Speaker 1: By W M n H Rip the novels.
Speaker 2: Sigh.
Speaker 3: You are listening to W M n H ninety five
point three, Command God, don't get supper Leada Maxwell coming.
Speaker 1: Up.
Speaker 4: Some days I'd sell my mine dog and that love
me so cut the darkest places.
Speaker 5: So I'll fine if you can't breathe that sekay.
Speaker 6: Sola can't pray. I can't see it's.
Speaker 1: All this bad and go on my mind with all the.
Speaker 7: Truth being come.
Speaker 4: At the age being so guy breathing deep be my life.
If you take the bill as so.
Speaker 2: So way ba.
Speaker 5: Pray, I can't see with all this bad come my mind.
I'm a can tell all I don't.
Speaker 4: I can't convis leave bouts mass but.
Speaker 6: Really I'm in it up to see the wood.
Speaker 8: So Coby best, I can't pray. I can't see you
as all this bad.
Speaker 7: My That is called breakdown. That's the name of the song,
and the project is called Becoming Human. Welcome everybody. We
have entered our number three new marrow, Trace of Matt
Connerton unleashed on this Saturday, March one, twenty twenty five.
Jenny is here, of course at the news table, and
we have joining us via skype let me get that
up here. We've got my favorite band. Yeah, we've got
Jordan Barney from Becoming Human on Skype with us.
Speaker 2: Jordan, are you there, I'm here, can you hear me?
Speaker 7: Yeah? Yeah, you sound great. Love that love that track breakdown,
very very catchy.
Speaker 2: Yank you so much.
Speaker 7: Absolutely absolutely Now, So tell us about Becoming Human, because
now this is not a full band, right, this is
a solo project.
Speaker 9: Well, this actually is in the last couple of years,
has grown quite a bit. I do have a drummer now,
and I have a I also have a bass player,
but the bass player just joined the did play on
that track.
Speaker 7: Oh okay, very cool, very cool. So is But it
started out this started out just you right.
Speaker 2: Yes, yep. Yeah.
Speaker 9: So I was in a band for years and kind
of wow myself kind of just alone now, and I
was like, all right, well, let me time, let me
just rebuild myself a little bit.
Speaker 2: I didn't.
Speaker 9: I wasn't always a singer before in my other band,
I was just I was mostly like a me and
I had a singer and we would write the songs
together kind of. And then from yeah, from like twenty
nineteen to twenty twenty two, I was like, all right,
let me really take my singing more seriously. And yeah,
so I just kind of started becoming human by myself
and my old drummer actually who's he's in the band now,
kind of took interest to it and he was like, hey,
I remember asking him if he knew any drummers because
he was super busy, like he was a he's a
very busy guy, and he was like, I'll do it.
Speaker 2: I was like, awesome, Oh that is cool.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well that works right as somebody you've worked with before,
and that's perfect, that's perfect. Yep. Where does the name
come from? I'm curious if there's a particular meaning to
you behind the name becoming human?
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so so I mean like the last.
Speaker 9: Five or six years for me have been kind of,
uh yeah, like a rebuild a little bit. They A
lot of my songs are very mental mental health related
and kind of spreading the awareness of mental health, especially
in men because they're For a while it was pretty stigmatized.
And you know, I got the I got the whole,
you know, even for my own mom be a man,
man up when I was younger, you know. Uh so
I kind of, you know, I'm slowly trying to become human,
so you know, in a way kind of by you know,
doing my therapy, doing getting in the gym all the time,
and just kind of you know, being being myself.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I can relate to that, and I I really
like what you're doing because I you know, I'm someone
who I've struggled with depression my whole life, and you know,
and there is obviously, i mean there's less of a
stigma then there used to be. Yeah, it's getting better
in that sense, but there is still a stigma. You know,
for for a big chunk of my life. I would
try to hide it, you know. You know, you put
on the fake smile and you try to hide it,
you know, and at a certain point, hiding it just
gets exhausting, you know.
Speaker 9: And yeah, because we you know, everybody has the same emotions.
Everybody feels the same thing. Everybody goes to this like, yeah,
we all have like the same emotions and stuff like that.
So yeah, yeah, that's definitely I mean, yeah, mental health
for for everybody. But yeah, it was definitely kind of
at the beginning, it was, yeah, because I mean I
grew up in one of those yeah, grow up households
or like you know, I grew up in one of
those Uh yeah, man up right.
Speaker 2: Don't don't show it. Yeah, that's weak.
Speaker 9: So yeah, it's definitely kind of uh me expressing myself
in that way and also kind of also want I
want people to know that like you not alone, you know,
like I've gone through this. Every week, we've gone through this,
We've all gone through this stuff. Uh So yeah, that's
pretty That's the central message behind pretty much every every
song that I've done so far.
Speaker 7: I'm curious as your in terms of your family's understanding
of you and that aspect of you. Has that changed?
Have have you been able to maybe use your music
or maybe just through you know, relationships change over time.
Has that changed it all? Where where they under are
able to understand that better than they did then or
your your your your laugh makes me think probably not.
Speaker 9: Yeah, no, Yeah, there's not a whole lot of reflection
that goes on sometimes. So, but I mean our relationship
has definitely changed over the years, and it's been a lot. Yeah,
it's it's definitely, uh, it's different than it used to
be for sure.
Speaker 7: Yeah. Yeah, now is that uh has that always kind
of been a goal of yours to be able to
address these issues with your music or were you doing
that in the band that you were in or or
has that been more something that you've been able to
do with with becoming human.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think it's just it's just the easiest thing
for me to write about. I remember in my the
old band, it was a lot different, the lyrics were
a lot different. He had gone through his own stuff.
