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Episode 3: Eric Veloso

mm hmm. Okay. Yes, yeah, yeah, it's yeah, what's up everyone? This is Matthew Bentley going to raise in queens new york and the standing music director for Street Dreams Radio. Our platform was here to uh kind of act as the soundscape arms and legs of our magazine which we broadcast weekly mixes film, vineyards and a wide range of creative processes and podcasts. It's collaboration between creative live and ST James Radio is called creative insights and it takes us into monthly interviews. We get behind the scenes behind the psyche of our hosts, into the depths of the creative process, is their creative inspirations, their creative direction and the creative insights for this month. I have our co founder, co founder of ST rooms magazine, Street from radio and Creative director, eric Veloso. Oh yes sir, I've been direct oh yeah, how you doing brother? You know, checking in live and direct from the Vancouver Street Dreams Headquarters, um you know, feeling super, super blessed and thank ...

you for shining your light so bright here on this platform that creative life has given us so shout out to the creative Life and yourself for for being the star that you are Yeah, blessings man blessing. So here we are, so three. And uh, before we get into your show, I do want the audience to who have been tuning into our last to use to kind of get just a brief background, if you will, who you are away from, you mentioned Vancouver, but if you're from Vancouver has music always been a part of uh, your creative process and yeah, you know how creative director come from that and how did you start to uh, maybe this isn't the first, your first go around with music or infusing music into your work. But uh yeah, just how this all kind of started to become a proper coming of age, moment. Coming of age is probably the best uh, statement in terms of everything that we got going on. Um, I think first and foremost before we dive into the past, even, you know, I really wanted to take a minute to say that, you know, like the idea of street dreams from the inception was never to be one dimensional. Um, and it was always this, um, you know, this project that was born out of three individuals who had their back against the walls, uh, and had all the odds stacked against them to, you know, come out and find their one shot too, try to create a community space that was based around, you know, just art and the idea of, you know, transmitting knowledge through, through the shared loves that we have, of everything that makes us human beings. Um, so to see this come to life and, you know, the first five years of what it is that we've done with street terms were really just the foundation in terms of setting it uh, initial directory. That would allow us to expand this into divisions that we don't even know about, maybe in some way, shape or form right now. But this idea of ST louis radio is really like the genesis of the new sort of growth period of what it is that we're going through a street team. So again, I'm just super thankful to be here um and be able to share this with my brothers, my sisters and everybody who makes street dreams what it is. Um and going back to a man like, you know, uh Vancouver kid um born in Calgary actually, but raised in Vancouver. So my family immigrated from chile santiago chile chile in like the late sixties actually, Wanna see early seventies if I'm not mistaken. Um So landed in uh Winnipeg went to Calgary, I was born in nine months after that happened we moved to Vancouver so shout out to my family for leaving all the cold behind from the East Coast and taking away to this beautiful city that you know has raised me and taught me how to be a who I am. Um like I mentioned uh first generation uh Canadians. So my family's from chile originally. So I grew up in a very uh eclectic, colorful uh environment where my mom had me when she was 17. So while she went to school and worked um I was actually raised around all my aunts and uncles and and sort of like the The baby of the family of six brothers and sisters, including my grandparents of course who was like at the head of the family. Um and music was everything for us, man. So it was, you know, We, I grew up in like, you know, the 80s to the 90s. Um and you know, we had everything playing at all times in the house, you know, everything from like Colombia and South South Asia, you know, artists like wanna Gharbia or like Celia Cruz, um you know that you would have the infusion of like R and B, Motown and funk. So you would have, you know, even parliament, Funkadelic and things like Stevie wonder, like, you know, Diana ross and the Supremes and then, um because there was such a broad range of my aunts and uncles age ranges, you would then move into like, you know, pop top 40. So you would have like, you know, the Michael Jackson's and the Princes and the Madonna's um like some homegrown talent, like, you know, legends, like bryan Adams for example, that was just like, you know, like these people that were from Canada and was like, you know, superheroes to us and stuff. Um and then we screwed into like, you know, rock in heavy metal and punk. So you had stuff like def Leppard, um, you know, psychedelic type things, you know, like Pink Floyd and like supertramp and then even screwing into like, things like the Ramones. So that, so that was like my first kind of initiation into like this, I think, huge plethora of sound that was always like the backdrop and the soundscape to everything that I was experiencing this child. Um, so from there that even students, like, probably like one last point that like, my grandfather was always listening to classical and jazz. So like, he loved Vivaldi the Four seasons and I completely can remember that like you know, classical piece of music and it's it's embedded in my DNA then. You know, I think my first initiation into jazz before like really diving into it was probably like you know girl from Ipanema, you know and like these very classical sounds that we would be played um Coupled with that like you know, 80s and 90s soundtracks was always something that was like you know, always always in the mix. And that was like back then you would have like these all star cast of artists that were making the soundtracks for these movies and they were doing these big events, you know, that's a pre that nature right as we know. Um And then you know what's really cool about it is that like growing up with all that access to this huge generational age range um and sort of always being in the mix with my aunts and uncles and just always kind of just like wanting to be around like the older people. I was always really engaged with the idea of even curation at that point, because, you know, that was even curated from like, the music that you listen to on certain days, You know what I mean? Like Sundays was just like the R and B and the ballots and like, you know, the spanish our doors that were, you know, singing like these really kind of like sunday feeling songs. So, um you know, I would spend endless hours like looking at all the record collections and the album art and truly being mesmerized by like, the photography that was represented through that in the general creativity. Um just like this perfection of just like these stories that were like on the cover of Lps um you know, in tapes and things of that nature. I want to say that one massive regret is that I didn't have the foresight enough as a child to like inherit the record collection because as the years I'm talking about original pressings, you know, like everything that you get everything of like, this record collection would have just been so crazy to have right now when I think about that um and take collection even in that sense, like VHS and stuff like that. So, like, so, you know, obviously growing up in the eighties and the nineties, like that was the biggest form of like, those were the mediums that we had. So, you know, and having six aunts and uncles, like the record collection, which is wild. So, I would just trip out just like looking at all these cool things that um you know, I think we're just like creating um you know, this sponge type of effect for me as an individual and then going back to being clean. Um I think that that's what are our perspective is just like, you know, we've always been observing everything around us. Like you know, Canada is sort of like, I want to call it like a bird's eye perspective on the world um you know, as a kid, like I've always been obsessed with places like new york city, London, um Japan, um Berlin in Germany in general. So I think for the perspective that we bring into it and what it is that we are as individuals that like we've always been observing life that made people weren't connected to, but it almost made us like distilled down like the dopest parts of it and kind of make it our own cipher. Um and then it was into like this idea of the fact that you know like I think my mind is a mix tape. I think everything that I am an individual like