The Artist Interrogations podcast. [rock music]
What up, dude?
Dude, what is happening?
Not too much. I'm, I'm sitting in my basement. That's what's happening.
Oh, yeah, the hog cranker himself, the man, the myth, the legend, Johnny Frank. Man, I'm excited. I've been excited for this for a long time. I've been trying to nail this interview with you for the longest time. [laughs]
Hell yeah, man. Well, happy to be here, dude.
Dude, appreciate it, man. I mean, you've built Bill Murray into one of the most unpredictable projects in music. Do you actively try to surprise people, or does that just happen naturally at this point?
Well, I think I just have the problem of getting bored incredibly easy, so I've always gotta keep it interesting for myself, and I think that's always been kind of the aim of Bill Murray is to, like, never be bored. [laughs]
Dude, the Better Hell music video, one of the best things ever. Well, that- that's what got us to start playing you guys was because we... I, I think it popped up on Nick Nocturnal's channel, and then we saw that and just immediately, immediately had to start playing that. And of course, as you would expect, uh, most of the rock fans who don't know who you guys are are like, "What's this country crap they're playing on this station?"
[laughs]
And we, I'm like, we had to explain, just like with Electric Callboy, like, "Hey, you gotta watch the music video to understand the whole meme of this entire thing," of course.
Yeah. It's, you know, it's a multi-level vibe. [laughs]
Du- duh. Yeah, it's almost like a... You have to be, you have to be an intellect, like, almost like a Tool fan kind of thing, dude. [laughs]
I actually might make that into a meme.
You have to.
It's like, "You don't get it."
Yeah.
Like... [laughs]
What's that meme of the guy explaining to the girl? You gotta put that in there.
Too many levels to this [beep]. He's mowing his lawn while he's recording the song. [laughs]
And the, and the dog is there for some reason, and you're trying not to laugh, dude. Just please.
[laughs] Um, but, dude, I was looking at the merch yesterday, and being as tall as I am, obviously I have to go for the 3XL, and they're the, always the first to sell out. Do, do you realize heavyset men are, like, the literal bulk of your audience there? [laughs] 'Cause, uh, me and my coworker were talking about that. We're like, "Dude, the 3XL's the first to sell out. Why is that the case for those bands like, 'Hey, you're gonna die in that pit' kind of thing?"
Well, it's the greatest honor because, like, I'm a huge weightlifter, and genuinely when we play shows, like, there are a lot of big [beep] dudes-
[laughs]
... in the crowd, and it makes me incredibly happy.
With the single Always Let You Down, featuring Jeremy of A Day to Remember, and also having Noah from Bad Omens produce it, did having those voices involved push the song in a different direction than you originally planned?
Well, absolutely. There was no plan for the song 'cause I just ran into Jeremy at the gym that day, and he happened to be at rehearsal, and we happened to be writing. He wanted to... He just... We chatted for a bit, and he was like, "Hey, if you ever want me to write for Bill Murray." And I was just like, "What are you doing today?" He came through, and we wrote Always Let You Down. And Noah came through that day as well. He wasn't even planning on writing, and, um, like, he just stuck around, and we ended up writing Always Let You Down. So the song was literally... It didn't exist. There was no concept or idea of it until we all got in the room together.
Do all of you guys go to the same gym? I just can't imagine having Johnny Frank of Bill Murray and then also Jeremy from A Day to Remember [laughs] in the same weight room. Just walking in, "Oh, hey." [laughs]
Oh, no. They, uh... It was a gym in Nashville, and they just happened to be at rehearsals in Nashville, and we, I guess, have great taste in gyms.
[laughs]
So yeah, it was, like, a complete coincidence.
Oh, man. Oh, man. Dude, the, the whole fight scene in the Always Let You Down music video is fantastic. I'm assuming those are, in fact, stunt, like, professional stunt people in those suits.
You assume correctly, yes.
That's [laughs]
So there's a thing called armor- armored MMA. I don't know if you've heard of it.
No.
It's, it's exactly what it sounds like. It's dudes in knight outfits, like, in an MMA octagon fighting. They're, like, punching each other and have swords and axes and stuff like that. And we found, like, the champ of armored MMA and his buddy and brought them in to do all the stunts and stuff like that. So, uh, it was, it was a special thing to watch.
