Emm Gryner – Sing Like A Pro Interview Series

Dec 24, 2023 | Sing Like A Pro Interview Series

Transcript:

Hi, I’m Mitch Seekins, The Vocal Coach. Ever wanted to know what it takes to be a pro vocalist? Welcome to my Sing Like a Pro Interview Series where you hear from the professionals themselves what it takes to do what they do. Oh, and if you like this and perhaps learn something, hit that subscribe button. I have more stuff coming.

This interview features the one and only Emm Gryner.

I’ve known Emm for many years now. She came to study with me when she was just 18 and a new student at the Recording Arts Program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. She went on to become a signed artist, had a hit song, became a part of David Bowie’s band, started her own label, helped produce the first and only music video shot at the International Space Station, has become a motivational speaker, mentors people on establishing their careers in the music biz, hangs out with rock stars, became an author, just released a new album on top of being a mom and a gigging musician. I have to confess being a little in awe of her and I’m always curious to hear what she’s up to whenever I see her. The advice she gives during our interview is awesome. And to find out a little bit more about Em, be sure to check out those links below.

Hope you enjoy.

Emm Gryner, thanks so much for doing this. It’s really nice to see you again. It’s nice to see you every time I see you. I know, it’s always nice to see you. Yeah, yeah. We live, we live only like 40 minutes apart in two little towns (in Ontario) and I don’t see you enough, unfortunately, but… No, we got to get the farmer’s market back. Yeah, exactly. That’s the last time we saw each other is at the farmer’s market. Exactly, exactly. You’ve had a very busy fall, you’ve gotten married, you published a book, Lee’s Everybody. If you’re watching this, this is a good buy, like go get this, this is full of tons of stuff. And it has practically a whole chapter about Mitch. Yes, that’s my favorite chapter.

That’s bookmark.

So once again, thanks for doing this and I’ll just fire off some questions and answer them as honestly as you can. You don’t need to spare my feelings at all.

Okay. Honestly, when you asked to do this, I just jump at anything that you asked me to do because literally, if I can think of anyone who’s changed my life, it’s you. So what am I going to say? I know. Because I asked yesterday.

I like to deliver. Yeah.

Okay. So how old were you when you started singing? Like what? Tell me a little bit about your backstory. Well, I didn’t really feel comfortable singing growing up. Everything was fueled by songwriting for me. I really just like loved writing pop songs when I was 12 or 13. And then I realized I really want to sing them, but I just didn’t feel comfortable doing that at home. We weren’t really like an all out musical family. Like let’s all sing along. There was like kind of a lot of judgment in my house growing up. So yeah, I really didn’t sing out until later in life. But it was sort of like a dream of mine to be able to sing. Right. Right. Right. So when did you turn pro? So in the songwriting process, you were singing from basically what age? 15, 16? Pretty much. Yeah. Pretty much. And when did you turn pro? Well, what happened was I got asked to go into the studio when I was 16 by Carl Dickson, who is celebrated Canadian rock, rock and roller. Guy. Yeah. And he was the one actually who told me I should take singing lessons.

And as I say in my book, one of us had toured with Iron Maiden and it wasn’t me. So I trusted him. I really did trust him. Like, you know, you hear a lot of horror stories of like girls like working with people when they’re teenagers, but he was just a gentleman and really lovely. And so I really took what he had to say to heart. Yeah. And that is when I guess it was maybe when I was 18 or 19 that I found you.

So yeah, I think it was 18. I think I remember. Yeah. 18 in life. I know. I know. Full of life. And yeah, you would you would just begun the Fanshawe recording program.

Yeah. I’m writing that down. 18 and full of life because I’m going to make a new song. Absolutely. Yeah. I just started at Fanshawe and there you were like, again, I know you lived all over the place, but you were there in the town. Yeah. I had just, I had just opened up the London studio at that point in time. And how old were you then?

Oh God.

Uh, 30.

Oh my. How old was I? Uh, 25, 31 maybe. 31. Something like that. 32. I’m guessing. I’m guessing. Oh yeah. Yes. And I remember going to your studio and being kind of freaked out just because I was doing something new. Right. Yeah. And then, you know, someone was in before me and I heard them doing their warmups and I was like, okay, I know I’m in the right place. And yeah. After a few lessons, it started to become comfortable, right? But that first few. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, do you approach your vocals differently now than you did back then? I’m presuming you do. Um, you know, because not only is there an experience factor, there’s also the age factor and like, how, how do you, what do you, what do you do differently from when you were 18 to now, what’s your, what’s your mindset on that? Well, I love singing now because I think when you’re learning to sing, you’re always thinking, even in concert, you’re thinking about like, you know, oh, Mitch told me to do this and Mitch told me to do that. Or my teacher told me to do this. Right. So there was a lot of thinking about things and then maybe not feeling like I understood it totally.

And then I feel like there was a big chunk of time where I just like toured and toured and recorded.

And in that time somewhere, it just became like, okay, I know what I’m supposed to do. So now I’m just singing and maybe not that mindfully, but I kind of get it now. And now I don’t really think about all the tech technical stuff. I just sing. And I, like, I know when I need to like, oh, I haven’t warmed up enough. So go do that. Or it’s like you, it’s just part of you now. So it’s part of me. And that makes it more fun because it’s sort of like, okay, I know that before I do a concert, I’m going to be doing my warmups. No big deal. You know what I mean? I remember actually in lessons with you, like when you taught me all the warmups and I was like, what do you do when like someone’s looking at you weird when you’re doing these sounds? And I remember you just saying, you know, I got a job to do. I got to do it. Right. It is, it is your job. This is, you think I’m foolish. So be it, but I’ve got a job to do. And I’m on that stage and you’re in the audience for whatever, you know, it’s like, you know, other people have whatever software they have to get ready to do their work or whatever, like get ready in some other way in the morning or whatever. And, and so now it’s just part of me. It’s really part of everything I do. Even before this interview, I did a few warmups. So, ah, I didn’t, I’m just drinking coffee. That’s my warmup.

But that’s another thing. And I know like I’m bouncing around a lot, but like, I remember asking you like, oh, do I have to give up my coffee to be a singer? And you’re like, nope, you just have some water with it. So here I am. Like, I do this all the time now. Right. And I loved that about you because it made it feel like it could still be rock and roll. It could still be, you know, it didn’t have to be like, oh, like rigid, rigid. No, exactly. Exactly. Because you don’t want to think about that stuff when you’re on stage and you definitely don’t want to sing pop or rock like an opera singer or be rigid with it. No, no, no, no, no. It gets ingrained and stuff just starts working. You know, when you’re recording, like, do you think about the vocals that you record and how you’re actually going to produce them live or do you just this? These are your songs. You don’t even give the live situation any kind of a thought because, you know, I deal with a lot of rock, like rock singers or punk singers. And it’s in the studio is very, very extreme.

It’s a different ballgame when you get on stage. Yeah. You know, so I asked that question of everybody.

Does that really kind of apply to you because your songs are so well suited for your vocals or they’re always they always sit beautifully, you know? Yeah, that’s a good question. I mean, I think the whole reason I went into music is to kind of have fun and not have limitations. And so I think too much about how I’m going to pull it off live. It really makes the songwriting process not fun.

So even with my public record, that was a big production in London and everything with the orchestra. I remember the manager I had at the time going like, how are you going to play these songs live? And I just thought it was the most unsupportive question I’ve ever had because there’s always a way to do it. I mean, I think the only time I’m really mindful of it, I’m even thinking of it right now as I’m writing a new song, is I sometimes like it if both men and women can sing the melody. So sometimes I’ll like be a little bit more mindful of that, you know, kind of drop it down maybe a little bit. But it’s not not at the like cost of the song. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve I’ve had a fair number of people come to me and go, I wrote a great record. It’s great record. I can’t see it live. Help, you know, that’s kind of a good challenge, right? Because then absolutely. Yeah, you’re walking into something new. Yeah, you don’t want it always to be easy. And I think the human ear loves different ranges.

Well, yeah. And the human ear, particularly with rock, loves to hear that edge. You know, they’re getting to the edge. It’s a dangerous part. That’s the exciting. That’s the exciting bit, you know.

So warming up, how long do you warm up for for a show?

Well, probably 10 to 15 minutes now.

There is a point where, you know, when you taught me how to do the blending exercises, if I don’t do those, I’m not fully warmed up. So it’s about 10 minutes in.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because you do want to extend the full range, you know, because it again, you know, I asked that question because I’ll get people going, oh, well, I warm up for a full hour before a show. And it’s like, that’s way too much. Right.

You’re wasting all the energy that you could use for the show. Yeah. You know, as opposed to just doing a stretch, you know, I’ve always thought you have to look at things like an athlete. An athlete’s never going to do a full workout before a competition. Right. Yeah. So 10 to 15 minutes ish. Yeah. I mean, sometimes 20. I mean, I do recall certain times where you say, you know, maybe don’t warm up as much if something’s going on physically or do more. Or do more. Yeah. Yeah. I think you just get to know your body and you know when your voice is ready to go. Ready? Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Have you, have you ever experienced any kind of issues while touring on the road?

Yeah. A couple of major shows I’ve been sick for. I’m sure you’ve talked about this in other interviews, but like when I did Saturday Night Live with Bowie, I was really sick, but that wasn’t me singing front, like being the front person.