is represented to that idea of like this high level of curation, this impeccable branding, this this idea of like high taste level for being able to pick sounds and put them together, you know that was all born from family and then I mean not to go on too much of a tangent but then it gets down to like you know my first interactions as an individual were with C. D. S. And I remember specifically the first cd I bought with my own money and it was a tribe called Quest Midnight Marauders and I bought it off the cover. You know like a new tribe called Quest was but the idea of just like pulling up to the cd store and that standing out with that cover with this like all the faces and the idea that it was just like presenting these hip hop artists almost like a super heroes and it had just like the pill is packaging and I remember that specifically being the first think that I purchased on my own. And then the second one that comes to mind just to kind of just to finish off the thought is like um, Snoop Dogg Doggystyle uh album that uh definitely you know, I asked my mom for the, for the money to go cop it. But remember seeing just like the cartoon styles that he had created for it. And then when you open up the liner notes, they had like the superstar portrait of you know, almost just like the tight crop of Snoop's face with the beanie on man, like, like taking sort of like, you know, like these hood comics and just like even learning about like this idea of just like this whole different genre um of things that could be represented through that medium, that's what I think really stands out to me and you know, shut us to um you know, everybody that's, you know, allowed me to interact with music and you know, things of that nature. Um I can't to base a little bit upon like the deeper journey of that, but you know, um no, yeah, I do want to bring this up because you, you mentioned being from well growing up in Vancouver uh more predominantly, and sometimes you're talking about Canada more specifically, but sometimes it took me getting older to realize what Canada was to the world, right? Like from new york or from America, Canada has always like pop culture got a bad rap, right? Like we kind of just like whatever, whatever going up there goes up there and you know, that's all we got, right. Exactly. But specifically Vancouver inch one year in Canada. So, right, there's still the europe, the europe p and influence, but you're still on the west Coast. So you're close, you're also still close to Asia, right? And then you just feel a reflection of America in that you're just kind of a multi multinational, multicultural country, Right? So, uh, you mentioning all those things, all those uh influences, uh, you know, it would get lost on most people, right? Because you don't identify with at the northern hemisphere of being attached to the rest of the world. Um, so with that, uh, the selection of artists that you decided to cover in your show uh lens that leads to the truth, right? Like you have, you know, you have cramping, you have uh Little Dragon of course, which is a motley crew of it. So we just might sweetest motley Crue shoutout to Gothenburg. You have King crew. Of course, it's just like the gutter of of the U. K. And then, you know, I mean, then you have uh Erica of course, which is from, you know, she's from the south, but she represents, you know, a very specific time from from a soul, soul, neo soul, R and B standpoint. And then later on you get home on your own, you know, with K. K. You know, so, so starting off with episode one, and also a narrative that started to play out in every episode. Um is you mentioned, you mentioned growing up with radio and like that, that being your or different music being played on a kind of analogue systems. Being your your your your your vision is your eyes to the world, your glasses to the world, right? So, you also included that in your mixes, you included the static radio. You include you made sure you included uh in text and on vocals, you know, stereo, Right? The actual frequencies and things like that. So, uh, so, talk to me about um your show, was it all planned out in that way? Do you have all the artists you wanted to to kind of cover? Because you do uh you know, your show is one of the more unique out of the out of the roster, because you are narrating this experience, right? It's not like press play, you know, it's just listen, you know, no pun intended. So, so, talk to me how you got the krump in first, and um is that, you know, is that did that format of you expressing um expressing yourself or talking as if you heard this radio host, the stereo host um play out throughout the whole thing, or was just kind of just a cassette tape for everything, and that's just how it came and the music happened to be an accessory to it. Yeah, I mean, amazing, amazing question. Um I think this was born out of again, the idea of, you know, growing up in and listening to radio stations, um and the idea of, you know, whether it be like recording mixes off of radio stations and having like the foresight to pause between commercial, so that when you play back your tape, uh huh either mix from the radio and just like hacking the system in some way, shape or form to just know that you had like that thoughtful process behind it. Um, on top of it, you know, radio personalities where everything back in the day, this is probably like deep rooted cellular memories to me driving in the car every day with my grandfather. What you take me to school, uh, listening to like, you know, like the oldest stations and having like Red Robinson, you know, like you see how six in the morning. Um, so there was always this personality attached to radio for me personally. Um, so when it came to just listen, the idea of it is exactly that, um, you know, back in the day, whether it be the limited forms of media that was accessible to us, um, you know, prior to having millions of phone, sorry, uh, songs on your phone, you have to make these very critical decisions about like what it is that you were taking on your journey. So whether it be as you know, um, you know, whether it be back in the day when you had tapes and you had to, you know, find your whole day out and you had like, all right, cool. Like, you know, uh I gotta bring, you know, like the hip hop tape for for the bus ride. I got to bring the R and B tape in case you hang out with some girls. And then you got to bring like, uh, you know, like the punk tape when you're on your board, you know, after you're off the bus. So like, there is always this deep sentiment behind how it is that we sort of conducted ourselves in the audio space. Um, then that of course we just leave these, you see these, which was the same dilemma. Um, yeah, shoes, you know, until you got fly cd wallets and you were able to just like, you know, slide them all in and you had your backpacks, we would get to go, um, precursor to like the ipods and things of that nature. Um, but yeah, going back to it, I think the concept of just listen is also rooted in the fact that that's what it was, what you had, you had to just listen to it, whether it was the radio station, whether it was, you know, the cds that you selected, um, you know, listening to albums front to back, um, you know, repeating one song, like just listen is based around the idea of just like paying attention. Um, and I think that that's what I'm trying to bring back personally through, um, this specific show, but I think Street Dreams Radio is trying to bring back um specifically to like this genre, you know, education through audio mediums, but really based again on an eclectic view of how is that? You know, the same palette can be presented to people who interact with each show. Um, so yeah, so going back to it, like I really knew that when, um, just listen was going to come into effect and last tidbit of information is that my teachers would always tell me eric, if you just listen, you would get it. And I never did, uh, goes over the fingers like you just listen. Um, but yeah, so the episodic treatment that I wanted to put into it, which is, um, you know, going back to, I've been like, thinking about like, you know, do the right thing in Samuel L. Jackson's character in the film and how you narrated the whole film, like hand the microphone and the radio. Um, I wanted to try to attach a level of personality into it so that it became, um, you know, conducive to like the brand that just listen is hoping to, to sort of like share with the world. Um, also wanted to make an informational because, you know, I always love, you know, getting these bits of information from the people who are playing, um, you know, uh, selections for you. And then that's also kind of ties back to that radio essence where you were listening to the radio station. And then after like five songs on the radio host would come in and he would be like, you know, at the top of the hour we had, you know, Madonna justify my love, what is love you. So, there would be this recap process to it too. So I really wanted to make sure that I