SPEAKER_01: 0:00

All right, guys, welcome back to Fresh Squeeze. I'm sitting here with the Lorda Leaderboard or his other self-proclaim uh self-proclaimed titles. Uh Parker Dodson.

SPEAKER_00: 0:10

That's right. How you doing?

SPEAKER_01: 0:11

I'm hanging out, hanging out. We're what three, four years late to this, but here we are. Here we are. We finally followed up uh our drunk plans and here we are.

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

Let it be known that uh this probably started three, four years ago at Yacht Club.

SPEAKER_01: 0:29

Uh yeah, it was definitely yacht club.

SPEAKER_00: 0:32

But here we are.

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

Yacht club is the beginning and the end of all be alls.

SPEAKER_00: 0:36

Yacht club would survive a nuclear disaster.

SPEAKER_01: 0:40

That's where uh well that's where I've met the guy you did fall ball with, or no, a Darty season with Jackson. Uh yeah, I whatever happened to him.

SPEAKER_00: 0:50

He uh I think he got a job in Nashville. Okay, I like he's like killing it out there.

SPEAKER_01: 0:55

Last time I talked to him, he was in North Carolina, I think.

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

Yeah, I think that's where he's from.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00

Um but let's get into it. How I so you've been at leaderboard for you said seven years.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06

I think I'm pushing eight or nine years.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09

Eight or nine. You're getting old, dude.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11

I yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12

Tell my it's all right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13

Like, no, literally, like this November I'm 30. Which I never would have guessed that I would still be DJing, let alone like regularly at a college bar this old. But uh no, I'm super thankful. Shout out to Dalton Shepherd over there, Connor and JS, all great, great people. But I've been blessed to be there this long, and uh it's it's going as good as it's ever gone right now.

SPEAKER_01: 1:36

So, what I want to know is uh how did you get your foot in the door there? Like, how does how does one like was there a DJ on its way out, or were they just having people resident or like uh they didn't have a resident and they were just getting a new guy every weekend and then they just liked you?

SPEAKER_00: 1:52

Or so it it's kind of wild. Uh my best friend Anders Potter, uh he That's a dope name. Right? Swedish family, he worked at uh this Italian restaurant in West Knoxville called Outrudas, okay, which uh is has been around for a long, long time. And a guy was working there that was starting the bar with uh another guy, James. And so the initial duo going back was was James so James owns Southside as well, right down here, Southside Garage.

SPEAKER_01: 2:32

Oh, okay. So I frequent there a lot.

SPEAKER_00: 2:34

Yep. So it's them, undeclared, and leaderboard are all connected to James. Okay, and so James and JS, John Stephen Sinabria.

SPEAKER_01: 2:44

I see why you call them JS.

SPEAKER_00: 2:47

That long ass Italian name.

SPEAKER_01: 2:49

The bat of a bull.

SPEAKER_00: 2:51

So him, him and James started Leaderboard. Okay, and my connection to them was through Anders from Altrudas. And so I heard that they were starting the bar, and so at the time I was working at Live Nation.

SPEAKER_01: 3:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 3:07

I was doing marketing for for Live Nation, like marketing.

SPEAKER_01: 3:10

Bring up Live Nation after this, because I I just saw the CEO say something about concert tickets, but keep going.

SPEAKER_00: 3:15

Oh yeah, oh Rapino, yeah, I've got a lot to say about that.

SPEAKER_01: 3:18

Yeah, we'll talk about that.

unknown: 3:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:20

So I was working at so AC Entertainment, which is under Live Nation, okay, was on Gay Street, and I was working there at the time, and I had all this free time kind of after work and on the weekends. Uh, and so me and my buddies would go to Leaderboard like almost every night. Back when it was still long branch, or were you talking like now it was so it had become Leaderboard at this point?

SPEAKER_01: 3:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 3:48

They had they had bought it off the Long Branch guys. So this was like 2017.

SPEAKER_01: 3:53

All right.

SPEAKER_00: 3:54

So Leaderboard back then was way different. It got its name because it was like a gaming bar.

SPEAKER_01: 4:02

I remember that. I remember like the whole downstairs, and then there were PCs upstairs, right?

SPEAKER_00: 4:06

Yeah, so where the upstairs bar is right now was just it was probably like 20 or 30, like really nice like gaming PCs.

SPEAKER_01: 4:15

Yeah, I see. I remember that.

SPEAKER_00: 4:16

Yeah, so there was no so the bar, the bar was in the middle where the dance floor is, and then the the PCs were back where the current upstairs bar is. Okay, which is crazy to think about. So they had started the bar and they had this kind of grand idea to make it this like gaming hub, but also a bar. And there was like no liquor license yet, it was like just beer for like a year and a half, I believe. And it was also like a senior bar, which is wild to think about now.

SPEAKER_01: 4:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 4:50

It was like juniors and seniors, and it was kind of a it was a it was a band bar, like it was kind of like a a like a rock band bar. I could see that, which is how long branch was, if you remember that.

SPEAKER_01: 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:02

Um but we would go all the time, and I started to to get to know JS and James pretty well, and I begged James, because he he was the band guy, so he was like hesitant about having a DJ. Yeah, I didn't want to switch the whole niche. Exactly. He wanted it to be more of like a neighborhood, like band beer bar, like a divey, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 5:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:25

So I begged him and begged him. I was like, please can I play once? Because I I had graduated from college back at NTSU, and so I was new to Knoxville. I'm from Knoxville, but I was just coming back, and I hadn't DJ'd in probably years to like an actual crowd of any size. Um he had me do, I believe it was Halloween of 2017. Uh I DJ'd that, and then it was kind of off to the races from there because that went well enough that he was like, you know, super receptive to it. Yeah, he was like, he he he had to see it once, and he was like, okay, I get it. Because, you know, the like bands are great, and we still have bands at leaderboard.

SPEAKER_01: 6:11

Yeah, just to mix it up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 6:12

Give you a night off. Well, no, so they play outside. Oh. So sometimes we're playing at the same time.

