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Here at Impact 89FM, our staff has the opportunity to interview a lot of bands, artists and other musicians. We're excited to be highlighting those conversations and exclusive live performances.
Live from the East Lansing Underground, this is 889 bringing you the basement. I'm your host Liv as always.
Speaker 2:And I'm the cohost Griffin.
Speaker 1:Today, we're in studio with a MSU local artist named BirdDog. BirdDog, would you introduce yourself?
Speaker 3:Hi. I'm BirdDog. Yeah. I am a local artist now as of couple months ago.
Speaker 1:What kind of music are you playing for us tonight? Can we get a just like a taste of what your sound's gonna be, and then we'll jump right into our first song and just show the listeners what you're about.
Speaker 3:I feel like folk Americana is pretty good little descriptor. I sometimes have a slight southern accent, so maybe bordering on country, but, you know
Speaker 1:Nice. We're glad to hear it. So, would you start us off then with our first song of the night, boys smoking cigarettes?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I got this
Speaker 4:lid in my stomach that even alcohol can't seem to shave. My friends are all new and in a month I'm moving out of state and the mines both are men. There's appealing girls dancing in fishnets
Speaker 2:And that was boys smoking cigs by bird dog.
Speaker 1:I I just wanna say, you have the most wonderful, wholesome grin on your face when you're performing. You just absolutely light up, and it's such a privilege to get to see you here in studio.
Speaker 2:No. Yeah. You are such a ray of sunshine. I wanna ask you a question. Do you fly bird dog?
Speaker 2:Do you fly south, in the winter? Is that how you get your southern accent?
Speaker 3:Mhmm. So I grew up in Texas.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I've lived a lot of places. I've lived Texas, Arizona, Montana, and then my folks now live in Oklahoma. So
Speaker 2:Wow. Yeah. So all over the place. Where
Speaker 3:All over the place.
Speaker 2:What state do you think, influenced you the most as an artist with your sound?
Speaker 1:Or you think that's like a person too?
Speaker 3:I think okay. I think that the state that influenced me most with my sound is probably Texas just because I grew up there and I grew up listening to, like, you know, all the music that my parents listened to. So, like, you know, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, just like Luke Combs, that kind of thing. Now the artist that probably influences me the most is Zach Bryan, for sure. Because he takes a really poetic approach to all of his music, and I kinda do the same thing.
Speaker 3:So yeah. Yeah. We were chatting
Speaker 1:a little bit before, we started recording tonight, and you were saying that your your writing approach usually starts off as just poetry and just writing poetry, and then you add music from here. I would love to hear more about that. And, like, what about poetry is a more approachable, like, starting point for you, or what draws you to that?
Speaker 3:So, conversationally, I've always had, like, a very difficult time expressing my feelings, and writing has always been how I was able to get them out. So I probably started writing poetry, like, when I was 8, and it, like, wasn't good, but, like, I wrote it. And throughout just, like, middle school, high school, and then now just everything that I'm going through, like, I write it down in poetry. And sometimes I'll just write something and I'll be like, oh, this is, like, really good lyrical poetry, and so I could add on to this more. And then if I have something that I'm really wanting to share, then I'll put music to it.
Speaker 2:So Wow. So Bird Dog has been around since you're 8?
Speaker 3:Theoretically. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Wow. That's amazing. So I wanna ask you, what does your creative process look like? I know, on your social media, you spend a lot of time in the outdoors. I see you travel.
Speaker 2:You love to camp. Is that a special place where you like to, you know, write?
Speaker 3:Outside is for sure where I love to write. Like, I just my soul is at peace whenever I'm outside.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:So camping, I, worked for 2 weeks in Yellowstone.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:I wrote a lot of poetry while I was out there.
Speaker 1:Oh. What were you doing?
Speaker 3:Montana conservation corps.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We fixed up the entire Mammoth Hot Springs Boardwalk, and then we cleared 18 acres of, like, knapweed and houndstong.
Speaker 2:Thank you, bird dog.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Thank you for your service.
Speaker 1:I love that. I mean, honestly, I feel like it's, just listening to your your story and your origins, a, so impressive. Like, it's a pretty big jump to go from being somebody who's not comfortable expressing your emotions verbally to, like, sharing a song and putting that out there. That's incredibly vulnerable. And then the way that that ties in with just caring in general.
Speaker 1:Like, it's clear if you're doing that kind of work and you're you're getting out there and you're wanting to protect the things that we have, like, that takes a lot of heart and a lot of just dedication to the things that you find value in. Does it feel connected to you, or are these all just sort of, like, parts of yourself that that came to be at different points, and and we end up with this picture?
Speaker 3:Like, the music or, like, the connection to nature? Or
Speaker 1:That was such a winding question. Yeah. Let's narrow that in a little bit for you.
Speaker 2:I
Speaker 1:guess okay. Let's, yeah, let's take the big picture of, having a big heart. How much of a do you, a, do I identify with that, And how much of a role does it play in your life and the person that you are and that you've become?
Speaker 3:I think it plays a huge part. First of all, thank you. Second of all, I think it plays a huge part in just everything, like, the way I interact with people and the kind of music that I write. I'd once we start talking more about the songs throughout this set, I feel like it'll become, like, very apparent that I'm someone who is very impacted by the other people around me. And that a lot of the emotions that I process through are almost like feeling other people's emotions in a way.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Like, trying to, like, process through those kinds of emotional
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of the people around you, is Mary Oliver someone that's special in your life?
Speaker 3:Mary Oliver is a poet. Okay. Hey. Hey. No.
Speaker 3:No. No. No. No. No.
Speaker 3:You're good. You're good. You're good. Well,
Speaker 2:well, I would love to hear it. Yeah? Yeah. Once again, this
Speaker 4:is the
Speaker 2:basement, and you're listening to Bird Dog, and this is Mary Oliver. Cool.
Speaker 4:This time. Glue
Speaker 3:it
Speaker 4:back together, focus on Jackie Edges. I'll take a little more care this time, make sure that I love myself before I let anyone else. I'll look a little bit for the devil. I focus on the problems as food. Help
Speaker 2:Wow. That I'm I'm I'm speechless, honestly. Like, you are so talented.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:I cannot wait for this session to come out. I need to listen to that, like, 8 more times in a row.
Speaker 2:I wanna I wanna go back, to Mary Oliver. Will you please educate me and the people listening who might not know who this poet is?
Speaker 1:Yeah. I don't know either.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely. So, Mary Oliver was a poet who wrote tons and tons and tons of poetry about the environment. So, like, I think that the reason that I resonate with her so deeply is because I view the environment, like, in the same exact way that she does. Like, she she talks about it, like, bringing her peace, and she always, like, relates it back to how she views herself and her relationships with other people.
Speaker 3:So wild geese is one of her most famous poems, and it's just basically talking about, like, everything's gonna be okay because, like, the wild geese are, like, calling to us and just I don't know. I don't know. It's really optimistic, and I really love all of her poetry. So and one of my really good friends got me into it. So I was
Speaker 1:just gonna ask how you discovered her. What was that like kind of building this this identity with her and finding someone that more and more you realize aligns with how you see the world?
Speaker 3:Oh, it was so great. And it just that's it's always super great whenever you find a poet or an artist or just anybody who you can really resonate with their art. And it was just one of those things where I would just read her poetry, and I'd sit down and I'd read, like, you know, 4 or 5 poems in a row, and I just, you know, almost get teary eyed just because it's just so beautiful. And it really hits you, like, deep in your chest.
Speaker 1:Could you ever see yourself being that for someone else, like, with the art that you make?
