guitar, a Gretsch Jim Dandy guitar, and it pulled so much music out of me.

[00:29:33] It's cheapest guitar I have, but it is so cool. It just sounded like Bob Dylan a little bit. It's a little tiny parlor guitar. And then these mics actually, these SM7s, that was all my equipment for this album for the most part. Yeah, just going into Pro Tools and playing-- it really echoes how I started recording music when I was 18. I was recording in my bedroom and just playing songs live, trying to get a little take. And then I'd go back in and overdub if I need to.

[00:30:07] Luke: Was this back in the day when you'd have a four-track cassette recorder?

[00:30:12] Brad: Well, my earliest stuff was on a cassette recorder, yeah.

[00:30:16] Luke: That's when I was making demos back in the day. You had a little four-track recorder.

[00:30:20] Brad: Yeah. Now that's a cool thing to do. I saw a YouTube video popped up in my feed the other day and it was this younger recording artist and he was like, I recorded a song without computers on cassette tape. It's like, yeah, that's what they used to do.

[00:30:35] Luke: Now it's becoming a retro thing?

[00:30:37] Brad: Yeah. It's a retro thing. But I have that approach with recording. I think I've always had that where you go in and you record the song many times through and you hope to capture the take, which a lot of artists don't do now, which the luxury of technology is like, you can record 15 vocals and then take the best bits of each vocal and make your comp vocal, which is the best of all the best.

[00:31:11] And you can do that with every instrument all the way through. With the Silent War recordings, I was like, I'm just going to record until I capture that little take, warts and all. And I felt like that's been missing a lot from music, is everything's so polished and sheen nowadays that I'm just going to give you a moment with me to listen and hear what I have to say. And I think that that's what's resonated so much through these songs with those that have been following what I've been doing, is that I'm trying to give you something real and honest that I hope speaks for you as well.

[00:31:49] Luke: The recording process to me is really fascinating, because when we were talking about bootlegs before and I used to collect bootlegs, Beatles Stones, Neil Young, whatever. And sometimes the studio bootlegs would be like, take 67. You're like, what? They just sat in a room and played a song 67 times in a row until someone was like, okay, 64 was the take.

[00:32:13] It's so interesting. Now, it's great that technology has advanced because a guy like you can make a whole record in your bedroom that has the fidelity of a real album. It doesn't sound like a demo. It sounds like a record. But also there's some of the magic in the live recordings that are lost.

[00:32:31] And I think we were talking about musicianship and how there's so many great musicians now. And there's also a lot of not great musicians that make a career because of all the recording trickery that can be done. So it's interesting. Have you ever thought about, of course, budget permitting, going into a proper studio and recording to analog two-inch tape with two preamps and making a really fat '70s sounding album with the full band where you play the basic track lives and stuff?

[00:33:06] Brad: Right. Yeah, no. I compromised with my parents when I was starting out. You go to your parents and you're like, well, I want to be a musician. I want to be a rockstar there. Naturally they're like, well, what's your fallback? And I had no fallback, so my compromise was I took some courses at an audio engineering school. I took music production and music business classes, but everything I learned on was through tape.

[00:33:35] You had the choice at the time because there was a transitional period happening where it was going from analog to digital. So you could choose what you learned on, and I chose tape. And I've always wanted to get back to that process of doing things. It's really fascinating the whole process of splicing and--

[00:33:57] Luke: Yeah.

[00:33:59] Brad: Yeah, it's a real skill set to have that we're losing. But I do try to, I think, take the traditional approach as much as I can in making music. I did a project in 2011, 2012, where I brought some guys into the studio to record the basic takes together. I brought in some studio guys, and that was really magical because these guys, they listened to me play.

[00:34:30] I learned a lot through that experience actually, because I felt so-- I don't know what the right word is, but I felt like I didn't belong in a room with these guys because they were so good. They heard me play the song once. They got it down. We're going to go play it three times through together, and the second take will probably be the take. Third one's just for good measure. It's like, first is feeler, second's the take, third is just in case.

[00:34:57] We did this thing, and I was so impressed with how they did it. I was like, I'll never be these guys. But what they said to me was I'll never be able to write a song like this. And so all of a sudden, feeling like you're out of your element, I realized, oh, everybody has different things, different skills, different levels.

[00:35:15] And you may feel inadequate over here, but you can do this over here. And so that opened up my world, but that experience was really great because it was all based on-- I was doing an album that sounded callbacky to '50s and '60s kind of music. We had the upright bass sound.

[00:35:36] The songs that I was writing were inspired by Nat King Cole and Sam Cooke, and I was actually trying to rebrand myself at the time a little bit. And so it's called music by Bradley James, which is my first and middle name, but it's an EP of songs that were very based in that tradition of songwriting and performing and getting the take. So it's cool. I'm always after that kind of approach for sure.

[00:36:03] Luke: Well, speaking of tradition, the obvious here as the song you just played points out is that, rock and roll was historically counterculture. When Elvis went on with his gyrating hips on TV, they would edit it out. You know what I mean? Of course, there's been changes culturally over the course of rock and roll music, but going into the '60s and into the '70s, the best music was music like you mentioned, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix playing the star-spangled banner on acid at Woodstock.

[00:36:41] It's like you had this counterculture, and then in 2020, the people that I thought would have been outspoken against the regime and the overreach of the government were either just completely silent and not saying anything, or in some cases actually coming out in favor and siding with the government.