SPEAKER_01: 6:16

Yeah, I've been at leaderboard since the upstairs bathrooms became that was new. The last time I went to Leaderboard, the upstairs bathrooms were new.

SPEAKER_00: 6:25

Whoa. So that was like a while ago. It's been like three or four years, I guess. And for anyone listening that goes to leaderboard right now, when it was long branch and when leaderboard was like when it was transitioning, it was brand new, there was one bathroom in the whole place.

SPEAKER_01: 6:38

Oh, yeah. Or that second stairwell, that was a game changer.

SPEAKER_00: 6:41

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 6:42

That was a game changer. I was like, if the lines weren't all the way to where Taco Bell used to be, I would still be go. I mean, I'm also aged out of that now, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 6:52

Uh the lines just were the deterrent for me, but yeah, and like this the all that stuff has like streamlined that like as well as it possibly can. Oh, yeah. At least with the with with the size of how medium, like medium to large bar it is.

SPEAKER_01: 7:06

And the fences that they added outside so they can actually have people out on the like the patio, that was a game changer too. Because the line used to come up right to the steps. It didn't it you didn't just get in where where you like that because that wood's still new too with that fencing.

SPEAKER_00: 7:22

Um because it goes, it it used to it used to be that the what is now the exit gate or the sk the line skip gate was was the only way in and out. Yep. So it'd be this massive line, like kind of directly out the front door of leaderboard and then like onto the street.

SPEAKER_01: 7:38

So what how did you uh how did you get into the neat would you say you do mostly house or is it like Yeah, I mean like if it's if I'm playing leaderboard, it's it's like what DJs call open format. Okay, yeah. So I'm uh it enlighten me.

SPEAKER_00: 7:57

It's where you you you basically have like every I play everything, it's kind of a pop-out, but like that's you that's what open format is, is you have to be able to, you know, you go from like hip hop to EDM to country to to top 40, back to EDM. Um that's what I do at leaderboard. If I'm playing like, you know, like back when I played at the concourse or yeah, RIP. If I'm playing like a show show, like out somewhere else, then it's it's house. It's probably like a couple hours of house.

SPEAKER_01: 8:26

I mean, at least you can dance to that. Sometimes like I I get the people that like the heavy wubs and stuff, but that shit like I can only do like 15-20 minutes of that before I I just need to sit down or something.

SPEAKER_00: 8:37

I'm just I maybe I'm getting too old or I they're the kids are kind of coming back around to that. Oh really? Yeah, like they're easing back.

SPEAKER_01: 8:44

There was like a time where people also starting to do whippets again. I don't know what they're doing out there. I feel like that, like that there was a uh a coinciding chart of like amount of people that do nitrous to like heavy dubstep, like trap the whip it to dubstep ratio, yeah. Yeah, or Xanax.

SPEAKER_00: 9:01

I'm so glad people stopped doing Xanax. Dude, I talk about this all the time to people like that are closer to our age. Yeah. COVID like changed that landscape. Like something like do you remember before COVID? Like everybody at the bar was like smoking cigarettes and like so vape foot the the like disposable vapes weren't a thing yet, and like shooting like straight Jack, yeah, and like doing like like Xanax and Whippets and Yeah, it was like a thing for people to QB sneak their buddies.

SPEAKER_01: 9:31

Yeah, like it's like, oh I got them tonight. Yeah, it's like I I think what changed that during COVID, if we're gonna take a little like a little detour on Xanax, I think fentanyl actually is the reason why people stopped doing Xanax because they started putting fentanyl in those presses, so that's the only net positive from fentanyl. Right, is that people stopped doing Xanax.

SPEAKER_00: 9:54

Um and other things too. Oh well yeah, like people people are afraid to like they put fentanyl in everything. Yeah, I was gonna say, like, as far as other drugs.

SPEAKER_01: 10:02

Wait till they put fentanyl in Tylenol. Bro, what up, Trump? No, I didn't even I don't I don't even pay attention to the news. I didn't I I just woke up and saw Twitter or whatever the hell. I was like Tylenol, I'm just taking a whole fucking I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 10:16

No, bro, it that that explains a lot about me.

SPEAKER_01: 10:18

Yeah. Hey, so you just dropped uh you just dropped a new project and uh it's on SoundCloud. Is are you on everything now or are you just dropping on SoundCloud because of copyright stuff?

SPEAKER_00: 10:30

Yeah, so if I'm ever doing like Fallball or any any mixes, like those pregame mixes like Fallball or Darty season or remixes, it's on like only SoundCloud. Like if I tried to upload like the box remix to Spotify, like I would be fucked. Like they would take it all down.

SPEAKER_01: 10:48

Yeah, that's so dumb. Yeah, I I sound, I mean, I wish SoundCloud had the respect it had, like in 2016.

SPEAKER_00: 10:56

Yeah. Uh where it was just like a free-for-all.

SPEAKER_01: 10:58

Yeah, yeah. Uh, but uh fuck uh Darty season two. Uh that was COVID for for a lot of me and my buddies. We listened to that on repeat. Uh that was and I didn't even know you then. I just knew um why am I blanking on him again?

SPEAKER_00: 11:13

Jackson.

SPEAKER_01: 11:14

Yeah, Jackson. Uh because he had DJ'd for me at Yacht Club a a time or two, and then uh I think I think I met you through Mac, maybe. You know Mac Foster?

SPEAKER_00: 11:26

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 11:27

I think I met you through Mac Foster. Yeah, that's right. And uh I was like, Wait, you're the other guy, no fucking way.

SPEAKER_00: 11:33

Yeah, so Jackson went by gold dub.

SPEAKER_01: 11:36

Yeah, oh yeah. See, I remember I always thought that was a funny name. Like I felt like he was just like fucked up one time, was like, all right, I'm gonna go by gold dub. Or he was playing Fortnite and like got like the gold scar or something. It was like gold, and then tracks. I guarantee you that's what it was. Yeah, he just had like a$20 bill, called it a dub.