How, how did you get your, uh, like, full armor suit? Was it just gifted to you? Did you have to go out and s- find it somewhere?
So that, the suits we used were the guys from armored MMA, and luckily we were a similar size, so we were able [laughs] to just kind of like, as we were shooting, swapping them back and forth. And we did... There was, like, one final shot we had to get in the dark after they had done all their stunts, and I put on the armor, and it felt like I was putting on moss.
Oh.
It was so gross. [laughs]
[laughs]
It felt like hockey pads.
You're like the guy putting on the Chuck E. Cheese outfit. Another day, another dollar kind of thing. You're putting on the mascot uniform. Just, oh, all the sweat. [laughs]
Oh, it's... Yeah, it was like putting on someone else's hockey pads. It was disgusting.
[laughs]
But hey, man, you gotta suffer for your art, I guess. [laughs]
Oh, dude, for sure. For sure. Um, for you guys' latest song with, uh, the guitarist of Novelists, uh, Where to Find Me, I spun it on the new music feature yesterday, and I found out after playing it that you guys did that whole audition process to find who could crank the best solo kind of thing. Did that search, um, for the solo actually shape how the song evolved?
Well, it was very much... Uh, we had our vinyl deadline two days, like, ahead, so we were sweating bullets because we could not get this solo part right, and this was, like, a final act of desperation. I had a bunch of people text me like, "Man, that was a genius marketing ploy," and I was like, "Brother, that was not a marketing ploy." Like, we didn't have the solo, and we were terrified. So we threw it out to the universe, and the guitar community came through incredibly big for us, and all... Like, basically all of my guitar heroes [laughs] wrote, uh, a solo for this song, and it was such a joy to go through all of them, and Novelists had two of the best ones. So grateful that we were able to, to link up with them and, and grateful for the solo that they laid down on this record.
What was it about... I can't even say the guy's name 'cause it's such... I don't wanna butcher it. Um, is it Florestan? Is that how you say it?
I also am an American and can't pronounce anything French, so I'm not even gonna try.
Dude, yeah. [laughs]
[laughs]
What, so, what, what, what did he do in that solo that made you go, "Yeah, that's the one"? I was just genuinely curious about that.
I think it was just, like-The solo to me, it kept surprising me where I kept going, ooh, like the first note starting is like a weird note. It's different. And then like it starts off not too intense, but gets really [beep] shreddy by the end of it. And I really liked that it kind of like eased you in to it before it started like completely shredding.
That's all I r- That's-- I j- I just was genuinely curious about that 'cause it's like at the m- I can only imagine getting millions of submissions, and then that's the one kind of thing. Uh, you started Bill Murray, of course, after leaving Attack! Attack! It took a few years to get Bill Murray started. At what point did you realize the project had turned into something way bigger than expected? Was it Better Hell that really was like the turning point?
Yes. Uh, before Better Hell, I was like, we would play to two hundred people on a tour, and I would be like un-- I would be amazed that we were doing that. And then Better Hell, we jumped up to fifteen hundred cap rooms, and it immediately sold out, and I was just like, "Oh, okay, this is like very different." And now like all the fans that had come out to the show were fans of the new stuff, and that was a really interesting thing. So that was our, like the first song that I'd ever had where I was seeing the difference that this song had made.
Dude, I'm, I'm so beyond excited. I get to see you guys finally in Salt Lake City, the second stop of the entire tour. What's one thing that has to happen every night on tour for it to be, for it to feel like a successful show?
I mean, just to have fun, man. I think like everyone starts music to have fun, and I never want that to be something that leaves Bill Murray. And I want everyone in the audience to leave that show being like, "That was fun." Like, "I had a blast." Um, I genuinely don't think it's about like any sort of ego trip or people thinking I'm cool. I genuinely just want people to come to the show, maybe meet some people, drink a couple beers, have a great time, and then leave feeling better than they did when they came in. [rock music]
The Artist Interrogations podcast is a production of Riverbend Media Group. For more information or to contact the show, visit riverbendmediagroup.com.
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