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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.
This is Amelia Duffield with Impact eighty nine FM, and I'm here talking to singer songwriter Mike Green about his upcoming album Hang the Moon. How are doing today,
Speaker 2:I am doing fabulous. Hello. Thanks for having
Speaker 1:I'm so glad. Thank you for joining us. This is so exciting.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Barry.
Speaker 1:So thinking about Hang the Moon, I wanted to ask just a brief general question. Why this album and why now?
Speaker 2:Well, if anything, I've been struggling to get this album out a long time ago. Like, for me, the album was in, like, conceptualized and finished, I would say, in, 2020 I'm more like you than you think. I'm I'm appalled by it. Like, I think there's obviously I'm also not naive. I also understand that, like, in order to make things more efficient, it still requires oil and machinery to make those products.
Speaker 2:Like Mhmm. You can't just cut things off. But I think the way we transition from, you know, into renewables, for instance, like, it could I don't know. I feel like we take we take one step forward and 15 steps back, and we, like, pull the proverbial knife out, like, nine inches and call it progress when it's, like, a 15 inch knife, you know, sometimes. I'm just sorry.
Speaker 2:It's a little little dark. But, like, but, you know, I'm just I don't know. I I just think we're capable of more, and we're capable of more efficiency. And and I know there's more, like, geopolitical tides at play to keep, you know, certain adversarial powers in their own hemispheres per se. But, and there's a lot, obviously, we don't know.
Speaker 2:Because so it's interesting to use all the information we have at our disposal and, like, try to weed through it and figure things out, especially when it's now the era of disillusionment and we can't really rely on legacy media or legacy anything, even legacy music. It's like at some point, legacy music will stop representing the zeitgeist of our culture, And these banks or labels will come scrambling back to say, hey. We need a voice of someone who knows what the fuck's going on or something. Know? It's like and I feel like my generation is like this bridge to the you know, where it's we were here before the Internet.
Speaker 2:We're here during it. We've seen how it's, you know, made our psyche more malleable and manipulated us in certain ways. Like, I'm here for early Internet. Early Internet was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Like Yeah.
Speaker 2:There's just jokes and stupid memes and videos.
Speaker 1:No snaps to that. Yeah. Everyone was It
Speaker 2:was really cool. I think we've just been inundated. And I just call it media because for me, it's not typically social. It's just I just, you know, I
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It's I try to bloom scroll, as I've heard, like instead of doom scrolling. I
Speaker 1:try Oh, to just I love watch that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I try to, you know, I always think like to uplift is a gift rather than like to enrage is to engage.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So
Speaker 2:I think it's, again, like you can't avoid, you know, the malnutrition of society. It's just you have to like go with the flow and redirect it and repurpose it to show them that perhaps you can think of it in a different way, in a more hopeful way. And I think there are a lot of aggressive tones and dissonant tones that I use to express my anger and my sadness too. And a lot of layers in the production, a lot of, you know, I I still wanted it organic with a live band, but there's digital elements that kind of emphasize this middle ground that we're living in, you know, where we're still human, and we're still capable of deceiving the listener because we're we're feeling where, you know, we experience the world as they experience it. So, you know, at some point, like, I think raw authenticity and someone that can deliver something when the power goes out is going to be the sought after thing.
Speaker 2:Or it's like it's you, you know? It's a me you know, it's it's your DNA, and and no one can ever take that from you. No one can ever relive your experiences. Like, there's no competition or leverage over anyone else. It's it's just you and your your thoughts and your ideas.
Speaker 2:And I think somehow whatever makes your identity your identities bleeds out into the lyrics you choose, into the concepts you wield. Like, you know, I mean, I I love space. Like, this is where all my thoughts go, just into the ether. But, you know, you're gonna have like my Bob Ross floating around in space shirt right now.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Big lover of Bob Ross. He's
Speaker 1:I love that. Great
Speaker 2:philosophies, you know. He does. I think I'm in the philosophy of flow, where it's like I like to find ways to, if I'm moody or have any sense of aggression, to find ways to channel that. So writing helps. Perform like playing guitar for myself helps.
Speaker 2:It's always a sense of therapy. Like, since I was a kid, I would just kind of like, you know, f off into my room and just play my guitar. It was always like a outlet for me. And then if I thought anything was like worthy of hearing, I would share with people. And and I and just hope is what's kept me going.