SPEAKER_00: 11:55

I actually hit him up. Uh so I was still working at Live Nation, and I found one of his mixes and just like DM'd him, and then we started making the Darty seasons. And Darty season one was like fine, it was like a nice foot in the door though, and then two, it was just perfect timing because I hit it with Darty Season 2, right? Because one was pre-COVID, and two was like right at the beginning of COVID.

SPEAKER_01: 12:20

When everybody had cabin fever, yeah, dude, exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 12:23

There were all those like, you know, like secret parties and things, yeah, getting like kicked off campus.

SPEAKER_01: 12:28

And now I can say, uh, because it's five years apart, I was definitely attending parties during COVID.

SPEAKER_00: 12:35

Oh, dude, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:36

And I dude, I'm I tested for it uh many a time. I never tested positive for it, though. There you go. I did get the flu like terrible.

SPEAKER_00: 12:45

So which so you probably thought that that was COVID.

SPEAKER_01: 12:47

Yeah, I got tested for COVID like so many times, and then they're like, actually, you have the flu. And I had the flu for like 10 days. Fuck. Yeah, it was terrible. It was terrible.

SPEAKER_00: 12:57

Which sounds way worse than any COVID store.

SPEAKER_01: 12:59

Yeah, I'd rather just have like no taste buds for a few days. But I think it gave me uh I I'm gonna say some touchy words, herd immunity. I think I got herd immunity by by partying with my buddies because none of us really got sick. One of them would drop like a fly every now and then.

SPEAKER_00: 13:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 13:18

And then they'd be back next week. And then we were fine.

SPEAKER_00: 13:20

We're just like Darty Season 2. Let's go. I forgot about all these like those terms like that that we were saying back then.

SPEAKER_01: 13:25

Yeah, you weren't supposed to say herd immunity back then.

SPEAKER_00: 13:28

Bro, we were washing our groceries and nobody forgets.

SPEAKER_01: 13:31

Hot take also didn't get the vaccine. I didn't get the vaccine.

SPEAKER_00: 13:35

I so crucify me. I had I got it. Don't do that. And like the first one, I remember the first one was fine, and then the second one like wrecked me. Really? For like for like a day, but it was like a really, really bad day.

SPEAKER_01: 13:48

Yeah. Yeah, no, I I just I was like, no, the flu shot, the flu shot they've been making since like what probably decades. I'm not gonna quote like but COVID was so new, and I just was like, I this is this is for this should be prioritized for old people and like people that are not physically fit. I was not the fittest person at the time, but I was also like, I'm 20.

SPEAKER_00: 14:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 14:15

Like I don't I don't fucking worked out fine. They put Tylenol in it, they put Tylenol in it, and then it was it it reversed me getting dropped on a on my head as a baby.

SPEAKER_00: 14:25

Yeah, see.

SPEAKER_01: 14:26

So it's all it's all reciprocal. Just either take the vaccine, get the jab, or take a Tylenol.

SPEAKER_00: 14:32

Yeah. Um pay the price later.

SPEAKER_01: 14:35

So you said the leaderboard intro, but backtrack, how did you start working for Live Nation?

SPEAKER_00: 14:42

So I went to I went to MTSU and uh I studied music. So their like music program and audio program is crazy.

SPEAKER_01: 14:53

Isn't that um what's that big ass producer that's from Memphis? Didn't he go to MTSU? Yeah, he was there for like a semester and then he popped off or some shit.

SPEAKER_00: 15:02

So he actually he graduated. Oh, he did his mom. So it was so crazy because like I would see him on I never had classes with him, but I would see him on campus all the time.

SPEAKER_01: 15:10

Did you fangirl him?

SPEAKER_00: 15:11

I didn't fangirl him because he was he was too busy getting fangirlled by you know like a hundred people by women because at the time he had he already had hits with Drake. That's so crazy. Yeah, and then he's like, Yeah, what's up? I make shit for Drake. Bro, and he would like DJ parties.

SPEAKER_01: 15:26

It was so that must have been wild, yeah, insane.

SPEAKER_00: 15:30

Um but I did, I think he did audio production. I had already been doing quite a bit of audio like since I was like 12, and I was by no means like an expert or anything, but I still took like a couple of the audio classes, but my major was music business.

SPEAKER_01: 15:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 15:48

So that's the the live nation take exactly okay, and I knew uh a buddy of mine, his sister worked there, and in that industry, you like have to have like a plug or yeah, otherwise, you know, they're just gonna somebody that knows somebody somehow, some way. So I I got honestly really lucky. Like, I don't know if I'd had deserved that job, but uh so I worked there until COVID, and then when COVID hit, we all got fired.

SPEAKER_01: 16:15

Yeah, they were probably just like, well, we're not having events at all. Yeah. Unless you're gonna like manage a couch stream.

SPEAKER_00: 16:20

Yeah, bro. And that was like the first thing to go.

SPEAKER_01: 16:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:23

What was you know, obviously like large events.

SPEAKER_01: 16:25

I didn't even know there was like a a live nation uh uh little partition in Knoxville. I guess it makes sense, but Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:34

There's a lot like so they what happened was AC Entertainment formed back in like the 90s, and Ashley Caps, the guy, was promoting shows at like the Bijou Theater, the Tennessee Theater, and then his big claim to fame was Bonaroo. Okay him and Corinne Capshaw, I believe, started Bonaroo in like 2001. And so decades later, Live Nation, you know, absorbed. They had yeah, they they they were kind of lacking in the southeast, and so they picked him up pretty much, yeah, just absorbed him, turned him into a subsidiary. Yeah. So AC, like per se, doesn't necessarily I think it technically exists, but not really. Uh, you know, it's all just live nation.

SPEAKER_01: 17:19

Yeah. It's just an uh umbrella of live nation.

SPEAKER_00: 17:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 17:22

So it looks like it's local to somebody that might see that, and then they scroll down and see all rights preserved, live nation.

SPEAKER_00: 17:28

Yep. So if you ever go to like the Mill and Mine or the Tennessee Theater BG, I mean, shit, at this point, if you go to a concert at all, yeah, like it there's like probably a 90 or 80% chance that it's live nation.