And there was another backing vocalist, so I could kind of lean on her a little bit. Yeah. Um, I didn’t see some- Wasn’t that the first gig with Bowie as well? It was. So I, you know, now that I know things, I kind of think it was probably stress related too. Of course. Absolutely. Absolutely. And by the way, for anybody who doesn’t know, uh, am saying with Bowie for two years, two years for about that long. Yeah. We did albums together and yeah. Yeah. I remember getting that call from me. I was driving down. I, I, it’s a lot of years ago and I remember getting, I was driving down to 401 and you, you rang me and I picked up and you wouldn’t believe this. I’m sticking with David Bowie. He’s like, what? So I think I pulled off the, I waited chat with you about it because it was, that was pretty exciting. That was very exciting. It really was. Another time I did lose my voice in concert and, um, my fans had to like, sing my songs for me. Sure. You’ve heard that happen a lot, but, um, you know, and then another time before going out on the road with Holly McNarland, I don’t know if you guys remember her, but, um, I just thought I had nodes or something. And I went to the Dr. Hands, do you remember? Yes. Dr. Hands and strange dude, but company dude, uh, the ear, nose and throat doctor who is named Dr. Hands, um, he was like, yeah, you’re just dry. You got to drink a bunch of water. So those nothing major. And I honestly, I attribute that to my training with you because it’s not like I sang for like 20, 30 years. And then I, yeah. And then, yeah. Yeah. You came to see me right at the beginning. So that was perfect. That’s how I can have a large coffee. Exactly. Yeah. All day long. Exactly. And sing for the rest of your life and not have any, any, any issues, you know?

Um, do you, uh, like, uh, I, again, I always ask about, you know, vocal recovery after, uh, a string of shows, do you find that, you know, the voice gets quite tired? Is there, is there something that you do in order to deal with vocal recovery or it’s not really something you need to deal with?

It doesn’t seem to bug me or it’s not really anything I have to, I think, deal with other than just getting rest, which might be a boring answer, but, um, you know, sleep just makes everything better. I find after doing more shows, I’m more ready to go. Yeah. Again, I think that’s because of the way that we work together and how I’m fueled by my diaphragm, I’m not doing all my singing from up here. So less need to recover, I feel like. Right. Right. Um, big shows versus smaller shows.

What’s, does the mindset, does your mindset shift? Do you put more energy into one or the other or like, how do you, how do you mentally approach, uh, that?

Well, that’s a good question. I think in terms of the giving at the show, like I always think it should be the same. Like if you’re playing to 10 people or you’re playing to like 5,000, you’re giving the same, but you can’t approach a 10 person show, like you’re at Glastonbury or whatever. I know.

So I think there’s some like adapting to the audience, you know, making it about them, um, which Bowie was really all about. Um, so I learned that from him, but, um, yeah, just technically, I think that’s where the challenges come. Like I remember opening for Def Leppard with my band Trapper.

And I honestly, we weren’t on in-ears. We were on wedges because we were opening and there was, they were just like, okay, here you guys get whatever we’re going to put out for you. Right. The monitors and whatever. And, um, I can’t say that I actually heard myself through the monitors. Um, cause the guitars are so loud and the drums are so loud. So not ideal. However, um, knowing my voice, I could kind of just hear it in my head and knowing how much power I had to put out. I knew I was doing okay. And then in the arena, you’re obviously hearing yourself. Yeah. Slap back. Yeah. So then you just have to kind of just trust that, okay, this is when like your team becomes really important. Like I know my sound guy is not going to make me sound bad or whatever. Right. Like, yeah.

It’s more of like a technical adjustment for me. Yeah. Yeah. You, you need to sing by feel at that point in time. Yeah. That’s a really good way of saying it, which is sort of like, yeah, your eyes are closed and you’re like in the middle of the night trying to find where you’re going. You’re going, I know. But muscle memory, right? Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As long as you’ve done your homework and you know, the song’s well enough, then it, you do rely on muscle memory. And, um, that’s not really fun because you’re always second guessing yourself. You know? Yeah. That’s when you just trust that, okay, the audience is getting what they need. And it’s ongoing, right? Like even I did this play, which you came to see, um, which was singing all these Joni Mitchell songs. Yeah. And, um, I think you came near the end of the run. And I think I did. Yeah. I remember like in the intermission, you’re like, you got like, let go. Like you’re like kind of tense or something. And I’m like, Oh my God. Well, I must’ve been tense the whole time because the show is almost done. And, but you know what? It’s like, uh, it’s, it’s sort of an ongoing learning process. And I think there’s nothing wrong with that. And especially with pop and rock, like it’s okay to not be perfect. Absolutely. That’s, that’s the, that’s the, uh, the charm of it is not being perfect. That’s what gives a person individuality, uh, something interesting. Uh, I’ve sung with people who are like great singers and man, it gets born real quick. And I, I don’t know if you saw the interview I did with Joe Elliott, but like he was talking about that, right? About like, you know, there’s some rock guys who are these impeccable singers and he’s never considered himself to be that, but that’s not what it’s about. Right. It’s about the passion. And I have to also like give a shout out to you because it’s not just the training, it’s just, you also have lived the life, like you have toured. So, you know, right. It’s not like just you’re in your chair, like no, having no idea about what it’s like to be on the road. Yeah. Really do know. And I think the combo of lessons with you and then just like getting out there and playing gigs, that’s where the magic happens because then you have a practical application and then I can come back to you. I remember coming back to you many times and just saying like this happened like

so we could discuss it. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Is there anything in particular that we worked on that really stands out as, as a, as a game changer for you? Yes. So focusing the sound.

Focusing forward. Yeah. And solid tone because I was very breathy in the beginning. I don’t know if you remember this and it’s still a flavor in my singing. Oh, absolutely. It’s a texture. Yeah. But that is a game game changer for me. Cause now like I really can tap into that kind of a voice, which is maybe what I wanted all along. You know what I mean? Like it’s sort of like if you wake up and your voice is a certain way.

Like, yes, that’s natural, but you can work on it so that it can be multi-layered. Right. I think because of what you showed me, I was able to suddenly have all these different voices and now like I’ve been in a rock band, I did a jazz record, I toured with Bowie and made this yacht rock record. Like that is not normal.

I know.

I appreciate so much what you’ve taught me. Yeah. Um, that isn’t normal, but man, is it fun because then you’re never pigeonholed. You never stuck because you can stretch into different genres and, and play with them. Totally. You know, um, that, like I’ve always, I’ve always loved that. Do you have any, uh, personal tips for any new upcoming vocalists that you can think of other than study with Mitch?

No, seriously, study with you. I send people to you all the time. You know, I know you, you, you’re, you’re very good to me that way. I do have to, I do have to give you that the kudos for that. I really appreciate it. It’s not for you really. It’s for them because I know what’s going to happen, you know, if they see with you. And so definitely being consistent, like I would say, treat your vocal lessons. Like it’s a, like a meetup with a friend. Like you wouldn’t ditch your friend, so don’t ditch your vocal lessons. And then also just like get out there and have a practical application for it. Cause if you’re just learning in a bubble, it’s kind of not everything I think. Yeah. And relaxation, like I think the more you relax, the better everything is. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Um, you’ve had like an amazing career. Like, I mean, from solo records, hit songs, Bowie, did you not produce the very first rock video from outer space? I didn’t produce it, but I did like help make it. Yeah. Okay. Um, I still remember that, that story of you going for a walk in the woods and getting a call from some people at the space station. It’s like, who does, who does that happen to? I don’t, M that happens to you, you know, hanging out with rock stars.

You’re an author now you’ve, you’ve run your own record label and what it, what you’re, you’re, you’re mentoring or what, what, what is it you’re doing now as well as all the rest of that stuff? You’re, you’re guiding people on how to achieve goal. Like, what is it? Yeah. Well, it’s coaching. Um, so it’s a variety of coaching, like life coaching. I also do career consulting, but you know, at the root of it all is music. And it, I think, you know, it makes me a better coach that I am active in releasing music, you know, it’s not like a either or thing, but yeah, I love to help people and it’s also, you know, you have that passion too. And I honestly not totally sure where I’d be if I didn’t find you. So it’s nice to be able to give back, you know. Yeah. I’m, I’m sure you would have done fine. You know, the personality to be driven. I mean, I’m the same way. It was, it was my passion is what I wanted to do. Uh, not the teaching thing right off the bat, but it was interesting to find that I enjoyed the teaching just as much, if not more than the performing. Um, yeah, the life is as different and you’re also doing speaking events as well. Um, that’s a full life. Yeah, you know, it is, and I feel very lucky. And I think at the heart of it is just trying to share what I’ve learned. And it took me a long time to learn some things like it didn’t take long for us to, you know, to get me to a good voice, but in terms of life lessons and career stuff, a good like 20 years of just like trial and error. So if I can help someone avoid all that, uh, I’m really happy to do that. Right. Yeah, that’s perfect. And I will add a link in the bottom of the video here to people want to get a hold of you, they can, they can reach out to you direct, uh, and, and find out all about what, what it is you do. Cause, uh, I know that it’s helping a lot of people. So, um, cause I’ve worked with some of your people and. I can see where, where it’s taking them. So I think that’s awesome. So thank you so much for doing this on a always awesome to see you.

It’s not that early.

You know, and coffees and we just, we’re missing the danishes or something, you know, I know we should have got them delivered, but, um, yeah, if anyone’s watching study with Mitch, you won’t be disappointed. Yeah. There’s my ad for you. There we go.

Well, thanks so much. Yeah. All right. Thank you. It was awesome to see you and let me know anything else.

Absolutely. Thanks for watching. Stay tuned for the next episode coming soon. I’m Mitch Seekins – The Vocal Coach.

Luna Li “Sing Like a Pro Interview Series” with Mitch Seekins The Vocal Coach

Apr 27, 2022 | Sing Like A Pro Interview Series

An Interview all about singing with the amazing Luna Li. I am including some timestamp chapters so you can skip to the questions you want to hear about. Hope you enjoy and subscribe! 0:00 Welcome! 1:48 Interview Start 2:39 When did you start? 6:23 Finding your “sound”? 12:33 Recording vs. Live 14:09 Warming up 15:40 Vocal Problems 17:42 Vocal Recovery on Tour 20:30 Big Shows vs. Small Shows 21:57 Thoughts on Studying The Voice 24:45 Vocal Game Changer? 26:04 The Zone 27:31 Addicted to Singing! 28:29 Luna’s Personal Vocal Tip 29:19 Thanks!

