00:00 - Mel (Host)
Boom.
00:02 - Apple (Host)
Hello, what's up? Hello there.
00:05 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Oh my gosh.
00:05 - Aaron (Host)
Oh.
00:06 - Apple (Host)
Sam's coming too, we're working.
00:09 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, oh we're working.
00:11 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Nice it's happening, sam?
00:13 - Aaron (Host)
what's up? Nothing much, awesome Cool.
00:16 - Apple (Host)
Malin how's? It going.
00:19 - Aaron (Host)
Pretty good Wow. That's a rarity that we didn't have to ask anybody to unmute or anything Highly trained professionals.
00:30 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Right on, I was muted. Why are you telling yourself?
00:34 - Aaron (Host)
You can just slip in under the radar yeah. I guess.
00:38 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Can you guys hear me, okay, yeah you sound great Cool.
00:41 - Aaron (Host)
I'm Aaron. Everybody Nice to meet you.
00:42 - Mel (Host)
Right on. Thanks for having us.
00:43 - Aaron (Host)
Are we having one more cool, I'm Aaron, everybody nice to meet you right on are we having?
00:47 - Apple (Host)
one more no yeah, we got one more right, I think yes, we'll see it's Django, right, yeah?
00:56 - Mel (Host)
like the Reinhardt, but not well, yeah, thanks for being on the show, y'all thank you so much. Thanks for having us are y'all in different time zones? No, same time zone, sweet.
01:08 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Different parts of California.
01:11 - Aaron (Host)
Oh, where are y'all at?
01:13 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I'm in the Bay Area in Oakland, nice. I'm up in Chico.
01:19 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I'm in Grass Valley.
01:21 - Aaron (Host)
Oh, okay, so not terribly far.
01:29 - Mel (Host)
Yeah, we're pretty regional yeah well, you know what let's, let's go ahead, yeah, and then let's do it okay, and? Then, he yeah, when he jumps in well, it's highly unusual.
01:36 - Apple (Host)
We have a whole band, that everybody shows up right on time yeah, I know this is excellent we've had a happen where, like halfway through the interview, a member comes in is like I'm so sorry.
01:45 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I forgot I was eating dinner. He might be having some some technical like wi-fi issues okay, it's all good, that makes sense well that.
01:53 - Mel (Host)
That's aaron um, yeah, I'm mel.
01:55 - Apple (Host)
Thanks for joining us and hanging out with us today and then I'm the third member I Apple and thank you so much for being on. You all impressed the hell out of us. We saw you at Winter Wondergrass in the huge tent that nobody could even move in, because everybody packed in there to watch you all, and, man, you were one of the. There was a lot that went on at Winter Wondergrass.
02:22
But, you were one of the highlights Definitely like the new discovery for us that we walked out and we're just like, oh my god, we got to check them out and get into everything they've done yeah oh thanks guys yeah
02:36 - Aaron (Host)
you. What was? What was it like for y'all playing up there in tahoe?
02:42 - Broken Compass (Guest)
oh it's, it's the best. I grew up in Tahoe, um and, and I so. I love that area and I've been going to winter wonder grass for years and years and I've always loved the bands on that list. And uh, they're just like they really know how to treat the musicians super well and like, just like the people that show up are really there to to like especially since it's so cold like everyone's really there because they care about the music and stuff, and so it was just such a welcoming experience overall that.
03:10 - Apple (Host)
That's what it seemed like. Scotty runs a class act yeah that organization. He is, yeah, he's amazing do you guys?
03:17 - Aaron (Host)
do you guys find that like playing places like that? Since you're all in california, a lot of your homies are showing up places like that, since you're all in california.
03:27 - Broken Compass (Guest)
A lot of your homies are showing up a fair amount. A lot of our, a lot of our festival pals are there.
03:34
You know people who go to a lot of festivals in california and a lot of you know our friends in this, in bands who are also playing the festivals are there um, there's definitely a good, a good crowd of bcp fans there, but, um, yeah, just a lot of, I guess a group that travels around crowd of BCP fans there, but, um, yeah, just a lot of. I guess a group that travels around a lot of festivals is there. Yeah, yeah.
03:51 - Mel (Host)
We didn't um a lot of Tahoe friends. We didn't introduce anybody, they didn't introduce themselves.
03:56 - Apple (Host)
Oh yeah, yeah, we all know who they are.
03:58 - Mel (Host)
I know we're talking, but um can, maybe we'll just roll back a couple of minutes have done this before. I swear to god yeah it's okay and have y'all introduce yourselves and you know whatever you want to tell. That way you know whoever's listening on the podcast Can have a have a voice to a name.
04:18 - Aaron (Host)
Or a name to a voice.