did that in terms of like the introduction. Um of course, big up the bands and the artist that I'm super inspired by. Um and then make it like a mix tape um on top of it. I think like the overarching creative direction for it was like I'm going back to again the history of my interaction with music. Um you know, after I started to like, you know, make my own mix cds and just getting this high level of curation. Um you know, my aunts and uncles, my aunt Cecilia and my uncle Ian who is her husband, they blew my mind because they were my direct link. So my ancestor was only nine years older than you, so she was the one that put me on to everything that was super cool when she met my uncle being I have to give him a shout out, the coolest brother from Halifax, California, I'm sorry Halifax, not California, nova Scotia who transported to Vancouver. And like he he has the illest collections he made the coolest mixtapes. Um he would, you know, do the cover art to um interludes at the start and the end of the tape in between so that he could fill in tape space like this crazy, crazy um level of love that he would put into his mixtapes. Um So that put me on my path where I was just like, you know when I was making my mixtapes, I had to have the ill hand style, you know, there's obviously don't watch the hip hop and all that stuff that we're super surrounded by or just like we're in love with. Um and then, you know, it also added like a level of cut and paste like graphic design where I would cut out like, you know, Bill pictures from National Geographic or like thrasher and put it on the cover of like my mixtape. Um You know whether it be a mix cd? Um Then that led me into like elementary school and certain elementary school middle school into high school. I would d. J. Like you know like school school dances and just like you know little parties here and there. Um And then that led me to after high school like dabbling a little bit in the rape scene. So I played like a few drum and bass and like jungle, you know, deep house rooms um back in the day. But I never considered myself uh DJ per se. Like I really believe that I'm a selector and um you know, I don't necessarily get caught up in like the technical side of like mixing songs, but I've always been really in tune with, I think like sonically putting together songs that whether they're different genres or different, completely different artists that sonically can melt together and you can listen to it as a complete piece. That's what I always try to do sonically. Um So going back to just listen and the reason why we picked the bands that we did um uh yeah, I really wanted to start off with something cinematic um that I think was almost like the introduction music to this movie that just listened is um and there's nobody better than Krugman to to have started that. Um one of my favorite bands that I've found over the last five years, um you know, I think that would be cause like I can't even can I read the, like the description of just listen? So the audience. Of course, of course. So that way, I think it would be the political context. So let me just think I have it here. Okay, so just listen Inspired by the art of making personalized mixtapes during the 80s and 90s. Each episode in this original sound series features a collection of thoughtfully curated musical selections from one band artist or genre ordered sequentially and presented and in its entirety or matted with love from beginning to end, we invite you to play press play. Don't skip just listen. So I think it's a perfect introduction into everything that we just spoke about. Like that's what it was. You know, this is this is what it represents me as an individual and the bigger context of being able to present this trip to radio as a team is a beautiful thing. Um you know, we're obviously just only getting started. So again, this is a scratching the surface with what the future holds for this idea and how it is that we can all continuously make it as marvelous as possible, awesome, awesome. I want to kind of just roll through Your mood for selections for episode one and start to kind of see uh, also, uh, fun fact for our audience. Eric is also a photographer, photographer extraordinaire, uh, has quite, quite the eye for shadow. I guess that would be something you specialize in right enough. Uh dark shadows, black and whites look super moody fog. Uh, as you can see mixing that with uh, this orange kind of backdrop. And I mean, like over the course of the entire season, I think even the selection of music you chose was yeah, probably the most subtle. All right. There's no like dance records, like hard dance records. There's no like there's no, there's no aggressive base. It's kind of easy listening. Right? And I think you just hit that on the notes, man. My God. I mean, I feel like the entire project season, I'll call it a project. The entire project. He's one of the, of the project. Uh, just sounds like a, like an album investment to just be played straight through. Right? So I guess you got what? But Roughly about 30, 30 to 40 minutes each episode. Um, so that just evens out to about two hours or something like that, 2.5 hours. You know what, anybody's doing any reasonable or wow. You know, the recreational task is, you know, you kind of get into your flow, you know, after our one. So if you're in a flow after our 1 30 minutes in and being able to kind of have that soundtrack still going right with those pauses in between where you get to actually express Hey, by the way, by the way, I know you like your subconscious mind listening to track to here's what it was. You know, like here's what brand or this artist was trying to convey or kind of coming in with you. Like we had like Kiss FM. I'm sure you've heard of it just SFm down here. We're like the host would just come in and sometimes probably talked. Yeah. But like, you know, you know, and maybe you get the rest of the instrumental at the end of the at the end of his speech. Maybe. Maybe maybe. Uh So so I'm glad you did that. I'm glad you did. I was I wasn't familiar with crumbling before you selected them to highlight. Uh and then, you know, like anything right? As soon as I heard them first from, from you or maybe I didn't hear the music, I didn't know you know who they were? Uh after hearing them on your episode, I saw them everywhere. They were in jail Energy electronic album they were on. I mean like that whole, like the bullets, like that whole space where you got to get this kind of like robert Glasper, this like full band, like full band, soul, band, experience, brass. You know, like, like heavy soul meets easy on the air. It's just quite it was it was quite a put on or or a discovery for me. It was happy, I'm happy you did that. Uh Now moving on to my favorite of all time, Little Dragon. Uh they, you know, one quick thing for crunk been um you know what it's like for me? I think it's really cool to is like, so I like I like describing the band. Obviously I try to give a description of the band of what it means to me before the episode starts. So before we wrap up the trunk and I just wanted to maybe just like let you know what the what what Crunk been means to me. So I said crumble. So to me crying been makes movie music for your mind and I think that's it's right on the head. Like you know the heavy kind of like soundtrack inspiration like creating a whole movie for what it is that they play um you know the elements of like the obscure like thai and like southeast asian funk is quite a man. So definitely what did they do it? Because it was just a cinematic take and speaking to that. Maybe it's just like that's why why also just listen is what it is. It's like I'm trying to create like the perfect album from a certain uh you know, an artist body of work because that's what I would do back in the day with a mix tape. You know, like sometimes I wanted to still down just the tracks that I really love. If they have a body of work that's big enough, I'm almost trying to select the one song from each album. So that way it becomes this like lush body of work that is meant to do exactly what Franklin did for you is like, you know, introduce you to band. Hopefully you become a fan or you, you know, use the episode two explore things that sound similar. So all of this basically kind of like a rabbit hole that we're trying to create. And uh I think you are probably one instance of an amazing reason why we put together, just listen the way that it is. So that's what it is. It's just like inception little dragon dog. Little dragon though, baby little dragon. Yeah, so I was blessed to hair little dragon. Damn. Post seven, Jesus, something like that. Their debut album was when I first heard them. Yeah, self, self titled. And I was just like, I'm just running up in Brooklyn, like I'm kind of on the scene and I just want to homes loft and he was just playing, he's like, yo you got to check this out and I was like, what, like every like every song was good, I was just like what, like what is happening? Like these kind of uh soundscapes, meat