Transcript:

Hi! I’m Mitch Seekins – The Vocal Coach.

Ever wanted to know what it takes to be a pro vocalist? I know what it takes….but why not listen to the people who are already there? Welcome to my “Sing Like a Pro Interview Series’, where you hear from the professionals themselves… what it takes to do what they do! Oh, and if you like this and perhaps learned something hit that subscribe button!

This episode features the amazing Luna Li!

Luna Li is an incredible singer / songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who is making a huge splash in the North American scene selling out shows in LA, San Francisco, New York, to name the few that I know about…as well as beginning the festival circuit.

We have been working together for a few years now in prep for her touring career to open up after the lockdown stuff and the release of her 1st solo album, Duality, in the beginning of March this year

Her artistic sensibility is off the charts, not only showing through her music but in her visually stunning videos as well. Hope you enjoy…

Hi! how are you doing?

I’m good how are you?

I’m great thanks for thanks for doing this….i really appreciate it, uh the purpose of this video is to, you know, get information out to young and upcoming singers just like yourself into actually understanding what it is and the effort that it takes to do , what you are doing. Because a lot of people have misconceptions out there and it’s just it’s so nice to get so many different perspectives on, people like yourself, who are professionals and are actually out there making all this stuff happen and uh so getting some info in behind the scenes and what it takes I think would be really really helpful for people so thanks!

yeah sounds great thanks for having me.

So how old were you when you started singing?

um i mean i was singing just for fun in the house since i was like two years old yeah so there’s lots of music in my house growing up my mom taught music classes for toddlers when i was little kid so she was very well versed in like the kind of circle games and that kind of thing that kids do and we would do that with my siblings at home um and then she joined her partner in running a music school when i was a little older around eight or nine um so i was always surrounded by music always surrounded by music yeah no that that that’s great and and so when did you turn pro