[00:37:01] And I love that you, in that song, name check so many artists that were guilty of the latter of like-- it's just crazy to me. I'm like, what happened? Neil Young? It's like Neil Young? What? How did that happen? And then when you think about the artists that had the courage to speak out, you might have more, but the only two I can really remember is Eric Clapton, of course, who was just raked over the coals as someone who took the bioweapon and was injured by it to the point where we didn't even know if he could play anymore. One of the greatest guitar players in history.

[00:37:32] And then Van Morrison. I'm looking around going, that's it, guys? Where's the '80s punk rock bands? Where's the people that were always anti-establishment and anti-fascist. It's just so interesting to me how compassionate, well-meaning people's ethos was weaponized to bootleg for the state, all of the hippies. There was meditation centers that were requiring the bioweapon to get into a meditation.

[00:38:10] A lot of the '60s spiritual teachers and leaders fell for it. Some of the musicians fell for it. It was just shocking to watch how effective the psyop was, and even me as a nobody in the world, relatively speaking, I got an email in like mid 2020 from a PR firm that offered me money to promote the bioweapon. I just sent a scathing email back. I'm like, if you looked at my website for five minutes at that time, you would know. I have David Icke on there, RFK Jr. I'm like [Inaudible].

[00:38:45] And then I thought, okay. I don't care how much money they give me. I'm not going to have blood on my hands. And then I thought, oh my God, I'm a nobody. How many people that have a real platform, artists, podcasters, and so on actually answer that email. And we're like, how much is the check? And those are the ones we see on TV, all these sports stars and pop stars encouraging people to go harm themselves.

[00:39:09] Whether they knew it was going to harm them or not, it's like, how could you promote something that even has a chance of harming someone. Just crazy. So what's your take? What happened to our culture? What happened to rock and roll that pull all these sellouts in the arena?

[00:39:24] Brad: Well, everybody in the Ain't No Rock and Roll video, so many of those guys are my heroes, and it's hard to put that stuff in there because I always sat on the outskirts of that arena going, I'll never be that cool. And all of a sudden, throughout 2020, 2021, I think subconsciously I was writing that song because it turns out they're not really that cool after all. Everything was a show.

[00:39:55] But I've analyzed that era of time so much in my head, the '60s in particular, because that always just seemed like the greatest time to be alive culturally and creatively and what was happening in the world. And I look back and I see those artists and I realize like, I'm 40 now.

[00:40:15] So all those characters seemed like legendary adults to me, but they were really kids. They were all in their early '20s, and they were a part of something. In the same way the kids now are trying to be a part of something, whatever it is, whatever movement that they're a part of.

[00:40:40] When you're that age in your late teens, early '20s, you're trying to figure your way out in the world. You want to be a part of something. And whatever's happening culturally is where you naturally gravitate towards. But I think a lot of that late '60s counterculture stuff, they were just kids.

[00:40:58] And what happened is they grew up. And they became businessmen, a lot of them, and their bands became brands and t-shirts, and now you find those-- they became the complete opposite of everything that they were speaking out against. I don't know how that happened, but it just naturally evolved that way.

[00:41:19] And I think a lot of it just has to do with weaponizing empathy when you're young, or creating useful idiots, and you introduce a concept to a young culture that sounds good, and they grab onto it. Take COVID, for example. Wear a mask for your community. Save your neighbor, your grandma. They weaponized empathy.

[00:41:52] So when you saw somebody that wasn't doing it, you became angry at them. They were the bad person. And so I think these patterns have been going on for a really long time in pop culture. We just are now recognizing them more, but maybe they go far back. We think of Elvis as counterculture and he, for sure, was shaking his hips, but he also did a vaccine campaign back then.

[00:42:21] Luke: Really?

[00:42:21] Brad: Oh yeah. Elvis got his shot. And so you start putting start little pieces together and you think how long has this been going on? What was orchestrated during that time? Who was influenced to write the Vietnam songs that came out? The anti-Vietnam and war songs, did those naturally come about or were they influenced behind the scenes somehow?

[00:42:44] And those are questions I ask myself now because I think that the reality that we thought we grew up in now we can look back on it and wonder. We have to ask questions. What was real? What was it? Because the last four years have revealed so much, that so much is orchestrated through propaganda and emotional manipulation.

[00:43:08] But I don't know. I think as far as artists speaking out the last few years, yeah, we had Eric Clapton and Van Morrison were the only two guys from that era to say anything. Van Morrison actually had a couple of albums that were pretty hardcore in their lyrics, naming names. And I think he had Klaus Schwab in his lyrics and stuff.

[00:43:31] And I'm like, how come he didn't get called out as hard as Clapton did? But I think that they have two options. They can either ignore you completely or make an example out of you. And I think Van Morrison, they ignored completely while they made an example out of Clapton.

[00:43:50] They took Clapton speaking out on his experience with the shot and turned him into a conspiracy theorist and caked on a little bit of a racist story that they dragged up from 50 years ago. And I think that message was sent to the rest of the industry, industry that's tied to a lot of power and a lot of influence from people that-- everybody's got a manager. Everybody's got a label. They have a team of people.