Speaker 2:Honestly, it's it's it's pretty daunting as an independent artist. You know, it's you're kind of like a lion always hunting. Like, every month, there's a new gig to be had, and in some ways, you're you're never satiated because it's, you know, it's like a paycheck to paycheck like most people, I suppose. But you have to find the work. You have to create the work yourselves.
Speaker 2:And it could be a constant grind. And I think once I had left the life I was living and then came back to the pandemic, essentially, it was this, like, really weird sense of dread, I had choice paralysis. And because I had these also intrusive and paralyzing thoughts that would haunt me, essentially. And And because of the choice paralysis, like even just going into a grocery store and seeing like a bunch of cereals would like freak me out at one point. Or like having to look for a movie.
Speaker 2:It's like a movie's length of time to find the movie.
Speaker 1:No. I feel that every time.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And and I and I get this like anxiety like washes over me. So I had to start thinking and considering things in a binary way. Like it's this or that, you know? You're eating, you're sleeping.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's like, so you want to just like limit the variables. You want make it easy for people. There's a lot of, I don't know, there's a lot of etiquette that comes with stage time and performances and being easy to get on and off the stage and sound checking. Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty easy to work with because I've had all these live experiences.
Speaker 2:So I think, you know, it's easier to get into the fun and the enjoyment of why we're all there, when people understand these things. It's just, you know, and that's, it's not to say that other people can't, it's just it might take it longer for them to get to that enjoyment, you know, what came out with so and I started writing some of this concept when I was leaving France. So some of these songs were seeded like years in the past and some right up until the moment I released the album. So it's kind of this, like, barrage of all of my thoughts within the last, like, six five to six years.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Speaking of bug, one of my favorite lyrics in that is a bug in the code governs the typical why else is chaos silico?
Speaker 1:So if you don't mind me asking, what does that line mean to you? And do you feel like creating art manages that silico chaos?
Speaker 2:I think art is like this the telescope that we use to see, you know, through the confines of whatever it is that's, you know, the illusionist is orchestrating for us to see, you know. Mhmm. Whether it be our own mind or some external force. But I it it's definitely not chaos if it keeps repeating. I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 2:So it's it's more likely more likely enough that they're not designed. And I think these, like, little moments of peace that we kind of have are at some point insulting.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because it's it seems like violence is the only deterrence for conflict. And it seems like, you know, we have the stock market and these billionaires have wars. That's their stock market.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know, it's how they move oil and how they move our lives around. And it's at some point, it's just insulting because of the resources and everything we have, there's enough. And to see it constantly just like I don't know. It's it's tough to I don't know. I I wonder I want these songs to also give people, you know, encouragement to not back away from a fight.
Speaker 2:It's like voice your opinion. Like, don't don't, like, get up and leave or look the other way or become complicit in some regard. It's like, it's it's really a beautiful thing to have a voice and a freedom to say what you need to say. Answers, like, I'm asking questions within my songs. Like, I'm I'm trying to either acknowledge scenarios that people might not be understanding or maybe mental states that people might not be understanding.
Speaker 2:It's, you know, I don't know that image where it's like, you only see the tip of the iceberg. You're not really sure what's underneath there, like what's led up to that moment. But like even in songs like Bug, it's you know, I'm asking, like, how do we know? I think it's good to ask. It's good to show vulnerability and humility and say you don't know and try to figure something out and wonder why we do what we do.
Speaker 2:We say what we say. The things are the way they are. You know, if if they were created once, they can be created recreated again. You know? Well, science can at least.
Speaker 2:If we go away, the science remains.
Speaker 1:But, you
Speaker 2:know I'm saying? Like, constructs we or the confines we've developed. Yeah. But and then another you know, there's a song about, you know, a coyote smuggling two victims and taking them hostage, and they feel this inability to escape his wrath, even though at this point they'd rather be locked up and caged if it meant they'd be out of harm's way. So it's like, it gives you it just I feel with this record, I want to provide someone relief in expressing a story that maybe hasn't been told or maybe a concept or an idea that isn't widely, not just discussed about, but sung about in a palatable pop way.
Speaker 2:That hopefully can just push the envelope forward of music being the great agitator, you know? Yeah. Instead of this thing that, a mask that we put on and dance around like there's nothing happening. Yeah. The music should be the telescope that tells you everything's happening and you should wake up.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I love that. I think that we all have we all want that, like to feel seen and safe in a record, but also be able to look at something with a new perspective by the time we're done listening. Yeah. And then on the other end of it, it's like getting people to listen, I think is Yeah.