He was a veteran, a marine veteran, Okay, so he
had gone through his own stuff. So but yeah, this one,
for some reason, they it just it's easy for me
to write about. And I enjoy writing about it, and
I enjoy like talking to other people about their experiences too,
And because yeah, when you kind of when you start
talking to somebody about it, like they're like they you,
they're kind of like, oh wow, Like it almost seems
like even me, like I was like, there's like a
sense of relief there that like, oh God, I'm so
glad I'm not the only person that goes through this,
right my goodness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 9: So I think just like, yeah, putting it out there
in the world, I think I think it put somebody's mind,
at least part of it to ease a little bit
that like, hey, you know somebody else did that, somebody
else also did this, And I think there's like a
it's therapeutic in that way too.
Speaker 7: Well, I always say too And this is something that
comes up a lot on the show. Is anytime that
you can take something that's negative, you know, like depression
or or or anything else, any sort of trauma or
or health issues or anything anything that's bad, if you
can take it and and create something from that, then
you've taken that, You've done something positive with it. You're
creating an art, whether it's music or visual art or
anything at all. Uh you know, that's that's the best
therapy and that and that's not I don't mean that
to negate any other kinds of therapy or or you know,
anything that people have to do to try to feel better.
But but but I think art is because that's something
that not only not only are you creating something so
it helps you, but it helps other people too, and
other people can relate to it and get something from it.
And uh so I think that's great. Was that difficult
at first when you first started writing music writing lyrics
about that? Was it challenging at first? Or did that
come easily because there's obviously now doing that, there's a
level of vulnerability there that wasn't there before that you
have to you know that you have to be able
to be vulnerable, right, I mean, was was that hard
at first?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 9: Yeah, definitely, because you know, there's you know, I have
like you know, significant other in my life and people
other people friends in my life and they'll be like
sometimes they'll be like, is this is this real? Because
this is really how you you know, this is really
how you feel. But I got to explain to that,
you know, you explained to them like, yeah, this is
something that I've been going through since I was a kid.
It's not this isn't new, this is nothing that's come up,
you know, and it's also but yeah, yeah, definitely definitely
can be hard sometimes.
Speaker 7: Yeah. Yeah. And now in terms of you doing you
started this as a solo project and looking at I
was looking at reading up about you online, it looks
like so the band a vintage year when that ended
in twenty nineteen. Now was that did that ending have
to do with the onset of the pandemic or because
that's I know for a lot of people, a lot
of musicians we talked to, you know, the pandemic really
just kind of well, not just musicians, everybody when that
showed up, it changed a lot of things for a
lot of people. But I'm just curious, or maybe it's
a coincidence or I don't know, but what was the
ending of that band? What precipitated that?
Speaker 9: Yeah, coincidence. We started in like twenty fourteen. Yeah, and
we moved to Austin in twenty seventeen, the same drummer.
Drummer who's in Becoming Human now, same drummer, me and him,
and then we just had a different sing We had
a singer. They hated each other the second when they
moved here for I don't I don't know what the
heck happened.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they like.
Speaker 9: They were best friends one day and then all of
a sudden they were hated each other. And it's like
the classic band. It's like the classic band story. I
remember liked the singer being like I can't I can't
stand him anymore, blah blah blah, and so like me
and Nick actually kind of the drummer in Becoming Human,
we actually kind of lost touch for like a couple
of years because advinted year was also like my baby
as well.
Speaker 7: Oh okay, So I.
Speaker 9: Stuck with the singer and then in twenty and then,
you know, it kind of got stale after a few years,
and me and hitting Me and the singer kind of
weren't aligned anymore.
Speaker 2: I think there was he wanted to do some other things.
Speaker 9: So we kind of just split up and he went
and did his so his solo project, and then I
started kind of rebuilding myself as like, okay, like if
this is gonna work, if I'm gonna make this work, uh,
it's I have to pretty much figure out a way
to do everything at first, you know, if I'm gonna
be if I'm going to attract other musicians to be
interested in and in taking part in this. So yeah,
from like twenty for like the pandemic, I went through
like a rebuild phase. So it was kind of like
good timing because it wasn't like there was anything going
on anyways in the in that in the industry, in
that world, right right, So it's just good timing. And
then yeah, I launched a project in twenty twenty two,
like late twenty twenty two.
Speaker 7: Oh okay, okay, Yeah, it's cool. Too, that you were
able to take that time to kind of, as you
put it, rebuild because you know, the pandemic that's another
example of something terrible that we all had to go through.
But you know, we have to find these silver linings
where we can and and a lot of people did
take that time, you know, to kind of rebuild, reassess,
you know, find a new direction and find new ways
to be creative too, and perhaps explore their own I
mean a lot of musicians, you know, kind of explore
their own creativity in ways that maybe they they weren't
doing or had neglected or didn't have time to do,
and now they suddenly have perhaps maybe more time than
they than they wanted in certain instances. And depending on
your situation, but was it was it kind of liberating
to to sort of start over to like was it
like okay, you know I can I can put a
vintage gear behind me and just just sort of start fresh.
Was was that liberating for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 9: Yeah, definitely it was, yeah, because you know, now if
if it if it fails, it's my fault. That's kind
of like the you know we're before it was kind
of like I don't know, and like I said maybe
like over time, I think me and like the singer
of a Vintageyar kind of like, yeah, we just became
misaligned with our goals. But yeah, this time it's like okay,
like like I'm I'm gonna bring I'm gonna do the
work first, and then I'll bring the people in and
then I'll I'll they'll like, I'll bring them in and
they'll kind of if they're they're joining me because they
you know, they like the music and stuff. So it's
it was a little bit. Yeah, it was, uh, I
got do it my way this time, basically.
Speaker 7: Yeah, exactly. Now you're not you're not from Austin originally, right,
you moved there.
Speaker 9: I moved there in twenty seventeen. Yeah, I'm originally born
in Rochester, New York.
Speaker 7: Oh right, that's right. Okay, I remember reading that. Yes, Rochester,
New York. So that's a pretty big that's a pretty
big move. Yeah, now what what precipitated that?
Speaker 9: So in like twenty sixteen, you know, me and Nick
the drummer Joe who was the old singer of Vintage,
we really we took music very seriously and Rochester doesn't
really have the like the amenities for music that a
bigger city does. Yeah, it's funny because like, looking back,
I think it does now it does.