obviously live instruments and then you can meet her voice is an instrument in and of itself. I'm like, the artwork was like everything was just like perfect. You know, it was like, he's playing on his ipod, so he still had a little screen. All you saw was all you, all you got to see was he was the cover art. And I'm just like, what is this? Like, you know, and then further research, firing our backgrounds and like trying to find, you know, at the time I was loved the music, but I was so interested and she was like still is like cute, gorgeous as hell. So I'm like trying to find everything. You keep me every feature she's done every time. I'm just like, I just went full fan mode. And uh, and like, you know, and this is before streaming too. So I was just buying every album, like buying it my hair and I wanted to play over and over and over. So including them. Um, wasn't was a favor of mind obviously. Uh but important in this narrative of just listen, because, you know, you start accruing been later, you get to eric about do which is more on the veteran side of the things. Um and uh and then uh obviously can cruel, but I feel like what no dragon has done or did when they first coming or becoming mainstream, becoming popular, was opened up this kind of electro electric, electro soul experience that we, I don't think, at least to my knowledge, we quite have true in the industry. You know, like this the first time you get to hear an independent artist that isn't co signed by a major label uh but still has like interesting cool videos. You know, it's like this, I mean, this is like an elevated version of D I Y I guess that's what I'm saying, like, super like, highbrow version of what we all as a young creators wanted to execute in our music, and uh paintings and art, photography, and drawings, actually, a complete package of artistry, you know, an up and coming kind of artists that weren't or didn't seem to be uh pigeonholed by their managers or anything like that. So, so talking about Little Dragon, and one way you selected them, I mean, let's give an interview for me, and you, you know, but I selected them um when you first came into uh into their music, or maybe it was the artwork that you found first, Who knows? Uh And yeah, it's taken away. Yeah. You know what? I probably found them around the same time you did, I was definitely put on off the end of off the jump, you know, there was, I think at that point it was too late, but obviously the prior to, prior to streaming services, we were all sharing, uh, music files on the internet. Uh, so I was definitely, you know, sharing and uh, it was uh, it was definitely a big purveyor of uh, we're taking during those times. Um, and yeah, definitely stumbled upon Little Dragon just on one of these, you know, just forums that are downloaded, electronic music forums, downloaded the first record and exactly like you, I think you probably hit on the head with everything that I felt the minute that I found them. Um, let me let me mention what my description of the, which so, little dragon to me, Little Dragons music sounds like a lucid dream, I think, yes, I remember you writing that. Yes, yes, yeah. So going back to what you mentioned is exactly that the atmospheric idea of just like really bringing together, like this, you know, label, big label sounding band, but just still down to the most independent artists that you could ever imagine. And then come to find out that they're from Sweden Gothenburg. And it's uh you know, led by this elegant, star radiant woman with the voice of an angel that just makes everything feel ethereal and like you're floating in space. Um and one because so when you look at the mood board that we have in front of you, um so real quick, the way that the mood board started actually came to life was that when we released the first episode of Life at the bodega um when might see Our Illustrious Art Director uh put together like the dark work for it. Um we had extra photos of steve's that we obviously um added into the body of the episode. So instantly from there were just like, oh, snap, like I'm going to create a move forward forward, um just listen. Um and I mean that's the cool part about ST James is that it's all collaborative, it's all reactive and you sort of just like our cases by being like, oh, you know, cool, like it's really like a basketball team and I feel like stretching is always on the court and we're always running place or whether it's back and forth, you know, it's just always this constant flow of this evolution of these ideas just happening in the moment, but being flexible enough so that it can take shape in a way that's conducive to the mission at hand. Um so the reason why I mentioned mood board is that our first move board with Brendan was really a allowing me to now use the, I would say hundreds of thousands of images at this point of mine internet images that I consistently save on a daily basis. And um you know, just, just, just have for this reference that just internally kind of propels me to just always know what my mood is. Um so basically it started off with me kind of just putting together and move by being like, oh, you know, I kind of wanted to put it together to the episodes, but then when we get a little dragon, I thought oh I can take the move to the next level by creating the track list to match the mood. So when you look through the scroll now going forward from episode two onwards, um each image in the mood board is my representation of a track list name. So it's sort of just like if I have an image that represents that what that track needs to. So when you go look look through it, you can kind of see where that connects to like the track this name. So it's my interpretation of this is um but yeah, going back to Little Dragon, I mean, Um, I got to see them uh in Toronto when we dropped issue six of the magazine, so that must have been in 2016 or maybe like 2015, but sounded just as incredible uh live as it did with uh, in person. Um, and going back to, I selected it too, was especially specifically with trump in and Little Dragon is that I always want to make sure that, you know, even ST James does this in terms of what we represent is like always an equal balance of male and female ratio to the stories and um, interests that we share. And for me, I think it was really important to show, you know Crunk in being this amazing band um that's literally on the base um you know, little Dragon being this amazing band with you keep me at the forefront of it, that's just like this killer Front. Um and I also want to start with the bands to, because I thought like, you know, starting with that environment of showing discrimination would be a really cool way for me to sort of just show, I think the range of what I think just listen represents in terms of like this complete piece that eventually, you know, comes together and play. It's like a, like a book with different chapters to it. Um But yeah, I mean, you know, Cat Rider is probably one of my favorite songs of life, Like I mean I can listen to that on loop forever. It's um it's exactly that it's just like this dreamscape that I think Little Dragon kind of creates for you as a listener and highly recommend it to anybody that can be out there to listen to the episode or, or engage with the entire body of work. So again, this is just a sample of what I think is my favorites. What else would you love about these episodes is that they can always be revisited because I would love to make, you know, volume to a little dragon because it's another 10 selection, I think iteration of the album. So, um shut us the range because that's what I really tried to do in this episode. I think when we think about creating mixtapes, I think it's really cool to be thoughtful with the range of, you know, this different kind of ebbs and flows of what an artist you know, has in their discography. So shout out to everybody out there who puts together mix tapes if uh, if you do it, uh, throw a little bit of range in there so that, you know, you can show your range and also the band that you're, you're showcasing. Uh, well, yeah, so you, you mentioned earlier in our conversation about you growing up and literally creating these rich, you self recorded mixed tapes that you self recorded, tape, tape recordings of your favorite songs, you know. Um, so you can listen to them and you walk them in eventually on your cd player, etcetera, throughout your day, different activities. Uh, so with this, obviously back then you weren't printing out paper, right? You weren't printing out track lists, you were writing them out on your, you know, to me. So you played the right one for the girl, you know, you know you know what you have to write what was recorded on your tape. So um I noticed that for the season and aunties into you for your track list. You did that manually. Is that your handwriting? Yes. Yes. Okay. You did that. You did that yourself. And um part of me feels like that's something that we obviously we don't we don't like there's something about having notes, right? And