04:19 - Mel (Host)
Yeah, a name to a voice.
04:22 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Okay.
04:23 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I'm Sam.
04:25 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I play bass in broken compass. Welcome sam thanks uh.
04:31 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I'm kyle. I'm uh.
04:33 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I played mandolin and guitar, I swap off with uh jingo and I sing nice I'm maylin, I play fiddle, um, and then Kyle Django and I um all and Sam sing, and then we all write, we all song, write and contribute some original material and yeah.
04:54 - Aaron (Host)
I think, I think like first of all, does everybody in the band play every instrument in the band? Pretty much.
05:14 - Broken Compass (Guest)
To some extent every instrument in the band, pretty much because like, yeah, we've actually we've thrown around the idea of um kind of like trading off, maybe doing like an april fool's day show or something where, um, because I can't really play fiddle or mandolin but, um, I can play guitar, so, yeah, someday we'll kind of just shake it up you should do it.
05:29 - Aaron (Host)
That'd be cool. Walk out on stage, everybody, be like what the hell is going on looking at the, looking at the instagram, like, um, I guess it's jango's birthday a couple of days ago or, yeah, recently. And I'm scrolling past and, like the first picture he's on the mandolin, next picture he's on the guitar, next picture he's on the bass and he's on the fiddle too. Apple and I are like whoa okay he plays one of these well he's probably the most versatile, yeah, in terms of instruments.
06:02 - Broken Compass (Guest)
so how long has Broken Compass been going? Probably the most versatile, yeah, in terms of instruments. Yeah.
06:05 - Aaron (Host)
So how long has Broken Compass been going?
06:11 - Broken Compass (Guest)
We've been together for about three years now. We started kind of right out of COVID or I guess you know, never really ended but kind of when it started laxing a little bit. And I've always been playing with Django. We both grew up in the middle of nowhere right outside of Grass Valley, and so we had kind of grown up together. And then we met at the Father's Day Bluegrass Festival through the Kids on Bluegrass program, and that was also how we met Maylynn, and she was a little younger than us, and so by the time COVID had kind of died down a little bit, we all kind of joined together and started having some jam sessions again after a long time, and it was very exciting. And then, uh, we met Sam. Uh, maybe a year later I met him through college and so that kind of solidified the whole group.
07:03 - Aaron (Host)
Um. Are you all still in school?
07:07 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Nobody's in school anymore. Sam is the only one that graduated, probably officially. I dropped out, django dropped out of college too and Malin tested out of high school early. So we all kind of got a little too busy on the road and had to had to make some choices there wow, what did that look?
07:27 - Mel (Host)
like you guys were just all in at one time, after you all got together, like you were just like all right, we're gonna do this like that's a pretty big decision for four lives yeah, we were all a little bit in different stages of our lives.
07:41 - Broken Compass (Guest)
um, it didn't happen. You know, immediately, we I think our first like official show was in May of 2021. And then we had, we were able to corral our contacts and stuff in order to have a pretty busy summer, that first summer playing together. And then, I think, you know, kyle and Django and Sam were all at Chico at the same time for a little bit and I think, I don't know, maybe, maybe like a year ago, we kind of all realized, hey, this is, this is going somewhere. You know, we have some momentum, um, we feel really good about the chemistry on stage, we feel really good about performing um together, and so we, we all decided, I think I think Kyle dropped out of Chico first, and then Django and, and then I realized, you know, like I have this opportunity to test out of high school early and college is really college and music is is really what is going to get me you know, further.
08:37
So I do an extra two years of high school when I can test out. So I think it kind of it kind of just fell into place in terms of having a busier summer and, you know, more rigorous schedule, um and and not doing school anymore. I think there was a point where, um, we were gonna miss or like jingo was gonna miss an entire month of school, and so that just wasn't really a realistic option jingo, what's up, man?
09:04 - Broken Compass (Guest)
bango's here. He's here, you're muted. You gotta unmute brother you blew the streak.
09:10 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I was looking for the mute button there we go what's up, man?
09:16 - Broken Compass (Guest)
hey, sorry, my wifi out in the middle of nowhere is giving me trouble it's all good better late than never.
09:23 - Apple (Host)
We knew you were going to make it. I'm here now. Better late than never. We knew you were going to make it.
09:28 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Just so you know. Yes, I'm Apple, aaron and Mel Hi Django, nice to meet you.
09:30 - Apple (Host)
You as well, man. Happy belated birthday.
09:34 - Aaron (Host)
Oh, thank you. So, Django, you just turned 20?.
09:38 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Just a couple days ago.
09:40 - Aaron (Host)
yeah, Wow man, yeah, wow man. Well, congratulations, you made it out of your teens alive, thank you, I know yes, you're already winning, dude.