Speaker 2: We didn't know that at the time though.
Speaker 9: We were very you know, I was kind of we
were rush bell kids, so yeah, we were very naive
to like other cities and like what other things looked like.
Speaker 2: So we just but and our singer was from Houston origin.
Speaker 9: Oh uh yeah, so that's and yeah, he ended up
in Rochester, but he met his wife in the Marine Corps.
Speaker 2: His wife was from Rochester, Okay, so that's how he
ended up there. Yeah, so we.
Speaker 9: I knew, I knew, Like I was like, I don't
want to live in Houston because, like I I've I've
already seen enough extreme weather, Like you know, Rochester gets
like one hundred and twenty inches of snow a year
being on the Great Lakes there. So I was like,
what about Austin and he was like, yeah, that sounds great.
And we saw that it was like they call it
the live capital music of the World, and oh that's
pretty cool. So they have like, yeah, there's a lot
of decent musician amenities here. There's a lot of work
for especially because I also mix and produce as well.
Speaker 2: I work with other bands.
Speaker 9: Yeah, so all the music that I you hear that
I put out, I've engineered and produced and stuff like that.
So which is definitely that's a big game. That's a
game changer. If you can do all your own stuff, yes,
and you're broke U it helps.
Speaker 2: So yeah.
Speaker 9: So I also I also I do that too for
other bands here. So there's just more musicians here.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 9: In hindsight, I don't think it's that much different. I
think Rochester definitely has the scene. Uh, but it is
mostly like Rochester's very nerdy city. It's very jazz orchestra. Uh,
and then the other side is country music. So it
was kind of like, can we bridge that gap in
a different city.
Speaker 7: Right right? Yeah, Austin is uh yeah, that's a great
music city and obviously too, you know, people who don't
know people think of Actually I think this came up
recently on the show. Jenny and I were talking about this.
I think it was last week. We had this conversation
about Texas. You know, people think of Texas and they
think of country music or some people you know, and
they don't realize that, you know, in some areas like Austin,
of course, is such a such a variety of music
that comes out of Austin, Yeah, you know, and and
other other cities, and you know, Dallas Fort Worth there's
a lot of metal bands that we've talked to from
that area and so forth. So so there's there's a
lot going on. You know, there's a lot of dynamism
in the music scene and in Texas, uh broadly. And
but it sounds like, so you you were able to
to do the the producing and and mixing and everything forward.
Do you have a lot of artists that you work with?
Is is that? Is that a full time endeavor?
Speaker 9: No, it's good. But I'm you know, this year has
been pretty good for me. I've worked with quite a
few of them and good.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah.
Speaker 9: So but yeah, for a long time, it was just
I just wanted to kind of be able to do
the like I just I really enjoy the the writing,
the creative process and then seeing it like kind.
Speaker 2: Of build build it. Yeah.
Speaker 9: So uh I was just doing that myself, and then
somebody was like, man, you should like start working with
other bands because you know your mixes are really good.
Uh so yeah, And so I say, like a couple
of years ago, I kind of started putting myself out
there a little bit with very little return, which is fine, Like.
Speaker 2: It's just it's a it's competitive.
Speaker 9: But then yeah, so and then this year it's kind
of like starting to pick up a little bit words
kind of getting around. So yeah, and it's funny because, like,
you know, I mentioned that we wanted we thought moving
to Austin would kind of but like it's like with
the like and I think in the past like seven six, seven,
eight years, social media has like grown so much.
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean I'm I'm.
Speaker 9: Literally talking to you guys right now, and you guys
are in New Hampshire. I think we I think somebody
connected us together. We have like a mutual friend I
think or something. So but it's just so funny because
like you and I could literally be anywhere right now.
So it's like, is is the city you live in?
Speaker 2: Does it really matter anymore?
Speaker 7: Right? Yeah? Social media has really changed that and uh,
you know, and we live in an era too where
and again this is something that really grew during the
pandemic where it's it's easier to collaborate with people musically
from from anywhere in the world. And you know, obviously
even before the pandemic, you could do that, you know,
you could send tracks back and forth and so forth.
But I think the pandemic really forced people to think
more creatively, yes, and to and to embrace the technology
that we already had, but maybe we're not using to
its full potential. So and I assume too. I mean,
you know, you probably enjoy the winter in Austin a
lot more than you did when you were in Rochester.
Speaker 9: I'm guessing right, yes, yeah, I it's yeah, sometimes like
I'll go out, I'll walk out side leave it even
right now, like or like a few like a couple
of weeks ago, it was like seventy five degrees and
it like blows my mind. It's like Sonny and seventy
five to this day. And I've been here for a
long time. I've been here since twenty seventeen. So yeah,
I'll go outside it like, man, this is crazy to
this day still, Like yes, I don't know if I'll
ever get used to it, but yeah, it's still kind
of like yeah, and it's weird because like you know,
if you're from up north or the northeast, like being
down south is like that reminds you of like vacation times.
I'll go outside and I'll get hit with that southern,
warm winter smell and I'll be like, that's Disney World
or you know, that's a vacation.
Speaker 7: Oh that does that does sound nice?
Speaker 2: It is?
Speaker 7: It is?
Speaker 2: It's something else. Yeah, I think. Yeah.
Speaker 9: There's this guy from the New England area named Matt
Matt Roberto. He he played on one of my tracks.
I think, I think you guys, I there's a maybe
it's not you guys, but I was like, somebody plays
it all the time, and I think that's how I
ended up on this. His name's Matt, Yeah, he was.
He played on we have a track called Make It Hurt.
He played bass on it, and he's really like he's
got like kind of a fan base out there, which
is funny. Oh okay, so that's I think that's how
I because I was like, I was like, how do
I know these guys? Again, I was like, I think
I was connected. We were connected through somebody, a mutual person.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've we've talked to a lot of
artists from Texas and Okay, there's a gentleman named Mike Woolsey,
who uh kind of that's where it started. He's a
nic moonfallen.