having notes in different fonts. And especially these days, a plethora of typography and that that's the whole world in itself and things that emulate uh typography like this that you could have probably easily just found, right. But um, we're in a place now where you're losing and this is just, it's just the way the world is and how technology moves, where are a far less tactile with our application right of anything, right? Like if we can get it quicker book and quicker or if we can execute or have a gun figure, we'll probably go that route. So um your handwriting also reminds me of graffiti and it's on the way. Uh and you know, I have to have to ask if that's something you grew up with or is it, it just happens to look like No 100 from Graffiti. Um It was exactly what you like you mentioned. I think the reason why we wanted to incorporate like the hand styles into it was just to add that personal touch obviously into the idea of like personal lives almost like a digital object. Um definitely board from from graffiti, you know, back in the day, you know, skateboarding in the hip and like being surrounded by hip hop culture out here. Um everybody had to have like a tag, you know, and it was like one of these things that was just like, you know, at one point you really wanted to try to represent the five elements of hip hop in all your entire site for um Yeah, so there was always like that element of it even out here in Vancouver, you know, big, big skateboarding scene out here, like there's legendary skateboarders that come from from Vancouver, so we're always like situated with like the super high level of, you know, um inspiration from from from that side of things. Yeah, so during those days I always had to have tag, I want to say like my biggest inspiration in terms of my hand, style is future. Of of course the God um you know, that to me is like the epitome of everything that's sort of like represents style through, you know, what it is that you do with your, you know, your personal signature and things of that nature. So um just always kept it, you know, it always just like not necessarily worked on it, it's just basically how I write. Um it just happens to be, you know, sort of like graffiti inspired, but it's almost become like um like a customized font now for street dreams as well and a really cool way, you know, we can sort of people that into different things. Um So yeah, so when we put together the move forward in the track list me and like we're thinking about a way of making it um obviously super personalized and going back to the idea of customizing your mix tapes and cds. I definitely wanted to make sure that I added my own stamp of personalization by riding up the track was the exact same way that we should do it back in the day. Um So yeah, so do you with the, you know, since we're talking about like, you kind of rights law of technology and everything gets faster and smaller for long ago, uh, you you've decided to use radio, right? His stereo as you're kind of parenting motif, right? And then everything else comes down and throughout the kind of D. N. A. Of your series, W series. Um Part of me feels like obviously you probably wouldn't make it toward these other artists music, but, but that, would that be something that you still want to perpetuate, like, let's say you were an artist or that released his own music? Is that something that you would do for nostalgia's sake? You know, at this point, right? There's only so many printing houses and so many, like manufacturers that are going to make cassette tapes and so many people that are going to go out and buy cassette tapes, right? Um, and a part of me feels sometimes, you know, maybe I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, but part of me feels sometimes that um like we've been doing it to emulate something obviously that inspired us growing all of us growing up, but at the same time, the technology that made it isn't today's right? Like, like we're doing, we're adding all of these, like, layers of effects and static and scratches and all these things. Right? So part of me feels like if you were an artist today releasing his music, would you go this route right? Like would you go the more tactile, difficult route of getting his music out or would you just want it to be something that's never opened? Right. You know, because there's, there's a lot that goes into it, right? Just artwork as, as we're discussing now, which is super, probably the most important. Um, the, the tape itself, you know, and then hoping that your fans would want to listen on this medium, process the conveniences, Right? Yeah. So yeah, I mean, this is just a question that, you know, I always wanted to always want to know from, from artists who who who identify with this like medium. It was so important because I remember like, when you take pop that, was it, like, you couldn't fix the tape like this, it's like scratching the cd. It's over. You know, I'm gonna let my tape rock to my tape, literally. So, you know, the inconvenience of it is one thing. But today, I guess we do things to, to kind of relive our our youth, right? Or or what we thought we heard in our youth. So yeah, I'm long winded question. But would you go that route or at least added maybe it's like merch these days or or maybe using artwork as like as like, you know, Prince somehow like posters. I don't know. But I mean, we're speaking to ourselves and we want to print publication, right? So we're definitely making sure that we're trying out here to make sure that that physical hits you hit your hands and it means something. Um so 100% would go that route if I was an artist. Um you know, what's really cool is that uh one quick tidbit of information for just listen is that the artwork is inspired by a passport? Um so I think maybe I should have said that from the jump, but it's also just going back into the theme of the show in the sense of like this passport into um you know, uh into the music, into these new genres of things that maybe you might have discovered. Um So when you look at the front of the covers, uh there's uh there's a there's a really cool stamp that might make for me. Um so it was inspired by the passport and then me and Mix were sending back and forth reference from this like old marc Jacobs vintage marc Jacobs employee past that we found on the internet. So it's like this idea of almost just like this official lanyard type card. Um you know the way that we reported the art is like, you know, it's an amalgamation of all of our personalities. So you know, even don't like who, you know, we all speak about and eventually will be on the show. Um it sits down in our design team gray, um, you know, who lives in London, you know, sit down and do the physical work of actually being programs and putting together the art. The prior lead up to all this is just massive amounts of, you know, referencing with one another. You already know that like, you know, working with him when you recover. And it's just like what we, the way we thought about the initial brand industry dreams, which is to create almost like a Motown or like blue note type of approach to the, to the covers so that they had this uniform kind of like comic book style elements that we're always going to be present on every part of the art and that was the canvas and then we ask the host bring their brushes onto the canvas and make up their own. Um, so going back to it and again put into context, like everything that we do with the art stands on its own, I think that that's what shootings represents in terms of like immaculate brand thing is like really thoughtful approach to, you know, how does that we represent all of our visual elements. Um so everything can stand alone, just like art pieces, you can already see streams radio events once we get to that stage, which is coming next. Um you know, having these amazing pieces of art on the wall which are basically just the coverage. So it's already setting yourself up to have like a longevity factor behind the digital space. But going back to a to matty, I think when it comes to this is the intention at the end of the day. So after like if we put the intention into a just listen by personalizing it was like a hand style and literally adding my DNA to the digital piece, people are gonna start feeling it, you know I'm saying, I feel like at that point now, if you put your blood, sweat tears into it. So now, instead of us looking at cover art, you scroll through it or you make it your lock screen, you know what I mean? Like that's like kind of like the new generations way of saying like, hey, I really like this, I'm going to save it in my role under my, if someone favorites that in their camera roll, that's super ill, you know what I'm saying? That has to be the same effect as somebody hanging poster on your wall now. Right? So I think this song is the intention is out there with us presenting the entire emphasis of the shootings radio represents, industry represents in general. It's like, it's always been about art, um and you know, these are just the