09:51 - Broken Compass (Guest)
What thank you?
09:51 - Apple (Host)
yeah, I uh, I feel very lucky I just I was gonna say say back to what you're saying good job, testing out of high school, that's insane because obviously obviously this was meant to be, because seeing you all perform and seeing your trajectory just since 2021, like the amount of festivals and the things you've done and everything it's it's so happy for you all.
10:14 - Aaron (Host)
Just congratulations on everything that means a lot, thank you so much yeah, I, you know I I'm always curious with bluegrass in particular. It's a. It's really kind of exploded in the past, I don't know four or five years since, like Billy and the string dusters and green sky and yonder. Yeah, I'm curious how you all got into bluegrass and Kyle, why don't you start and then we'll go around?
11:08 - Broken Compass (Guest)
got into bluegrass mainly because my dad, um uh, wasn't directly raised on bluegrass himself but he, you know uh, got into the dead in the kind of the early 90s of uh, when he was in college and then and then that moved on to fish and then that moved on to string cheese and then that moved on to yonder and uh green sky and a lot of the more jam grass side, and so I definitely came from more of that area of music bluegrass, as opposed to more of a traditional sense. But then I started going to Father's Day bluegrass festival and a couple other festivals.
11:37 - Aaron (Host)
That kind of gave me some of the traditional education that I needed, that's actually actually kind of cool coming into it that way as opposed to not through the traditional route.
11:49 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, I have a lot of. It was a really cool big race on things like Yonder and stuff, because they have just such incredible songwriting and ideas that were different than a lot of things that were out there, than a lot of things that were out there in more of the trad world, and so it was cool to bring those together from that kind of perspective yeah, what about you, django?
12:15 - Broken Compass (Guest)
uh, yeah, similar to Kyle. Actually my dad was a deadhead and uh, so he kind of yeah, I know, right, but yeah, so he was kind of a deadhead. And then he got into bluegrass through, like olden in the way, um, as so many deadheads did, right, and um, yeah, he raised me, uh, when I was about four he got me a guitar, cause he, uh, he played, and he noticed that I like to sit and watch him play and so, uh, so he decided to get me one so I could play along and he started teaching me fiddle tunes, like Salt Creek Whiskey Before Breakfast, all that kind of stuff. And and then I went to the Father's Day Bluegrass Festival and I did the kids on bluegrass program and I saw all these other young kids playing bluegrass, uh, kyle and Malin included and uh, yeah, it just was all downhill from there. I was hooked by the bug.
13:17 - Aaron (Host)
What about you, Sam?
13:19 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah. So, um, my parents weren't super musical per se but they were like huge music lovers and bluegrass was always kind of played in my house growing up like records wise. So oh, brother, where Art Thou soundtrack, was in heavy rotation, for sure, and then Olden in the Way, all that kind of. My dad was a huge bluegrass fan and he also took me to festivals too. Um, but, um, yeah, it's cool hearing my bandmates talk about father's day bluegrass festival and I'm sure malin's gonna say the same thing that that was a big part of um their growing up.
13:58
Um, but I wasn't from grass valley, I'm. I'm from more like southern california, like the central coast, right, um, and so we had live oak music festival, which was another kind of like small hometown festival and had a very similar like jam scene, um, with bluegrass musicians playing and picking um late into the night and stuff. So it was. It was always kind of around um, and then I just grew up playing a lot of instruments and um didn't really come to like playing bluegrass until like pretty recently, honestly, like really, yeah, um, so I was in like jazz combos, uh, playing bass, and um in like funk and rock bands with friends and stuff. And then, um, yeah, I was in a little school band with kyle too, and um, more recently obviously, and uh, up at chico. And then he asked me one day to uh play with his bluegrass band and the rest, and so I was like, yeah, I play bluegrass but learned on the gig in a way. That's badass.
15:04 - Aaron (Host)
And it's not an easy genre of music to just like oh yeah, I play bluegrass and then go for it. That takes some balls.
15:18 - Broken Compass (Guest)
At first I was like, yeah, it's like one five bounce the bass line, yeah it has its like tricks and challenges, for sure. We were very familiar with bluegrass, though you had heard a lot of it before you joined.
15:28 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, apple.
15:28 - Apple (Host)
Oh, I was just going to say that the band, the jam band, out of Chico. I saw the name. It's escaping me. The frog, something, frog, cosmic frog cosmic frog yes, Good.