Speaker 2: Do you know I think that Yes, I think that
name's not definitely name sounds familiar.
Speaker 7: That might be who connected us.
Speaker 9: Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, yeah yeah yeah, he's great and
small world.
Speaker 7: Yeah yeah, Well, like you were saying, though, you know,
social media has made it such.
Speaker 2: They brought itself together. Yeah, like everybody's closer now.
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely. Now, what's what's the situation in terms of
live shows? Are you do you play? Do you play
this material out? Are you able to play this material out?
Since it's you and now now you have a drummer
and a bass player, right, so how does that all work?
Speaker 9: Yeah, we've been playing now for uh well, our first
we had our first show about almost a year ago,
our first live show, and it was just me and
the drummer. So we were backing track the bass guitar okay,
which was interesting, but nobody really seemed to mind.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it worked, but I really.
Speaker 9: Kind of wanted uh you know, the having another brain
definitely makes a huge difference, especially because I do play bass,
but I'm not like somebody who spends a lot of
time on the bass guitar.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so I.
Speaker 9: Wanted somebody who is like a specialist on the bass
guitar and we yeah, we brought this guy a named
Mike and he's amazing and so yeah, we've.
Speaker 2: Been playing with him.
Speaker 9: He's played with us the last four or five gigs
and it's been awesome. And yeah, that we wet. We
do the material live silver like the SYNTHI stuff we
back that that gets put in the backing tracks, which
is yeah, it's whatever. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, it's pretty
easy to pull off live.
Speaker 2: It's been great, Oh, excellent, excellent.
Speaker 7: Are you playing out a lot?
Speaker 9: We are, Yeah, we have a we have a show
on the eighth at this place called Anderson Mill Pub,
which is right down the street from where I live,
which is really cool. And then we're playing a show
in Rochester in April, so that'll be fun too.
Speaker 7: Well Rochester, New York.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Rochester, New York.
Speaker 7: Oh cool.
Speaker 9: Yeah yeah yeah, And my buddy Matt, who's from Providence,
is gonna he's gonna play with me there.
Speaker 2: He's gonna fill it on. Yeah, so that'd be fun.
Speaker 7: Oh, that's excellent, excellent. Yeah. And what's what's kind of
the the trajectory in terms of have you released an
album or just singles at this point, just.
Speaker 9: Doing singles, but I think eventually, when I have enough,
I think it would be cool to kind of release
a physical album.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know people still like that.
Speaker 9: I was very disappointed to find out that a lot
of new stuff doesn't have CD players anymore, Like my
laptop doesn't have one. A lot of new cars don't
have CD players anymore. My old laptop does. But yeah,
so like I'm a guy that holds onto technology for
like a decade.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, so I'm always behind.
Speaker 9: So like, yeah, like my girlfriend had we've gotten, like
she bought me a laptop for Christmas, like a new
one because mine was old. Yeah, and uh it was
a really nice one. And I was like, where's the
CD player. She's like, there's no CD players anymore. I
was like, are you Yeah. I was very very shocked.
So I'm always behind, like technology wise, yeah, but yeah,
so that I do want to come out with a
full length album with the songs that I've released the
past few years. But yeah, so the the whole CD
format is the album format. It's it works. It's just
everything moves so fast in the music industry now, I know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's like the city.
Speaker 9: Like if you really, if you drop a whole album,
a lot of people are like, it's it's kind of
a waste.
Speaker 7: That's the problem.
Speaker 9: Yeah, unless you have a unless you already have like
a huge fan base, like if you're like Radiohead or
Chevelle or cold Play, right, you can, you can do that.
But if you're somebody who's still trying to grow, it's
really tricky. But I think we are growing. I think
we just we just hit three thousand monthly listeners on Spotify, which.
Speaker 7: Is oh good good.
Speaker 9: Yeah, so eventually we will do like a physical album
like CD release, I think.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's funny. Jenny was asking me just the other
day if we had anything at home to play CDs on.
We actually, believe it or not, we don't. I had
a man that doesn't even work anymore. That was the
last thing I had. I think that that you could
even play CDs on. Yeah, yeah, we don't have anything.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think like cars don't even have CD players anymore. Yeah,
it's like my car still is a CD player because
it's ten years old or fifth they yet out thirteen
years old.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, my laptop does not.
Speaker 7: We have one here at the radio station. In fact,
a guy named Rob as a veto he owes to
show here called Granted State of Mind on Friday nights,
and he uses the CD player that we have here
and it works. But yeah, but we don't have one
at home. And but a lot of the guests that
we have in studio, you know, they they they're still
doing physical CDs. They'll often bring CDs in, you know,
just because I think a lot of and with vinyl too,
you know a lot of our guests they'll even spend
the money to uh to do vinyl. But I strongly
suspect my theory about that is with vinyl, and probably
it applies to CDs too. I think a lot of
people who who buy them never actually open them, or
or they might open them and look at them, but
never actually play them because they just you know, if
you're really a plan, Yeah, if you're really a fan
of an artist, it's nice to have. But yeah, I
always liked, you know, if I'm really a fan of somebody,
like you know, opening it up and looking at the
liner notes and everything, and yeah, so there's definitely still
a market for that. But but I but but I
understand what you're saying. Too about you know, if you
put out an album all at once and it's kind
of like once that blows over. Yeah, you know, yeah,
it almost seems like a waste.
Speaker 2: That's the tricky Yeah, the tricky part.
Speaker 9: So I see, I think at the end we will
culminate a whole album together and then if people want
to buy it, well, I'll make them. I'll buy Yeah,
I'll make them. And that's kind of how I've been
doing this project because it was just a side project originally,
and but I always like, I mean, it's if you
guys want me to keep making songs, I'll keep me.
Speaker 2: I'll keep making songs. It was kind of like like
a lot of.
Speaker 9: My friends at the beginning were just listening to it,
so I just kept I kept releasing them. Yeah, guys.