new mediums that we're expressing ourselves with and, you know, like I said, this is an iceberg for what, you know, we are now evolving into, and I really believe in my Heart of Hearts that the first five years of ST James was just literally building the foundation of what it is that we're starting now and now going forward, feels like, you know, we have the semblance of a company that can really thrive in a whole new manner, because, you know, we have the block now, we're gonna put these billion, you know? So, yeah, so yeah, put that love into it, you know, anything that you do digitally, as long as you really love it, I think people will feel the attention behind it and it'll feel physical, but at the same time, I'm down anytime, you know, I'm all about to emerge. So set up takes out of the back, you know, if we gotta do it, we'll do it. Maybe USB you figure it out, we will figure it out, somebody's doing it. Um, so episode three, um, I want you, I want to, I want to do three and then we'll do like four and five together or pair the pair of them because there are some interesting coalitions that I want to make sure that uh, as a listener, I'm on the same page is you put those together, so, uh, thanks for listening. So yeah, man, yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh, Kim Cruel. So you've got solely started with like this neo soul band esque, like kamal Washington esque, like easy on the ears. Then you go to this kind of pioneering, go into this pioneering electro pop music and then you go across the pond, then you go to King Cruel, um which I believe is a richard named zebra kid. Yeah, yeah. Kids and King Crew had and I still, I still have it uh this kind of hold on a generation of kids. Uh huh uh huh. This is the first time in a long time to talk with a friend that a generation identified with their emotions publicly. Right, right. They we have twitter, we have online forums, we have places where we can express and find like minds, right? So this is the first time that everything isn't so peachy, right? Like this the first time an artist is coming out in a long time, you know, um that isn't necessary singing about sad things. Yes, he is, but you feel his voice, you know, like he's, you know, he's you know, I'm blessed to have a lot of mutual friends who I know, I know have some some kind of closer insight to who he is, but at the same time, like he's the guy singing those songs that he feels that way, you know, And uh I don't know if you've been to a live show, it's like punk energy, because these kids are like wilding out and I'm gonna say kids like fans are wilding out from like a punk rock, like standpoint mushing and crowd surfing and all of that. But if you were to happen, like just sit down and try to play king cruel music to a new listener that wasn't looking for it, it would come off in a very different way, you know? So uh so so with uh because me knowing you, uh I know that you you you embrace your emotions, right? You embrace like, solid emotions meaning like your personal time, you know, in your solitude. Uh, you know, and as someone who's not a kid, at least not by age, you know, you, you know, when to take time for yourself to isolate, you know, what to take time to go out. Like you respect your own personal, like boundaries, right? Emotional, spiritual boundaries. And here's this artist that doesn't necessarily represent sonically. It's still before. So yeah. So yeah, talk to me about, uh, 10 cruel. Um, uh, were you, did you identify with his music or is this something that maybe you feel the energy list, right? Like, or or, you know, did he does this music bring you, um, to a place that maybe you've never been before mentally? Yeah, he's young. He's like, yeah, at least at least at the time of, you know, his his bigger records or his opening records. He was coming out kid, right? Like, like but genuinely old soul. Yeah. Like you, you know that this was from the cosmos on some different level, you know, transmission on K. Pax. You know, just here here here here, here we do this. Uh, a million percent identified with King cool as an artist I want to say. Probably because I've dealt with a lot of mental health issues in my life and still deal with depression that's obviously inherently there for forever. You just understand ways to just get through it and sort of understand how to manage it in some way, shape or form. So I definitely have sad boy side of where I like to go and not saying that his music is sad, but it's very, very, very emotional in the sense of like being super directing, like confronting the feeling, you know? Um and I think, I think the reason why I am how I am today is because I lived a lot of my life not being that way. Um you know, not understanding my emotional boundaries, like, you know, um getting out of pocket in in ways with myself and people around me that just wasn't conducive who, who I wanted to be as a human being at the end of the day. So, um when it comes into the ideation of King cruel and shadows to Archie mark, archery marshal, um and speaking to that, like the picture that we actually feature the dumb surfer and is one of the cover arts you shot at the live show that you want, you know that I've never been to one of the show. So yeah, shout out to you for that. And you know, I actually want to talk to you about that show and probably more depth when we have a little bit more time, but having got to see them live, but when, when we look at the, what I love about what we would have done with just listen so far is that I want to initiate it with the cinematic kind of introduction theme, music, instrumentation, band Focus Krung been genesis episode that moved into Little Dragon because I felt like Little Dragon was the perfect bridge behind that lush sound. But then you went into electronic and then from there I wanted to keep with the same instrumentation kind of level because I knew the first to be features were for sure going to be banned or people that in their, in their work to make it a common thread when you get to Archie and can cruel episode um because he has his alias Archie marshall, where he produces more like hip hop beats that that little dragon into king Crew was the perfect sort of like it's almost like the perfect amalgamation of distilling down crunk been in Little Dragon until singular artist, I think it's too cruel. So I kind of feel like brings in, brings in kind of like both sides of it in some way, shape or form. Um You know, for me, can cool is like you know, very reminiscent of like you know the cure and dead Kennedy or like the stooges or the clash, like that's what that shit makes me feel like. And my description fricking cruel is to me can cruel makes that rebel music for a new world. Uh I mean that's what it is, it's almost like some Children of men kind of sounding dystopian. Um you know, very cold moving through pandemic times. Kind of music. Um went back to like you mentioned, it's a very hard listen to if you're going into it initiated or if you're not just down with that sound. So again back to just listen King Cruel 003. I tried to distill it down to you know what I think was like the range of his sound by giving you the doses of where I pull out like the key points of what makes me love his music because it's only 10 tracks. But you can probably find, you know, multiple tracks that sound like each one of those and that's it makes all. Um And that's basically in essence to with Little Dragon was very similar. Like they make this broad range of spectrum of sound. Let me try to micro what I think is the best of that specific sound. But when you dive into it, you're going to find more songs that maybe sound like specific did that, But it's always gonna be mixed up. That's what are you sure? You know, he's, he's uh, he's definitely, he's definitely my spirit and a lot of ways. So shout outs to the stuff that he does and hopefully working cross paths sometime soon prescriptions ready everything. Yes. You know, that's where the cover is. Great as well. It had to be cloudy. Mm I guess that lends also lends itself to, we'll be talking about with your, your, your preferred style of photography, right? Like you're kind of moved missed, uh silhouette driven, shadow driven work. You know, I really tried to try to find like, you know, I feel like as a photographer, I try to try to find quite just the regular sound of life. So that's why I like trying to make an adamant moments feel human. Um you know, that's something that I'm looking for as a photographer just to find peace of mind to take that breath and sort of look at life from a different perspective. Um and I think that that translates into the music that I listen to, and I think probably comes from that, you know, like that soundtrack playing headphones or you know, during or after the time that you actually create your art. Um so yeah, I think that the first season moving into season two, just listen, just represents me. Um and that's what I think is the most important part of the ST James radios that represents every person that's part of