Speaker 3:I think if somebody ever told me that, I would cry. Like, I think I think genuinely that would be the best compliment that I could ever get from anybody. Just because I don't know. I consume a lot
Speaker 2:of art Mhmm.
Speaker 3:That resonates with me. So then it's like, if someone was like, oh, that resonates with me, I'd be like, woah. That's crazy. So
Speaker 2:Is there a poem that you know on the top of your head from Mary Oliver?
Speaker 3:Oh, nothing that I memorized. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. But but but she does have a lot of good stuff and you should look her up after the session.
Speaker 2:Well, for someone who's new to poetry, or at least in this in that world, where do I start?
Speaker 3:With just, like, poetry in general?
Speaker 2:Well, yes. Like, who are some poets that I should get into and, why?
Speaker 3:Oh. Shoot. Do you, like, read, like, a lot of, like, classical stuff? Or would you be more into modern stuff? Or
Speaker 2:Something contemporary, I would say. Modern.
Speaker 3:I've there's this book, and I forget who it's by. But it's called As the As the Light Seeps In or something like that, and it's it's incredible. I read it all in one night, like, one go. Made me cry. It's poems from this this this girl, like, wrote it, and she wrote it over the course of, like, 3 years.
Speaker 3:And it was her mental health recovery, and it's all in chronological order. So it's like this, like, entire book worth of poems, and it's, like, separated out by sections of her life throughout those 3 years. So, like, it's poems from that era, and you can, like, gradually see her, like, getting better and, like, starting to view life in a more positive way. And that's, like, that was a really, really, really great book to read. So Well, thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely. So
Speaker 1:That sounds so powerful. I have, like, goosebumps just hearing you describe it. Is mental health something that's been super important in in your personal journey and in your life to date?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely. Like, a 100%. I've personally struggled with, both anxiety and depression, and I feel like that has not influenced only the way that I view myself, but also the way that I view the world. And I think that, like, coming out of that type of, like, deep, dark place is just the most incredible feeling. And it's just absolutely incredible to read, like, Mary Oliver's poetry and be like, I have this same sort of optimism for the world around me.
Speaker 3:And I think that that is one of the things that motivates me as a lyricist, because I'm just like I think that if I could share that bit of just, like, super strong emotion with somebody, then that would be enough. Because it's like the thing that they don't tell you about a depression is it's not all sad. It's just numb. And that's what I think is, like, my main goal is to just make people feel something. So Well,
Speaker 2:I know you mentioned you've lived in Oklahoma. You've been in Texas. Yes. Montana? Yes.
Speaker 2:So what brings you to Michigan State?
Speaker 4:They have
Speaker 3:a great zoology program, which, shocker, I'm a zoology major. And, yeah, they have a great zoology program, and it's one of the, like, states that has it, like, met a lot of my criteria. Like, it has a lot of outdoor stuff to go do, and it's got really good opportunities. Around Michigan State, there's, like, 3 zoos within a 2 hour radius. So I'm like, that would be great for, you know, internships opportunities.
Speaker 3:And my brother also lives in Detroit. So or he lives in Royal Oak. Excuse me. And so
Speaker 1:A distinction must be made.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. And, it's so it made my mom a little feel a little bit better that I was moving somewhere where my family was. So yeah. Wonderful. Nice.
Speaker 1:Well, we're happy to have you here.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I'm I love East Lansing so much.
Speaker 2:So Good. Yeah. Welcome to the Mitten. Thank you. For our next song, is it high highlight?
Speaker 2:Highlight?
Speaker 3:Highlight. So it's a it's a canyon in Bozeman, Montana, which
Speaker 2:is weird.
Speaker 3:Sick. So
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's like where you're from?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's the town in Montana that I've And
Speaker 2:there's a canyon in that town? Mhmm.
Speaker 3:It's our reservoir highlight.
Speaker 2:And you go there quite a bit, I assume so?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's where I like learned to backpack and camp and like hike. That's where I probably highlight is, like, where I really got into nature. So in the 3 years that I lived in Montana.
Speaker 2:Please tell me you wrote this song here at highlight. Oh, it's okay if you didn't.
Speaker 3:No. I know. I'm trying to remember where I wrote it. I don't think I oh, I think I wrote it after going to highlight. So the little bit.
Speaker 3:No. But I didn't write write it in in the the woods of unfortunately.
Speaker 2:That's alright.
Speaker 4:Well, I'm
Speaker 2:very excited to hear it. Once again, this is BirdDog, and you are listening to Highlight.
Speaker 4:May you're not be like a lake lay undisturbed till the last piece of you returns to the clouds.
Speaker 2:Once again, that was highlight by BirdDog. That was amazing. Thank you.
Speaker 4:Do you
Speaker 2:wanna tell us a little bit about the instrument around your neck?
Speaker 3:Oh, yes.
Speaker 2:For the people for the people who are listening.
Speaker 3:I do have multiple harmonicas that you will hear throughout the night. The one around my neck currently is the key of g.
Speaker 2:Play us something.
Speaker 3:Play play you something? Yeah. I don't know anything in the key of g. I can play Piano Man in the key of g.
Speaker 2:Okay. But it's
Speaker 3:not gonna sound right. Hold on. Wait. I I got you. I got you.
Speaker 3:This will be like we were discussing this before the session too of how quickly I could change Monica's. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, while you're getting situated, I do wanna ask a little bit about about the harmonica. Is this something that you got into kind of as a necessity? Like, okay. I'm envisioning the sound. We gotta build it out, and a harmonica's gonna get me there.
Speaker 1:Or did you have, like, a middle school phase, like, you know what would be really cool? Harmonica. You know what?
Speaker 3:It was a quarantine phase. It was totally something where I was, like, you know what? I could I could just learn to play the harmonica. So me and my dad both got harmonicas, and we learned to play them during quarantine. That's so sweet.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I've just had this skill. And then over the summer, I started adding it, like, more into my music. So a lot of this was written, the stuff that I actually use the harmonica in was almost all written before I started adding the harmonica into stuff. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And then now I just have it. What do you
Speaker 1:feel like it adds to your music?
Speaker 3:I feel like it adds just kinda like I am southern. Mhmm. And I do feel connected to that. And I feel like it's it's real interesting as, like, a queer person to feel so connected to, like, the fact that I'm from the South. And I think that it was kinda something that I shied away from a lot, And I don't need to.
Speaker 3:You know? Because, like, that's just it. Like, I am a queer southerner, and, like, I can be, and that's fine. And so, screw it. I'm gonna play the harmonica.
Speaker 3:You know? I dropped my pick. And I also destroyed my fingers the other day playing without my pick, so that my pick is important.
Speaker 1:Is important today. Yeah. But, anyways,
Speaker 2:Woah. Thank you so much. Yeah. You're welcome. That's sick.
Speaker 2:I feel
Speaker 1:like it would make it hard while you're singing, trying to, like, control your breathing like that and then jump right back into the singing. Does it just leave you totally out of breath?
Speaker 3:Sometimes. I have to, like, I have to learn how to time it right. So that way, I can, like, get a breath in before Yeah. I have to play. So
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for showing us. I know, the harmonica is really important to you. But I also wanna get into artists that are from the South, I suppose, such as, Zach Bryan. Because you are from the South, you know. And I just wanna know, like, who are some of your influences, as an artist, and, why?
Speaker 3:So I love Zach Bryan so much just because he writes poetry and then puts music to it, and that's exactly what I do. Mhmm. And I just feel like he's he's one of the artists who I, like, super deeply resonate with, like, all of his music. And I think it's more so, like, the combination of the lyrics and then the way that he sings them. Like, the the fact that a lot of it's, like, really upbeat, but it's not all super happy.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. And I think that that very much so defines sort of like oh, I'm gonna go off on a tangent. Is that okay? By all means. Okay.