So that's kind of how I've been doing things. Like
if people are like asking me, hey, like we want
something to hold on to, we want like a CD,
or we want something physical, we want vinyl, Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2: Let's let's get it. Let me get it, let me
I'll get it.
Speaker 7: Done right right, yeah exactly, and we're going to uh,
the time goes so quickly, Jordan, but in a moment
we're going to play this track. I'm fine at the
end of our conversation, but I do want people. I
want our listeners to know where should they go, where's
the best places to go to find you online? To
keep up with everything that you're doing, with everything that
Becoming Human is doing, so that we don't miss anything. Yeah,
as you're putting out new music and playing shows and
all that.
Speaker 9: Yeah, so you could find me www dot becoming humanatx
dot com is that's kind of the hub for everything.
Instagram becoming human at X, Facebook becoming human atx atx
means Austin, Texas, and then Spotify becoming human. Now there
is two becoming humans. There's a like a rapper, not me,
I am the I am the plain black the white
text that is becoming human. Okay, Yeah, a lot of
people will be like this is you, and I'm like, no,
that's not me. So yeah, it's just plain black text
becoming human. The logo that's me.
Speaker 7: Well, at least it's a different genre of music, so
that's exactly less confusing. Otherwise you can really run into trouble.
So exactly, Yeah, and anything we should know about this track,
I'm fine the title makes me think it might be
about what we were talking about earlier.
Speaker 2: Yes, so this is the first track that Nick played on.
Speaker 9: This came out a few months ago, so it's still
kind of new. It's yeah, something I remember my therapist said.
Speaker 2: She's like because she asked me how am I?
Speaker 9: And I said I'm fine, and she's like, seldomly does
that when someone when someone says I'm fine, seldomly are
they really fine?
Speaker 7: Right exactly?
Speaker 9: Yeah, So it was kind of like, oh so I
kind of like made a whole song about it, and yeah,
mostly this one's just kind of like, this is dealing
with like anxiety and panic attacks, which I struggled with
through in my twenties really bad. I had a really
really rough got with panic attacks in my twenties. Oh wow,
so that's what that's what this one, This one's about
dealing with that.
Speaker 7: Okay, Well, again, certainly relatable to a lot of people,
myself included. So that'll that'll be a great way to
end it. So Jordan, we will uh, we will let
you go and then I'm gonna hit that track. But
thank you so much for joining us today and as
you're releasing new music, we'll we'll have you back on
because it's been a great discussion. I really enjoyed talking
with you and we're a very big fan of what
you're doing.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Likewise, yeah, I will definitely do that.
Speaker 7: All right, Jordan, all right, sounds good, Thank you, my friend,
and we'll talk you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, talk to you soon, all right, bye bye bye.
Speaker 7: All right, Jordan Barney from Becoming Human, Let's hit this track.
This is called I'm fine.
Speaker 10: It's time when you're not ok.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thought the rock, it's time, it's so good.
Speaker 5: The lab lines.
Speaker 4: And one steps away.
Speaker 11: Why does he run? It's time?
Speaker 5: I'm not okay, Fried the god.
Speaker 7: We ain't cross b.
Speaker 11: By the way by the way, her fool amarra go
side bye bye way by the way, mind the surrided,
but easy.
Speaker 12: You're rising on my one. This time it's borrow away.
Speaker 1: Lab bob besid this time as.
Speaker 11: After that July a week.
Speaker 2: When not.
Speaker 7: And my not okay, sprack go.
Speaker 2: Waiting from my.
Speaker 11: Bay the way by the way, beautiful.
Speaker 5: The better go side.
Speaker 11: Fine by the way, by the way, the easy If
you're there, my when.
Speaker 6: You cross that that you left yourselfie your reflection. Nos,
won't you keep it? See strack.
Speaker 1: Way from.
Speaker 4: By the Way, by the way, Mine's.
Speaker 11: Beautiful ard side.
Speaker 2: By the Way, by the way.
Speaker 1: I'm Fine.
Speaker 7: Oh that is so cool. I really love that song
that is called I'm Fine. That is Becoming Human. We
just talked with Jordan Barney. If you missed it, of
course you can always check the archive afterward. We'll have
it up shortly after the show today at Wmnhradio dot
organ on my website Matt Coonnorton dot com. But yeah,
I really enjoyed talking with Jordan and a big fan
of Becoming Human and we will of course have him
back as he releases new music. But this is Matt
Connorton Unleashed. We are of course we're in our final
segment today on this week's show. It goes too quickly.
I do want to mention too. Last night I was
on Granted State of Mind with the great Rob as
a Veto, as was Texas Mic, So if you miss
that you can check that out. Katie Dobbins was the guest.
She came in and performed live and we listened to
a studio track of hers too, and always a great time.
Always enjoy being on Rob as a Veto's program. Be
sure to check out Pembroke City Limits if you haven't
been there. It's an amazing place. And I just came
in to kind of help out Rob with some sound
and in terms of setting up mikes and that kind
of thing. But and of course he invited me to
be on mike and participate in the show. So I'll
always enjoy that, grantit state of mind, and don't forget too.
Of course, this week's retro Spectrum Radio. If you miss that,
you can check that out. And of course it is
the first day of spring now, not technically. I realize
that before anyone gets on me about oh Matt, it's
not till what is it March twentieth? I know according
to the calendar. However, as I've said many times, as
I say every year, I learned this from my dad
when when I was growing up. My dad always told
me because he doesn't like winter either, he doesn't like
it any more than I do. He always said he
likes to think of winter as really only being two
months long. It's January and February is logic being most
of December is technically still fall anyway, and you usually
don't get till the really bitter cold, nasty weather till January,
so then you have January and February to contend with.
Once you get to March, it's technically still winter, but
you kind of don't care at that point. Even if
there's a blizzard, you know it's all going to melt
away any day. So my dad likes to think of
March first as the first day of spring, and that
is how I think of it as well. And by
the way, if you ask a meteorologist about that, they
will tell you the same thing, because March, actually March,
April May are meteorological spring, that's how they think of it,
and then June, July and August are meteor me it's
so hard to say that word meteorological summer and so forth.