15:39 - Broken Compass (Guest)
That's us. Yeah, is that's us? Are you guys still doing that like on a side sometimes, or yeah, I wish I it's hard because we're just so busy and uh and we we just haven't had a lot of time to put a lot of like creative thought into that. But uh, yeah, the the original arrangement of that was me and my roommates and then uh, and then later on, uh, these two guys, uh, sam and uh, sam and jango, and then uh, my other roommate, uh, who was a drummer, and that was a lot of fun. But uh, we, uh, I couldn't. I I wanted to put all my, all my uh eggs in this basket, I think, because it needed a lot of creative attention maylin, how about you?
16:19 - Aaron (Host)
how did you end up in this motley crew of humans?
16:23 - Broken Compass (Guest)
oh my gosh, I don't even know. No, um, yeah, like sam said, uh, just growing up at the father's day bluegrass festival. I live downtown grass valley, so I'm literally a two-minute walk from the fairgrounds where it's held every year. Um, my dad's good college friend, russ, um, was the one who got my dad into olden in the Way and then Bluegrass through that way back when, and so my dad had been a fan of Bluegrass and then, you know, I just grew up playing fiddle tunes around the house.
16:54
Kyle Jenko and I all have, you know, guitar playing dads who would accompany us and get us into fiddle tunes and stuff like that. Yeah, so I I've been going to the father's day bluegrass festival since I was one. I think I've only missed like one or two years in my entire life, so it's just been a super, super important aspect of, you know, networking and being inspired by up and coming new bands and young folks who are also doing the same thing. Yeah, yeah, so I, uh, similar to Kyle, I started out in classical music playing violin on the Suzuki violin method, um, but then, yeah, just go into father's day festival, um, and seeing all these other young pickers was super inspiring. So I switched to bluegrass when I was about 11.
17:42 - Apple (Host)
Oh, wow, okay, how. How old were you when you first started playing?
17:46 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I was seven seven holy shit yeah, these guys have me beat, though kyle was like three yeah, that's how you said.
17:51 - Apple (Host)
We have three, four, seven wow, do you?
17:56 - Aaron (Host)
do you think that, um, coming up playing classical music gave you any kind of edge playing bluegrass? Because, like I pick a little bit, I know some fiddle tunes and it's very classical. Ask you know the way that you play a fiddle tune?
18:14 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, I mean I don't regret at all I'm starting in classical. It definitely gave me a super good foundation and a real appreciation for paying attention to intonation and building those, those foundational skills that are required to. You know, listen to other people and you know I can. I can sight read music, which has helped me learn like fiddle tunes and stuff a bit faster. But you know, I think I think whatever works for each individual person. There are so many amazing musicians who I look up to, who never, you know, who don't know how to sight read, who don't know all the theory stuff and who just listen and learn by ear, and I think it's just really whatever works for everyone individually.
19:00 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, yeah it. I mean being able to just pick something out by ear or being able to sight read. Both of those are extraordinary talents as far as I'm concerned. You know what I mean. Like I can't just pick something out by ear and I surely can't sight read music, so that stuff seems like superpowers to me. So, yeah, there is no one way to do it, right. Um, django I'm to me. So yeah, there is no one way to do it right, um, django I'm. I'm curious man, having just turned 20 and being in this band, what's the, what's the hardest part of what you guys are doing?
19:37 - Broken Compass (Guest)
oh, what's the hardest part? Ah, I mean I would say know, being being on the road for like, uh, extended amount of time not that we've done like big tours yet, but even just the little ones um, it can definitely get a little exhausting. Um, for sure that can be a little tough. Uh, we like I remember one night we all all four of us plus our manager crammed into one hotel room and slept like two hours and woke up and drove eight hours or something, cause we got Apple maps, let us down the wrong road, um, trying to get to the next gig. So there's, there's definitely challenges. Um, you know, for myself, I I couldn't do, I couldn't keep up with school anymore and I think, yeah, kyle is the same and um, so you know it definitely it takes. It takes most of my energy and you know everything that I had to give Um, but it's amazing and I love it and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
20:37 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, I think quitting school to do what you all are doing is a really good move, you know I quit school because I didn't feel like it we're all introverts.
20:48 - Broken Compass (Guest)
We're all introverts as well. So I think it. You know it takes a lot, of, a lot more energy out of us than like an extrovert.
20:56 - Aaron (Host)
So wait a minute, a lot of focus hang on hold on what like seriously so I mean, I do understand it because believe it, or not a lot of people.
21:07 - Apple (Host)
We hear that a lot from musicians and we think that, like, like, no way they're so outgoing.
21:14 - Aaron (Host)
Is it difficult for you to get up on stage then?
21:46 - Broken Compass (Guest)
no-transcript of being a performer. Um, but yeah, what were you gonna say, kyle?