Speaker 3:Okay. I feel like that really sums up what it is to be a queer person from the South. And so I feel like that's, like, why I relate to it so heavily. Because it's, like, yeah. It's tough.
Speaker 3:Like, what are you gonna do but laugh about it? You know? Mhmm. And yeah. I don't know.
Speaker 3:It's got kind of that almost calloused tone, but, like no. No. No. Happy in spite.
Speaker 1:Happy in spite. I like that.
Speaker 2:I like that a lot.
Speaker 1:Where does the the joy of being a queer southerner come into? Like, what's what memories does that bring up?
Speaker 3:So whenever I I lived in my permanent residency is in Oklahoma, and I was there for, like, a month and a half. And there's this place called the Gypsy Coffee House, and it's like they have an open mic night and an open mic poetry night, and that is where I found all of my queer friends. And there's just, like, so many memories that I have of, like and I only I only went, like, twice. But I have such strong memories of just, like, laughing with these people and being, like, this is, like, I've never felt more understood. Because I I think growing up in the South affected me way more than I thought it did, and then I spent high school in Montana.
Speaker 3:So it was like, you know, different area. So
Speaker 2:Well, what's the memory you have? What was this place called?
Speaker 3:The Gypsy Coffee House.
Speaker 2:Yes. What's a special memory that you might wanna share, when you realize, oh, like, there are people like me. I I I do have a safe space, you know.
Speaker 3:So the poetry open mic, after after the poetry open mic ended, we all just, like, went out on to, like, the back porch, because it was everybody who contributed to the open mic. Like, just got to go walk out on this back porch. And we all just, like, sat around in a circle, and it was just, like, everybody was laughing and, like, having a good time. And I feel like the second that I got, like, into, I think, Kansas, because we we drove from Montana to Oklahoma, I was kinda like, oh, I need to, like, wash my back, like, being, like, a visibly queer person in the south. And I just remember feeling like I was totally not alone on that porch.
Speaker 3:I was like, everybody here is, like, happy, and this feels safe, and this feels like home. And they just welcomed me right into, like, I was, you know, this young looking kid just sitting out on the back porch with them after, like, having spilled my heart out in poetry, like, to these random people. And I don't think I'm ever gonna forget that. I think that that is really just gonna stick with me for a long time.
Speaker 2:So And you know what? You know what's something else that's gonna stick with you? Your new single that's coming out September 16th.
Speaker 4:Yeah. For sure.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh. That yeah. That's such a cool, like, you know, from from reciting poetry, from doing these open mics, and, like, moving forward, and, like, making it a pursuit of yours. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 4:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3:How do
Speaker 1:you feel about it?
Speaker 3:I feel so good. Because this is the first time I've, like, casually pursued it for years. Mhmm. Like, there's videos of me that exist on the Internet from, like, years ago that I've, like, lost the passwords to the account. So I can't go and, like, delete them.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. And it's from me when I'm.
Speaker 2:We've all been there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. You know you know. But this is, like, the first time I think this summer where I was, like, oh, maybe I should, like, actually try and do something with this and I should start going to more open mics and I should start which is where you found me.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Story time. We were at in MSU open mic at the union, and BirdDog was there playing. And I was I was running it with UAB, and afterwards, all the artists, you know, were saying bye. We took a photo, and I was like, what are you doing on Thursday?
Speaker 1:So so here we are, and I'm so happy. Oh my gosh. Wonderful talent to bring in. And, really, I think the first time in in the time that we've been running this show, they've had an artist that's that's quite your your niche of Americana.
Speaker 3:Thank you. It's very niche. That's right. Yeah. But thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 3:I really do appreciate it. So
Speaker 2:No. We're so happy to have you. Have you ever performed secondhand before for anyone?
Speaker 3:I have. I performed it at the open mic on Monday. Okay.
Speaker 2:And
Speaker 3:then I performed it I think it oh, I performed it at one other open mic, and then I also performed it for my creative writing final in high school. Cool. So so this is
Speaker 1:the song that's being released as your single upcoming here.
Speaker 3:Yes. This is the song. What made
Speaker 1:you choose this one?
Speaker 3:I'm really comfortable with it and I really like it.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And it's like one of those songs where whenever I get going, I just get going. So.
Speaker 2:Alright. Well, I wanna get this going. Let's see second
Speaker 3:hand. Okay.
Speaker 4:It's time for me to go home. Could you and me just take a nighttime drive past the cotton fields of my youth, stuck in 05 with star gazing and far blazing, ain't talking about how we die.
Speaker 2:Thank you. That was amazing. That was so that was amazing. I, you know, I see I see honestly, I see a lot of Noah Khan in you.
Speaker 3:Hey, that's the greatest compliment you could have just given me.
Speaker 2:But I But I do.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Especially that song. Yeah. I can definitely hear their influence.
Speaker 2:There's certain aspects of Noah that, you know, influence you the most.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 4:Just oh,
Speaker 3:I love Noah Con so much. And I think that just, like, the the general way that he writes music as well just, like, super influences me. And a lot of the vocals that he has, I feel like I take a lot of inspiration from that. Because I think that coming up with melodies is, like, one of the hardest parts for me in, like, figuring out how to use my voice, if that makes sense. And so yeah, I listen to a lot of him, and I sing along to him in the car all the time.
Speaker 3:So
Speaker 1:Can I ask you, like, a question as a musician that I just always wonder about?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So I feel like you can sing along to a 1000 songs, and I always just sort of end up replicating, like, what someone else's voice sounds like, the way they pronounce things or, like, the the places they put emphasis. How do you find, like, what your voice is and where the style is in that? Because you do have, like, a lot of elements where you can see that influence from knowing. You can hear, like, the way you rasp in in similar, like, parts of the phrasing. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But how did you find what is yours?
Speaker 3:A lot of it has to do with, like, driving. I love to drive, and I'll listen to music, and I'll sing along, and I'll try to, like, sing in, like, my own voice, if that makes sense. Because I'll try I I mean, I I'm absolutely like everybody else, and I do the thing where I, like, try to replicate, you know, whoever I'm listening to. But then I'm like, what if I stopped that for a second, and I actually tried to sing how I sing by myself? So between that and then writing my own music and, like, just singing my own music in my room, that's, like, kind of how I've been able to think about how I actually sound versus trying to replicate somebody else.
Speaker 3:So I don't think that was a very clear answer, and I apologize.
Speaker 1:No. That was actually very, like, step by step. It was helpful.
Speaker 2:But when you say room, your your dorm room? If you're in the dorm?
Speaker 3:So I am in the dorms.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:I try to go to the music rooms or outside. I try not to be that guy who's like super loud on the floor. But I did have to whenever I was recording second hand Mhmm. The music rooms were we were in a time crunch. And the music rooms were there was no keys available.
Speaker 3:So I had to knock on my neighbor's doors, and I was like, hey, I'm gonna be really loud for a second, and I am so sorry. And then it was fine because half of them weren't home anyways. So it was all good. But then also just like my bedroom in high school, I just my my parents, I love them so much, and they're so supportive of me. But sometimes it'd be like watching a show and they're like, you need to close your door.
Speaker 3:Like like, you're you're being really loud. So
Speaker 2:I know we don't have a highlight Canyon in East Lansing. But is there anywhere else in this community that, you know, you can get away and, you know, open your journal? Sleepy Hollow State Park. Is where is this? Is this around here?