I learned that Jenny from al Caprillion, really, yes, many
years ago. That about the about how meteorologists, how they
just think of the think of the seasons. As you know,
summer is June, July, August.
Speaker 1: I look at it this way. We're listening two weeks
away from changing the clocks.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's true too, and that's my moment.
Speaker 10: Yes, yes, when I have more daylight, I will feel better, right,
I can't wait.
Speaker 7: Right, I'm done with this before we go into further too.
We're going to kind of circle back to something we
were doing earlier in the show. But we should also
because I don't want to run out of time. You're
you've got something coming up pretty big.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I do coming up this. Oh my goodness,
I just lost the date.
Speaker 7: Uh oh oh, oh gosh.
Speaker 1: Because I have the poster in front of me. What
is it, March fifteenth?
Speaker 7: I believe I don't remember offhand.
Speaker 1: I have your other schedule in front of me. Yes,
I'm multitask.
Speaker 7: Yes, Jenny does all for those who don't know.
Speaker 1: Jenny also does all that going on while I'm sitting here.
Speaker 7: Oh excellent. Jenny also does all the booking. She books
the guests for the show.
Speaker 1: Seriously, I'm sitting here, this happens.
Speaker 7: Yes.
Speaker 10: So on March fifteenth, there's a really unique art show
coming up here in the Queen City, and I'm really
excited to be a part of it. The Uncensored Underground
Art Experience will take place on March fifteenth from six
to eight pm at twenty Garden Walk here in the
Queen City. It's a showcase of political, provocative and otherwise
anti censorship art. There's going to be a lot of
different artists there, work from people like Porscha Jones, excuse me,
DApp or Tom grim Dark. Really looking forward to this.
I'm excited to be a part of this display. My contribute.
Speaker 1: My contribution is in regards to what you all know
that I fight all the time, which is insurance trying
to get.
Speaker 10: The coverage that we all pay for, and that spurred
off a series of paintings from my personal experiences of
having to stay on the line for three hours waiting
for an agent and trying to get a prior authorization
and all those lovely things that we all end up
having to do in order to acquire the healthcare that
we all deserve. So if you want to check out
that artwork and one of them, actually you get to
play with three D glasses with with one of my paintings, yes,
which is exciting for me because I just think that's
fun to play with.
Speaker 1: Anyway, check out this amazing show.
Speaker 10: I think it's great that it's going to be provocative
and political and get the juices going and get people going,
because art should do that.
Speaker 1: Art should make you uncomfortable sometimes and art should make
you think and want to chat with one another.
Speaker 10: So absolutely check out the Undercensored Underground Art Experience on
March fifteenth from six to eight pm at twenty Garden
Walk here in the Queen City of Manchester.
Speaker 7: And we should also mention today for those listening live
on Saturday, Jesse Coffee is performing live at Great North Ailworks.
Speaker 10: Is he's also located here in the Queen City because
we have some of the greatest things here in Manchester,
the Great North Aleworks. Jesse Coffee, singer songwriter will be
performing tonight starting at four pm. They have a lot
of home it's all home crafted al's and brews and
it's a really awesome local family business. Come out and
support the local businesses. Check them out, come out, have
a drink, listen to my son play. He's really talented, talented.
Speaker 7: And should we also mention the doorbell the doorbell. Someone
rang our doorbell here which is unusual.
Speaker 10: And oh my god, so we had a visitor stop by.
Why you were chatting and that was Crispy the comedian. Yes,
he was so excited to hear you talk about him
and mentioned that he's a good comedian and he gave
me a glow in the dark pan.
Speaker 1: Oh, glow in the Dark pen is from Peller in
Motor Sports.
Speaker 7: Okay.
Speaker 10: Also here a Manchester, New Hampshire business and I'm really
liking the pen that glows and I'm sorry you guys
can't see it because radio is theater.
Speaker 7: Of the mind.
Speaker 1: But it's a green pen.
Speaker 10: We'll take a picture that lights up and says the
business and their phone number.
Speaker 1: Yes, and I'm I get to keep the pen.
Speaker 7: Yes, the pen to me? Okay, well, very good.
Speaker 1: I'm happy I likes yes.
Speaker 7: So thank thank you, Crispy.
Speaker 1: It was so cool that he stopped by. He wanted
to say thank you. He really loved hearing you talk
about it, and we love talking about you and we
hope to have you come in and sit with us
one of these days. Yeah, make everybody else laugh.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he hasn't been on the show in years.
Speaker 1: I know, I know when he's ready. When he's ready,
you want to come on, give us some jokes. We'd
love to hear you.
Speaker 10: Absolutely, And if you want to be on Matt Connaton Unleashed,
all you gotta do is give us a contact.
Speaker 7: Well, it's not all you gotta do. Well, Yeah, I mean,
you know, there are other requirements.
Speaker 10: Mental telepathy maybe yeah, well yeah, send us your music,
follow us what you're doing, what's going on in the
arts community.
Speaker 1: Are you an author? Did you write a book? Want
to hear about it. If you have something to do
with arts, music, the creative spaces of the world, we
want to hear you.
Speaker 10: So you can email me at gen Coffee sixteen at
gmail dot com, or visit my website for more information
at gen Coffee j E N N co O f
f EI dot com.
Speaker 7: So, speaking of of creative spaces, so we did something
earlier on the show. So again if you're which I'm
bothered by, or on a different day, if you're listening
to the replay of the show. But so something that
I've been thinking about doing live on the air for
a long time and we just had never gotten to
it until today. But today we had the time. Suno
dot com is one of several there are several now available.
One of these websites and by the way, they've been
sued a bunch and there's a lot going on. But
this is one of these AI websites where you go
on and you put in a prompt for a song,
idea that you have and it will create an AI
generated song for you. And so I wanted to try
this live on the air, and it was pretty shocking.