[00:44:20] And I think that that prevented a lot of those people from speaking out. Even if they wanted to, they cowered anyway. But that's why you saw a lot of indie guys speaking out like me. That was the rest of it. It was like Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, and then there was me and Tom McDonald saying stuff. Bryson Gray was saying stuff. Hi-Rez, Jimmy Levy, were saying things. Joseph Arthur is another singer songwriter that was speaking out, and he had a smear piece written about him in the LA Times, and there's a lot to be lost from it.

[00:45:02] But we didn't have contracts tied to us. We didn't have chains tied to us in that respect. So I think a lot of that had to do with what you saw at least the last couple of years. It's always follow the money and who's tied to what, who's controlled by this and that, and just a lot of that came into play.

[00:45:25] And when you see all those artists and you look back, they all went to the doctor and posted their picture of them getting a shot, and that's all orchestrated. That's a campaign. Like you said, you got an email. Every influencer from being small, nobody, with a few thousand followers was presented with something, I think.

[00:45:47] So many all the way up to your Travis Kelce getting paid 20 million for Pfizer commercials. So the influence was there. I can either not say something and keep my job, my gig, whatever it is and maybe get a little money for taking part in this and being praised as a good guy, or I can keep my integrity intact and get lambasted in the media and smeared and lose fans. That does not sound appealing. That's what they had to choose from.

[00:46:23] And those of us that chose integrity over that other side of things, we made it through the other side. I'm still here. It's easier now to speak up more than ever. I encourage anybody who's been sitting on the fence about it to do it now. It's too late at this point, I think, but  accountability is key.

[00:46:49] I don't want us to move past the last four years and just forget that it happened and we all go back to-- eventually it's going to circle back around, and we're going to be dealing with this next year or whatever they're already prepping, disease X, bird flu, whatever it is supposed to--

[00:47:09] Luke: Monkey pox.

[00:47:10] Brad: Monkey pox is back.

[00:47:12] Luke: I can't even keep up. In fact, a friend of mine texted me this morning. He said, hey, do you think there's anything to this bird flu thing? And I'm like, I'm not even paying attention anymore because I'm just waiting for them to collapse the dollar. They're blowing up all these farms. It's like the regime that is anti-human is not going away anytime soon. It's like they're just grasping for their life at this point. And the more desperate they get the more crazy shit they try.

[00:47:40] Back to the artist, one thing I'm curious about, and I wish I wouldn't have been so reactive when I got that email from the big pharma PR firm, would have been more fun to play along with them and see if I could negotiate them up and see what people are actually getting paid.

[00:47:57] Like I said, I don't know how much they would have offered me, but imagine if you're a pro football player or a Beyonce or something, you're getting into the multi multi millions of dollars. And I think one thing too is there's probably a faction of artists, and artists is broadly music, any entertainers, sports people and all that, there's probably a faction of them that thought in the beginning they were doing the right thing because they were drinking the Kool Aid of like, oh man, we're in a deadly pandemic. I'm going to do my part.

[00:48:26] And so you can't really fault them for that if they really believe they were doing a public service. And then there were probably some that maybe had a feeling that it was a little off, but just wanted to take the money and didn't want to risk their career, but there's probably a huge portion of artists that went along with it at first for the right reasons, then realize midstream, oh shit, this is not what I was told it was. This is not good. But it's kind of too late for them to come forward because they already shilled.

[00:48:53] And so now they're just probably not sleeping well at night going like, oops, I'm partly responsible for the pain, suffering, and possibly death of untold numbers of people. That's a hard thing to sit with if you did so innocently. And then you wake up halfway through. The Foo Fighters are an example of that.

[00:49:12] Back in my former life, I was a fashion stylist, and so I used to dress celebrities and musicians, and the Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl were one of them. And people have asked me, all the people you worked with, Aerosmith, Ozzy, Kanye West, just endless people, who is the coolest? Dave Grohl, 100%. Super nice guy, super down to earth.

[00:49:35] I remember once I went to his house to dress him for the Grammys. I pull my car up. I didn't have an assistant that day because they fell through. Usually, you'd have someone lug all your shit. Comes out to the car, helps me load my stuff into his house. I'm like, what? You're paying me. We wrap up, helps me load the car again.

[00:49:54] And not that you would ever expect that, but it was just a testament to what a solid guy he was. Just super cool. And that was many, many years ago. And then they were one of the ones that were publicly requiring that passport to get in their shows and stuff. And I'm like, there's a disconnect between the guy I met and the guy who you assume is calling the shots for what happens at their live shows.

[00:50:19] But to your point, we don't see the other layers of the pyramid, the multinational corporation that owns Interscope Records and Live Nation and yada, yada, that trickles down to the Foo Fighters management and publicist and all that. There's like this big apparatus around an artist that's generating that much revenue for that many years.

[00:50:41] So it's like, you can't even really fault the artist in some cases, because they're probably so caught up in that machine. They're just doing what they're told. And we think of them as the boss, but they're not the boss. The bosses up at the top of the pyramid are probably the same multinational corporations that own the freaking pharmaceutical companies and the media that's like, everything is compartmentalized. So you almost can't blame the people at the bottom levels of information. I mean, you can, but you can't, but that was one of those I was like, really? Them too?

[00:51:15] Brad: Well, I think that there's different layers there of people's intentions. I think you're right in that respect. I think a lot of artists, entertainers, they get the note that this is what we're all doing right now, and they do it, and they live inside this echo chamber where they have no idea. This is one of the reasons why I continue to tweet at these artists. If you follow me on Twitter--

[00:51:41] Luke: Your Twitter is hilarious, bro.