it. And shooting is that at its core it's like it's booting, you know, we're all we have individual, you know, parts of the same shit, but we can also have, but you know, we all represent street dreams and that's what I love the most about what it is that we created. This is family and hopefully the listeners and people that watch these episodes, I feel like they can be part of the family as well. I think, I mean I think you've hit it. I don't think as a fan, you hit those, those notes right on right on the one of the nose, right? Because now moving from the spectrum of sounds that you just mentioned and especially that the, maybe the, maybe this is an ignorant way to put it but lack of spectrum sound, it's kind of black and white gray uh huh kind of aggressive space that can cruel this into a far more colorful spectrum right? That you kind of have a like you kind of start out and end with colors based on the season. The season has gone so far, right? Like started off with trump in and uh little dragon and you would end, you know scaling backwards. You end with Katrina and Erykah Badu and right, that's right in the dead center, right? The place of balance. The place of black and white gray uh is king cruel. So so as well as as we kind of taper off now going into episode for uh Erykah Badu man, she she can get an episode on her own right? Like you know like we can go all day all night about it. You have you've got dance too, everybody's mama, she's like, you know, she's like so a day where she seems to just straight up not age. She's, she's a collect, she's everything you could want from and an artist period right? She kind of she kind of gives you she gives you like love and then she gives you son rod at the same time right? And like and she's on twitter tweeting about uh sorry about that. Uh so she gives you loved and she gives you you know Shane on twitter you know like she's still active, she's not like she's not enough an old soul but she is she's connected on so many different spectrums of age and you know obviously sheets you know part of her Meadows is like her dating these hip hop like Mount Rushmore to you know and so she has that and has kids and story you know kids are part of her life. Did not shadowed in any way. Like when she made windows she just put a music video of our her just being naked in D. C. Like you know she has just you know there's so many stories of who she is, myth, mythological speaking and then on the same side, you know that has nothing to do with her music. She is who she is an icon, right? Like she's an icon of our generation. So uh choosing her is for me like if I was just listening and didn't know what to expect next, this would almost seem like thank you like an obvious choice that you have to include Erica by doing this in this narrative. That is just listen. Um so talking about her impact on you um and yeah, I'll give you a challenge. So talk to you, talking about her impact on uh you more specifically uh less about why you chose her because we all know why you chose her. She's just that good, right? But Bringing that into season two, right? That was a perfect way to end season one, right? Like so bringing the one of the greatest Erykah Badu into one of the new greatest right? Like um and how those those genres of music, those soundscapes both complement each other. Yeah. Artistically speaking, right? Yeah, that's what I mean by it. Yeah, so um going back to the emotional connection that I have with King Cruel uh in the sense of that being, I want to say like a megaphone for my emotions on the cloud of your side of the spectrum. Erykah Badu did the same thing for me in my life who was an emotional connection to her that You know, kind of, I think with the final two, two episodes in season one, with three and four being back to back, I really wanted to sort of give praises to go to the people that have gotten me through a lot of shit, you know, with their work. Um Misbah do has gotten me through like just the spectrum of her work, you know, like the timing of when she became an artist too, you know where she is today, It's it's the soundtrack to my life in a lot of ways um didn't, you know, is is probably the the song that represents the probably darkest time in my life and not saying that I'm not going to go through some some really dark things in the future, you know, I feel like you know sometimes we're all in the dark tunnel but as long as you have the light at the individual working towards it and that's sort of like the game that we need to play. Um So it was really an emotional thing for me with Misbah do and you know um also a pivotal moment in time because, you know, I'll read the description Erykah Badu. So to me, Erykah Badu makes that timeless revolution music for your mind uh for your spirit. This also goes back to like the timeframe of what was happening socially, you know, um in the US with our brothers and sisters out there and you know, being an observer of what was happening over this past year, like being Canadian and being removed from it. Um you know, and having an african american brothers and sisters who are part of our family, it's um it's one of these things that, you know, we all took stock of and and understood that it's a conversation with the mama bird, you're just, that's been happening in a way that just needs to be amplified to the level that it deserves or has been that people, maybe people just haven't been taking notice of. Um so I think it was really important for me also to make sure that that was represented through what she represents to the unification of, you know, um the idea of having these influential legendary african american artists that bring together everybody in the world through their music and this mother nature, mother kind of nurturing nature that music evolves for us. You know, Erica Badu is at the core print of that for me. So her music is revolutionary for your spirit. It makes you sort of like we've gone on this journey with her seeing the transformation of who she is as an artist, but I think it's just reflecting her transformation as human beings. Um so if you can take that as a, as a reflection in your life, then I think it's the perfect soundtrack to distilling down a crazy body of work because like I said again, going back to it, like I really want to make multiple episodes of the same artist eventually. Hopefully you get to the stage where we can interview these artists and actually uh you know the breakdown with them. So you know, this is kind of like a blueprint for what I think the future can hold for, just listen as a franchise and she dreams radio as a whole. Um but yeah, it was the emotional element of it. Uh you know, obviously it's really hard to be able to just go down, you know, a mixtape about. But again, I just wanted to make sure that the touch points were there and when you look at the first season rounding over there, why do I feel like just me as an individual wanted to represent? Like the range that I have in my heart? Um you know, I think that ST James represents like the amalgamation of just like in this mix tape idea that is taking the best parts of everything that we love and just making it our own. Um so I think season one couldn't couldn't have ended up with something better as like a no landmark artists, that means something special to me, and at the same time transition perfectly into the next landmark artists that comes from my country, you know, like home base, uh Katrina in Montreal. And um what's really cool about this episode is that um you know, I hadn't brought anybody or we hadn't done any mixes. I mixed down all my own episodes up until this point, but just like, you know, creating the sequencing of the playlists. Um but it happened to sort of match up with doing the Katrina episode because um Mike C had already, when the album first came out, he actually created his own mega mix called the bubble mega mix, which it is that we released for this episode. So then when when this episode came out uh Shadow Education and he just won his first two Grammys. So this one was really reactive like natural evolution by being to me Katrina to um it's part of the family tree that Erykah Badu has created. Um in terms of like you know that form of the bridging of like funk and pop and R and B. And hip hop into this infusion of just like this beat driven, kind of like you know super boom bap kind of style when she does hip hop stuff in into the dance kind of aspect of what she represents or has inspired. So Kitchen added to me is like part of that Erica Badu family tree in terms of like, you know, the new Jedi generation that's coming to represent um you know, all this amalgamation of music through their sounds. So uh and on top of that, you know, we really wanted to celebrate that amazing movement, you know, for us as Canadians seen a person that you followed on Soundcloud were downloading like, you know, I was down the downloading like Kitchen out of re edits off of, you know, streaming sites um when he first came up and the learning he was from, from Montreal and