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. It's 30 minutes north. Sleepy Hollow State Park is fantastic. And it's Really? Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And I've driven through it at night a lot of times and it's it's the weirdest place to drive through at night. Like, it has such weird vibes, but I love it so much. It's got like Sleepy Hollow vibes? Sleepy Hollow vibes. I tried to bring that up with someone who I was there with and they were like, you don't you can't mention that right now.
Speaker 3:Like, we're we're walking around here at night. You can't talk about that. But yeah. Is it like spooky? Little bit spooky.
Speaker 1:Little bit spooky?
Speaker 3:It's like it's like you can really, like, feel like
Speaker 4:I
Speaker 3:don't know. I'm religious.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:I feel like I can like feel God there like a like a lot. Like, very strong.
Speaker 2:That's so cool.
Speaker 1:Is there anything about it or it's just
Speaker 3:it's just the place? It's just the place. There's something about it.
Speaker 2:I might go there. Yeah.
Speaker 3:No. You should. No. I have to. We camped there, 2 weekends ago and it was really nice.
Speaker 3:There were raccoons who went through our camp though. So we didn't secure our trash properly, which was not that was not very zoology major of me. But, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't know. I feel like when I'm in central Michigan, I can kind of convince myself like, it'll be okay. They have the problems up there with the bears and stuff.
Speaker 3:Right. Right. From Montana, like, raccoons don't sound all that intimidating because grizzly bears.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And I worked for a grizzly bear rescue. So I had to do, like, all the education and stuff on it.
Speaker 1:Side note, so cool. Thanks.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's my, like, favorite, like, fun fact to drop out of, like, all the stuff that I've done. So
Speaker 1:Have you interacted with a lot of grizzly bears?
Speaker 3:Not directly because, because grizzly bears. Because grizzly bears. Right. But I've gotten, like, from me to you right now
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:To a grizzly.
Speaker 1:Wow. So Like, awake grizzly? Mhmm. That's crazy. For listeners, that's like, 6 feet?
Speaker 3:About. About. Probably.
Speaker 2:That's scary.
Speaker 1:That's crazy. Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's cool.
Speaker 2:Since we're talking about animals, why bird dog? Actually, yeah. Great question. Bird dog. I love it though.
Speaker 2:It's actually really cool.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:I just think it's funny.
Speaker 3:I think that the idea for it came came about whenever I was listening to do you know Turnpike Troubadours?
Speaker 1:Oh, that sounds super familiar. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Their song
Speaker 4:oh shoot.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm blinking. I'm gonna just
Speaker 2:sing it.
Speaker 1:I No pressure.
Speaker 3:It's the one it's like, oh, why am I blinking so hard right now?
Speaker 4:If you
Speaker 2:can't think of it, you know, is it just from a certain artist that made a song and,
Speaker 3:My AP environmental teacher in high school recommended me this song. Okay. And
Speaker 2:Shout out to them.
Speaker 3:Shout out to shout out to Trevor Nichols. Okay. Trevor Nichols is the reason that I'm here right now.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Trevor Nichols.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Love him. And it but the song in the song, there's a dog that this guy, like, gives up to, like, go move to the city with this girl. And then the whole song is about him coming back to the country. It's like, how
Speaker 4:good does it feel? You belong in these hills.
Speaker 3:And I don't know. There's just something about that song that just really resonated with me. And I was like, oh, he's talking about a bird dog. That's a, that would be a cool band name.
Speaker 1:And then
Speaker 3:I'm not, I'm not a band, but
Speaker 1:Did you have like a notes app of all the potential names? Or has it always been BirdDog?
Speaker 3:I've had a notes app of potential names. BirdDog's very recent. BirdDog is like
Speaker 2:Keep it.
Speaker 3:Like April April Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it fits the, like, Americana, but also a little folksy
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Zoology vibes.
Speaker 2:You've flown all over the country, but you're still so grounded as a dog. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:That was so poetic.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It was. It was.
Speaker 2:I don't know. But, anyways, I know you mentioned, you're always in the car singing.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Does that have anything to do with rear view? Yes, it does.
Speaker 1:Wow. That was like a top ten segue.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You've done a very good job segue.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Well, when you drive through Sleepy Hollow, is there anything scary you might see in your rear view?
Speaker 3:Who knows? Maybe you have to drive there.
Speaker 1:Key is, don't look.
Speaker 2:Don't look. Once again, this is BirdDog. You're listening to Impact. And this is The Basement Show. You'll listen to rearview.
Speaker 4:You back in my life between the lives of this huge soul. But the way y'all talk about me, you knew that I killed what you told. And I'm starting to think I'm the only one who cares about this at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I feel like the snaps are better. Sometimes we do the claps. I feel like it just sounds so, like, sad, but also, like, blowing out the mic. It's just like 2 people clapping.
Speaker 1:That was wonderful, though. That's cool. Do you mind if I ask about one of the lyrics in a little bit more depth? Mhmm.
Speaker 3:So it
Speaker 1:really caught my attention when you said it was something like write you back into my life between the lines of this song. Is that right?
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like okay. A, I don't know if you believe in the power of manifestation, but do you feel like your songs, you're ever writing them, like, in hopes of of creating this reality or I don't know. You mentioned your religious if you're comfortable talking about that, if that plays at all into, like, you know, almost like a kind of prayer of of realizing these these hopes that you have in by writing them into songs.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely. I this song is about, like, a situation in which I messed up. Like, I had this best friend in high school. We had a huge falling out, and it was over, like, like, I don't even really remember what this specific falling out was over.
Speaker 3:But it was just, like, one of those things where, you know, I tried to, like, catch back up with him, like, you know, a couple months after, and it just, like, it was never the same. Like, we never really went back to being as good of friends as we were. And I feel like that's just one of those friendships that, like, I've kind of kicked myself over the years for kinda losing it. And I've written a lot. Like, he he finds his way into my songs a lot.
Speaker 3:Like, there's there's another one on here, Oregon, that I'll play later that is also, like, about the same friend. And it's just, like, it's just one of those situations where it is like a prayer. It's like, hey. I really wish that I could, like, go back in time and, like, not mess that up, which I feel like I don't have a lot of, like, regrets in my life, but that that would probably be one of them. So
Speaker 2:It's very poetic of you.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:I wanna get to know, your next song, Lake?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Is there a specific lake that you feel attached
Speaker 3:to? So this one is well, the lake that I feel attached to is most definitely highlight. This one's not about highlight. It's about a different lake in Montana that I'm not remembering the name of right now. But, I think that just in general, water is, like, I feel, like, super connected to, like, nature and stuff whenever, like, there's, like, bodies of water.
Speaker 3:And
Speaker 1:me and
Speaker 3:my friends took a road trip back in March to Oregon. We went to, like, the coast of Oregon. It's different different connotation than the song. But we took a road trip, and we saw The Devil's Churn by Newport. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And that was, like, the most insanely powerful thing that I've ever seen in nature. Like, just like these huge waves crashing up in, like, this canyon, and it was just insane.
Speaker 1:Powerful, like, the actual might of this natural phenomenon or, like, emotionally powerful? Really? How so? It just What did it make you feel?
Speaker 3:It just incited, like, that feeling of, like, wow. The world is, like, especially nature is, like, so powerful and I am so small in comparison. Yeah. Yeah. I think that a lot of the time we forget how small we are in comparison.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And I think that it's just it's very humbling.
Speaker 2:Especially next to water.