i don’t think there was like a specific moment where i say or i would say like turned pro but i guess after high school i went to McGill for violin i felt like there was some more structure in the classical world there was a bit more familiarity there for me um and then after doing one semester i realized it was not what i wanted to be doing i wanted to go back and start making my own music so i moved back to Toronto and that’s when i kind of started playing in bands for the first time um i did a course at Seneca college and like basically how to be an independent artist and i guess that was kind of the turning point for me where i realized that i wanted to pursue being an artist um but i don’t know if i would call that pro right away because i was really just like playing at house shows playing in people’s basements playing to five people um and slowly grew from there yeah my my definition is probably old school but my definition of pro is when you actually get paid for it right so  I’m presuming you’d get something even if it’s you know 25 bucks 20 bucks or something so splitting the door yeah yeah exactly that that’s great so you played in in other projects before you uh started your own your own thing yeah my first thing was a band called veins which was sort of like pre-luna li project i was like kind of afraid to call it a solo project because i was a bit shy and i kind of wanted to like hide behind the façade of a band even though i was the one who was writing all the music and everything ah so it was still a project though wasn’t it i hired a gun so to speak yeah um so i was yeah it was my project i had my boyfriend and his friend playing it with me was a three-piece at the beginning so that was sort of like my first thing and then i played in a few other bands i played in this band called mother tongues which is a really cool psych project i played keys and then i still play in this man called tange once in a while it’s kind of like a punky girl band where i play drums which is really fun for me i would not call myself a drummer but like um it was just something fun for the three of us it’s like a side project yeah yeah because i know that you’re i didn’t know you played drums i know that you’re a multi-instrumentalist i mean you do guitar i’ve seen you do bass i’ve seen you do harp um yeah so drums uh keyboards i would imagine yeah so i mean growing up in the in the music school environment you got to be able to play with everything yeah it was great i started with piano when i was five that was my first system and i did classical piano and violin growing up yeah and then yeah yeah of course yeah yeah and then i started learning guitar when i was 12 and that’s kind of when i started like breaking off from the classical world and like starting to do covers and writing my own songs and stuff like that great and um so the one thing that that that you know i’ve always been really impressed with you is there is there’s such you have such a distinct definitive sound and it’s you know combining that with the video stuff like i posted it the the artistic level is you know i i i love it i think it’s great is is that was that kind of a uh an organic growth for you or is it something that you started and then you you know you you thought okay i want to tailor my sound and and i need to discover me as an artist and and my own vocal sound you know because we’re talking about singing you know all that sort of thing what what was that what was that like i guess like it was a little bit of organic and it was a little bit of concentration and figuring out and taking time but i mean i guess after i left mcgill i sort of abandoned my classical background i came back to toronto got really involved with the toronto music scene specifically the rock scene and so that first band veins that i was talking about we did kind of more like a garage rock sound and that because that was like really the sound that was happening in the scene at the time um and that’s what i thought was cool like i was like you know violin’s not cool i’m not gonna i’m gonna put down my violin and play guitar instead like um so that was kind of where i started out but then as i went along i kind of realized i wanted to incorporate the violin but i just didn’t really know how to add it in without it being kind of more like folksy or country sounding because that’s kind of like you know more of the types of bands where you hear violin and i knew that wasn’t really my style but then one for one of my birthdays i my grandma asked what i wanted for my birthday and i asked her to buy me a loot pedal and i was kind of intending to just use it with my guitar but then i decided to try plugging my violin and to see what that would sound like and i realized i could build these like lush orchestral sounding layers um and have it feel like really big and beautiful with just like one one instrument so from there that was kind of the turning point where i was like oh okay like this is how i want to incorporate the violin i wanted to sound like big and dreamy and orchestral and cinematic um and so that’s when i started really like incorporating my classical background into the sort of like rock sound and then i also started learning how to play the harp which was more recent for me maybe like five years ago um and that is just like a really beautiful dreamy classical sounding instrument um and i’m still working on it but i really love using it as a production tool like just adding a little bit of harp on the song really elevates everything yeah so but then from a vocal standpoint so the music came first and then you got then then you know you had to figure out okay how how am i going to approach this from a vocal standpoint definitely the vocals kind of came later like i wasn’t really focused on the vocals at first because like coming from an instrumental background that was sort of like always um what came first for me um and like the songwriting and the lyrics and that kind of thing and yeah i mean i guess i just like kind of saying how i thought felt natural and then eventually i realized that like i wanted to kind of stylize it a little bit more and have it feel a bit more like intentional and um yeah i mean that was probably like around the time i started taking lessons with you as well we’ve been working two and a half three years something like that yeah i can’t believe it’s been that long you know it’s been a lot of time yeah um and i kind of yeah the vocals was something that i definitely like brushed off at first and um yeah it was like kind of underrated in my world the importance of vocals um and then yeah since we started working together and like as i started to hone my sound a little bit more um i guess i just started diving in more into really thinking about how i could use vocals layering them using harmonies and choral sounds and different textures and stuff like that see that that’s great because you know trying to convey to people how much effort is involved in doing something like what you do uh i mean that’s just validation it’s it’s lots of time lots of experimentation not being afraid to fail you know try different things some things will work some things don’t you know but it’s it’s and like did you enjoy that journey though like that experimentation did you did you did you enjoyed it yeah i always loved making music and like i think at the beginning it took me a while to make music that i felt like i would listen to if it wasn’t my own music like when i got to that point i was like okay now i really feel like uh really proud of this and i mean like it’s sometimes tough at first when you’re like i’m making this music i think it’s fine but like it’s not like exactly what i want to do but you kind of just have to go through that process and write those kind of first songs before you can get to that place yeah and then with the experimentation with the vocals um uh you know finding what works and what doesn’t work you didn’t like when something didn’t work it didn’t you know drag you down and go oh god that just sucked i just you know yeah exactly exactly for me it was always really interesting because okay if that didn’t work okay well no to sell okay that kind of sucks okay what what can i do it because it’s that it’s that inventive it’s that it’s that artistic thing of trying different things and and not being disillusioned uh when things don’t work um it’s just it is a process so um you just released your very first record so congratulations on that that’s awesome that’s awesome and it’s been a long time coming and the first records always are you know um and is this so you have gigged um somewhat you haven’t really done a solid massive u.s or national tour as of yet have you my kind of first longer tour was last fall we did six weeks with japanese breakfast so that was my first kind of real tour prior to that it was definitely just like around the toronto music scene and you know going to montreal for the weekend that kind of thing right right um because my my question is you know um have have you ever thought about the vocals while you’re recording in terms of okay this is what i’m going to do for the record how am i going to do that live did have you have you got to that point i when i’m recording or writing vocals or any of the music i never think about how it’s going to be live like i just you know do what i feel in the moment because a lot of my stuff is so heavily layered and there’s just so much of the arrangement is like really dense um which is tricky to pull off live and like i don’t like to burden myself with thinking about how i’m gonna do that down the road um but then we just end up having to like rearrange stuff and rework stuff for live which can be cool too because then you have two separate versions exactly that’s fun yeah warming up so tell us what do you do before a show or a recording session do you have a routine well i do the file you do that i always do that yeah and that’s pretty much it i mean it’s a great warm-up um it like preps me and makes me feel like i’m ready um you know being sort of starting out sometimes that warm-up ends up being done in the van in the bathroom like all over the place always back alleyway like yeah always have a proper green room so you kind of just have to improvise i’ve literally done it in like the public bathroom in the venue before and i’m like i can hear people coming in i’m just doing this right now weird sounds and yeah but it is it is important to get those muscles working and stuff like that so you know the message you know for the people that might see it is is it trying to just overcome the shyness of prepping for the show because what’s important is the show not necessarily your feelings before the show you know if you can pull off an excellent show because you’ve done a proper warm-up i mean there’s worth it yeah not much of a better feeling than that the feeling of accomplishment and and yeah absolutely joy this is a joy to it you know usually now i ask about have you had any vocal problems while you’re touring and how have you overcome that but you’re you’re new to this i am new to this and i did not have any problems on the six weeks we did like it was very intense the schedule was for the most part six days of shows one day off and that was the whole thing um i didn’t yeah i didn’t realize that yeah it was very fast paced um several of them were like you know three shows in seattle or two nights in l.a so we kind of got to settle down and be in one place a little bit so that’s why there was you know just so much going on at once um but still there’s gonna be press there’s gonna be meet and greets is going to be like because you know i always always tell my people it’s it’s not just the show yeah that’s so hard on the voice it’s everything else the rehearsals the sound checks the meet and greets the interviews you’re using your voice the whole time and if you fatigue your voice out during the day doing that stuff which is important to do it kind of leaves the show difficult yeah um where are you going on this tour well i know there’s there’s issues uh visa wise um but once you get going so uh east coast and then hopefully back to the west coast are you doing stuff in the middle um we’re planning some stuff um we’re kind of rescheduling some of the dates that got postponed for the west coast we had a bunch of shows there and then we’re doing new york philly and washington um and then i have a small run opening for biba dubi which is in april we’re doing several dates in california which will be fun um and then i’m also planning some canadian dates for later this year and then probably another us tour in the fall so beautiful yeah have you thought about stuff to take on the road uh to help with vocal recovery that kind of thing like the humidifiers that i’m constantly talking about watch the humidifier video it’s very good um uh you know zinc and vitamin c and hydration levels you do you do you just drink lots of water and all that sort of you do all that stuff that we talk about yeah absolutely i’m also just like a big water drinker i drink so much water in the day so i just make sure i always have that with me um the vitamin c the zinc just in case just in case exactly yeah all my vitamins trying to stay healthy and like eat well which is sometimes tough also just like on the road i’m vegetarian so sometimes it’s like we’re in the middle of nowhere at all there is mcdonald’s and then i just have to eat fries for lunch or whatever but for for the most part we try and like stock up we’ll go to um like try and go to like some healthier grocery stores and get some healthy snacks and that kind of thing just to make sure that we’re like still getting all our nutrients while we’re on the road yeah greens uh green string uh greens like powdered greens drinks like greens plus uh there’s so many of them those are great to take on the road as well because you can just throw that into a glass of orange juice or something and that will give you energy plus nutrition and help the orange juice on the rider you’ll have one every night exactly exactly do you have anything on the rider yeah we have like usually we just try and do like fruit and veggie trays um like some chips granola bars that kind of thing yeah um it was tough last time because i felt like we had to learn what we could do without wasting food yeah a lot of the time like you asked for the veggie tray or whatever and then like there’s so much left and then we would try and bring it in the van but then like it got buried under some bags and we were like what’s that smell coming from the van so sometimes you just have to like be smart about what you ask for like reduce the weight yeah yeah um the only thing i ever had on my rider was a fruit tray because pineapple is fabulous and with fruit you can utilize the energy right away there’s really very little digestion in it so it was it was oranges pineapple uh cantaloupe honeydew melon uh and apple slices and because you can you can when i was you know doing the opera stuff and and uh the shows yeah uh you know the shows there there would always be an intermission so you could kind of load up on some sugar to get through the rest of the show you know at the end um so how what what’s the biggest show you’ve done today like so far like in terms of people like an audience yeah i would say probably we when we played at the head in the clouds festival which was last November um yeah we got to play the main stage um there was a whole runway which was really fun yeah and i think it was the biggest crowd that we’ve ever played too yeah um so in terms of preparation for a show that size did you pay more attention to it because it was new or like in in terms of big shows little shows or is it all the same do you just do everything the same so far um i would say mostly the same like you know regardless of whether it’s a big show or a little show like i want to do my best and sound the best that i can and have the set be tied and impressive like you know a smaller audience deserves as good of a shower as a bigger audience so um and sometimes it’s more fun yeah because it’s more intimate you can connect with people on a higher level yeah that’s nice obviously there’s some differences in terms of like the way i’m performing yeah there’ll be more stage movement big yeah if there’s a huge crowd but um but yeah i think both both are really special and i really enjoy the human aspects of each so we’ve been working together for a long time like we said two and a half years like it’s been a long time i’d have to look back uh yeah um so any thoughts on studying and how it’s enhanced what you do yeah i mean it’s definitely helped so much um and like just being more aware of my voice and like my body and how i’m feeling and how that affects my performance um is a really big help too because it was not always something that i was aware of before something that i like as i said before kind of like overlooked the vocal parts of the project yeah for a lot of the time yeah um most people do because there’s this unconscious thought that well we can talk so we must be able to sing you know when it’s actually a lot more complicated than that yeah yeah i mean i think taking lessons like really helped me i guess like express what i wanted to express in a better way just because i was like able to do it at a higher level um and also just like being on tour and playing shows like i definitely feel like stronger i have more control and even like with the sound too like singing more forward and singing more clearly really helps like um for the most part when you’re starting out like the sound can be really really bad at some shows especially when you’re playing in a basement i think like i didn’t realize like the way i would was singing like could actually affect like how my voice cuts through the mix um absolutely so yeah yeah just all of those things yeah and the other the other thing too is that when you are dealing with a really bad stage sound um unless you’ve committed a lot of the stuff to muscle memory what ends up happening is that you start to manipulate the muscles in the throat to try and compensate for what you’re not hearing it just wears the voice out like crazy you know um so in in those instances you know the the the work that we’ve done and all that will really save your butt yeah you know i definitely feel like my voice has been healthier too i mean i remember like several years ago before we started taking lessons um i would like sometimes lose my voice before a big show because of like all the stress from prepping you know for weeks and weeks and like just not taking care of my body enough and just like doing so many rehearsals and probably not singing the most healthy and like in the in the right way and not doing vocal warm-ups and that kind of thing i remember like losing my voice after a show and that kind of thing and then like doing six weeks with so many 30 shows is no problem um endurance is much better yeah is there is there anything in particular that that we’ve done that you know you’ve noticed as a as a big game changer or is it just kind of an overall thing yeah i think just the strength and the control that i’ve gained have been a really big game changer and like i notice it when i’m making new music that like i feel that i can go further with the melodies that i’m making and like it just opened up a little bit um just more options for me to try out so that’s been really cool yeah it’s a it’s a it ends up being a a larger instrument so instead of you know this much you have this much which people don’t necessarily think is you know okay that’s a little bit more but then you have full control you can do textually because i’ve always you know like i’ve always said singing isn’t just notes and words it’s notes words and textures most importantly because that’s how you communicate with the vocal well with the with a vocal it you know it’s it’s what you do with that sound so if you have that extra room plus all the control it’s it’s a it’s so much fun it’s it’s it’s a great instrument do you have you gotten to a point you know singing live where you just kind of sink into a vocal and just kind of everything disappears have you i call it the zone have you got there yet um yeah i think i think i’ve gotten there a lot of my set is like i’m playing instruments at the same time too so it’s kind of like a blend of everything i know but um this tour is actually the first time that i have a few songs that i’m not playing i’m just singing so i’m really looking forward to that and just kind of see how that plays out i think it’ll be really nice to be able to like just get really into it get into the zone um like just being able to like go up to the audience and connect with them more instead of being stuck at the mic sand i think that’ll be exciting yeah that that’ll be fun and uh have you practiced that have you have you been working with that because a lot of people it it makes them feel like naked and vulnerable because i don’t have like it’s weird yeah you don’t have anything to hold um i mean i on the last tour i had a song where i put my guitar down halfway through and did that for half the song oh okay so i like had some practice in that and and then yeah just like at rehearsals i’ve been practicing doing that and i don’t know i think also like because i have a dance background like i did ballet for years growing up and like like modern dance and stuff like that i think that really really helped with my stage presence too and just like being comfortable in my body on stage absolutely huge it’s a big learning curve like learning how to perform and it it took me a while to like really get comfortable on stage like i think my first show i was just standing there like with my guitar and not moving at all oh yeah i remember my my my legs shaking for the first five songs of the very first set i ever did it settled down after that and i had a lot of fun after that but man those first few songs are very very nerve-wracking and then you know if you because there’s so much tension if you crack and then you feel bad and it’s just it’s yeah it’s hard it’s very hard i i always thought i was not that great but i was so addicted to singing i i didn’t care that i didn’t think i was not great i needed to do it anyway definitely i mean i think like many artists are like that like the they’re their biggest critic right yeah yeah yeah i’m definitely very self-critical sometimes too but yeah yeah like it’s like you said it’s you love it so much that you just gotta keep going just gotta keep going do you have any extra personal tips that we haven’t talked about that you might send out there to other vocalists that are upcoming or or anything i mean i think like something that i’ve learned from like doing our lessons and just like thinking about my voice and singing more it’s just like singing every day is so important because like as we talk about the voice is really a muscle and it’s like really about keeping it in shape and i think when i first started out i kind of would only sing when i was like either playing a show or rehearsing or recording and like even just like singing around the house every day and like kind of keeping it light and fun is just really important um to just you know keep it going keep your muscles in shape and keep enjoying it too exactly well thank you so much for doing this of course that was awesome uh have a wonderful tour congratulations on the record and i’m going to include some links below to uh the videos which i think are fabulous fabulous videos and i look forward to seeing you hopefully you’ll come to my hometown and i can see you live that would be great all right thank you so much thank you bye

Thanks for watching! I’d like to give a shout out to some of the people who made this all possible … a huge thanks to Luna Li for doing the interview. And to her manager, Dexter Brown from Inside Pocket Music for sending me the media and permissions

If you Liked this … hit that subscribe button….I have lots more to come!