SPEAKER_01: 17:40

Yeah, they probably have their hands on it.

SPEAKER_00: 17:41

Yeah, a hundred percent. So that's how I got to Live Nation.

SPEAKER_01: 17:47

And then in general, you said 12 years old. What what even what was your draw to music?

SPEAKER_00: 17:56

I had always, I don't know, like I had I had grown up with uh like pretty musical a musical mom for sure. And I initially loved and I still love like like metal and like punk rock. I swear, you know, I loved like system of a down, like green day, uh like Blink 182. And so I picked up guitar when I was probably like 11, 11 or 12, and then I like slowly started getting into EDM, but I still like that stuff too, and I still like that and rap and everything. Um and so I initially downloaded Fruity Loops, okay, yeah. Which was actually like pretty intimidating at the time because it's it's sort of a confusing software.

SPEAKER_01: 18:43

I'm a dinosaur when it comes to even Reaper, like yeah, and like re Reaper's kind of tricky too.

SPEAKER_00: 18:48

Um and I almost kind of like gave up for a bit because I was like, oh my god, I don't understand anything.

SPEAKER_01: 18:54

Yeah, I I have no idea how you like I the fact that I can do this, I'm impressed with myself, but I I wouldn't even know what to begin to do with like a board or anything in front of me.

SPEAKER_00: 19:04

Yeah, I mean it it's it's and when you're like a little kid, and it you know, this was 2000 over aging ourselves, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 19:15

Peak recession music right now.

SPEAKER_00: 19:17

Right, yeah, honestly, there were no uh like there there wasn't really much help. Like there, like there were like maybe a couple like YouTube tutorials, and that was like pretty much it. And this obviously was way before like TikTok and all of that. Um so it we were kind of like all on our own back then, and you just had to like push buttons until something worked.

SPEAKER_01: 19:38

Yeah, just until something worked, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:40

And I of course I was putting out just absolutely terrible music. Um but you created nonetheless, yeah, and it was just like stepping stones, and eventually, so I started with Fruity Loops, got mad, quit that, and then and then got garage banned.

SPEAKER_01: 19:54

Okay, canon event.

SPEAKER_00: 19:56

Yep, and that's when I started doing like just the most hilariously awful like dove stuff that was like really popular at the time.

SPEAKER_01: 20:04

I remember my first foray into anything like that was uh I had a buddy that uh pirated Sony Vegas. Oh yeah, and we were posting like MW2 like montages, like sniping on Rust and shit. And then the fact that we got um like a Haley Williams track, like just over the just over that, we're like, oh shit, and we got it up to the beat or when like the headshot hit. It was like take man from you, and then that was like kind of sick. That was the achievement for the year, and then I don't know what the fuck happened. I think I think he got a new computer and then no more Sony Vegas because it was like yeah, I don't know how they hacked the licensing or whatever.

SPEAKER_00: 20:47

But no, I definitely did uh a fair share of pirating back then too.

SPEAKER_01: 20:52

Pirating's coming back, it's kind of coming back. I've been see, I mean, like, I don't know how to I mean, unless you're just talking about like downloading a show, but I have no idea how to do any of that. I remember the Pirate Bay, I remember that being a website.

SPEAKER_00: 21:05

As far as I know, I think that's still active.

SPEAKER_01: 21:07

I well, their uh their servers are based out of some like Caribbean island or something, I'm pretty sure that's how they get around it.

SPEAKER_00: 21:14

Because I think that dude went to jail.

SPEAKER_01: 21:16

Yeah, uh, or I know the Silk Road guy did.

SPEAKER_00: 21:18

Oh, he oh yeah, he's like Ross Alver for like life.

SPEAKER_01: 21:22

Yeah, because uh people like called or bought hits off of it.

SPEAKER_00: 21:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 21:26

Like I'm not talking about song hits, I'm talking about like mob hits.

SPEAKER_00: 21:30

Yeah, like uh for the people that live under rocks, and he would do it out of like coffee shops.

SPEAKER_01: 21:35

Yeah, just like no big deal. Oh, you want a pound of meth? Here you go.

SPEAKER_00: 21:41

Do you want a guy disappeared? All right.

SPEAKER_01: 21:44

Uh or or you could post an ad on there like Craigslist, like, yo, you want some music made? You could be on there too. You know, say, hey.

SPEAKER_00: 21:52

That's where I went wrong.

SPEAKER_01: 21:54

You should have gotten on the Silk Road and then just posting gigs up there.

SPEAKER_00: 21:58

It's just me. Yeah, there's my listing amongst like like ISIS and all of that. Like, you can either get an RPG or a shittier email.

SPEAKER_01: 22:06

Collect to watch this beheading while you listen to some sick beats. Oh shit. That's funny. Uh still try. You know what? We're gonna find out after this episode. No, uh, I'm just kidding. We can use your IP address. Uh yeah, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00: 22:26

Yeah, we'll edit that part up.

SPEAKER_01: 22:30

Uh so going forward, you you say you've been at leaderboard for eight, nine years now?

SPEAKER_00: 22:35

Yeah. I it's it's hard to really have like a definitive number because I wasn't DJing regularly. So like I did the Halloween gig in 2017.

SPEAKER_01: 22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 22:43

And then it was probably a couple months until I like DJ'd again, and then maybe like another month until the one after that. And then I think James gave me Thursdays starting. Nice. So I would do like Thursdays, and then I eventually got Fridays, and then there was a band at the time, Jimmy's Jimmy's Cheeks. I don't know if you're right.

SPEAKER_01: 23:06

I remember hearing about them.

SPEAKER_00: 23:07

They so they were the house band, and they they had Saturdays, and at some point we flipped, and they got Fridays, and I got Saturdays. Uh, so at the time I was only once a week, unless there was like some one-off event they wanted me on like a Thursday. Uh, and the setup back then, bro, there's a picture, someone has it, of me DJing that Halloween, and leaderboard didn't have speakers, then they didn't have a stage, they didn't have anything. So I literally had to set up like a folding table, just like in that same corner where I still am, but like on the floor.