Speaker 3:Especially next to water. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I I feel like it's such a freeing feeling. And I think it's the sky that does that for me. Like, being out here in Michigan where y'all don't have highway lights and you can actually see the stars, or, like, when you guys have those really amazing just cloudscapes because of all the, you know, the humidity from the lake. It's just such when you feel that small, it's like, gosh, nothing really matters that much. All these things I'm stressed about, like, I am so tiny.
Speaker 1:It does not matter at all. And Right. You have this huge lake that's been here for eons. That'll be there when I'm gone. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:It'll keep going.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. And I also think it's beautiful how humans are so attached to water.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And, you know, the distances will go just to be next to it. Yeah. So, yeah. No. I I I I'm interested in lake.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I love lakes.
Speaker 1:Any info we should know before heading into this song? Or do you wanna maybe just show us what it's about and talk more about it later?
Speaker 3:I don't know. I think I'm gonna play it first, and then I'll talk about it. Alright. Alright. Also, before I forget, where are you from?
Speaker 1:I'm from, like, Chicago suburbs.
Speaker 3:Okay. Okay. Okay. You and then you?
Speaker 2:I'm from Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Speaker 1:Okay. Gosh. People never ask us questions on this show.
Speaker 3:Sorry. I feel Yeah.
Speaker 1:This is just weird.
Speaker 3:I'm not even doing you guys. Cool. Well, this is like
Speaker 4:People like us just can't get to see. We got a barricade case of a fighting machine. We drink a lot, we stay out all night, but we're always sobered up and ready to fight. We dedicated ourselves to more than we could manage, try to undo everybody else's damage. Campfire smokes, lungs hurting in the constellations carrying all our burdens.
Speaker 4:And friend, makes me cry. Oh, it makes me cry. Marty doe boots, packs weighing down, carrying tools 5 miles, bodies of pegas skipped town. Working for a beauty that we couldn't afford, offer reason I won't wait to ride with you. And friend, I don't wanna have to look back on these days.
Speaker 4:You wonder what I could say or We're the type of people that just can't get seen. We got a bad, bad case of fighting the machine. We drink a lot, and we stay out all night, but we're always sobered up and ready to fight.
Speaker 1:You have such beautiful imagery in your songs. I have. It's just like
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:I think it was, sliding down rocks and climbing or climbing up rocks and sliding down dirt. We did all we could could to get over this hurt. It's just where you, like, you pull those 1 eighties mid sentence where you have such, like, vivid imagery of, like, you you're climbing around and then all of a sudden it switches from this, like, physical trial to now this, like, emotional struggle that you have. It's just I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1:And the fact that I know, obviously, you've been writing for years, but you're just starting to really pursue your music. I'm so excited to see where you go with it.
Speaker 3:Thank you. I really do appreciate that. Of course. Thank you.
Speaker 2:I wanna emphasize that I'm really excited to see where you'll be when you're a senior and just, like, everything you've released.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're very talented. So
Speaker 3:Thank you. I'm really excited to, like, finally be doing something with it. So
Speaker 1:Yeah. What's your impression of, the music scene here at Michigan State, which I know that you're kinda like fresh to town. So maybe you, haven't found all of your your spots and your niches yet. But, you know, obviously, here at Impact, we're passionate about it. So
Speaker 3:Right. So I started over the summer. Mhmm. There's not really any scene over the summer. College towns are kind of dead over the summer, but, I just said over the summer, like, three times.
Speaker 3:My bad. But that open mic, I think, on Monday, like, really drove home the fact that, like, the music is something that's very important to this community, and it's very supportive community. Mhmm. And I think that it was super terrifying, but also super nice to see, like, so many people in that crowd.
Speaker 1:That was a great crowd. Just overall, you guys were so much fun. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Well, we need to get you on the road after this album comes out. We I I want shows ASAP.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Where would be your, like, ideal tour spots? Yeah. Build us the route.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Give us our you know?
Speaker 3:I wanted to live in Seattle for years. Okay. So I feel like going to Seattle to, like, play a show there would be just that would be really cool.
Speaker 1:So Who would you wanna open for? Like like realistic, dream, and, like, absolute crazy It's not dream. Lineup. Yeah. I guess that's dream.
Speaker 1:I didn't really, like, adjust my tier list appropriately from the start, and then just there was inflation involved, but you get it.
Speaker 3:I think can I can I start from, like, top and then go down?
Speaker 1:Yes. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:I think, like, the most insane one would be, like, probably Zach Bryan. Just Mhmm. I'm a huge fan. Of course. Then probably next would be, Noah Kahn.
Speaker 3:And then I feel like the most, like, achievable one would probably be have you ever heard of poi Poor Man's Poison?
Speaker 1:I have not. No.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay. Okay. It's such a fun band. You need to listen to them. They have a very they have a very fun vibe, and it's just like, I don't I don't even know how to describe their vibe.
Speaker 3:It's like it's like, folks the Americana, but, like, grungy.
Speaker 1:Okay. I'm here for it.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. I love them so much. I my roommate is not a country music listener, and I put him on to Poor Man's Poison. So yeah. I I think that they're a little bit for everybody.
Speaker 3:I don't know. But they're like a smaller band.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. So
Speaker 2:That's sick.
Speaker 1:What makes them fun? Like, what do you what do you appreciate about the ways that they get creative? Not just in, like, the writing of their music, but I don't know. Presentation. I don't know what their shtick is.
Speaker 1:And then how do you wanna do that?
Speaker 3:Their guitar and their banjo too Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Is insane. Banjo.
Speaker 3:Right? Right? And you, like, you listen to their to their, to their music and, like, there's just there's tons of, like, just moments where you're like, that's insane that somebody's sitting in, like, just a recording studio just playing that right now. Like, that's wild. And I feel like they would be such a fun show to go see live Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Because, like, that like, it's insane. Some of the stuff that they just do, like, the riffs that they have and, like, how quickly they pick, they're very everything's very, like, fast tempo. And, yep, so that's what I think is very fun from from them. And then also the way that they're able to tell stories through their lyrics, I feel like I would like to be able to do that as well. So, like, stories that, like, are obviously not their own.
Speaker 3:Like
Speaker 1:That's one of my favorite things that artists can do because, you know, when you're writing about the the traditional things that get you down or make you feel big feelings, because that's the thing. Like, in day to day life,
Speaker 3:it's
Speaker 1:easy to get a little desensitized. And so the stuff that sticks out is, like, I'm really sad. I'm really in love, or I'm really angry. And so I I think you do get, like, a lot of songs that just kinda repeat those themes. Someone in an artist is able to just, like, build a totally different world.
Speaker 1:Like, I think cage the elephant does a great job of that.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:Like,
Speaker 4:they had a
Speaker 1:whole album where they're just writing about, like, a little girl who's gone missing and, like, these are her parents' reactions or, like, just totally making up stuff off the dome, and it's obviously not real. But they're still able to make, like, amazing emotional songs out of it, and it's just so fun.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I think it allows you to borrow motifs from different genres as well Mhmm. Which is cool.
Speaker 2:Are there any other genres you'd wanna dip your toes into?
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Any kind of rock. I would love to do, like, any kind of rock because one of my favorite things to do, whenever I'm just, like, messing around with my guitar is to turn rock songs into, like, acoustics.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:So, like, I think one of the one of the most fun ones to play is, like, Breeze Blocks Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Make them acoustic.
Speaker 3:I can't. I can't. You can't?
Speaker 1:Okay. Off the top of my head.
Speaker 3:I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1:I won't ask you to. We'll keep an eye out on the Instagram.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely. I'll do that. I'll do that just for you guys.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But I love I love rock. And I grew up my dad, huge Van Halen fan. So, like, Van Halen, Queen, all of, like, the classics and, like, the greats. So grew up listening to a lot of those.