eventually like even crossing paths with him and his brother who helps other from Montreal um you know, shot at that time a and her connections to like acid. So I know that there's so many connections there even with morgan, you know, our radio director in the background as well. So it's cool being able to see one of her own get to that level. And like I said in his introduction, said, Katrina often imitated, never duplicated Katrina to makes that celestial dance music from the heavens. And I think that that's what really present together bubbles landmark album. Um you know, it's just so influential in so many ways for a new generation of people. It's cool seeing a person like Katrina to come up from an independent side of things because I think that that's the same plot that were cut from, you know, we're coming in the same space, were blazing their own paths and sometimes it may be unorthodox. Sometimes it may cause friction, but it's always with the best attention um in the best kind of friction, you know, we're just trying to shake a conversation and show people that you can look at things in a different way. Um, but still maintain the essence of what it is that inspired that idea in the first place. Um, so yeah, I think a kitchen, it was a perfect start to season two um, in terms of just breathing fresh life into it, sparking it with mike. See on the mix was obviously a beautiful, just, you know, connection of our relationship and where we've come from. Um, so it's amazing. You know, I'll probably go back to like the episodic treatment for the next like few episodes, um, highlight artists that are influential in my life and kind of continue on that path with, you know, making just listen almost like an encyclopedia of sound and you can come in and check out one volume, you can check them all out as a complete peace and I think it would make sense if you are just press play and just listen to me. That's a perfect way to put it. That's a perfect way to put it. Um, the encyclopedia sounds, I love that. Yes, that's a perfect way to put it because that's exactly what it is. Right to take it off the shaft. You've got Britannica of music, you know, like proper, proper almanacs of, of all the things we just discussed. You know, you have the, not old, but the original project aeration of the original guard which is guarded, new electronic, uh, little dragon. And like you just said, you got the new guard of what that was to us probably for the newer generation, which is Katrina to, you know, and the sounds that kind of helped him uh, and the, the energy more specifically, that helped his career propel itself. So, so yeah, I mean, I feel like this interview was an exciting Wikipedia of quite a bit. Yeah, we dipped over a little bit, I mean whatever, but I think we did. I mean I think everything's covered who is informational, Who. And I want to thank you for sharing your personal story because that's that's the most important part how that ties into your choices of music. Um I got tied into your choices of art direction and I am curious I imagine that your format will remain the same art direction at least for this season or what we expected from. I mean what we saw from case and all his hard work for season two. But in closing, I would love for you to kind of close this out with some ideas that maybe you haven't quite executed yet. Or maybe some new technologies that maybe you can, you may want to or maybe you season three add into your rollout, I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure your choices of artists will change, but I would love to know, Yeah, we would love to know the people need to know. Um, yeah, what's really cool about, you know, what it is that we do, I think best, um, you know, in general is creating ecosystems for our ideas. Um, so whether it's a standalone idea, every show that we have on the radio station at this point in the expansion that's come from that, um, is always trying to create this multifaceted approach to how it is that we can breathe new life into just like scratching the surface, which is, you know, the tools that we have at hand. Um, you know, street dreams, you know, it was built out of nothing, you know, this really again came from just an idea and you know, just the foresight to understand how, you know, working together with like the most unorthodox method ever by saying like street dreams is going to be in new york and Vancouver company, like that is wild in a lot of ways, just in and of itself, but it works, you know, and it's a beautiful thing to see, you know, the expansion of it and bringing people like yourself and everybody who's part of the radio station onto it. It was always the vision for this company, it was like as long as we can get our foot in the door, then we're trying to kick the door down and bring everybody into the space with us. Um but also just know that this is about broad strokes for everybody to be their own individuals through like amplified platform that can push forward everybody's dreams, hopes and ambitions. Um so for me personally, would just listen like I eventually want to get to the point where I'm able to interview these artists man. Like, you know, I would love to be able to sit down and do a dissertation just like, you know, of the band. Um speaking of, you know, like, you know, the I know it's been done and a lot of people do that stuff with just like, you know, these sort of like, you know, dissect type podcast where people come in and just like break down, you know, like the inspiration you have every track. But I think there's more of like a still stuff like space to come into it and make it personal in terms of really creating some deep rooted conversations that can kind of let you in behind the scenes a little bit deeper than just like the linear approach to things. So I'm hoping that um that's where the evolution of the show can get to, where we can eventually bring these artists into the space and and have conversations with them. Um because yeah, I would love to have some sort of form of interview to it eventually and have, you know, that being able to transport itself into like these live settings once the world opens back up and on the other side of the current situation. Um But yeah, I would really love to just expanded and I think the palette of the artists that were choosing is like, you know, super important. Um There may be a shift, I don't know if it's this season or into the next season where maybe I go into genre based episodes so walk up, you know, uh like the episode would just do like a straight like brian episode um and then just making a mixtape that's formatted about making specific tracks that I put together first for a certain sounds. Um But I think the art direction probably say the same for the season in terms of just creating a space where it's just like this programmatic approach to it and that's what our idea. I think shooting from the Jump is like how do we create um ST James radio to almost operate like a television station and you have all these like branded shows that are part of the same network but can sort of have enough space to just play around with our direction is but also be symptomatic enough where all we have to do is come and just switch photos so that it doesn't come too heavy of a little our team to happen. Maybe just because actually stuff. so it's always this foresight of being like reactive but also proactive and sense of creating templates for ourselves. Um but I really think that, you know, the sky's the limit and probably beyond that for what it is that we're doing in the street dreams again, just to super thankful for creative live, to see for seeing the value in having these conversations shared to their audience and crossing over into the space to make a collab collaborative is like everything that ST James's about, so um you know, I'm really happy to be able to bring this to life because, you know, music has been a part of our lives for a long time, it was the connecting point between me and mike even before this creativity in terms of the media space came into this. So uh huh it's amazing thing that comes to life and being able to bring more people on board that you know, have the same passion and it's like that's the reason why we do what we do. So it's a beautiful thing. People have these conversations that you don't have, people who actually want to listen to them. It's something that we have ourselves a pat on the back for and also knowing that we got to this point is just like, you know, I'm trying to take better stock of our accomplishments. This is a huge accomplishment. So shoutout, creativelive yourself for being so eloquent through the process. Thank you man. Uh well, we could talk for days by the way. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. So forever. I just wanted to say one last thank you to our listeners. Um I would like to say and better do from our latest third episode of creative insights which screeching radios creative lock and eric below. So I create direct, Big Love everyone street dreams dot com slash radio