21:57 - Broken Compass (Guest)
yeah, I feel like I've always looked at kind of the way I act when I'm on stage or, like you know, out there, as as if I'm kind of like not not in an unauthentic way, but I feel like to some extent I'm kind of playing a character or like I'm I'm putting on kind of a different personality than I would if I was, you know, alone at home or hanging out with friends like I.
22:18
Sometimes it's like a different type of thing and it's a way to outlet all that kind of pent-up in like energy that a lot of introverts have, and so you're able to like go up to a place where you get to do these wacky things, that, that, a lot of that you couldn't do in a target you couldn't do when you're ordering food or like things that would freak me out otherwise, you know, and so like it's a very like, it's like a therapeutic way to be able to just like be in front of a bunch of people, speak really loudly and do all the things that I can't do otherwise, I guess wow, it's like an explosion too.
22:58 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. A lot of our songs too like at least for me, and I know this applies to Kyle and Jango too but are kind of like telling a story from another person's perspective. So it's almost like Kyle was saying, like you know, you're stepping into this role and you get to sing this song that you wrote, but it's not exactly, it's not, might not exactly be you, which is kind of a kind of an acting sort of thing.
23:23 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, so you're playing a character, like Kyle said, and that way it's not you, so the introversion is hidden behind the character.
23:33 - Broken Compass (Guest)
A little bit yeah.
23:34 - Mel (Host)
So what's the energy behind the band? Is it all of your desire? And if it is, what's the not necessarily the goal, but what's the direction that Broken Compass is taking?
23:49 - Apple (Host)
It's a broken compass.
23:52 - Mel (Host)
Well, because you said that you're so busy, so like how like for being three years old, you know like and all being so young, that means you know teenagers and deciding to do this like who's. You know how'd that get started and who's keeping it up. I know how the band got started. You know what I mean, like just, but like you know the booking and all of this stuff, like that's a huge like I said earlier commitment.
24:17 - Aaron (Host)
You guys basically started a business together.
24:19 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah yeah. We started an LLC. We're legally binded.
24:24 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I can't get rid of these guys if I wanted to, yeah yeah, it'd be very important to say that we have extremely, extremely supportive parents that do 90 of the legwork that we we like probably couldn't even do. Like my dad is our manager and booking agent and he he does a lot of that stuff. My mom works the merch table, malin's mom does photography and like we all they all help cart us around and drop us off at airports and all this kind of stuff and it's a it's very much like a family driven thing, and so it feels very just like like we're all in this big caravan, kind of like working together and like that's what keeps us all like motivated for each other and leaves us space to be creative too, which really helps that's amazing.
25:16 - Mel (Host)
So then all your parents are friends as well.
25:19
Yeah, they are yeah, wow this is a pretty fortunate situation. You guys have set, you know, like the love of the music and like such a strong, like passion for it and like you guys have been schooled in this since you were young, like this is kind of in you and this is like a new generation coming up in it with your own voices. So it's really cool to see Coming up in it With your own voices. So it's really cool to see. And I think that that's what kind of like Kind of shook us awake when you guys were performing Like whoa, like listen to them, this is really something special. And then when we saw who it was Because we kind of had to fight through the crowd- To actually see who was playing, and then it was like, oh my god, they look like so young, you know playing.
26:06
and then it was like oh my god, they look like so young you know. Like you know, aaron and I we have a 29 year old and a 22 year old, so this is like kind of like you're old. Yeah, like it was just kind of a shock to to hear that such passion. And then when you finally go through, you see that like oh, it's like a younger band. Okay, like, bring it.
26:25 - Broken Compass (Guest)
So you guys are just yeah we're so grateful, you know, to be doing this together and we all get along really well as people and friends and, yeah, it's, it's a lot of a homegrown thing, and I think a lot of what keeps us motivated too is, just, like I mentioned earlier, we we all have a huge passion for this music and a huge passion for being creative, and the just the love that we receive from everyone who has, you know, helped us along the way, and the fans who come out and see us. Um, has been so motivating and inspiring, and we want to do this to part partially because we love it, but partially because it brings other people joy too yes, yeah for real and and that I mean it was palpable in the tent when you guys were playing.
27:16 - Aaron (Host)
You know that you can. You can tell when at least I can you can tell when a crowd is not into it. You know what I mean. And you can tell when a crowd is not into it. You know what I mean and you can tell when a crowd is genuinely excited by something new that they haven't seen before. And that's what was going on at Winter Wondergrass. I was like, wow, this is, this is something really cool and special, because you could tell that people were excited to see you guys doing your thing, not just like, oh, this band jams, but it was something new and cool that they hadn't seen before. And do you feel like playing a music that has such a long history? There's so much to it. I mean, we even touched on it a little bit.
27:59 - Apple (Host)
There's traditional now and there's jam grass and there's galaxy grass and new grass and this grass and whatever Do you feel like. And then there's jam grass and there's galaxy grass, grass, grass, whatever Do you feel like.