SPEAKER_01: 23:41

So like at that's brave too, because equipment's expensive.

SPEAKER_00: 23:45

Well, funny enough, the tape like during playing that someone like tripped and the tape the table that I was playing on collapsed, like in on itself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 23:55

I hope it wasn't right before a drop. It probably was.

SPEAKER_00: 23:58

It probably was.

SPEAKER_01: 23:59

I've had that. I was uh auxing a party during 2020, actually. I think I was playing Darty season, and somebody called me like right as right as uh Oh, like it was coming out of your phone. Yeah, I was I mean, I was still plugged into the aux, but I got a phone call and everyone's like, no, fucking yelling at me.

SPEAKER_02: 24:17

I'm like, dude, I can't control this.

SPEAKER_01: 24:20

Yeah, I had the marimba. I still have the marimba. I got the old one.

SPEAKER_00: 24:23

Oh, of course. But we gotta age ourselves, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:27

I'm showing my age here. Uh but yeah, uh yeah, I haven't been a leaderboard in so long. They still got the taco truck out there? What is it now? Do they still have food or anything?

SPEAKER_00: 24:38

They they bought their own like food trailer. That's the way to do it. So they're it's uh it's called leader bites. Oh, okay. It's pretty fire, actually. It's like these little like sliders and burger, like chicken sliders, burgers, fries, everything, you know, just like game day-ish, like bar food. Um, so that's that's the food. But if you haven't been in that long, like you should come by sometime because like seriously a lot has changed. Like you'd be like mommy.

SPEAKER_01: 25:04

Am I gonna have to wait in line?

SPEAKER_00: 25:06

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01: 25:07

All right, you hear that? You hear that? No, okay. Uh let's see. I do want to I haven't heard your Roddy Rich. I do I haven't heard your Roddy Rich. We're gonna have to play that afterwards because this is going on Spotify. I couldn't play it through this, get in trouble.

SPEAKER_00: 25:21

Yeah, they ding you.

SPEAKER_01: 25:23

But um I what else what else do I have for you too? Leaderboard, obviously. Uh how how come you guys stopped making Darty seasons? Because Mr.

SPEAKER_00: 25:32

Gold Dub got a job, or I think that was part of it, and it it's not because it's not nothing he did, but like we did so we did the first one, we did the second one, which was like wildly successful, and then we did three, and three and four were okay, like performed like mediocre. And between two people, like setting aside that much time to work on even just a 30-minute mix, is it takes forever.

SPEAKER_01: 26:00

Yeah. Uh what what what is the timeline on something like that? Because I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00: 26:04

I usually do so I can I can pump out fallball in like five-ish days. Okay. But that's like doing it all day, you know, like all day. Going to bed, waking up, starting immediately, doing it all day.

SPEAKER_01: 26:20

Not to sound corny, but literally eat, sleep, mix.

SPEAKER_00: 26:23

Yeah, during making fallball, yeah. And of course I've wait too long. And the the the rule is to have it out on or right before the first game. It has to be.

SPEAKER_01: 26:33

I mean, it makes sense.

SPEAKER_00: 26:34

Yeah. It makes sense. It checks out, and it just like it helps with like the hype and everything because people are excited about the game season. So that one I usually do within four or five days if I'm like really hoofing it. The the longest part is the intro to all these Darty season, fall ball. The intro is just or like I will like make it a lot of that the stuff that you hear in there is like stuff that I had to like do, like produce myself. And like, but the hardest part is like conceptualizing, like thinking about what happened last season, what's what you think is gonna happen this season, going and finding like all those like you know, commentator clips from the games and like splicing it together to where it sounds interesting.

SPEAKER_01: 27:20

I also feel like the hardest part for me, I'd like go too perfectionist on it. I'd I'd be like the tra I'd focus too much on the flow of like transitioning of what goes like ah fuck I this song would work much better at the end of the or like I'd be battling myself back and forth of now let's put this here and then flow into that. Because I've seen those tick I've seen TikToks of that where it's like yo, I bet you never knew that uh if you crossfade Spotify and then play this song next, it goes banana. And I I'd hear something like that and I'd just be stuck on that hardwired the whole time.

SPEAKER_00: 27:58

And and sometimes you'll you'll be like, you know, 15 minutes through the 30 minutes of the mix and like realize that you have such a better idea for something that's like way back. Yeah, that's in the first like five minutes. And you you can go and switch it around.

SPEAKER_01: 28:15

That would cripple me, but it probably it probably takes you twice as much work, or like you have to un I I mean I have no idea what it fully consists of, but I'd imagine it's be it'd be tedious.

SPEAKER_00: 28:26

Yeah, like you'd you'd have to go back, like if you were gonna change out a whole song or a whole transition, that would be a lot of like backtracking, and then you gotta think about like the flow of the whole thing because the fact of the matter is, is like the majority of people listen to like the first five minutes.

SPEAKER_01: 28:42

Yeah, yeah, it's like a TikTok, you go except for like three seconds, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 28:47

Yeah, literally, like so. That's like the most important part is definitely definitely the beginning.

SPEAKER_01: 28:52

Yeah, you gotta you only have a certain amount of time to catch everybody's attention for the for them to weigh their options of like, is this worth listening all the way through?

SPEAKER_00: 29:00

They say generally with music you have three seconds.

SPEAKER_01: 29:04

Really?

SPEAKER_00: 29:04

Which is like insane.

SPEAKER_01: 29:06

What three seconds?

SPEAKER_00: 29:07

Yeah, so like I've wanted to make like more nuanced kind of intros that are like you know unique to Tennessee and things like that, but you gotta get people in so fast.

SPEAKER_01: 29:17

Yeah, well, then also that would alienate yourself too to exactly yeah the the less wider of a reach, right? And then of that niche of Tennessee, how many people are down with remixes, you know? Right. But that sucks too. I mean, at the end of the day, you are you making music for yourself or other people?