Speaker 3:So, like, that would be cool. I think maybe that's my, like, dream opening. If I could, like, open for Queen, I think I could die happy. And that's obviously incredibly unrealistic because, you know, Freeman Cruise then.
Speaker 1:You never know. They're still working on holograms, I hear.
Speaker 3:No. It's not the same.
Speaker 2:That'd be sick. So, I mean, have you danced with any strangers, in the past year?
Speaker 3:You skipped 1.
Speaker 2:Oh, I I Oh,
Speaker 1:we got organ. We got organs still.
Speaker 2:I apologize. You know what? Going back to touring and, you know, having a dream inspiration, or having inspirations to tour with, Poor Man's Poison. You said you wanna go Seattle first. Would Oregon be your second stop?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. Cool.
Speaker 2:Why Oregon?
Speaker 3:Just because they have really they have really great water there, you know.
Speaker 1:Coming back to that same, like, humbled
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. I feel like it would be really humbling to play in Oregon for the water.
Speaker 2:Now I wanna ask a question. Is this the tracklist order?
Speaker 3:This order was made, like, probably 45 minutes before I Oh. Came to the studio today.
Speaker 2:Do you think it's similar to how the tracklist will be?
Speaker 3:I think so. I think it might it might be a little bit, switched up because I think I put Boy Smoking Cigarettes first just because that one, I'm able to, like, get my nerves out.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Because it's, like, a faster song. I think if I would have started with a slow song, I would have been really scared. So it might change up just a little bit, but nothing, like, too extreme.
Speaker 2:Cool. I I I love it when artists tell a story, through the checklist. So Yeah. Absolutely. But once again, this is Oregon.
Speaker 2:Or do we say it correctly? No. It's Oregon. Oregon. My bad.
Speaker 3:Well, then again, I'm not from I guess, I live in the Pacific Northwest for a little bit. But because Montana is technically Pacific Northwest, but I'm from the south. Yeah. Us pronounce things is funny sometimes.
Speaker 2:Us Midwestern miss Midwesterners always get clocked on how they pronounce Oregon.
Speaker 3:Oregon. Oregon. Cool.
Speaker 2:This is Oregon by BirdDog. Thank you.
Speaker 4:Song because there's more to it than we didn't get along. But I miss the good you seem to make in me, and I'd come running if you called. It's a damn guarantee. And I hope you make it to all of you and find a breathe. And if you don't think about me no more, that's fine.
Speaker 4:I'll just hope you don't waste breathe If you don't think about me no more that's fine I just hope you ain't wasting more of your precious time
Speaker 2:Anyways.
Speaker 3:Great transition.
Speaker 2:No. No. No. No. No.
Speaker 2:I what I wanted to say is I think that was my favorite. Yeah? Yeah. I I am really Oregon or Oregon is probably my favorite song out of yours.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. No. I think I I think that where was that song written?
Speaker 3:Where was that song in, in Oregon? It was not written in Oregon. I think I wrote that one
Speaker 4:oh, I think I wrote
Speaker 3:it maybe in 2022.
Speaker 2:Like, that
Speaker 3:one's been that one's been good for a while.
Speaker 1:That's been
Speaker 2:in the vault.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. It is. And then I think it was one I think it was one of, like, I wrote it as a poem. Sorry. I'm trying to cross my legs and not hit the mic.
Speaker 4:I
Speaker 3:wrote it as a poem, and it stayed a poem until maybe February of this year when I was like, I need to put I need to like, this needs to be something that I say. You know? Mhmm. Because that's that's the whole thing with the music because it's like that's my way of verbalizing all of my, like, emotions and thoughts and stuff.
Speaker 2:So when you push your pen and when you, write and, you create poetry, do you tend to come back to it? Do you put it on hold? Or is that your process? You do a little bit at a time, or do you like to finish it all in one sitting? Like
Speaker 3:There is some songs that have just, like, spilled out of me. Like, Mary Oliver and Boy Smoking Cigarettes were both ones that I was just, like like, probably wrote in 30 minutes. Like, songs, lyrics, melodies, like, the whole thing. But then there are a lot of poems that I have that just, like, sit in my my little notes app in my phone. And they just sit there and they, like, kinda stay there until I come back to that thought.
Speaker 3:And then sometimes I'll be like, oh, wait. That actually was a really good poem that I think I put a lot of feeling into that I think I could, you know, bring that feeling into something more.
Speaker 2:Are you a perfectionist?
Speaker 3:I don't think so. I think I used to be really bad. I used to have, like, a lot of, like, super bad grading anxiety. I was labeled as gifted and talented when I was, like, 6. And I think that I think that that did a lot to, like, make me feel like I Elaborate.
Speaker 3:Like, the the whole, like, the we had, like, a gifted and talented program in my school. So basically, I don't I don't even know really what the point was. We went to, like, a classroom, like, once every Friday and would talk about, like, robots or, like, ancient Egypt or, you know, whatever whatever kids find interesting.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh.
Speaker 4:It was
Speaker 3:like a little enrichment thing. But I feel like that kinda I I I think I had like the the good. I say that with quotation marks because people can't see me. I say that with I think I had the good version of like neurodivergency. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Where they were like, oh, this makes you this makes you more smart. It didn't. I don't think it did. But yeah. I think that that, like, kind of mentally pushed me into, like, feeling like I had to be a perfectionist for a very long time.
Speaker 3:And then I kinda got over it in high school when I was like, oh, I'm gonna make a B in this class. Well And that's gonna be okay.
Speaker 2:Well, cheers to being neurodivergent with me.
Speaker 3:Cheers to being neurodivergent. You know, like, I'll cheers you with my little paper Pepsi cup. Here you go.
Speaker 1:Chin chin. Which actually, I just remembered when you were crossing your legs. I'm supposed to ask you about your socks today.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. You are. My socks today. Oh, and Griffin didn't
Speaker 4:you didn't you weren't here for
Speaker 3:the okay. So these are my socks today. They have rubber duckies on them.
Speaker 2:Oh, sick.
Speaker 3:And I have a lot of fun socks, and it was a very it was a very debilitating process trying to choose to choose the sign to choose which socks I was because I was like, I'm gonna talk about them. I'm gonna talk about them on the live broadcast.
Speaker 1:I kinda get it though, because I feel like I I also am an enjoyer of funky socks. I think many of us who walk this earth are. And and I will try and, like, channel certain vibes. Like, okay, what kind of day is today gonna be? Is today gonna be like a a Mona Lisa day or like a cowgirl day?
Speaker 1:And and, you know, like, no one else can see it, but you feel it.
Speaker 3:Exactly. You know that yeah. I have their socks, and they weren't clean, but I wanted to wear them because those are my favorite ones. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:What are the ducks channeling in you? Like, are they are they providing you strength, buoyancy?
Speaker 3:Strength and buoyancy, you know, They're just really making going back to water, you know. They make the the rubber duckies are making me feel very powerful.
Speaker 2:This is so irrelevant, but do you
Speaker 1:Is anything relevant at this point?
Speaker 3:Do you no. No. No. Let me finish a little bit. Okay.
Speaker 2:Do you remember Spencer from iCarly having those socks that,
Speaker 3:like, stop. We literally had this conversation before we had this conversation.
Speaker 2:That's all I've been thinking about is he would, like, pull them up, and there'd be, like
Speaker 1:Like, light up.
Speaker 2:But then they catch on fire or something.
Speaker 1:Oh, I feel like everything caught on my
Speaker 2:show. I love iCarly.