Big Wreck – Ian Thornley “Sing Like A Pro Interview Series” – Part 2

Mar 29, 2022 | Sing Like A Pro Interview Series

In this short additional video Ian Thornley talks with Mitch about his favorite microphones – in studio and live. Hope you enjoy!

i’m mitch seekins the vocal coach

welcome to part two of my interview with

ian thornley from big wreck

this is an additional segment to the

main interview that i did with ian

thornley which is posted here. In this

segment we talk about microphones in the

studio and live if you enjoyed this and

perhaps learn something please hit that

subscribe button i got more stuff to

come

this is something for the tech guys out

there uh do you have a preference on

microphones when you when you tour

or in the studio?

um yeah i mean in the studio we use all

kinds of different things but generally

got that elam one that nick rascalinics

had was great

but certain mics will sound great on

your voice in certain ones

right …yeah of course

i’ve blown up some mics in in

in my day but

even mics that were were like famous

mics that other famous singers had used

they’re like this is … this is

so-and-so’s mic it’s gonna be awesome

they put it in front of me and it makes

it to like about halfway through the

song but i’m not a particularly loud

singer i mean it’s probably louder than

somebody who’s singing you know

standards but but yeah

um like there’s there’s chad for

instance is probably the loudest singer

i’ve ever heard wow

it’s twice as loud as me and i’m pretty

loud

uh but generally speaking it’s i we we

tend to lean towards 87 it’s like a  Neumann u87and

for a long time it was it was uh u47s

like

sort frank Sinatra used

but i think that’s it’s a bit warm and

tubby the 47

for

for one voice like it’s those were

designed to record an entire room like

like a band or an orchestra or whatever

but it is a very detailed it’s great but

87s just have this little

this little rip on top that i tend to

that i tend to like and it helps cut

yeah  i think that’s what our first

record was done on and it’s something

that just kind of

just kind of gone back to yeah um yeah

and even sm7 i got uh i got sm7s here

like those are great for demoing because

they do they do a similar

you know live it’s a uh

not just 58 but the beta 58 which again

has this little bump in the upper mid

which helps just helps me with my

in-ears and helps me uh get pitch and it

cuts through the mix

it’s just  a nice mic there’s nice

clarity on the top because i use the 58

for years and then they came up with the

beta 58 and it’s like oh

it’s still a war horse

yeah they don’t go down

exactly that’s great we’ve had some

great mics over the years um

and some of them are like some of the

really high five ones i find don’t

they don’t work the same for me they

don’t and especially for you know a loud

rock band it’s yeah you need you need to

it’s you know you go back to what what

works yeah and a 58 or certain in my

case the beta 58 is that’s money yeah

exactly much less back to that

you know i’d love i love trying all this

different stuff because so-and-so uses

blah blah blah they’re amazing so it’s

got to be great you know

they could give me a 1959 sunburst les

paul i’m not going to sound like jimmy page

yeah so i just kind of go with what

works yeah exactly um

beta 58 is great and 87’s in the in the

studio i mean

they’re not they’re not cheap but

they’re not terribly expensive yeah you

know they’re not like a four you 47s are

like 15 17 grand elams are ridiculous

but yeah you know you can’t go wrong

with an 87.

cool

thanks for doing this man

all right

Big Wreck – Ian Thornley “Sing Like A Pro Interview Series” with Mitch Seekins The Vocal Coach

Mar 25, 2022 | Sing Like A Pro Interview Series

I have a heart to heart chat with Ian Thornley about how hard being a pro vocalist at his level really is! How learning and hard work is a must to establish and maintain a career. Thanks to Ian for doing the interview with me (thanks man!!) and to Big Wrecks manager Rian Balloch of Skware Eyes Collaborative for sending over the video and images. https://www.bigwreckmusic.com/ 

Transcript

hi I’m Mitch Seekins the vocal coach welcome to my Sing Like A Pro Interview Series where you hear from the professionals themselves, what it takes to do what they do – this episode features Ian Thornley from Big Wreck!

I had the pleasure to work with Ian in 2016 – 2017. He came to me with concerns about some issues that were beginning to show up in his voice. Being a big fan of his spectacular vocals and music I was honored to help out.

In this heartfelt interview what I would like everyone to take away from this is even with the talent and skills and love for what he does even Ian Thornley can have a hard time with things… and if you are on a similar path of building or maintaining a career, take solace in knowing that you’re not alone with the struggles. It’s all part of the journey.

Mr Thornley

yes

How you doing man?  I’m doing all right I’m doing all right

excellent

A little foggy today it was a late one last night but uh you know I’m late for me nowadays anything past midnight is just um and we went we went a little past midnight because there was a as i was telling you earlier there were some technical difficulties um that uh unforeseen and they and it caused us to run late but we got our work done and uh yeah back at it today good yeah

thanks for doing this it’s no problem of course it’s um you know like i was telling you I’m trying to just do a series of interviews of people at your level and just get the information on what it actually takes to do what you guys do you know because a lot of people don’t understand you know what the mindset is and how everything kind of flows

well I think mindset is a good is a good uh window to go through um to get into it but you know my mindset has changed drastically you know throughout I’ve been doing this a while yeah and uh initially I I was dead set against even having a mindset because that wouldn’t be authentic enough and that wouldn’t be real you know whatever conversation I had going back then um so things like warming up and whatnot like and I’ve told the story before I probably told you but uh like Miles (Kennedy) was the first guy I ever saw warm up his voice right we were on tour together in 98 or 99 right um and yeah he was always like an hour before they went on like where did Miles go uh and he was he was in the van like in the passenger seat of the van do you want to make all these weird noises and I’m like what are you doing in there and then of course he gets on stage and does what he does right and i was just like holy [ __ ] um and it was really like well he does what he does and i do what i do you know i can’t i don’t um and that’s a you know that’s kind of a coward’s way out because i was still i was still getting on stage and having a great night or having a [ __ ] night and not really knowing vocally why like even if i was in good voice and good health um you get on stage and sometimes it’s just it just you’re working hard for stuff and i had no idea why um and a lot of it sort of through the years that aspect of just sort of you know well that doesn’t feel like it like it should yeah and then just kind of learning sort of physically how things should feel and then getting a lot of the pointers from Miles along the way you know sort of every five or six years give a give a little tip for a little you know things like that and i would take him to heart and i would you know at one point he gave me a recording of his vocal lesson that he had had with uh i think was Ron Anderson and just a lot of the stuff that they were going over in a lot of this sort of vernacular and it all just kind of started to resonate you know no pun intended but it also it kind of it just started to make sense um and then i started to warm up a little more um and take it a little more seriously right um because i mean it only takes one and i’ve had a few but one really bad night and i you know i can remember as we’ve all had them um probably not you but like your version of a bad habit is coming off fantastic but this was like this was something other i we were it was like a super bowl thing it was in town in toronto yeah uh and i’d come down with something and i was like it was and it was just getting progressively worse throughout the day and i was like oh no well i’m like taking this taking that and just like anything to sort of keep it from you know getting in the way yeah and it was a short and it was like a half-time thing so it was a shortened set i think we only played five songs or something um and i get into the first song and and i’m like okay i’m really trying to take it easy this is before you and i had met right like for several years um and i’m sort of taking it easy but you know there’s some higher notes that you can push and i think it was so far so good or something like that where whereas then you can lean into them a bit and i was like oh it’s there it’s there i’m good so the first two songs great and then it was albatross was the next one which was which is like requires a different kind of i and i wouldn’t have known back then and i still probably wouldn’t know but i don’t try to sing that one super hard it’s just it’s supposed to be a little cleaner and yeah a little more singier it’s not shouting you’re not yelling yeah um and i and i honestly i would open my mouth and i didn’t know what was going to come out yeah and this is like right from the from the intro which is not particularly challenging and i was like why is that note oh my god and then you kind of have to readjust and then i know i want to sing a c sharp here and you know put x it’s just nothing was where it should be yeah and then of course you know that you get into the to the higher parts um and and it’s a pretty naked intro man like that’s pretty like this is just a guitar or two and a vocal that’s going up to high b’s and stuff and it um yeah and and it was horrible you know and it crushed me like i i went home that night and I sat by myself for a while you know just like am i cut out for this should i be doing this like maybe all those years ago when we were looking for a singer that was the right call it was that bad um i know and then and then yeah and then it just again i probably reached out to miles after that like dude you know and maybe that’s when when he gave me that tape and it was just a lot of a lot of the things that you and i do yeah um but obviously i’m i’m sort of a fly on the wall and don’t really know i’m just sort of grabbing things here and there and doing my own thing with it like that’s got to be what they’re talking about that kind of thing i know um but then when you and i met it was like okay and i still reach out to you when i’m on the road and i get sick how am i gonna get through this dude um because it because it i mean i’d still go back to that place where where you open your mouth and you don’t know what’s going to come out and there’s not a worse feeling in the world man people call singers this and they’re that and um but it really is it’s terrifying and you and your yeah you’re at the whim of whatever is going on in here and i you know so as much control as as you can gain over it like that’s what sort of where my mindset is now is is that it’s like well i want to make i want to cut like a bad night i want it to still be passable that’s right you know and it’s brutal for me and it’s really you know difficult and it’s exhausting because especially when you’re sick and you’re trying to navigate through a lot of these songs that we have and uh which are not easy to sing none of them well so i mean if you’re in good voice and you’re relaxed and you’re and you’re and you’re warmed up it’s not hard um it’s fun it and can be fun you know when you when you go for something high and you pin it and then it’s like what there’s so much gas in the tank right now i really want to lean into this you can just put more you know and i love that but when it’s not there it’s exhausting because it’s you’re you’re you know you know it’s a high wire act yeah it is you know like with the you know with the the master class that i do at the beginning of everybody who studies with me we talked about the psychological end of things yeah and you know the the amount of stress the physical stress and the emotional stress the emotional trauma that a singer experiences this is horrible it can be horrible it’s not elating like when you nail it better you know yeah maybe you know playing guitar the way you do when you nail something well that’s going to give you the same response but having you know the body as the instrument your body has the instrument it just there’s something about it you know um when uh you know so you didn’t start out as a vocalist right no no no heavens no you were you were a keyboardist first as i saw it posted on instagram yeah when i i started i started on piano and quickly moved into synthesizers and stuff like that i was in i was in a band when i was started in eighth grade eighth eighth and ninth grade i was playing in a pop band around town nice and i was a little synth dude um which is a great experience for me and uh you know they were all all the other people in the band were were much older and and sort of seasoned and uh have gone on to do some great things but but i i yeah and then and then i eventually have found my way to guitar um and i i don’t know that the sort of immediacy of that connection was was