SPEAKER_00: 29:36

I would say with fallball, it's definitely both.

SPEAKER_01: 29:40

That's good. I mean, like that's uh you gotta do a mix of both, you know, or else if you don't like what you're making, then what the fuck are you doing? But also you want people to like what you make.

SPEAKER_00: 29:50

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 29:52

It's a difficult division right there.

SPEAKER_00: 29:54

Yeah, like if you're making a mix, especially for like a college crowd, you have to like really think. About like what's popular like at that very moment.

SPEAKER_01: 30:03

That may be what's keeping you young.

SPEAKER_00: 30:05

It might be.

SPEAKER_01: 30:08

So, all right. We I that just made me think of that when I asked what what do you make music for for yourself or for other people? What is your why? Do you think? It doesn't have to be a one-word answer. You can throw up on the page if you need to. I don't know. It like it What drew you into because you said you started with guitar, but like what was the the culmination?

SPEAKER_00: 30:31

I guess I I s I saw it and was dumb enough to think like, oh, I could do that. And and just started and it it was always something that kept coming back.

SPEAKER_01: 30:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 30:44

Like if you've ever had like a hobby or something that this, yeah, yeah. That like you can't put it down, like no matter what. Yeah, it always kept coming. And I would take like sometimes like over a year break and then like start it up again.

SPEAKER_01: 30:58

Here here I am too.

SPEAKER_00: 31:01

Shout out to a fresh squeeze.

SPEAKER_01: 31:02

Turn up, but yeah, uh this doesn't pay me. I I have merch, but um it doesn't pay me for posting it, but it's I I enjoy it. Like you get paid for DJing at Leaderboard, I'm sure, but you're not getting paid for fallball, are you? Yeah, because like even if you even if SoundCloud had something like that, they probably wouldn't legally be allowed to because all the songs you sample, right?

SPEAKER_00: 31:23

They have a monetizate monetization feature, but it's for like original music.

SPEAKER_01: 31:27

Yeah, see that's that sucks. Like I wish there was some way that all I mean, it's not the artists, I'm sure most of the artists would be cool that it's their the labels that they because they want that, of course they want that money.

SPEAKER_00: 31:39

And even on like even though SoundCloud is kind of the Wild West, I've had like three or four remixes that I made and then uploaded, and as soon as I uploaded it, I got a warning saying, like, hey, we this is such and such, like copyright or something. Yeah, yeah. It happened with uh with Money Longer uh uh by Lil Uzi. Like literally within a second of uploading it, the algorithm like knew that it was his song. And it like told because it was the it's not him, it's the record label. Yeah, they have like algorithms like Sony has like an algorithm in place, like with SoundCloud to be like, yeah, it's like a um what's the word?

SPEAKER_01: 32:19

Like a watermark almost, but for audio.

SPEAKER_00: 32:21

Yeah, exactly. That's there's ways around it, which I have done, but like allegedly. Yeah, allegedly, it wasn't don't kill me, Sony.

SPEAKER_01: 32:31

But like don't kill my friend for Sony Vegas, right?

SPEAKER_00: 32:34

But those those it does suck. Like when you work on something and then you upload it. So what I do now is I have like a burner account where I'll like upload it to that? Yeah, I'll upload it to that first and wait like 10 minutes and then delete it off that one, then put it on mine.

SPEAKER_01: 32:50

So if you ever if you ever like just know low energy, do you ever just throw the mix on, or do you always freestyle when you play a leaderboard? Because I've seen videos of that where people get caught like just playing a mix and they're not then and they're just doing fluff.

SPEAKER_00: 33:04

And they're they're just like holding their hands up. Yeah. Uh most of the time I'm I'm I'm freestyling. I usually have no idea what's gonna be.

SPEAKER_01: 33:11

It's in straight flow state.

SPEAKER_00: 33:12

Yeah, because like if you try and if you're playing like a leaderboard or like you know Hannah's or something like that, in my opinion, you can't really go into it like with a rigid set list. You gotta read the room. Yeah, exactly. Because you even if it's like the same exact people that were there the night before, it's always a different vibe.

SPEAKER_01: 33:33

Yeah. Well, I mean, even Thursday to Friday to Saturday, it's like energy levels change, especially if we win or lose. Yes. Uh that's a big one. Or like if if it's like uh if it's a Thursday and we're not playing, it's not a that big of a game. Like people might not care as much. It's just like, eh, I don't really give a fuck.

SPEAKER_00: 33:54

Like if it's, you know, and also the time of the game is a huge factor.

SPEAKER_01: 33:59

Especially for the the night after or the night of like Saturday, like if it's like a noon game, you're probably you're probably gonna be chillin'.

SPEAKER_00: 34:07

And it affects both both Friday and Saturday.

SPEAKER_01: 34:10

Yeah, because that'll that'll determine who's going out how late and how hard they're going.

SPEAKER_00: 34:14

And because if it's a Friday night, so like if we're playing UAB at noon, that means that people are gonna start tailgating at like six and seven in the morning. Yeah. So that you know, leaderboard might be only like 75% because people are like prepping for that. Or if it's an away game that's like close by, like Kentucky or Georgia, people usually go the night before. Yeah. So like, you know, if you show up to leaderboard and it's just not dead, but like not as busy, it's probably because of that. Or because they see my name and are like, Oh, this guy again?

SPEAKER_01: 34:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 34:50

We need to get I don't blame him, bro.

SPEAKER_01: 34:52

Last time Hey, self-deprecation's the way. Uh we need to get you over to fucking Hannah's one time. If I had a dollar every time I heard somebody complain about the DJ at Hannah's, I have no also if you're listening to this, I doubt you are. I've no idea who you are, but or if it's switches or if they have a resident or not. I I hear so many complaints about the DJ, like not Old City, but the one on the street. Uh I I don't know. I mean, I haven't been there in a while either, but I I do feel like they I've been there enough that it feels like that they definitely just played a track.

SPEAKER_00: 35:30

I haven't been there in a long time. I don't know who it is. Um I remember him God, I haven't been there in probably four or five years. I remember him being decent at the time, but I again I don't know if it's a a new guy, the same guy.