Speaker 3:But we we had this because I, before before you came in, I will I was having the conversation with the crew and we were talking about Spencer socks from iCarly. So Wow. And we did mention the the LED light once.
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:They were like I think they said they were like Christmas trees or something. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I feel like and they were definitely like zigzags. For reference, probably what sparked this conversation, we have our little iCarly, like, sound effect buzzer. I don't know if you remember. Sam had that, like, it was blue and it would play different
Speaker 3:The laugh track.
Speaker 1:Yeah. The laugh track. That kind of stuff. That's one of my absolute favorite things about Impact is that we just have, like, the most random things ever. I'm so sad because we have this we have this little device here.
Speaker 1:And you told me lake was gonna be your saddest song, and I was like, okay. I'll bring it up for lake. But it, I'll I'll just demonstrate.
Speaker 3:Woah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's like a thunder sound effect maker.
Speaker 2:Wait. Do it again. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Here. I'll do it a little more gently.
Speaker 2:No, dude. How you did it? Cool. Who brought that in?
Speaker 1:I have no idea. It just that's the thing. These things just appear here one day.
Speaker 2:I take credibility for the iCarly.
Speaker 1:Yeah. The iCarly the iCarly is yours. That's true. But, it's it's a wonderful place to work. We are left with no shortage of entertainment.
Speaker 1:You haven't even seen there's a headband with a ball on it that you have to, like, the ball is attached to a string, and you, like, have to hit it away with the ping pong paddle or, like, your hands or something.
Speaker 4:Do you want this
Speaker 1:Or else it just comes back and smacks you in the face.
Speaker 3:Wow. So it's like there's there's stakes.
Speaker 1:Yeah. We're academics around here.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. We like we like lived experience. Well,
Speaker 2:going back, to Icox
Speaker 1:No. We okay. You know what? We love it. You keep us on track.
Speaker 1:You really do. No. No.
Speaker 2:I was just gonna say, going back to, iCarly, they had random dancing. But no.
Speaker 4:But It just keeps getting better.
Speaker 3:Most insane segue of the night. No.
Speaker 2:But you you don't do random dancing. You dance with strangers.
Speaker 3:Oh, I do. Oh, I do.
Speaker 2:So I just wanna know why you weren't as influenced with with Carly and Sam Puckett, but you tend to just do it with strangers growing up.
Speaker 3:You know, I don't know. It's just I mean, if it's supposed to be random, you know, doing with straight that feels fitting. Yeah. This is true.
Speaker 2:True. That is random. But you wouldn't dance like that, like, with the I mean, you might. I guess I might dance like that.
Speaker 1:I love dancing with strangers.
Speaker 2:I do too. Never mind. I, what time? Okay.
Speaker 1:That's actually a good question. What time is it? We're having too good of a time. Okay. We got 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:We do.
Speaker 4:Alright. We're
Speaker 1:doing good.
Speaker 2:Anyways, Dancing with Strangers. Could we could you go into depth, or would you like to, talk about it afterwards?
Speaker 1:I feel like there's a story to this one.
Speaker 2:I wanna I wanna hear it first, actually.
Speaker 3:You wanna hear it first?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I wanna guess. Okay.
Speaker 3:I also have to talk about Lake at some point, because I don't think I
Speaker 2:ever I
Speaker 3:said that I was gonna talk about that when I heard Lake.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, use your we'll use your powers
Speaker 3:of Yep. Use your powers of remembering
Speaker 1:Of, like, looping things back together. Segues. We'll find the segue.
Speaker 3:Yes. Okay. The segue will find us.
Speaker 2:Alright. K.
Speaker 3:Cool. Dancing with Strangers. K.
Speaker 4:I don't feel like I know anyone. I've got no one to call on the phone, no one to send all my dumb jokes to. Damn, I guess I'm really alone.
Speaker 3:I felt it coming and stood her alone.
Speaker 4:I'm missing all my chances.
Speaker 3:I felt it coming
Speaker 4:and still it kicked me in the teeth.
Speaker 3:I guess there's no
Speaker 4:real second chances for me. And I hate dancing with strangers. I hate waltzing along like this. Nothing wrong. I hate dancing with strangers.
Speaker 4:I hate fake smiles that fits in the earth while I hate saying it's cool when it's not. And lately I've been saying it's cool a lot. I hate dancing with strangers
Speaker 3:And I
Speaker 4:don't even know I'll show this song too because my secondhand man left me in the dust. Maybe I left you behind a bit too, but I'm not sure that I had your trust.
Speaker 3:I've got, like,
Speaker 4:3 friends, and I don't even know them. They're more like acquaintances. I'm grateful that I have anyone that I miss. I feeling of closeness. I can't keep making emotional intimacy when it's not there in the first place.
Speaker 4:And I'm not even close with myself. Like I said, I can't picture my own face. I hate dancing with strangers. I hate waltzing along like this. Nothing wrong I hate dancing with strangers.
Speaker 4:I hate fake smiles left until now worth while I hate Saying it's cool when it's not. And lately I've been saying it's cool a lot. I hate dancing with strangers. I hate dancing with strangers. I hate.
Speaker 4:Dancing with strangers I hate. Dancing with strangers I hate. Fake smiles that pretend they're worthwhile I hate. Saying it's cool when it's not. And lately I've been saying it's cool a lot.
Speaker 4:I hate dancing with strangers.
Speaker 2:That was a bop. Thank you.
Speaker 3:I wrote that when I was 14.
Speaker 2:Really? 15. You were dancing with strangers when you're 14?
Speaker 3:No. I was not. I was not. Do not do not fret. I was not dancing with strangers.
Speaker 3:No. Because, it it had to have actually been when I was, like, freshly 15. Because it was when I wrote it right when we moved to Montana. Because we moved, like, right after school, like, the school year ended. So it was, like, this entire summer and, like, I can't drive anywhere.
Speaker 3:I don't have anywhere to make friends. It's Montana. So there's, like, nobody for, like, ever.
Speaker 2:There's a moose there's moose? Or is that the right one?
Speaker 1:Does Montana have moose? Do they?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. That's fitting. I prefer miss.
Speaker 2:Oh, is it miss?
Speaker 3:No. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Sorry. I don't know. My friend just got, really close to one in the woods once. Sorry.
Speaker 1:I'm They're like scary. They're huge. Yeah. They're actually
Speaker 3:I'm not surprised. They're they're massive, and they're scary. They're mean too. They're really mean. Don't if you ever see a moose, don't don't interact.
Speaker 2:Okay. But what were you saying?
Speaker 3:We moved we moved, like, in the like, right after the school year ended. So it was, like, an entire summer that I was there. And I, like, made friends with, like, my neighbors because there were, like, a couple kids who lived somewhat near me, but I just didn't have any friends for, like, this entire summer. And it was the most god awful thing. Because, like, whenever you're 15, you know, it's, like, kinda like, what else do you have?
Speaker 3:Like, the Internet? No. It was that was, like, that was the Bo Burnham summer summer. Oh. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That was, like, inside, like, that whole thing.
Speaker 1:People were going through it.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. I was going through it, and I didn't have any friends. So, but I was fine. I was fine. I eventually, like, found my people
Speaker 1:there. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:So I mean it took some time. But
Speaker 2:You were still locked in in Montana? I mean, were were you in a suburban area?
Speaker 3:I was in Bozeman, so not really. Like, there's Bozeman is one of the most populated. Someone's gonna fact check me on that. Bozeman is one of the most, like, populated cities in Montana, but it's still it has Montana State, which is a college. So it's a college town, but it's not huge, like, by any means.
Speaker 3:Like, it's probably like a third or a quarter the size of Lansing. Like, it's really not huge.