The results that we got as shocking in that they're
really good, especially really good. And by the way, I
will wear it. And by the way, I am going
to put these up on YouTube later because we didn't
even play the entire each prompt that we tried. It
gave us two versions, so I'm gonna put all of
it up on YouTube later because we didn't listen to
the entire songs. But I may have reignited my my
beef with MC hammer because I asked it to make
distracts about MC Hammer. That's a long story. That's a
long story. Uh why So if mc hammer comes to
get me, uh, yep, we'll be in separate rooms and
hopefully will leave you.
Speaker 1: So you want to be a trouble maker in the doghouse?
Speaker 7: Yes, yes, but I don't please Hammer, don't hurt me.
But uh so, so the technology is incredible. But anyway, so, uh, Jenny,
you had mentioned something while we were listening to these
incredible AI generated tracks with all the wonder and concern
that comes with that because good reason, because there's a
lot going on and artists are very concerned, and and yeah,
with very good reason. Like I said, these turned out
to be Souno dot com. These turned out to be
beyond anything I was expected, especially the first two.
Speaker 10: First two really pop those and they basically to me
sounded like ripoffs of Evan essence.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing, this is what AI.
Speaker 7: We all know.
Speaker 10: We've been talking about this and how it affects the
music world. But what Britain is trying to do right now,
I don't think it's a good idea, and there's a
lot of artists that are really worried. And here's what's
going on in Parliament. They're talking about passing a law
that would basically mean that companies who use AI to teach,
you know, to do music can use any artist music
that they want, unless the artist chooses.
Speaker 1: To opt out. So the bill would make it legal.
Speaker 10: It would make it so everybody's music opts in automatically,
whether you like it or not. Everybody's in, and you
have to go and make it a point to try
and opt out as a musician. And this of course
is creating quite the uproar. I mean, Brian May is
talking about it. There's a lot of different artists talking
about it. But interestingly, the BBC is reporting that a
number of artists actually got together and they did something interested.
They created a silent album and when you look at
the album's imagery, but the name of the album is
is this what we want?
Speaker 1: And then it lists the tracks, but the tracks.
Speaker 10: Obviously there's no tracks, and it creates a sentence, so
there's it lists twelve tracks, But what it really says
is the British government must not legalize music theft to
benefit AI companies.
Speaker 1: And I have to agree.
Speaker 10: If you're gonna make it, if everybody's in and you
don't get a control over your stuff unless you opt out,
then I agree that is theft.
Speaker 7: In my book, What about you, I'm not sure. I'm
not sure if I would use the word theft, but
you know I am. I am deeply concerned about.
Speaker 1: I mean again, creating everybody else's creation. You're not coming
up with anything original.
Speaker 7: Hearing that way hearing. So this little experiment that we
did earlier, creating AI tracks live on the air has
left me well speechless, apparently because I'm having hard time
even articulating my thoughts about it there, they're so much
better than anything that I expected that I'm I have
a different level of concern about all of this and
how it affects artists, and perhaps I did before this morning.
Does that make sense? Like I'm now, I'm.
Speaker 1: It's worse than you thought in What He Can Do?
Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean it basically created I mean, for lack
of another, it basically ripped off an of its song
on those first two as far as really, well.
Speaker 7: I don't I don't think it sounded just like me.
But but because I didn't, well I didn't. I didn't
hear a hook like I didn't hear a hit single
in those but I did hear I mean, I did
hear something. This sounds like it was probably drawn from
a lot of different influences. But but what I also
heard was something that that if you had played that
for me, if you would if you had played one
of those for me and I had no idea who
who the artist was, where the song came from. If
I didn't know anything about it and you played that
for me and you just said, what do you think?
I would probably say, well, this is is this someone
who wants to come on the show because this is incredible.
I want to get them on the show, you know
what I mean. Yeah, Like that's how good and convincing
it is. And it was completely AI generated. So and
I even kind of joked, like what did I say, Well,
I guess so, I guess music is dead now because
we have this, we don't need anyone to create any
more music. And I was kidding, but I was sort
of like half kidding, like, oh my god, like this
this is beyond anything I would have imagined or expected.
Speaker 10: So one of the spokespeople for the Department of Science,
Innovation and Technology, this is in regards.
Speaker 1: To the UK. Their statement, it's quite bold.
Speaker 10: Their statement is to say that the current laws that
exists in the UK for a copyright is holding back
the creative industries of media and AI sectors from realizing
their full.
Speaker 1: Potential, and that it cannot continue, and that's why they
want this.
Speaker 10: Law passed that would allow all of them, empower all
of them to use everybody's everything unless the artist opts out.
Speaker 1: And they call that a a good solution. I've never
been a fan of opt out.
Speaker 10: I've always been a fan of you opt in, not
you know what I mean? Like I I've always hated
the whole everybody. This is such a departure from traditional
copyright law.
Speaker 7: Well, we're in way, way, way in the uncharted territory
with all of this. This is so far beyond anything
we've ever had to figure out. I mean, oh my god,
Like I remember when remember, like I don't know more
than twenty years ago, jeez, maybe twenty five years ago,
when when Napster came along and file sharing and everybody, everybody,
everybody at the time was freaking out, and it was like, whoa,
because of the Internet. We're an uncharted territory here. We
had no idea like this makes Napster and file sharing
and everything in the way the Internet started to change
the music industry. This makes that look like a blip
on the radar in terms of cataclysmic or potentially cataclysmic
change to how everything operates. This is so far beyond that.
And I wonder, so my one of my thoughts, and
again I'm kind of if I sound like I'm stumbling
in the dark here and kind of grappling for or
grasping at ideas here, it's because again, what we did
earlier in the show is really affected how I'm thinking
about this because again, this technology is better than what
I realized. I guess it's like kind of a slap
in the face of reality because at the end of
the day, I will always always advocate on behalf of artists,
although I also love.
Speaker 1: Technology, rip off technology.
Speaker 7: But here's the thing though, So I'm wondering. One of
my questions is how hard is it to opt out?
Is it a big deal?
Speaker 1: And who do you op out with? Like, is there
gonna are they going to create a government entity that catalogs?