[00:51:44] Brad: I'll pull out something that they said during that time and tweet at them and say, do you still stand by this. And more times than not, I've only had one artist actually respond to me. The rest have blocked me or just ignored me. A blocking after asking. I asked Pink and Questlove after they made their Pfizer commercials, would you want to donate any of your proceeds from this commercial that you made to React 19, which is an organization-- they're there to help those that got injured by the COVID shot.

[00:52:23] They don't have anybody. Millions of people are injured or dead from this shot and nobody's there to help them. And so that's one of the ways I use my platform, but also to put these people on the spot because, yeah, maybe they had the best intentions at the time, but now we need to go back and reflect and ask, do you still stand by it?

[00:52:43] That's what matters to me now. There's a lot of media pundits on the news pushing things. CNN and Pierce Morgan said some terrible things about anti-vaxxers and how scared they are, this, that, and the other. Then one day he starts walking back, saying, I'm so glad we don't have to wear masks anymore, whatever.

[00:53:07] I say, Pierce, when are you going to apologize for the things that you said? And he, of course, just blocks me. But to me, it's the actions from here. If you have realized what you've done was wrong, or how you participated in back then may not have the thing to do-- there's a lot of damage done from that time and your choices during that time, so what are you going to do now?

[00:53:35] And I would like to see more artists do that because we want to like these people. We love their art, but the longer this goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate the art from the artist. There's so much music that I loved that I can't listen to anymore because I know how they participated in that time frame.

[00:54:01] They participated. Great. Maybe their intentions were good, but now what? People are hurt. People are damaged. People lost their jobs. We have an entire generation that lost education out of it. Kids that lost social skills, important developmental skills from masks and just the whole-- it runs the gamut, all the damage that was done during that time.

[00:54:31] So what are you going to do now? And that's how I prefer to use my platform right now outside of just making the music, but asking my peers, where were you, and what are you going to do about it now? And if we just continue to ignore it, what a shame that is that we can create such damage in our society, especially from-- our idols can influence us that way. And we can just forgive them because they have that song that we like or that movie that they made.

[00:55:06] Luke: I'm a big believer in redemption and forgiveness. God knows the dark places I've lived in my life and the behavior that-- I was a very unconscious person for a long time.

[00:55:22] Brad: Mm-hmm.

[00:55:23] Luke: So thank God people were willing to redeem me and forgive me when I was an addict and just being a total train wreck. So I always leave the door open for people. And I think part of our human nature for compassionate feeling people, we're able to forgive people, but you can't really forgive someone if they haven't admitted they were wrong.

[00:55:42] Brad: Right. That's the thing.

[00:55:43] Luke: Yeah. There's a missing ingredient there where you have to say like, hey, listen, I didn't have all the information, and some of the things I said might've led people down a dangerous path or at least our society down a dangerous path. So, hey, maybe I was wrong. Then it's like the forgiveness is instantaneous, but you can't get there just because I really liked that one song, and so I'm going to forgive their negligence.

[00:56:06] Brad: Well, if you're going to publicly use your platform to influence people and you realize down the road that was not the right thing, you have a responsibility at that point to say something. But yeah, I think there's layers to it. Like I mentioned, I think one on one we each have these personal family friendship relationships where things were said. Maybe family members stopped talking to you or friendships were broken up during that time. Those you can take on one by one.

[00:56:38] And we all want to be forgiving. We all want to make things work again and mend those relationships. Maybe we don't because we realized that they didn't mean as much as we thought during that time. I don't know. But those are a case by case basis, but I think the further every tier you climb up in media, I think they have a larger responsibility.

[00:57:07] Once you start getting into the news and our pop culture and the people that influence us on a daily basis, our politicians, the ones that make the rules, they have a responsibility at this point. And the longer this gets stretched out and they don't say anything, then to me, it's over.

[00:57:30] It's like an abusive husband that maybe he verbally abuses you, or maybe he physically abuses you, and then one day just decides to pretend like it never happened. How do you mend that relationship if they can't even tell you they were sorry or acknowledge what they've done is bad? So it's hard.

[00:57:55] It's a tough situation to be in, but it's just where we're at culturally. And in the meantime, I think that there's a new avenue of culture. This new counter culture is being formed where people are tired of this, the traditional, I guess, legacy artists we've all grown up-- actors, comedians, musicians, the ones that go on the Oscars and use their moment to tell us how to live our life and lecture us.

[00:58:28] We're all tired of that, and we're looking for something different. So there's this other avenue that's being built up right now, which to me is exciting because it does echo back to something we haven't seen since the '60s, which is art and art's ability to affect culture, which, is a powerful moment to be in. And so I'm grateful to enlist my music for this time to do that.

[00:58:57] Luke: What would you say to people that complain that people like you are still talking about the plandemic and still posting about these kind of topics? We were talking a little bit about this earlier. It's like, I think even people that realize that something was off and wrong, just have a natural tendency to just want to sweep it under the rug and just move on.

[00:59:22] Oh, we're out of that now. Everything's in the clear. We got our rights back, and so on. I'm someone that like you, I think, is interested in talking about it for my own reasons. What would be your response when someone says, hey, just move on? We don't need to talk about that era anymore.