i did just it just brought me to a different place than than piano did yeah um you know it’s all music but yeah i think that the connection to it i don’t know i still i i still play every day and if i can all day every day yeah it’s one of those lifelong obsessions but yeah um yeah and then i i went to school i went to berkeley for three years um with guitar as my my instrument um and again you know that’s not going to make you a great guitar player but it’s a great place to you know there’s all these other like-minded kids who are who are chasing the same kind of thing even if it’s very different yeah um and it was all about what’s up it was all jazz right yeah yeah i mean they used jazz as the sort of curriculum to right to explain things you know that and a lot of the sort of stuff that i’ve been sticking around with on guitar and you know i already started writing and coming up with bits that i liked and fitting them together and you know sort of reverse engineering a lot of the stuff that i couldn’t figure out um i mean at berkeley would give you the names of those things which just it just helps expediate the process of a lot of things yeah yeah um and also open your mind to different different directions like different different possibilities of what you can yeah oh for sure i’ll never knock um you know schooling yourself on you know it’s not keeping it real or anything like that i i think that’s that’s garbage like the truth is like it like the more you learn the the further you will go and then the more you learn to re you realize that how much further you have to go and then it just never ends it’s just a i know you know it’s a dog in his chair chasing his tail kind of deal because it you never you never arrive i’ve never i haven’t arrived um but yeah and then with vocals it was it was a and i’ve told this story many times too we we were looking for a singer for a while and that’s hard man you know especially if i was going to be the the primary writer um

yeah it was it was it was really hard and people don’t you know obviously not everybody thinks the way you do about you know this is how this should go this should move like this and and just those things and i’m using a very base level yeah example here but and there was just people that just wouldn’t fit and so much of great great singers and great musicians and it just wasn’t quite jealous or um you know one of the other guys in the band didn’t get along with it whatever it was we tried and tried and then i there was an adventure there eventually got to a there was a [ __ ] moment like you know and i think it was brian and i was just like dude [ __ ] it you sing and i eventually would say brian brian oh brian did yeah it would have been him and i think the other guys were encouraging me to do so as well yeah um but i think you know brian and i like brian was sort of like my big brother at the time like he was he was slightly older than me and yeah um yeah i know like if he if he if i would sing on a demo and and if he if he said it sounded cool then it’d be like all right you know really sort of seeking his approval but uh yeah i eventually had just kind of jumped in um not knowing anything about that you know my my version of learning how was was just doing it right yeah yeah um i mean i was i was the same as well and most people are when they you know when they start out it’s just kind of like okay let’s just yeah see what happens you know see what happens um were there any influences that that uh that you have to kind of go yeah i mean yeah well in this vocally not really um because i would just kind of like well those that you know what Freddie mercury does is magic and what jeff buckley does is magic and i can’t i’m not a magician you know i’m just a guitar player who’s singing right i still have that mentality too right right um then i heard phil collins and said that he says i’m not a singer who plays some drums i am a drummer who does singing and i i’m like that’s how i feel yeah yeah but i not i don’t think i i don’t think i there was never anything i was shooting for right um until like later on when when uh i started to mess around with range and and going higher and you can probably speak to this better than i can but i’ve always been of the mind that you’re you get what you get you know yeah you can probably grow your range and and there’s things you can do to to get higher and lower and and maintain a good tone but um i think the the actual sound of it i mean you can’t change this and this and all the things that that make the noise you can’t i can’t change it yeah um so it’s like as much as i would want to sound like robert plant or bb king or even joe strummer or all these guys who i just have these voices that that get into me yeah um i end up just sounding like me or is it people always say oh it’s chris cornell i’m like that and you know what that’s that’s great because he’s awesome so um yeah yeah he was and i mean you know i can i can i can see why people say that it’s the same kind of tonal quality you guys don’t sing you don’t sing the same but the the tonal quality is similar yeah i guess i don’t hear you you know like there was there was a a time when it was you know i guess it was the early 90s and uh and that the whole grunge in seattle thing happened and a lot of it really affected me because i because i’m such a big zepp guy yeah and i’m such a big who and and a lot of it seemed like it came directly from that um and like pearl jam had a huge impact on me right um just and it was like it was just the whole thing that that that got me right yeah yeah it wasn’t like all the way eddie does this or the way you know stone does that it was just the whole thing i was like i got it um because and and i i later you know i think it’s i think it’s just because it feels like they mean it you know it feels like eddie means it um and then of course shortly thereafter every singer that would come out of the woodwork had the r thing that lance daley were doing to her thing and i you know i even i even [ __ ] with it a bit of a demo yeah and i remember hearing the back going nope that’s not me and i had a discussion with a good friend of mine who’s a wonderful singer uh danny graves i mean years ago we had this conversation about those kind of singers that are guys yeah um and he’s like yeah it’s a crutch it’s a it’s like an easy way to get your pitch and it’s and it’s an easy way to sound like i mean it man yeah and as like you see the people who are doing it tend to forget that like eddie and lane actually did [ __ ] mean it like that’s yeah that was real and and you know i don’t think he does it anymore eddie but uh you know whatever he’s such a great um and chris the same thing like I wasn’t as much into soundgarden uh because i think they were sort of more sabbath derived that sort of really uh low-tuned heavy dirty thing which i know big rec is known for um but it you know that would have been a brian influencing me and my musical taste but him bringing in kings x him bringing in sound garden and stuff like that and then i i went through a period where i just loved soundgarden um yeah and it’s just yeah but i and i’m sure all that you know i think you are what you eat so all those influences that they’re gonna come in but you know like we’re saying earlier i still open my mouth and i don’t sound like like the guy i’m trying to sound like it’s just not possible yeah yeah yeah i want to be steve perry like who doesn’t want to be who doesn’t want that voice you know um like there’s so many great voices that uh and it’s and i’m not just talking like technique it licks and listen to the control i just mean the tone the sound that’s right yeah that’s right like there’s nothing better than than rock the casbah and london calling like joe strummer i believe every word that guy says yeah and and the sound of his voice just it just sounds like he’s emptying the tank for you and that’s what he’s doing so yeah um so by the time the first record came how how long it was was it were you guys kind of working for a couple years before you did the first record like um yeah i guess like

like we started maybe 90 maybe 94.95 we started to you know put demos together and dick around with stuff uh but as far as um

as far as doing a like calling it a band i don’t really know when that but it was it wasn’t that long um of a time from when we really started to okay let’s do this yeah until it was like okay well now we’re we’re looking at getting signed with atlantic and we’re going to do this it wasn’t that long right um and certainly not enough time for me to because the first time i went in to do vocals on what would eventually become the album like the first album was was two made from two different sessions that were demo sessions those are the demos that were that were turned into the record and i still remember the first of those sessions i think it was three sessions actually but but from the one that we didn’t do at presents i don’t think we used anything maybe we used to fall through the cracks or something like that um but i i still distinctly remember like putting it off and putting in the vocals and putting it off i still do that like it’s always the last thing um and i remember stepping up to the mic and then and then hearing you know my voice going through it i think it was an 87 into an orange county and then they you know fed it fed me a little bit of delay or reverb and i was just like oh man this is and then and then you know once you get past that sort of initial whatever then it’s like okay i can play with this and it doesn’t sound stupid you know and i’m looking through the glass and it’s like i don’t see brian going oh you know yeah of course the day of doing this it was it was you know they were like it was encouraging and that’s sort of the mental game like once you get out of your own way then it’s like okay what can we do yeah you know and i didn’t know about i didn’t know how high i could go i didn’t really mess around up there and you can hear it on the first record there’s a couple of high notes but they’re just stuff where you’re yeah there’s some harmonies and stuff i’m just like oh i can do it i didn’t i didn’t know if i had a ceiling i didn’t i didn’t really dick around up there but as far as singing hard and getting uh some grit on the sound i would just push you know yeah which is not good like i remember i remember after i did the vocal for overemphasizing i was like that’s probably not a good idea to do that like that every night you know like yeah you know we could maybe get into that too but i see i tend to sing differently live um slightly than i would in the studio you know yeah but if i especially if it’s a friday it’s a friday night we’re not going in saturday and sunday um for some of the rocky or more you know grittier parts then i’ll actually do something that’s probably not healthy and probably not good for my throat just to get the sound yeah um because because there’s that sound of a voice just on the brink where it’s like they’re doing damage i love that you know yeah i love that noise so i i sometimes it’s the only way to get it is just to you know you’re good and warmed up and you’re loose and i’m singing all day and everything’s great it’s like okay well let’s circle back to that thing i’m gonna have another stab at that yeah you know the ridiculously high and hard and then and then you you leave leave the studio you know sort of with a whisper it’s like yeah well done

part of it is is knowing okay i can do this because i know i’ve got like two or three days off yeah yeah live i don’t get that live i don’t yet you don’t get that i mean my my regimen uh when we’re on tours is a lot more strict than it is in the studio like in the studio i i i always i’ll make sure that i’m loose and i’ll stretch um i’ll stretch it out and try to clean out you know especially if it’s cold um try to have everything cleaned out and um yeah and then i’ll just i’ll just kind of start in with the song you know this sort of like lightly singing it to myself you know um and just how i’m gonna approach certain lines i’m gonna approach certain things um and then again it’s the same thing as when it was when i first did it once the headphones come on it’s like okay now you’re now in this box and now you know what you can work with and what you can do yeah yeah and as i’ve gotten older oddly enough this is another thing we’ve talked about it’s like i feel like my range has grown like my box has gotten bigger my trick bag is bigger but i feel like just vocally i’m i’m able to do stuff with a lot more ease and i have a lot more control over it but stuff that i would never even attempted 20 years ago yeah i know because it like i think we talked about that the human male voice doesn’t mature until about the age of 35 and then you’ve got this window of being in your vocal prime until you’re about 70. so right in that time all the bottom end comes in the top end uh just gets clarified a little more um stable yeah everything just sits bigger you know um my balls dropped what’s that my balls finally dropped when i was 35.