Speaker 2:The thing is like, it's really beautiful. And it's like, you'll take your own You'll take it however you wish. It's like, if it causes you to consider a new way to explain how you feel, then that's helpful. If it causes you to have just some sense of relief that someone else might be thinking that. Even if you hate my music, that's dope too.
Speaker 2:The fact that you felt something, like someone felt enough to say, like, this sucks or something. You know? Yeah. Like
Speaker 1:It's still being received. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like, just check it out. Like, check it out. Yeah. Find find reasons to pick it apart. I like, it's it's it's for the public now at this point.
Speaker 2:It's out of my hands. It's your song now. It's everybody's song. So hope they get a sense of joy, a sense of excitement, and a sense of relief that I definitely want to carry the torch of my predecessors and the people that inspired me. And at this point, I want to do it for kids too and show them that please follow your dreams, please develop hobbies and and, you know, don't fall into systems so easily.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Learn learn to question environments. So I don't yeah. I don't know. And hey, whatever else it does, it does.
Speaker 2:I don't didn't think it fully through. I was just I was creating in the moment. Like, these songs at the time, I was just like, wow, this sounds dope. Let me Yeah. Let me keep working with that and see where it goes.
Speaker 2:So but, yeah, there are some, like, interesting topics. And then there's obviously, you know, I have love songs in there as well. So it's there's something you can get down and and hug hug your loved one too and Yeah. And groove out with them. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So Multitudes. This this album will shake some booties and minds.
Speaker 1:See? And that's all we've ever wanted.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's the duality of mankind, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I try to just put it all. Like like, you listen to this, you'll you'll get a sense that I of my empathy or my love for space concepts or my love for political concepts or my you know, it's like I feel like I'm fully entwined
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:With everything that's said and done because this record is just from my heart and mind. Yeah. And I really took my time with it, and I think it's important to think about quality over quantity, especially when we already have it all. And you can enjoy something you own that won't be manipulated or taken down or the fidelity won't be cutting in and out. It's got a great signal to noise ratio, and it's just yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm just happy to be, you know, being able to give. I I enjoy giving.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And
Speaker 2:so that's why I do it, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's incredible. I'm kind of actually going over that a little bit. I understand you spent several years performing for the Make A Wish Foundation and raising money for leukemia research, your concerts and visits and things like that. Yeah, these Yeah, do you feel?
Speaker 1:I wanted to talk to you about that because I think that that's just a wonderful thing. But also, to ask you, how do you feel performing for something so crucial, I guess, has maybe changed the art that you make and your perspective as a whole, kind of going off of that idea of how art interacts with the world and things that are really important to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, mean, life is important and the people you have around us are important and people's time shouldn't be you know, forgotten. You know, the eulogy shouldn't be given just after they're gone. It's like it's nice to honor people and respect people while they're here. And I don't know.
Speaker 2:I've I've always had a weird sense of, you know, understanding life and death since a kid. I've just had a lot of people go in and out of my life. You know, I was born with epilepsy too. I had my own ins and outs of the hospitals, and I know the discomfort it brought. And then even my mom was in and out of the hospital.
Speaker 2:She was in a car accident when I was young, and she almost died. They performed tracheotomy. So she grew up like I grew up with her having this trach and, you know, on you know, would have like the nebulizer, and I'd always hear this sound going, and we'd be in and out of hospitals. And there was, you know, one time where she had died, and my father and I revived her. And it was just Oh like
Speaker 1:my gosh.
Speaker 2:It was really yeah. It takes yeah. It just you I don't know. When you you just understand how fleeting it all is. I just feel happy to like be able to imprint something down that can maybe move people even after I'm gone that's like still Yeah.
Speaker 2:Instills like what I thought about something or how I felt about something. And then like, that's like what inspired even songs like Afterglow, you know. Yeah. It's just like I said, it's like it allow people to have a good time while they're here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know? So that's kind of my thought about it. It was like I I was an honor to entertain them. Like, was I'll do it again.