Speaker 1:Woah. Yeah. Wait. Bozeman is that size? Mhmm.
Speaker 1:That's crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Like, the fact that there's 50 k undergrad enrollment at MSU is, like, insane to me. Because 50 k I think there was, like I'm gonna really botch my numbers here. I'm actually not even gonna say what I thought the population was of Bozeman because I'm I can almost guarantee you it's wrong. So Mhmm.
Speaker 1:But it's a small town. You're used to growing up in smaller towns. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So, bird dog
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Is there any wise words of wisdom you would like to share as you flew from the south up to the north?
Speaker 3:Keep love with you.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 3:Keep love with you. And don't don't let that go. Because there's, like, there's there's a lot a lot a lot of, like, awful things in the world. And there's a lot of awful things that you're gonna encounter, like, in your personal life as well. Just keep love with you.
Speaker 3:And if you go forth with that, then you're gonna be fine.
Speaker 2:I wish every freshman was like you.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. For real. Like everyone's wonderful. Everyone has their their stories to contribute.
Speaker 3:I also ride my bike on the street and not the sidewalks. So Oh. So
Speaker 1:I take it back. No one's better than you. Okay.
Speaker 4:Alright.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's a really beautiful sentiment, though. That's such, like, interesting phraseology of, like, carry love with you. Is that or keep love with you?
Speaker 3:Keep love with you.
Speaker 1:Keep love with you. Is that from something?
Speaker 3:I don't think so. Probably like, that exact phrasing isn't I think that I that was that was me. But, like, my mom always, like, really instilled that with me growing up. So I love my mom. She's the most wonderful human being on this entire earth.
Speaker 3:And I actually don't know if she's listening. Because I think I oh, no. I think I didn't tell her because I think I was really scared that I was like, it was gonna be bad. And then I was like, I don't need my mom to hear me myself
Speaker 4:on the phone.
Speaker 1:It's okay. We're recording.
Speaker 3:True. I'll send her the recording. I'll send her the recording. But she like, my my mom raised me right. She she taught me to always love everybody regardless of, like, differences and
Speaker 4:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Just to, like, always, like, be the bigger person. And I feel like that's something that, like, once you're once you're raised with it, that's never gonna really leave me.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So But don't you
Speaker 2:think that comes with that southern hospitality, like, a little bit? Like, the nice side.
Speaker 3:Like I do think so. I do think so. I do also, though, know the phrase bless your heart.
Speaker 2:But isn't that so, like, backhanded?
Speaker 3:It's really backhanded. Because I visited my
Speaker 2:friend in Nashville, and I said that to her friend. And she was like, what?
Speaker 3:You know?
Speaker 2:I was like, bless her. Because she, like, brought me something, but
Speaker 3:I don't know. No. It's like it's like if someone like
Speaker 2:Like, oh, you're you're down bad. Like, you need help. Like, I I pray for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, if somebody's, like, walking down the street and they're, like, wearing a really bad outfit or something, you'd be like, bless their heart.
Speaker 3:Like, you know? So I'm sorry saying
Speaker 1:that. Oh, nice.
Speaker 3:But be careful who you use it in front of because people because people either don't know what it means or they do know what it means, and they will interpret it very different ways. So I've had to stop saying
Speaker 2:it. Alright.
Speaker 1:That's good to know. Good to know. And in in case we start, like, cosplaying southerners out here in Michigan. But okay. Thinking about these,
Speaker 2:That's alright. Sorry. No. Don't be sorry.
Speaker 3:Cosplaying celery shit.
Speaker 2:And I told you I told you I wouldn't forget this, but we still wanna get the meaning behind Lake.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I wanted to ask, like Before we
Speaker 2:end our night.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So that one I wrote, it's a beautiful story. And I think that I'm gonna have to speak in very vague terms because it deals with the mental health of someone who's not me. But very good friend in high school who also went to like, who is also super into nature, like, in the same way that I was, and did like, had a lot of the, say, like, similar volunteer opportunities that I did. And they had a really rough go with mental health, and they drove out to this lake.
Speaker 3:And, we knew that they were going out to the lake. We didn't know what was happening past then, and then nobody heard from them for, like, a couple weeks. And so it was, like, that was, like, rough. That was so rough because I feel like I was kind of the like I'm gonna I'm gonna make a great Gatsby reference. I feel like I was kinda like the Nick Carraway of, like, my school.
Speaker 3:Like, I was involved in a lot of, like, groups, but I was kinda seeing it from, like, a little bit of an outsider's perspective. But these were people who I cared, like, very deeply about. And talking with this friend after they had ended up going to, like, treatment for mental health, and they had come back from the lake. But, like, I know personally, like, what they were feeling whenever they went out to that lake. And that's the whole, like, picturing you looking at that lake, like, makes me cry because it's it's like, I get it.
Speaker 3:You know? I understand, and I understand that feeling of nature and, like, going out into nature to find something worth living for. Mhmm. And I don't know. It's just the fact that it has the ending that it does and the fact that that friend is, like, on a full ride now in, like, another state.
Speaker 3:And they just, like, like, I'm I'm so proud of them because they have come so far in all of the hardships that they've faced. Yeah. And I'm just I'm very proud of that friend because they've made it a long way from all of the adverse like, the all all of the adversities that they've faced and all of the issues that they had in their life. They are, like, doing insanely good despite like, actually graduated with, like, the valedictorian chords. Like like, I'm insanely proud of this friend.
Speaker 3:So yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I think it's beautiful that, you know, you're you're writing the song about feeling the same thing that someone else is feeling. And at the same time, that's what you find in others' music. You know? It's this this kinship, this this understanding. And in my opinion, that's absolutely the best thing about music on the whole.
Speaker 1:It is community. That's what it brings us, and that's that's what it builds. It's something we're all so lucky to have in our lives, and we're so lucky that you shared it with us tonight.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. I've really I've really appreciated this. And I'm excuse me. I'm, like, I'm really looking forward to sort of getting deeper into the music community at MSU just because it feels it feels like something special. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:So
Speaker 1:Well, it's been a pleasure. We hope to see a lot more of you.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Well, yeah. And before we wrap this up, I I we need to know, where can we find you on social media? Yes. Where can we listen to your music once it comes out?
Speaker 4:So
Speaker 2:Important dates?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So my Instagram is the main place to go follow me if you'd like. It is at bird dog with that has 2 d's. So bird dog dot music. And then there's a presave link in my bio that is for my first ever single is releasing on Monday 16th, secondhand, which I did play tonight.
Speaker 3:So that's super exciting. Yeah. And that'll be I'm pretty sure I know that it's it'll be available, like, in, like, Spotify, Apple Music, and I'm pretty sure, like, a bunch of other little niche ones, whatever the, like that I'm going through. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love band camp. Band camp.
Speaker 3:Band camp supremacy, honestly. All of the old stuff. Cape Town has started, like, rereleasing all I'm outing myself as, like, an indie listener right now. We are. It's okay.
Speaker 3:No. Cape Town's like releasing all of his, like, super old stuff from his band camp Mhmm. Onto, like, Apple Music and, like, Spotify now. And it's under Cape Town offline, And that's, like, super cool because that's, like, all the stuff that I listen to, like, in middle school.
Speaker 2:So Well, BirdDog, we think you're super cool. And I just wanna say thank you for pulling us together tonight.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:And once again, this is The Basement Show live on 88.9, and you were listening to Bird Dog. I'm Griffin.
Speaker 1:I'm Liv.
Speaker 2:And have a safe night, everyone, and go outside.
Speaker 3:Touch grass.