Do these companies have to register?
Speaker 7: How does that work? Well, that's the thing. So I
wonder about it.
Speaker 10: That current copyright law when you think about it, right,
so we're replacing in some respects the existing law that
exists to protect artists well.
Speaker 7: And and but even with current copyright law, when it
comes to copyrights and trademarks, a lot of people, entertainment
lawyers for example, will argue that that even the existing
laws are inadequate, even taking AI out of it. Even
before AI, And.
Speaker 10: There's always been people out there that I've wanted to
have access to things all the time, Like when you
talk about laws that remember when we talked about athletes
like controlling their.
Speaker 1: Images, right, controlling their likeness, Yes, exactly.
Speaker 10: So there's there's always been a movement out there that
doesn't want them to have the right to be able
to do that. Or when somebody dies, they want to
be able to jump on that and utilize that person's
image now that they're dead, and some states allow that
and other states protect it for a number of years.
So this is going into that this is the exact
same thing, only on steroids. Because if you let this
once this opened, I mean it's one could argue the
gates already open you you can't close it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think the.
Speaker 10: AI techs are already utilizing other people's music to learn music.
That's the only way it can learn is to use
other people's stuff.
Speaker 7: So the one Devil's Advocate argument that I will offer,
and I've said this on the show before, is if
you are a musician, you're already everything that you create
as a musician, everything that comes out of your brain,
is in some way a product or influenced by everything
that you've learned about music over the course of your life,
and is influenced by and formed by everything that you've
heard in your life up to that moment that you
create something.
Speaker 1: But humans have the ability to spark creation, yeah, within
and of itself.
Speaker 10: Well, I don't know, so does a I would see
with what we did brain, with what we did from
every other brain.
Speaker 7: With what we did today. I mean, my god, I mean,
I don't mean.
Speaker 1: That's not the same thing a spark.
Speaker 7: I'm just saying, though I can't, I cannot overstate how
you really are shocked by it. I am, I am,
I genuinely am.
Speaker 1: It's how quick it just comes up with something like that.
Speaker 2: But it what was it?
Speaker 1: But break it down?
Speaker 2: What was it?
Speaker 7: Fifteen seconds? I click create and then bam.
Speaker 1: They're like, oh my god, but let's break this down.
We're talking about computer technology.
Speaker 10: A bunch of ones and zeros that talk to a
bunch of other ones and zeros pull out the information
it has, clombs it together and creates this. It's umpteen
different minds together. It's not the same thing as a
human being who takes the world and then a creative
spark creates a new song. I don't think that's I
don't think it's the same. Yeah, But I don't like
the fact that the way that they have this set up.
Speaker 1: If it passes.
Speaker 10: It just kind of usurps everybody's copyright because everybody's in,
and then you're gonna go find it to take yourself out.
Speaker 7: Like I said, I want to know more about the
I want, I want. I want to know about the
mechanics of it. It's it's it's one thing too. It's
one thing to talk about an idea, about a concept.
It's another thing to know exactly how the execution is
going to work, exactly who's in charge of it, exactly
how complex it's going to be. Uh for people to
in this case opt out or opt in or however
it's going to work. I guess this is opt out.
Speaker 1: It happens in Britain. These companies can operate out of Britain.
Speaker 7: Then you've got a whole other Yeah, then you've got
a whole other work. Then you've got a whole other
set of issues because obviously there's not going to be
some sort of international law.
Speaker 1: It kind of makes you wonder if there shouldn't be
some way.
Speaker 7: To protect artists and how do you even do that.
Speaker 10: I'll live in a world that's that's not everything's connected now, Yeah,
it's a different world. Maybe we need to think globally
when it comes to protecting artists.
Speaker 7: We's yeah, I mean I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think globally on some basics stuff.
Speaker 7: It's hard to think globally on much. Yeah, it's getting
even more difficult now. Okay. While on that note, uh
so we'll we'll begin to wrap up, but uh, do
you want to plug your website before we go?
Speaker 10: You can find me and more information about me and
my artwork at Jencoffee dot com j E N N
c O f f UI dot com.
Speaker 1: And if you want to know more.
Speaker 10: About my advocacy with health insurance, please go there and
let me know.
Speaker 1: What you think or if you need me.
Speaker 10: Also, I did want to briefly mention the Mosaic Art
collect They are having an open call for a new
show coming up about Celestial but you really should check
this place out. It's an amazing local gallery here in
the Queen City at sixty six Anover Street, Sweet two
one in the Daily Mirror building.
Speaker 1: Do check them out. The Mosaic Arcollective dot com.
Speaker 10: Excellent organization and incredible artists showcasing local talent, which is
amazing and we need more of yep. Oh, absolutely absolutely
we have an incredible amount of art and talent here
in New Hampshire.
Speaker 7: We are definitely blessed and thank you of course all
the wonderful guests that we had today, John Denton who
skyped in from the UK, and then we had Ian
Gallipo here with us in studio, and of course we
just had Jordan Barney from Becoming Human really like what
he's doing. And if you miss any part of today's show,
it will be up in just a little bit at
Wmnhradio dot org and at my website Matt Connorton dot com.
And by the way, you can learn more about me
and all the things I do at Mattconnorton dot com.
And uh we will leave you with this, uh again
if you missed it earlier. This is called Can't Touch
Your Missteps and uh this is this is this is
one of the AI generated tracks. Uh see what you see?
What you think of it?
Speaker 13: Yeah, pay so baggy looking like high air balloons dancing
on TV.
Speaker 2: But your career puppy.
Speaker 1: Soon your sticks and catches out of gold and room.
Now you bake account and fier than a month.
Speaker 13: Soon's trends hard saw your flaws on display.
Speaker 7: Paid for your fame.
Speaker 9: Man, you can't afford to stay.
Speaker 7: Used to be a star now your win disarray.
Speaker 2: Can't touch success when it slips.
Speaker 13: Away, can't touch your missteps.
Speaker 2: Man, it's