Speaker 1:Do you as someone who collaborates a fair amount quite a bit, do you feel like the influence of people you worked with often in your work? Do you think that it's, like, maybe sounds that you heard when you were growing up? Like, do you have particular inspirations that you, like, kind of feel that your sound has been informed by, I guess?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I guess, like, I've always been drawn to, like, pop idioms and the top 10, and I would go on car rides a lot to, like, my my mother and father's business retreats. And we'd be listening to the radio, and I'd always be, like, singing along to like the top 10 or you know, BRL when I was coming home from high school or like when I was getting ready for high school there was even like pop up video and VH1 music videos and I used to love you know, watching the video itself, like, and the love for cinematography and movie and film, which often inspires my music more so than music itself, would say. Yeah. Like visuals and and atmospheres.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, like, I mean, I grew up listening to, like, Buddy Holly, Tom Petty, the Beatles. So I love, like, a good three chord song. And then
Speaker 1:Me too. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And then I listened, like, jam band stuff, and I got, like, heavily into, like, Dave Matthews band and and Erykah Badu and D'Angelo. And then kind of in my college years more into like Herbie Hancock and know, Pat Metheny or a little more like avant garde like guitar players and jazz or like, you know, Modusky, Martin Woods or John Scofields. And so, I mean, I I kinda run the gamut. Like, if it comes from the heart, I'm typically listening.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I try to incorporate what I think would be a great song. So, you know, in some instances, it's anthemic. In some instances, it's just like a cool hook. I like to write something that I think a beginner guitarist could pick up and feel inspired to jam out on it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Also, like, a professional, you know, master musician might enjoy playing the riff too. So it's, like, something that I feel can be all inclusive. Because the idea is you want people bumping your tunes and being able to cover them and Yeah. Not feel too like, you know, the other day was like, hey. What do you wanna play this YES tune?
Speaker 2:And I'm like, no.
Speaker 1:No. I don't. You.
Speaker 2:Like, I enjoy listening to them, but I'm not do I wanna learn, like, a seven minute fusion song? Berkeley taught me what was popular and why. They taught me how to look for it and the patterns and stuff. And I didn't always I don't think they necessarily, like, nurtured a way to be originally creative. They just kinda showed you an avenue or ways to see things.
Speaker 2:And they were kind of like a a river that runs into you, the dam, and you have to, like, filter what they're giving you and push out something, you know, of your own, you know, that's Yeah. Banding and stuff. So I approach things feeling first always. And then the music in theory is just something to help me, like, clean up the mess or, like, cross my t's, dot my i's type of thing. I eye on it, and more often than not, it gets me into trouble if I do.
Speaker 1:Do you have any advice as someone who's done everything independently for someone who's tried, like, maybe younger kids that are trying to get into music and the rock scene and everything like that, everything in between. Do you have any words of where the number of people who might be discouraged, especially in this era where everything maybe feels out of reach?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I would say when you feel discouraged and it gets hard, that's when you start. And just and then also don't rush what someone's not waiting for. Really. Like, you like, owning your own IP and owning your own like like, privacy and scarcity are the new luxuries.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's like learn to say no, understand your value and what you provide, and just be really wary about where you're uploading your content and music, and please read the terms and services. Like like, understand who you're allowing to edit or manipulate and understand the language that's used and what it's not saying. You know? Like, read between the lines. Like, there's a lot of litigation lingo that can throw you for a loop.
Speaker 2:But if you don't begin to run and understand yourself as a business, no one will treat you like one. So
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Just just be careful because a lot of things are gonna be described to you as convenient things to help you and help and engage and blah blah blah. But what you're doing is just giving away your music at a $0 value to people who are not gonna respect the pay structure that needs to happen. And so and that's not their fault. They're just a business, and you're just willingly giving it away.
Speaker 2:So it's like and again, it's just like understand where your intellectual property is going because we're we're going into an era where it's gonna be easily recreatable, which means you're not gonna have any deals to barter in the future if someone can just make your sound at the click of a button. Find a way to deceive and find a way to control what you have and guard guard it. Yeah. It's your stuff. No one's gonna tell you like, it's subjective.
Speaker 2:People are gonna be like, oh, you could do this, and some other person will be like, no. Don't do that because then you're gonna do that. And then just follow your heart, and you'll be in good hands.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Well, for our kind of last questions, we wrap up. What are you looking forward to most about Hanging The Moon coming out post release?
Speaker 2:I'm I'm looking forward to people maybe understanding me on a deeper level because I'm not too tech savvy, and I'm a bit introverted. I don't always like being in front of the camera or having to, like, explain what's going on in my life. I just like to sponge it up and then ring myself out in a audio format of sorts. And I I hope that this encourages people to support independent art, and I think it's gonna be a really big year, and I hope that it leads to live performances.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I can't thank you enough for coming on and chatting with me. This has been amazing. I love the album, the read I've heard so far, so I can't wait to listen to the rest.
Speaker 1:And just being able to talk to you about it is awesome, like, kind of a dream. So thank you so much for chatting with me. It really means the world.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Emilio. You're amazing.