28:10 - Aaron (Host)
And then there's the kitchen dwellers. And then there's the kitchen. Do you feel like? There's like a a responsibility to carry on the tradition of bluegrass music in your own style?
28:21 - Broken Compass (Guest)
now, definitely I I think I think it's good to to like, like want to carry this tradition on but not focus on keeping it the exact same that it's always been and because, like, there's always going to be that which is really great. Like I mean, when you go out to the east coast and you go to the south and stuff and you go to like nashville stuff, you'll find so many incredible bands with those like perfect, like Appalachian harmonies and stuff. But out here in California I there's a big trend of a lot of these bands Like I feel like AJ Lee and Blue Summit and even like kind of where Molly has gone and stuff where where there's a lot of focus on like what, what can I try and bring to the job, to to the music and and and I I feel like we've had the most like inspiration when we haven't focused too hard on on like fitting, fitting the genre and just kind of letting the genre kind of grow around us or whatever our idea is or you which is why we're working on this bluegrass
29:29 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, makes sense. Yeah, well, I mean, isn't that? That's the argument, right? Like I guess I kind of get where the folks are coming from, that are coming from the standpoint of, like, this art form is its own thing and it should stay the way it's always been, so that it, you know, the tradition doesn't die. I kind of understand that.
29:55
But to be true to what art really means, it has to grow and change through the perspective of the people that are playing the music.
30:07
The artist yeah, if, if you were just like a painter isn't just repainting the mona lisa over and over. They're just, they do their own interpretation of their own thing and new art is born and it could be in a style of that, but it's growing and changing and I think that you guys touched on it at the beginning. Each one of you almost said something about olden in the way, and you know the, the grateful dead, and the connection to bluegrass. Through there, it did something and I think that we're really starting to see the like, um, the real fruit of that now, because it's been a few generations, been a couple generations now, and so we're starting to see what came out of those two things coming together and we're seeing your generation now that has this whole storied line of players and music come forward, with all that in your head, and now you're presenting it in a completely different way. I think that's dope as fuck.
31:15 - Apple (Host)
Well put, thank you.
31:20 - Aaron (Host)
Did you all just get back from Europe too? Did I see that that was a thing?
31:25 - Broken Compass (Guest)
We yeah let's hear about it, tell us about that, that that was a thing, yeah, I mean I, I met um christopher howard williams, who is the booking person for la roche bluegrass festival in la roche sur ferrand in france, um about maybe three or four years ago at the international bluegrass music associations world of bluegrass event in Raleigh, north Carolina. Um, and I've been going to that for a while, um and um. You know I was always in his ear about, you know, bringing the band to to La Roche Um, and finally I got to bring these guys to IBMA um in 2023 and he saw us perform um at the street fest for the first time and that, you know, he told us later that's when he decided that he wanted to bring us to France. Um, and so that's how we got um that festival and he's also good friends with um, the people who run um a country festival just a couple hours outside of lyon, um, so we kind of put that together through him.
32:33
Um. We got to do a country festival the last weekend of july, um, and then we did the bluegrass festival the first weekend of august, wow, yeah, and we did a little like street street fest, street performance type thing in the middle. Got to explore some of Europe. We went to an Olympic football game.
32:53 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, actually last year I just went on like another family Europe trip just for fun and but yeah, I hadn't been to like well, I had been to Paris but, like this, uh, countryside of France was really cool and, uh, I was, yeah, we were all really into it, everyone was super nice, um, and we'd stayed in a couple of different cities and it's just, yeah, it was super fun to walk around and we got a lot of just hanging time in before we had to play some shows. But, um, yeah, also, like, the french audiences were way different than in the states but I wanted to so yeah, super respectful everyone.
33:55
Um was like such a captive listener and just like was really patient with the music and um like if someone was talking, there'd be someone in front of them going like shh, and we need to know that here.
34:08
Yes, I know it was cool. And then, yeah, so, like sometimes while playing, I'd be like are they into this? Are we like too weird for these guys? And then it would be like a great response. After so they would all all wait until the end of the song and then like go nuts so it's not like here, where people are like dancing and like not as much.
34:31
We did have a little bit of a dancing crowd for sure, but I think there were some billy fans that were just kind of on the road and looking for some shows to do well, I was gonna say, the only time we experienced that here is when we went and saw sam grissman project oh yeah, remember, remember, seeing.
34:48 - Apple (Host)
Sam Grissman up here. We're up in Portland, oregon and the crowds are pretty rowdy up here and fun. I mean definitely in it for the music, but when we went and saw Sam Grissman it was a lot of older deadheads and stuff which are normally little loaded and issue they were. It was so quiet you can hear a pin drop most of the times in there and everybody was kind of doing you know like clapping with their their stand.