[00:59:37] Brad: Well, I'd say it's only been four years. If you picked any major world any historic moment that has happened over the last 100 years, you'd pick Titanic, JFK assassination, 9/11, any war. If you said four years after that any of those things and you were just like-- or the Holocaust-- it's been four years. Let's move on. Let's be done with it. We're in a moment like right now where we can figure out what happened.

[01:00:11] We can hold those accountable. They're still here. Nobody's been held accountable. Nobody said they're sorry. We're in the moment still. It hasn't been that long. I would love to move on from it. We do need to look to the future and think about ways to make sure this never happens again. That's one of the reasons why I fight so hard.

[01:00:32] I bring it up every day because I don't want my kids to be talking about it, but I need them to know what happened so it doesn't happen. That's the whole point. We're supposed to look back on humanity's moments and figure out ways to improve upon it. And we just had a really bad situation that I think we need to talk about. And it's like I said. A lot of abuse just went down around the world, everybody around the world.

[01:01:03] I'm shocked that the entirety of humanity could live through that and then just be like, meh, that was weird. Let's move on. Crimes against humanity on a global scale, is what we're dealing with. So to be like, it was a few years ago. We should move on. I'm like, no, we shouldn't. We should talk about it.

[01:01:27] And for the next decade, there needs to be trials and conversations. We didn't even have debate during the time on what was happening. We had doctors that were speaking up that were being censored and suppressed. So we didn't even get another side to the conversation in the midst of it happening. So when is that conversation going to happen?

[01:01:50] So I would love to stop talking about it, but I can't. I just feel like it's something we all should be talking about. We should all be pissed in that respect. Don't let it control your every day and make you miserable. But we can't let it go, is the point.

[01:02:14] Luke: How much do you think being a father shapes you view in that regard?

[01:02:21] Brad: It was huge. That was the other driving force to me speaking out, was outside of looking around, wondering where my musical heroes were, it was, geez, this time period is really weird and sucky. I don't want my kids to look back 10 years from now and be like, what did you do during that time, dad?

[01:02:42] And so I had an obligation as a father, I felt, to step up and use my platform to say something. So they knew that I did something for them. That's why I do anything now. My mission isn't just based on COVID and vaccines and that conversation. It's the entire damage that's been done from that and the realization that we're going to be cleaning up this mess at least for the rest of my life. Because an entire generation was affected by it.

[01:03:21] So it's like people go to war and then they have to battle that the rest of their life. And the residue of what we just went through, it permeates just the world as it is right now. The fight's not over just because Biden one day said while walking through a car show, nonchalantly, yeah, COVID's over. That was the big end to COVID. I don't think people realize that. It just drifted away.

[01:04:00] And then he was doing an interview, and I can't remember who interviewed him, but he goes, is COVID over? And he's like, yeah, COVID's over. After ruining lives, after all the repercussions, all the terrible things that happened, that's how it officially ended. There was no White House statement. He didn't come out and say to the American people, you braved through this storm. Thank you. He didn't say anything.

[01:04:26] Luke: We made it through a couple of severe winters of death.

[01:04:29] Brad: Yeah. Right? We need to look back on that because it was as severe as we were told, but I digress.

[01:04:37] Luke: I'm right there with you, dude. There seems to be an undercurrent of faith and spirituality in some of your songs too. How has that shaped you, and how you're a parent, a performer, how you write songs? What does your spiritual life look like?

[01:04:54] Brad: Mm-hmm. Well, my songwriting now is very a spiritual partnership with God, and I didn't grow up in the church or anything. I went to church a little bit as a kid and then I had a good friend growing up that would bring me to youth nights at church and stuff. But I would say I was ambiguously quasi spiritual, searching for a long time.

[01:05:21] But then as a parent and the further you get into parenthood and wondering what values you're going to instill in your kids, I felt like they needed a foundation. And so we had gone through some family loss at the time and feeling pretty down as a family unit. And it pulled us back in, or pulled us into going back to church.

[01:05:53] And when I walked back in the church, it was very awkward, but I walked in with open arms saying, all right, lay it on me. Just give me what you got. I'm open to it, whatever I'm about to experience here. And I started praying a whole lot more and connecting on a more focused level with God and creation.

[01:06:21] And so that's a big part of my everyday being now and how I create and the intent behind my songs. I don't just write songs anymore in the sense of the girl broke up with me. I need to write another love song. But it's, what is this song going to do? How can people use it? And what do you want me to say?

[01:06:45] And so that's my spiritual life now. I'm a Christian, and that's who I am. And I try to put those values into my songs and in a way that can resonate with people who aren't, but it's there.

[01:07:06] Luke: How did you determine what church to just randomly walk into and check out?

[01:07:11] Brad: Well, we had several churches in our community, and we bounced around for quite a bit for sure.

[01:07:21] Luke: Find one that resonated.

[01:07:22] Brad: Yeah, but it was very in tune to what our gut was telling us. Do you feel at home here? Do you feel like what they're saying is resonating? Do you connect with the community? And so we eventually found a good church to go to, and a lot of our friends and our kids friends go there, and it just feels natural.

[01:07:47] Luke: Well, here in Texas, there are definitely an abundance of churches.

[01:07:52] Brad: Yeah.

[01:07:53] Luke: I'm new to Texas. I'm from California. There's a few churches here and there, but the only place I've seen more churches other than Texas is Oklahoma. There's a church every mile in Oklahoma, as I recall. But it's funny hearing you say that because there's a bunch here in our neighborhood that I drive by all the time, and I have had the thought, like, I wonder what goes on in there on a Sunday morning.