exactly exactly i’d my uh you know my my uh a’s a flats g’s and and i’ve even got f sharps now uh you know when i was 25 there was i wasn’t singing below you know the b flat like i mean that’s that’s pushing it but and it’s so funny you know it it is it’s just genetics in that first record because it you know to to to my ear and to everybody’s ear there is definitely a big wreck sound there’s definitely an ian thornley sound and that’s just you kind of opening your mouth and kind of doing what you do so there wasn’t really much thought it was an organic kind of thing yeah and and and that early on it was just a lot of it was a lot of feeling things out and i mean there has to be a certain amount of trust for me back then there had to be like

you know like no no cracking jokes while i’m doing this right because i’ll just [ __ ] leave like i was i was that like a don’t know like try i’d have the lights off in the live room where i was like i’d make sure that the lights were off yeah keep the lights on in the control room like it was that kind of thing yeah literally like i was that i was that you know in my head yeah and then once you once you get into it and you get some encouragement then the rest of it was yeah it was just sort of you know what sounds cool and then you just sort of lean off the mic and look in um and if they’re high five and then it’s like okay let’s do that then that’ll work yeah and back then of course everything was on tape so you just start at the beginning and go to the end anything you want to fix okay let’s go in there any ideas for doubles or harmonies or anything we got an extra track yeah so um yeah all that stuff was very you know and i was 23 or whatever like i was i was i was young um but yeah you know it’s very different now i just i still but like i said i still put the vocals off till till the end yeah and then once i get into it i really i really do enjoy it i really do like i’ve come to enjoy it a lot and then you know yeah yeah so when you’re when you’re uh working on tunes and i actually want to give a shout out to a student of mine his name is uh cody uh kerrigan he’s um he’s working on his phd for uh composition and he he was wanting me to ask um you know um as he’s a he’s a big fan how much play you do when you when you write a song you start with a guitar lick and then add vocals to that or is there a melody that comes out and you try to write something and how much do the vocals change from the inception to the final product is it a lot of experimentation in the studio yeah yeah there is to the latter i i generally it starts from from the music first um sometimes sometimes the whole thing falls in your lap and those are the good ones those are those are the lucky the lucky ones you don’t have to slug it out but but generally speaking it starts from it starts from the music first and i already like i will start putting the picture together in my mind as i’m as i’m piecing the music together or as i’m going through it i’ll have something in my i know where my in is you know so you know what depending on the mood and depending on the key and depending on all these different factors it’ll just so it tells me like your voice is going to go in here right um and sometimes as you know i’m sure like sometimes you just open your mouth and and something comes out here like and you get and you get um goosebumps it’s like that’s that’s my end that’s my spot yeah and then yeah and then you start flushing out melodies and and it tells me you know and then it’ll tell me what the words are what the story’s going to be and and it really you know you’re just sort of you’re just sort of rummaging through and clearing away dust and it’s like okay i see this now sometimes it’s it’s um it goes against the grain of the music and sometimes it is right in lockstep with the music and all those all those different factors that um obviously they’re all choices that are formed by your taste um and your influences and all the stuff that you love yeah um but but all of those you know i i like like we said earlier i think just getting out of your own way and getting out of your head and letting that letting the music tell you what it what it wants where it wants to go and every once in a while you know and i can hear it in our stuff and sometimes i can hear it in other bands and artists as well when when there’s sometimes there’s a moment where there’s a choice where the writer said i’m going to throw this thing in here yeah and it’s and there’s something um sort of cosmically jarring about it a little bit sometimes that’s the intention and when i do it that’s usually what i’m like i’m going to throw in a bar of three those kind of things they’re they’re conscious moves yeah um you know as opposed to a riff that sort of fell out and it happens to be in seven that’s different you know all these things are um they’re all sort of tools that you’re at your disposal and then when it comes to doing the vocal i usually i’ll start with with just scatting because i know where the melodies are going to go um and then as the words start to emerge and sometimes those are just like boom there’s a there’s a story the story in the song and it’s um yeah and then sometimes some some some of them come easily and some of them are are like nope like i have a couple songs every record that that just you know kicked my ass and i’m like nope and i’m rewriting and rewriting and it’s like maybe it’s maybe it’s my melodies maybe i’m too choppy with the with the melody and it should just be one soaring long you know and then it’s like well if i do that i gotta change the whole narrative i gotta change the whole story because you know this word fits great but it doesn’t make any sense with you know all these things it um i think that can be a dragon it can be very draining uh and it’s one of those things i can you know very rarely in those situations do i know that i’ve got it right because it’s not because it didn’t tell me i’m still kind of telling it well this is this is the right way and this is looking around the room going right right right um as opposed to like when you have the the two speakers are just saying yep you got it yeah um yeah and then and then you just put on way too many tracks with vocal way too many tracks of guitar and uh you know start cutting it down call it yeah yeah uh how do you how do you prep for uh you know to to do a record vocally how do you how do you do do you do you start saying because i mean you got to be in shape right you’re going to be vocally in shape if you’re putting you know stuff you know committing to stuff on on a record you you don’t want to be okay well i’m a little rusty like you want to be in shape for sure because you know studio is one thing touring is a is a different animal like it’s a different thing you know what what is it you do um i mean generally speaking into the processes were when i finished pre-production or demoing like um

i know okay by then there’s still a lot of singing right it’s not it’s not super it’s not as honed in is where i’m gonna want it but um i don’t even having said that sometimes it is like some of the demos that we’ve done over the years have just been like well that’s good enough to be on the record yeah because it’s just it’s just so flushed out yeah um but it but yeah i mean generally it’s it’s going to be pretty close to you know game ready and then and then you know i’ll do i’ll do warm-ups and it’s usually the first the first song sometimes it like i’ll circle back or ratzy would be like we want to circle back and um you know sometimes i have to circle back and try the first first verse again you know once i’m yeah but but yeah and sometimes it’s the song you know uh you want to start with something that’s not too challenging and that doesn’t you know where you’re not reaching for the stars and i’m trying to and trying to play around up there yeah it’s one thing to just squeeze a high note out as hard as you can but it’s another thing to actually sing it and yeah you know play with it yeah and um well yeah i did you know a lot of the stuff that you’ve taught me is is all comes in handy there like that’ll that’ll set me up and you know even when if i’m in the shower and i have to sing i’m i’m doing lip rolls good and i i find it even this morning i did it and it i just find it set it sets my voice up right for the day and that’s not i’m not when i start warming up before a show or or to sing in the studio i’m not um yeah from scratch yeah and i don’t know what that does maybe that’s just a psycho psychological thing for me and um

it gets everything moving it gets the blood flowing because it’s a physical instrument you know um so you just you just got to get things working that’s all yeah you just get it moving i just it’s kind of like it’s like a muscle it’s like stretching this or that’s right exactly any anything that you’re it’s one of those um anything you know i’m still i’m getting over some kind of cold that i had last week it wasn’t the cove um somehow i managed to i managed to bob and weave i don’t know how i haven’t got it i’m still having but yeah and and even that like when i’m when i’m sick that’s one another one of the times when i’ll i’ll be i’ll be just doing just doing lip rolls not like writing whole scales or arpeggios or anything but just you know going up into head and then coming down and going back up just to see where i’m at and it and honestly it just it sets my voice in a in a more relaxed stable even for even speaking right like even um and yeah i think you know like anything else if it’s not working it’s not working um and and that that’s happened sometime not not so much in the last few years but there have been times where i’m like it’s not in it’s not there today yeah it is it is a physical like a a human instrument and yeah it is tied uh like you were saying you know with with training the the goal is to you know bad days you know are up here as opposed to you know 20 years ago or 10 years ago where bad days may have been down here you know it’s a much narrower performance uh ratio you know you’re not you’re not swinging from here to here yeah and and that helps you psychologically as well knowing that you can for sure you can sing through stuff 100 in in terms of you know vocal recovery um is there ways that you deal with it now than you know that have changed from from before i mean um yeah i mean not really um i’ll try to i’ll try not to speak so much if yeah and especially when you’re not when you’re feeling a little under the weather um that’s when i really notice it yeah because like sometimes it’ll be i’ll have a cold and there’s a couple of days where it’s like you know i still have to do the gig or you know i don’t want to do but but there’s going to be a couple of days where it’s almost impossible and then on either side of that there it’s like okay i can work i can make this work yeah um and i still make the mistake of apologizing to the audience because it’s like [ __ ] letting them down um but it but it but yeah i can still make it work the tone is still there and the range in the you know but but you know maybe the longevity is not there or whatever it is um but after after that show like i’ll be on the bus and i’ll sound like sam elliott like it’s just fried yeah and that’s when you know that’s what i need the most you know tea and all of that and and sleep and and clean yeah little humidifiers for the bunk and all those things that that’ll that’ll get you through yeah yeah and you know the humidifier thing is so important a lot of people don’t advocate we need to get a sponsorship from advil colton science too i know that stuff like especially paul i think it was paulo that initially hit me to it but i was like man this stuff is like let’s just save my ass i know just clears everything out and so of course we’re always chugging water so i’m not worried about dehydrating which i think actual cold sinus does it just dries everything out but it’s like if you’re slamming water you know you’re you’re in good shape yeah i got dave onto it like if he’s not you feeling a little a little rough and dave’s doing a lot of singing nowadays and [ __ ] great sounds fantastic great um and he’s just i mean he’ll just take a couple of advil cold science a couple hours before the show and it’s like you know it just gets you through yeah yeah the only thing uh i think you need to be cognizant with that stuff is is if you’re really bad and you take it um it can uh it can accelerate damaging stuff