35:16
You'd hear a little whoo little hoots and hollers. It was the most respectful audience we've ever seen up here in portland, as far as like, the music is more quiet and subdued this definitely ain't France.
35:28 - Aaron (Host)
No, django, what did you take away from your trip to France?
35:34 - Broken Compass (Guest)
oh boy, I had a lot of coffee, a lot of croissants and a lot of awkward no, I don't speak French, sorry, but it was incredible and a lot of what Sam was saying. I feel like they were very, um, the audiences were very accepting of our type of bluegrass and they were really into it and um, yeah, it was, it was one of the highlights of my career in life and yeah, it was.
36:07 - Aaron (Host)
It was incredible what's broken compasses type of bluegrass.
36:12 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Hmm, uh, I mean jam grass. I would say in a, in a word it's uh, yeah, it's. It's kind of based in bluegrass, but, um, trying to take it a little further, trying to go a little outside the of bounds of where bluegrass normally goes, Right on, that's a great answer.
36:33 - Aaron (Host)
I mean, that's, that's the stuff that gets us off.
36:37 - Apple (Host)
I mean yeah, seeing experimentation, seeing people walking right up to the ledge and pushing it, yeah, yeah.
36:44 - Mel (Host)
Yeah.
36:45 - Aaron (Host)
Has there been a moment for any of you when you've ever been on stage, or you're just terrified?
36:51 - Broken Compass (Guest)
yeah, maylin, you're like I think we can all say yeah, I don't know sam yeah, um, I mean, I've gotten like way more comfortable, I feel like, but uh, I can't really predict it. It's weird. It's like certain shows, even if it's just a small intimate show sometimes I'm like a little bit more nervous for that or maybe like a really quiet theater, if uh like, I think our first show in France it was like honestly probably one of the biggest shows we've ever played at the country Capone festival. That was like the country festival right before La Roche that we play, and it was like a huge crowd and I was like huh, kind of like nervous here, like that's weird, but it always like settles in usually.
37:37 - Aaron (Host)
Once you get up on stage, does it go away?
37:41 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, or like worst case, a couple songs in.
37:44 - Aaron (Host)
Maybe we did a we did a live podcast last year at um ophelia's in denver and, uh, we like we did it with frasco and we were standing behind the curtain and like our intro music was playing and I could see the crowd and I was freaking out. I I felt like I was gonna throw up and pass out and as soon, oh yeah, totally flipping out well then we were ready to go on.
38:14 - Apple (Host)
They said, we're gonna hold yeah, we need to hold 15 more minutes coming in oh my god, 15 more minutes of like okay, what do I do with my hands?
38:23 - Aaron (Host)
but as soon as we walked out on the stage, like I, walked out and sat down and pulled the mic over to myself and was like oh, I know what. I'm doing, like it just completely goes away, it's. It's this weirdest thing too, because I don't know about you guys, but like you can do it a hundred times, and every time it feels like that beforehand, and then you get out there and it's fine what?
38:51 - Apple (Host)
and it helps. It helps me with people that like, because we had andy frasco was back here with us and he's just a maniac, yeah, and he's like, oh, don't worry about it. And then, and then we had chris pando with us. He's like our good luck charm. Now he's so calm and just such an easy going guy he made me feel very comfortable.
39:13 - Aaron (Host)
I always think, though, like you know, with the legacy of the Grateful Dead and everything that comes with that, there's a lot to that, and you guys all mentioned the Father's Day Bluegrass festival as as part of your inspiration as well, right, um, I want to hear more about that, because to have all of you mentioning that and sounds like we need to go there like so I I don't know anything about it, so can you fill us and our listeners in on what that actually even is?
39:47 - Broken Compass (Guest)
yeah, um, it's this program. So the father's day bluegrass festival is run by the um, the california bluegrass association, and they're an amazing organization. That um puts a lot of time into developing young musicians and like really seeing through their entire thing, like they're the reason why aj and molly tuttle and all these these phenoms from california are kind of just getting like all this great opportunities. But there was this program there run by, uh, frank sullivan, senior, who recently passed away last year, which is really sad, but he was this like super charismatic guy and and just like he, he just did a great job at rounding up like probably 20, 30 kids and and just kind of putting them into little groups and telling them like we, we just kind of come up with songs throughout the weekend and then on like Saturday or Sunday, I can't remember we would all go on stage and perform on the main stage in these little groups and it was the best because they had all the little kids playing fiddle and chopping and like nervously saying their names in front of a bunch of people, a bunch of people and and and you know talking about this, you know, stage fright.