[01:08:14] And I haven't mentioned it to my wife, but I have had the thought a few times, like, it might be cool to just go in there and check it out. Back in LA, I did go to Rick Warren's big mega church down, I think it was in Orange County, a couple times, it was pretty cool. I didn't really like the music, to be honest.

[01:08:31] Brad: Yeah.

[01:08:31] Luke: Maybe if they would have had some gospel singers or something. I don't know. It was just Christian rock, that anthemic kind of Christian rock, was cringy to me. But I did find the message, the few times that I went, was in perfect alignment with me, which is interesting, someone who didn't grow up with any religion at all.

[01:08:52] Brad: Yeah.

[01:08:53] Luke: I'd listen to the preachers or pastors or whatever you call them and be like, yeah, right on. I'm totally on board with all of this. I don't care if it came from the Bible, where it came from. It's just like the truth would speak to me. But I never really, I don't know, found, I guess in the few times I went, culture where I felt like I would have anything else in common with many of the people in there who are enjoying the Christian rock songs.

[01:09:15] And I'm going like, I don't really fit in, but I like being in a room full of people that are faithful and that are taking time out of their life to explore their spirituality and their faith. There's so much value in that. So you're inspiring me. Maybe one of these days I'll roll into one of these churches.

[01:09:34] Brad: Check it out, man. It's a good place. I think it's about community. I think a lot of humanity right now, collectively, is trying to pull back and is seeking community. Because I don't think social media has helped us in any way cultivate community.

[01:09:50] It's divided us, obviously, in so many ways. Yeah, we can communicate with one another, but there's still a real world that exists, and we need to find that community. That's what I like about going to church, is there's community there, and I'm not there for the music either. But there's a lot of the same thing in the Christian music industry.

[01:10:15] It's the same industry. It just has the Christian label over it. But as far as what you're receiving, the message and the things to think about later, once you leave, that's what's important to me. I do prefer a more modest church experience. That's more potent. You go in. You sit down. You listen to what they're saying. I don't need smoke--

[01:10:42] Luke: The big production.

[01:10:43] Brad: [Inaudible] lights in a concert.

[01:10:44] Luke: Did you see that series? I think it's called the Mighty Gemstones. It's about a Megatron. Danny McBride's in it. It's freaking hilarious. But yeah, they're in Tennessee or something, and it's like about a greedy, materialistic, mega church family. John Goodman's in it. Highly recommend. We'll put it in the show notes at lukestorey.com/brad.

[01:11:06] But that's a parody of that brand of Christianity and of faith, but I've had great experiences just walking into a random-- there's something about even, I guess not so much in these modern churches, but if you go into big cities, one of the things I used to love to do when I visited New York, these old cathedrals, they're just open.

[01:11:29] I'd be walking around and looking at church, and there's no one in there and the doors just open and I would go in there and just meditate. Wow, I really like this. I wonder if the church service is like this, which I never went to. I don't know. I remember once I walked into a Russian Orthodox Church in this beautiful cathedral, and they had some little proceedings going on and they just let me come in and hang out.

[01:11:50] The energy in there was really beautiful. There was a stillness. You think about how buildings hold energy. Everything is energy, and you got a building that's been there for a few hundred and probably in Europe a few thousand years of imperfect people. Religion has its faults obviously, and have bad actors, but generally speaking, the people that are going into a church building to communion with God are well-meaning, well-intentioned people, and there's something about the energy of just years and years of prayer that live inside especially those older ones that I've always found really calming and centering.

[01:12:30] Brad: That's what I was going to say. I was immediately going to say, it makes you very aware of energy within one another and how we interact with one another. And when you get in there, as much as I may not like the music, the energy of people that are into it and the way they're connecting with it, and that energy resonating outward into others, it is one thing that I love about music.

[01:12:59] Whether you like the song that's being played or not, you can still get into it. And that's just energy feeding off one another. And it's a beautiful thing. And it shows you the potential of us as a collective when we come together.

[01:13:18] That's one of the beautiful things about, I think, attending services, is that people are there to better themselves or better their communities. It's all about bettering where we're at. We're all passing through onto the next phase of existence. But while we're here, how can we do the best we can? And that's the intent behind being in that room. And you can feel that energy. And that's why you leave a lot of the time feeling pretty good.

[01:13:50] Luke: Yeah. I appreciate that. So you've carved out a different laying for yourself as you've been outspoken. And speaking of community, I've got a list here of some of the events like you do Music & Sky in California, Jam for Freedom in England, of course, Confluence here in Texas.

[01:14:13] What do you see moving forward in terms of a subculture of people who are having that level of intentionality of not necessarily even being against the system but just going, cool, you guys have your little thing you built over here, and we're just going to start our own new communities? We were talking about homesteading recently and people living off grid.

[01:14:34] There definitely seems to be a subculture of people bubbling up that are doing great things in the world and that need artists like you that are saying something of substance and that aligns with their values, are you seeing a positive trend in this direction? What's your vision for how we can build communities outside of the system that are supportive of our wellbeing?

[01:14:59] Brad: I think we're at a really exciting, pivotal point with a lot of the events that are coming together now. Because I can tell you, when I started speaking out through my music, I was on the outside, and we all had to find each other. And now we found each other, and it's not just rallies. It's not protests that we're really doing. It's these events that are like concerts.