SPEAKER_01: 35:44

But uh, dude.

SPEAKER_00: 35:48

At leaderboard? Yeah. We owe it to the five. Oh, you do?

SPEAKER_01: 35:50

Do you have the ones that come from the roof? Or is it just like because I was that's what I was thinking about Henna is where it's like bass drop, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 35:57

We have that'd be sick. Leaderboard has an egregious amount of fog. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 36:02

Yeah, I mean it has been in some years. I remember even when that new upstairs bar, or I guess it was new, I remember when that came in. I was like, this is fucking sick. Yeah, this is so much better. I was there, dude. I I'm sure you might you might remember this. Uh it was back when they just like renovated the outside porches up top, and there was a loose brick, and this motherfucker just yaked the brick and uh into a parked car right next to Taco Bell and just smashed the back window. I don't remember that. Yeah, I was right, I watched that happen, and I was like, you are the dumbest person ever. Cops came up, just dragged his ass out, everybody clapped. It was amazing. Oh my god. It was amazing. You're probably DJing, so you probably just you probably are like, what the fuck are the cops doing up here?

SPEAKER_00: 36:52

That's the thing, is like a lot of times, like something wild will happen, and I'll I'll just hear about it.

SPEAKER_01: 36:58

You'll just see it on Snapchat tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00: 37:00

Yeah, no, literally.

SPEAKER_01: 37:00

It's like, yeah, I'll see it.

SPEAKER_00: 37:01

Do you remember that time uh maybe three years ago? So this got posted on the old old row, like the main one. Oh shit. A guy was waiting in line and climbed up the side of leaderboard.

SPEAKER_01: 37:14

I did, I did see that.

SPEAKER_00: 37:15

Like Spider-Man, and like got into leaderboard, but like obviously he was scene. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 37:20

See, uh for something like that, I mean, obviously you can't reward that behavior, but if it was just that one time, you'd be like, It was kind of sick. This guy earned it. Like let him in. You gotta leave, but you can come back and skip the line tomorrow. Like, we're like, we're kind of we're not mad, we're kind of impressed, actually.

SPEAKER_00: 37:36

He like went up, it's like there's like a basement door down there, and it has kind of like a ledge next to it, and I think he like got up that and maybe got up on like the AC unit or something. I don't know how he did it, but that's like if he fell, that's bad. Yeah, oh yeah. That's like a two-story drive.

SPEAKER_01: 37:53

Then somebody's parents would be suing y'all.

SPEAKER_00: 37:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 37:56

Because it's always somebody else's fault. Not my little Jimmy. Of course, my little Jimmy wouldn't do that. Y'all must have held a gun to his head and made him climb. What did he do? No, he climbed up a fucking wall. Uh don't worry, it's still recording. Uh but uh what's it called? Uh okay, niche. I just thought of this. Niche insider information. What's up with that tattoo shop? Is that still the operational?

SPEAKER_00: 38:19

No.

SPEAKER_01: 38:20

So because I remember when I used to work at Evolve next to y'all before Evolve turned into snag, I think that's what it is. Uh the tattoo guys used to come in and buy like a Coke from us or something like that. Because I think that was when they were just tear no, the shell was still there too. But I guess we were just sort of closest place to go.

SPEAKER_00: 38:37

Probably like what, five, six years ago.

SPEAKER_01: 38:39

Yeah. Um, but I've always wondered about that tattoo shop because I I mean you say it's closed now, but even then, I was like, is this place even operational? Like it looks like they have stuff inside.

SPEAKER_00: 38:51

It it was operational for a long time, and then he left it's probably been about three years, maybe a little bit more. Uh, but no, that's part of like our property.

SPEAKER_01: 39:04

Oh, uh so you guys absorb that and you use it?

SPEAKER_00: 39:07

Yeah, it's it's like a like an office. Oh, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01: 39:09

Yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00: 39:10

Which is actually really helpful. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 39:13

Do you guys have like all the all the brains of the wiring and stuff down there too?

SPEAKER_00: 39:17

Or that's mostly in the basement, which is like to be.

SPEAKER_01: 39:21

How many levels are there here?

SPEAKER_00: 39:23

There's some little nooks and crannies in there.

SPEAKER_01: 39:25

I mean, I know uh evolve slash snag, that used to be a bakery.

SPEAKER_00: 39:30

Yeah. It used to be a um Yes, it was.

SPEAKER_01: 39:33

Fuck, like Sunbeam. No, that's yeah, it's something with like a it's like not little Debbie, but it's got like a girl as their like yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 39:41

Yeah, that was there for a while.

SPEAKER_01: 39:43

Yeah. Uh but leaderboard used to be long branch. I don't even know what it was before that.

SPEAKER_00: 39:48

It was it was long branched since like the 70s.

SPEAKER_01: 39:51

Really?

SPEAKER_00: 39:52

There were some crazy people that like Red Hot Chili Peppers played there. What I didn't know that fish played there. That's wild. I remember when I was in high school, Hawthorne Hides played there.

SPEAKER_01: 40:00

That's how the fuck? How come we can't get these people now? Like, I guess they were probably on the come up.

SPEAKER_00: 40:07

Yeah, because they were like way smaller at the time. But like, yeah, so it was it was long branch for a long like my dad, it was long branch when he was there. Shit. Yeah, but uh, you know, and it changed owners a couple times, but it always had that name.

SPEAKER_01: 40:21

Yeah, I mean, any bar change hands like uh fuck Uptown used to be Whiskey Dicks.

SPEAKER_00: 40:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 40:27

And then uh and rumors and a B dubs, too.

SPEAKER_00: 40:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 40:31

I wish it was I wish they just kept the Buffalo Wild Wings, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00: 40:35

That would the Uptown was so like peak Uptown was insane.

SPEAKER_01: 40:40

I'm pretty sure uh you could just breathe in there and get an S T D.