yeah yeah yeah i’m sure but i you know for me it’s uh you know and sometimes it’s even it’s just a a psychological thing you know i’ve had a long flight yeah the day of the show which sucks and you get out and you’re just like i do what’s i’m snotty and oh something’s never something’s all right something’s not right i have a cold science no i’m just bad yeah okay i feel great it’s gonna be a good show yeah and another thing that’s actually good for that uh is nasal rinsing uh i used to have the neti pot thing yeah yeah can’t do that no not not

you know the ones that you see in the tv commercial

yeah yeah all right

when i was doing shows you know what maybe i’ll get one of those you know well it is what all that bugs about very very uncomfortable thing to yeah to work on um uh so we worked together on you know 2016-2017 um is there anything that stands out on the stuff that we did that that really really made a difference uh just either in the consistency or the way yeah things yeah i think uh i think consistency 100 like that that is something that um i don’t think anything’s really changed tonally but i think it i i know that i know that it’s maintained and i’m sure that that that’s large part and due to working with you um um but nice and and i think again like i was saying about going to school it’s like just learning things and just it demystifies a lot of it yeah so yeah and there’s a lot of things about it that i’ve never even like the diaphragmatic stuff is something i’ve never even you know i think miles tried to explain it to me once and i was like okay that’s that’s that’s for that’s for advanced that’s not that’s

and that’s something that i still i still um it’s still going up going on in the back of my mind while i’m singing and doing some of the more challenging parts um all those things it’s just that yeah there’s a there’s a there’s a confidence that comes with um knowing you’ve got an 80 chance as opposed to a 40 chance of nailing it yeah you know and and especially if you’re a good voice then it’s almost it’s almost best when um the the the conversation isn’t there at all because i’m just like well i’m in i’m in good shape here and and everything’s flowing and everything feels great and if you just check in with yourself every now and then how much and then just and all that all that diaphragmatic stuff which is mechanic and sometimes i i’ll trip onto it accidentally where i i didn’t i yeah yeah and then and then i’m just like i could sing this note for four minutes like it just yeah um but yeah you know all of it is just has helped me tremendously you know i don’t think uh i’m sure i’d be in a different and that my voice would sound different than it does had it not been for meeting you and i it’s just like there’s no way to maintain especially the style of music we do the style that i do and and um you know how to avoid the certain pitfalls like uh because i you know i get swept up in in the moment all the time every night it happens to me every night i’ll get swept up and i’m like i’m going for this and i’m emptying the tank on this one note yeah and and it’s like my version of that now is just like let’s save some for the end of the song you know like lean into it and make it make it great but but let’s see let’s you know yeah and then we also have the other 40 dates to worry about after this so let’s you know that’s right it breaks there yeah but all of it has helped yeah the interesting thing with you is um you know through all the stages that i work with the the big one the final one is something called blending and you had that naturally in your voice you you had found your way to it which is how you do all that that top end stuff but we what you didn’t have was the support and it was as you as you you know get older just like just like anything i i can’t work out like i did when i was 30 i just i can’t yeah you know and it’s the same thing with the voice even though you’re in you know that vocal prime the recovery time as you age just just increases so once we establish the you know the the the support the diaphragmatic stuff with you it just kind of started connecting all that those mechanics together and um because the one thing that you know i don’t change people’s voices i you know you can change the sound that that’s not what i do i show people how to do what they do because that’s what sells records for them um in a healthy way so they they have the ability to do a 40-show tour without tearing themselves apart yeah that’s what was interesting with you because you had the majority of it naturally which is very rare just adding that that piece on just yeah it was everything for you yeah it really did it really did and i still you know as you know um you get sick on the road and like oh you’re going to be one of my first calls which help [ __ ] i remember the first show the last big tour it’s the first show we’re in boston i don’t have a voice yeah and it’s just simply how you warm up and even then like you know there’s a certain way of warming up but it doesn’t mean that that case could be fun yeah it’s still gonna be a lot of work but at least hopefully you can get through it yeah that’s the major thing do you have any you know like personal tips that you would you know give to young singers or you know people coming up and i wouldn’t i wouldn’t presume to even you know i wouldn’t know where to begin like yeah one of the things that i that i tend to do early in a tour and again this is all prefaced with it but if i’m in good voice and good health um once my voice is ready once it’s there after warming up and i tend to warm up too long a lot of the time and i’ve that’s something i’ve been sort of staying cognizant of in the last couple of years right um because sometimes i just you know save some for the show man you know but you know it’s like it’s like blowing all your good ideas and sound check it’s like well there’s some part of your mind that’s like well i’ve already been there i’ve already been you’re going off in some huge solo you miss all the all the gold because you’re like i’ve already been there it was like nobody was there to see it so yeah no you haven’t yeah but but yeah as far as the warm-up goes one thing that i’ll do early in a in a tour and sometimes it you know sometimes the whole way through but and depending on what we’re starting with the first song that we’re starting with um is once i’m warmed up and everything’s there and i’m i’m good it’s all i’ll give a couple of blasts

before we go on just to see just to see yeah and just to see if the you know the the sort of grit and that that whatever the thing is that when you’re singing certain parts and you want that sound um i’ll give a couple of blasts just to make sure you know i don’t want to i don’t want to do too many because yeah like that you get you got to be yeah be careful with those there’s a there’s a finite number yeah yeah exactly and a lot of it is you know if you you know if you include that in part of the warm-up schedule and you know like do you do that right before you go on or do you do that and then give the voice a a chance to to rest literally like five or ten minutes and then then not even like when i’m tired when i say blast like i’m singing along with the intro while we’re side stage oh okay yeah yeah yeah and i’m just doing light and light and light and keeping it just really light flexible and then and then i’ll i’ll give a couple of a couple of roars like just just to make sure that it’s in there you know yeah not too many not too much but then then of course you know there’s another three or four minutes before i have to start singing and i’m you know i’m fine but right right right and i don’t need i don’t even know if that’s helpful i just i don’t really as far as [ __ ] me giving advice you know i just just do do whatever whatever comes out of your mouth is that’s that’s you and then just work on it you know make it better don’t don’t do it for if you don’t if you’re not comfortable then you know sit on the end of your bed with your guitar or your piano and work on it until you feel it’s good enough yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah i i don’t know what else to do do you find you you up your water intake uh before a tour before sessions or do you just maintain hydration the whole time because that that’s a good one for most because most people don’t drink water in the early days i mean we drank everything but water and a lot of it you know nowadays i yeah i tend to i’m pretty hydrated man i tend to drink a lot of water and biosteel love that stuff i just like i’ll i’ll stay really really hydrated and i’m sure that’s i’m sure that’s helpful it’s a huge factor and pairing that with the you know with the humidifier because you know a lot of thing that a lot of things that people don’t understand is that you know that saying you know if you have a cold you drink lots of fluids and get plenty of sleep well part of that is that when you drink lots of fluids you keep all the mucus that your body produces thin and you can move it right so if you just stay hydrated all the time

you’re you’re in you’re in great shape and then you know the with the humidifiers in the recovery after a show it’s it’s really really important and i was quite happy to hear you you know you figured out how to do it on the bus you know just to give yourself a chance yeah well we would you know when i’m when i’m with sometimes like i remember in the last it must have been the last run or maybe the one pre one one of the ones where i got sick right off the hop um it’s like well we send somebody to go get a humidifier and we get a hotel room and then i’ll just like hold up in the hotel room with the humidifier just blasting right in my face yeah um yeah and then just and just slamming water and slamming water yeah yeah um it sucks man it’s the worst i i i hate getting sick it’s just it’s brutal it’s the worst part of being a singer it really is yeah because it’s not it’s not for anybody to be sick it sucks for anybody to be sick but i could be sick as a dog and still play blazing guitar solo you know i might not enjoy it as much i might not be doing loop-de-loops and jumping off the stack and i’m you know yeah but you know these still work yeah and this is just taken away it’s and you know it’s not your fault like nobody wants to get sick it’s just the worst yeah people waiting in the audience to see a great show and you’re like i don’t know if i can give them a great show

I know  it’s a psychological thing like i said it’s you know the emotional stress of going, ah christ what the hell am i gonna do tonight you know you know been there many times it sucks um thanks for doing this man

all right

that’s awesome hopefully there’s lots of stuff in there for people to digest and just get people thinking about what it is and how long and what’s the effort behind doing you know what you do

yeah i think that’s the whole point. it’s a lifelong pursuit

it certainly is it certainly is so thank you that i really appreciate it

dude thank you so much it’s great to see you all back for a top up soon because i’m we’re heading out in uh in april that’s all right yeah i think it’s yeah in april so we’re in warren rehearsals march but maybe sometime in there like sure i don’t keep meeting too but i really i’m due yeah see how much i’ve [ __ ] up over the last couple years i think i’m okay though it feels great like sounds great yeah when i’m healthy it’s okay yeah yeah it sounds great all right buddy all right

thanks for watching I’d like to give a big thanks to Ian for doing the interview and to Ryan Balloch from Skware Eyes Collaborative for providing me with the video and the images if you like this and perhaps learn something please hit that subscribe button I’ve got more stuff to come

Mitch Seekins Vocal Coach to Ian Thornley from Big Wreck and many others!