[01:15:26] We have speakers, and music, and artists, and comedians, and there is this whole other subculture that's happening that did not exist three, four years ago. And so something new has brewed, which I think is only going to grow. Because if you're on the outside looking at these events, if you had no idea how we all convened, you're going to see a beautiful happening of people going on.

[01:15:57] You're going to be like, people look happy. They're having a good time. That's intriguing. I'd like to go. And that's only going to grow bigger. The fact that I can go to the UK for Jam for Freedom, this will be their second year, it's three days of music and speakers from around the world meeting in the UK.

[01:16:19] That's hopeful. That's really exciting that we can get three days' worth of music and speakers that are all like-minded that are working towards a better world. That's one of the great silver linings to come out of the last several years. I find myself as a musician to be the center of a wheel, where I look at all the people I've met. There's the political side, then there's the medical freedom movement, then there's Prepper campers over here that I've performed at events for.

[01:16:56] And there's the homeschoolers and homesteaded, all these things. And what I see there is the future of the world. All these lanes are going to start merging because we all have this like-mindedness and will to work towards a better world. And that's what gives me hope and drives me every day and not giving up because I'm like, this is really exciting.

[01:17:23] Something new is coming together. And it's not all doom and gloom as much as we focus on COVID and vaccines, but out of it, it's a pubescent time, I call it. Humanity's going through puberty. The last few years, our voice was cracking, and we were all really ugly. We didn't quite know ourselves during that time. That's how I feel like we've been going through.

[01:17:53] But on the other side of that, you grow into a mature responsible, hopefully, good looking adult. And I think that's what we're working towards, is we don't even know our potential and we haven't known our potential as humans the last, however long you want to think that we've progressed from there to here.

[01:18:15] We're still progressing, but it's not technology based, I don't think. I think that's a component in a tool, but humanity has been engulfed in the technological age for the past several decades that now we're realizing, okay, it can't be all that. And it's overtaking us. So collectively humanity is pulling back, and we're reconnecting with what's real. We're connecting with earth and energy and community, like we've been discussing.

[01:18:46] And so I see all of these different lanes coming together, and that's exciting because I think that as you see the former culture that we've all grown up with, the pop culture, all the actors that we grew up admiring, as we as our admiration dies off for them, this new thing is coming up.

[01:19:06] And I don't think that it's based on stardom or idolization. It's based on just the message, the like-mindedness, the goal at the end of the day. I don't look at me doing music as me being a musician and having fans in a sense. I look at it as, when somebody comes out to my shows or the events or the rallies, I'm thanking them just as much as they're thanking me.

[01:19:41] And it's this reciprocal appreciation. And I think that that's what's happening right now, is I had music to offer this moment. But farmers had something to offer. Some of the doctors that spoke out had something to offer this moment. And now that's convening and it's creating the new world, the New World Order. No, I'm just kidding.

[01:20:05] Luke: A different New World Order. Well, speaking to this idea of like-minded people who share common values, I think the values are really the underpinning of the subcultures that are emerging, but what's really cool about it is the cultures that we're talking about represent true diversity.

[01:20:26] It's not a mono mind where everyone is in agreement about everything. It's just that everyone, and most of the people I have on this podcast would share that, all different walks of life, different belief systems, different religions, spiritual practices, some people are really into plant medicines and some people not, but they're finding their own way.

[01:20:48] It's like that's the true representation of diversity where you just look at like, what's the underpinning of values and morals that we are aspiring to live by and choosing the people with whom you share community based on that not based on the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, their political leanings. None of that actually matters if you have the alignment of the foundation that we both, you and I, we care about truth.

[01:21:16] We care about freedom. We care about integrity and art. There's a million things we could agree on. I could give two shits if you go to church or not or what your church is. All those more like, I don't know, not to say that your religion is superficial, but it's like lifestyle choices become superficial.

[01:21:34] It's about what kind of world are you helping to create? And so I too, even in the darkest of times that we've been in, and I tend to focus too much on the darkness, as you can see by my t-shirt here, just because we're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after us. I do like to stay abreast of what they're up to, but if I focus too much on that, then I lose hope and I just go into apathy. I'm like, why even bother trying to do good in the world?

[01:22:03] Because the oppressive systems that are in place are never going to let you rise above a certain level. But aside from that. There's great things happening. I meet people like you on a weekly basis that are awesome people making beautiful contributions to the world. And you're just one of many.

[01:22:22] There's going to be a bunch of people sitting in that seat where you're sitting now that are freaking amazing parents, amazing musicians, thought leaders, doctors, scientists, spiritual teachers that are all very different, but the core of what they're trying to do in the world is positive.

[01:22:39] Brad: Yeah, it's reminiscent of the world that I think we thought we were living in where you could once disagree with somebody but still be friends with them, or not believe every single thing that they believe in and still have a relationship. I think what the world becomes, obviously you're expected to fit into this box.

[01:23:00] One of the things that really was eye opening to me was performing at Defeat the Mandates in January of 2022. It was a big rally in Washington, DC. It was my first time going to a really big rally. I think there was about 35,000 people there on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and over the National Mall.

[01:23:24] And everybody was there. So many different people were there. I was like, this is the unity that they're saying doesn't exist. We're all here. So many people sharing stories from all different walks of life. And I left that event just so hopeful going like, oh, we've already won. We just have to keep doing what we're doing.