SPEAKER_00: 40:44

Yeah, a hundred percent. You can also bust your ass because it was the only bar with like a tile floor, because like you said, it was Buffalo Wild Wings, so they had this tile floor, and I remember one time, like literally completely sober, walked in there and immediately they're like sure you're not hammered.

SPEAKER_01: 41:02

They're like, sure you're not hammered, buddy.

SPEAKER_00: 41:03

Yeah, for sure, yeah, get out of here.

SPEAKER_01: 41:05

Did you ever DJ for them?

SPEAKER_00: 41:07

No, but uh I approached them way back in the day, like before Leaderboard. And I go in there, and the owner, who is this like massive guy, uh was just kind of being weird, and we were kind of like starting to maybe talk numbers. I don't even know if we got that far, but just like figuring out what I was gonna be doing. And uh there was he it wasn't pointed at me, but like there was like a gun on the table.

SPEAKER_01: 41:35

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00: 41:36

And it like nothing wrong with like owning a gun, but like like what are we doing here?

SPEAKER_01: 41:42

During the during a negotiation for like business or something, that's definitely like uh a weird in like suit, I mean could be perceived as intimidation factor, like you're gonna come DJ for free, boy.

SPEAKER_00: 41:55

Yeah, it was it was it was an odd vibe.

SPEAKER_01: 41:58

I never ended up DJing, but like and also you were like 20 and he was probably like 50.

SPEAKER_00: 42:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 42:03

Like you feel big, you feel big over there?

SPEAKER_00: 42:06

Fuck this deal goes wrong. I'm gonna get fucking killed.

SPEAKER_01: 42:09

I'm really gonna intimidate this fucking kid that's 30 years younger than me. Get what I want out of him.

SPEAKER_00: 42:14

And then like it never came to fruition, but like not slandering their staff at all. Like that put they were it was it was it was a good time.

SPEAKER_01: 42:21

And some hot bartenders.

SPEAKER_00: 42:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 42:24

That's the takeaway.

SPEAKER_00: 42:25

I mean And they had it, they had actually a decent bounce staff too.

SPEAKER_01: 42:29

Yeah, uh I knew a few bouncers. Uh I can't remember their names now, just because they fucking revolving door that is the service industry.

SPEAKER_00: 42:37

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01: 42:38

But strip has changed a lot.

SPEAKER_00: 42:41

Enjoy DJ'd there.

SPEAKER_01: 42:43

Okay, I'm dude. He's doing I seen uh he's going crazy. Yeah, he's doing stuff in Miami, and then I saw he was in he DJed or like open for Shaq.

SPEAKER_00: 42:52

Yeah. He's open for like he opened for Subtronics.

SPEAKER_01: 42:56

Okay, that's what I saw that recently too.

SPEAKER_00: 42:58

Yeah, he's popping off.

SPEAKER_01: 43:00

Uh talk about a foot in the door.

SPEAKER_00: 43:02

Dude, me and Davis uh we have DJ'd together several times, and he's really talented.

SPEAKER_01: 43:09

Fucking uh he might have just I hope he didn't just drop his uh his name right there. He may be just trying to go by enjoy like marshmallow, dude.

SPEAKER_00: 43:17

Sorry, I outed you, Davis.

SPEAKER_01: 43:19

Uh yeah, we won't drop you won't drop your government name.

SPEAKER_00: 43:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 43:23

Uh even though I know it.

SPEAKER_00: 43:27

No, he'll be he'll be stoked if he hears it.

SPEAKER_01: 43:29

Yeah, he'll be fine. He'll be fine. I'll send it to him. He'll be like what's going on.

SPEAKER_00: 43:33

He's going to jail. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01: 43:34

We got him. Oh shit. Well, fuck, dude. Uh is there anything else you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_00: 43:42

Uh I've got a couple remixes lined up. Yeah, lay it on me. Lay it on me. Pull the list up. I'm trying to tell the people. Put put more stuff out. Love Scars, Trippy Red. Gonna do a like a house edit of that. Uh this old, old Hoochie song, Fall So Hard, which like is like a throwback. I'm gonna do like a house version of that. Uh, and then Over My Dead Body, Drake. Nice. Which is that one's like really that one's kind of tricky so far. That that one might take a little bit longer, but that's what I've got coming up.

SPEAKER_01: 44:18

But and where can they find you on SoundCloud? What I have to search up.

SPEAKER_00: 44:23

Boy A cuff.

SPEAKER_01: 44:24

Boy, and for the people on the internet that can't spell B-O-Y-A-C-U-F-F. Yes. There's a space before the before the A cuff. Space before that cuff. Uh oh, wait, space before the A? No, no. Okay. Joseph Space. You had it right. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 44:42

I shouldn't have opened my mouth.

SPEAKER_01: 44:44

Oh shit. Uh all right. Also, this is uh this episode's sponsored by uh Zero Water by Culligan. If you guys want to go get a water filter, it's bitly.com or bit.ly uh forward slash red gatorade destroyer. Check it out. You can get you can if you if you don't believe me, watch my TikTok. It's got 1.7 million views. Turn Red Gatorade clear. Go get yourself a water filter. That'd be sweet. Uh also you can find what what nights do you DJ at Leaderboard? Is it is it all weekend, every weekend?

SPEAKER_00: 45:18

Friday and Saturday.

SPEAKER_01: 45:19

You can find this man Friday and Saturday at Leaderboard. Uh get in line early. I see those lines wrap around that building.

SPEAKER_00: 45:26

If it's a Saturday, yeah, it'll be it'll be indeed. And then uh my buddy Seth DJs on Thursdays, and he's been killing it.

SPEAKER_01: 45:35

And then Instagram, you got you is it just at underscore boyacuf underscore.

unknown: 45:41

All right.

SPEAKER_01: 45:41

Well shit. We did a nice little forty-five minutes, forty-seven minutes.

SPEAKER_00: 45:45

Hell yeah, dude. Um I'm glad you're back on the grind too.

SPEAKER_01: 45:47

Oh yeah, once a week. We're coming at you on Fridays. Thanks for checking it out, y'all.