[01:23:49] And I think that's where we're at right now, is we're building these small communities that are convening. They're little muscles that make us stronger against those dark forces. And as we continue to meet up and have these events like Confluence and Jam for Freedom or Music & Sky, that muscle is growing stronger and stronger.

[01:24:12] We didn't have that four years ago, so we all felt a little weak and helpless, but now we can lean into the community and continue building. Because nobody wakes up and comes over to this side of things and then realizes, you know what, no, I was wrong.

[01:24:33] I think the government does have my best-- nobody does that. Nobody regresses back to, I think the government does have my best interest in mind and big pharma has been taking care of me. They wake up and then they're here. And then they start observing the community. And it's so hopeful and positive, and it's doers and people that are optimistic about the world.

[01:24:55] We're aware of the darkness. You have to be, I think, but it's a really beautiful thing, and that really excites me about the world that I'm working for, for my kids. It gives me hope. Because if you do get caught up in that darkness and you go, well, what's the point? Then why are any of us doing this? You have to believe that on the other side of it, no matter how long it takes, that we get there. Time is ambiguous anyway. So however long it takes to get there, know that what you're doing now matters.

[01:25:37] Luke: It's the ethos of building something new rather than trying to destroy what's there. I think that's the thing that gives me a lot of hope in these micro communities now that are starting to coalesce over the past few years, is, yeah, there's a faction of us that's like F the man. And you're tweeting at these hypocrites on Twitter and stuff.

[01:25:57] But that's on the surface. I think the deeper level is us really wanting to support one another. And to your point, it's like, just take an event for example as you did. We need all of the different constituent parts of a culture. So we need a musician like you that's writing great songs that are catchy and well written, well performed music that have a message that aligns, just like we need the scientist who's doing cutting-edge research and whatever I do, which I'm not even sure of, but just having--

[01:26:30] Brad: You give a voice to everybody.

[01:26:31] Luke: Yeah, having conversations. I go on stage here and there and it's like, I found my little lane and I'm doing my part, but everyone's part is really important and everyone's part in this idealistic new community that we're talking about matters. You have someone that's a beast at creating homeschooling systems. Boom. There's your lane. You're writing songs, I'm doing my thing. And it's like everyone has a seat at the table based on value alignment.

[01:26:59] And then you get, as I said, true diversity of thought where you can have a conversation with someone with whom you disagree and still be their friend. Whatever happened to that? I remember being a kid, and my mom was liberal. My dad was conservative. They didn't get along, but I got along with all of their people, even if I didn't agree. It's like, when did it happen that we all have to agree on every single item on the list in order to just be cordial with one another?

[01:27:27] I think part of the psyop is, well, I don't think, the division that's sewn, it's creating that social and political climate where you're either with us or against us kind of thing. And all the othering of this group and that group. I think it's really healthy for us as a society to welcome everyone to the table and have true diversity of thought and opinion.

[01:27:53] And if somebody's following common law, Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, that's the rules. Outside of that, be who you are. Be unique. Just don't F with other people. It's pretty simple.

[01:28:14] Brad: I think that that's most of us in this community, was we just wanted to be left alone, and we got along with anybody that-- for me in the music industry, I got along with everybody. I had a wide, diverse group of friends from left and right spectrum and everywhere in between. And it didn't bother me one bit.

[01:28:35] It was only when I started speaking out on what was important to me that I noticed that there was a division there. And doors were closed on me without any of that conversation being had. I expected naively that people that had been following you for years or friends in the industry would say, hey, what are you writing about? Why? What happened that made you think this way?

[01:29:01] But that didn't happen. It was like a door was closed on me while I'm sitting there going like, well, the door's always open, like you were saying. And that door is still open. I'm still willing to have that conversation, but in the meantime, I've met all these other people that think that same way. I naively had this thought all the way up to 2020 that humanity had a baseline understanding on how we live. You don't trust what you see on TV.

[01:29:33] You don't believe in the politicians. There's a lot of propaganda out there. I assumed that we all understood this to some degree. And then that all fell by the wayside throughout 2020. It was shocking. But since then, through the rubble, I found the people that thought that way as well, and we've reconvened.

[01:29:57] And so now it's just a matter of that community living our best life, I think, and showing the rest of the world that there's a great place to live, and that you don't have to fit in a box to be here. So we'll see where we go.

[01:30:20] Luke: Beautiful, man. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to drive all the way from Dallas. It's a long ass drive.

[01:30:26] Brad: It's all right.

[01:30:27] Luke: I appreciate it. It's always more fun to sit here in person, especially when somebody plays an incredible song for me and the audience.

[01:30:34] Brad: Oh, thank you for the invitation.

[01:30:35] Luke: Great to meet you. I love that I can just find people like you. I think I hit you up on Instagram. I think I told you I just loved that song first, and then I was like, hey, let's do a podcast. You're like, yeah. That's the cool thing about social media. I probably would have never met you if it wasn't for Instagram. It has its faults, and there's ways in which it keeps us separate, I think, because it creates a can faux connection that isn't real and not really impactful, but you can use it to connect with the guy like you. Next thing they're sitting in my living room. We're hanging out.

[01:31:08] Brad: Yeah. I think we have really great tools at our disposal. It's just figuring out how to use them properly. This is one of the great ways to use that tool. And so, yeah, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. It's fun to be here.

[01:31:21] Luke: My pleasure, man.