41:10
This was probably a huge learning thing for all of us that that really helps. Relating to that, because we all from like I I think my first one was I was seven years old and, and getting to play on like a main stage was was so like exhilarating and and just a perfect way to ease into that. And frank was just such a like charismatic he would. He would shake your hand for five minutes and then, like tell you to sing it, sing your heart out, and he was just so positive and uplifting and and like left such a huge impact on so many people and uh, and that definitely was like was a great way to show a bunch of kids that like, oh, you can, just you should do this for try and do this for your the rest of your life, if you can wow, that's awesome.
42:00
So you're all like part of his legacy, all these people that were encouraged by him yeah, we're all very lucky that we got to work with that guy and he's just so amazing Wow.
42:14 - Broken Compass (Guest)
That guy's going to come out to Father's Day Fest. That sounds amazing.
42:18 - Aaron (Host)
I would love to see that yeah.
42:20 - Mel (Host)
That sounds incredible.
42:22 - Aaron (Host)
So at the beginning you guys aren't all in the same city, so how does practice work?
42:30 - Broken Compass (Guest)
We practice before shows. We don't really have like a. You know, a lot of bands have like a day every week. They get together and practice.
42:40
I think a lot of you know touring bands do this too, like professional touring bands. You know they don't live even in the same state to like professional touring bands. You know they don't live even in the same state, but for their tours they'll get together maybe like a week early or a few days early and um corral all their material and work out all the tweaks and things like that. But yeah, I mean, we have a pretty solid, um pretty big repertoire at this point to where we um kind of make up the set lists on the fly during our shows. Um, we have you stuff that we can pull from and then if we want to add a new song or we show each other a new original, we you know text, put that in the group chat and send like a demo recording or maybe a chord chart and then so we all, kind of, you know, have that in our ears by the time that we get together before a show. And then you know, we'll run the arrangement real quick before we perform it.
43:31 - Apple (Host)
Wow, okay, okay, I like that. It's like we're just that good Seriously Not to come off like that.
43:42 - Mel (Host)
But then when you explain it, it sounds perfectly reasonable. Like everybody's, had an opportunity to look over the material. You guys know each other's style and you know each other very well, yeah you've been playing for years. So, like here, let's cut to the chase, let's work on our homework and then we'll do the test when we get there. I love it, I guess I mean yeah that is how it is yeah yeah plus y'all well done.
44:04 - Broken Compass (Guest)
a lot of, a lot of our practice or a lot of our range like. We have a lot of like arrangements in our songs that we like, practice and learn, but half of our, half of our songs is jamming, so a lot of it is improv and improvisation. And the best way to practice that is to just be on stage together and figuring out each other's tendencies and our and our like. Figuring out each other's tendencies and our and our like and and it's just helped grow our, our like brain chemistry and our our, you know a little bit of telepathy. Sometimes it feels like these, these guys are really good at learning all these things when I throw at them.
44:40 - Aaron (Host)
So then does writing work the same way, like somebody will come up with a lyric or a lick and send it out, and it grows from there we haven't really, uh, written any songs together yet.
44:55 - Broken Compass (Guest)
We, that's definitely a thing we want to do. We're we all kind of write a lot of songs on our own and and bring them to each other and and and then we'll kind of like at that point something maybe like a couple people have like a couple things that they want to change or add or or how to approach the song and stuff to kind of make it our sound. But we're working on doing a little bit of co-writing at some point and figuring out how to do that the right way, because that'd be awesome so tell me, tell me a little bit about Through these Trees, everybody.
45:28 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, you want to take this one, sam.
45:32 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, so my bandmates wrote nine awesome songs last year and, yeah, we had been playing them for a while. Yeah, it's hard to really say the timeline of that, but basically, long story short, we got together in the studio in February. I want to say is that right?
45:56 - Broken Compass (Guest)
yeah this year and yeah February yeah.
45:58 - Broken Compass (Guest)
So the last record, fool's Gold. We kind of recorded it in our like different home studios in pieces and we kind of like, um, yeah it, it took a kind of a long time, wow, um. And. But you know, we all have like recording, audio recording experience and, um, kyle jango and I went to school for that, so, um, kind of put those skills to the test there. But, um, the difference with this new record is we wanted to book out some time in a studio. So we booked three days in one of our local studios in Nevada City and just kind of had a more like cohesive effort there. And yeah, we had a they have a great in-house engineer there, jaya, and he helped us record it.
46:50 - Broken Compass (Guest)
So we recorded those nine songs in three days and then, um, I mixed them and put it out there so yeah it happened um a lot more efficiently, I guess, I would say, and we're yeah, sam did a lot of the heavy lifting and mixed and mastered this album, which we're super proud of him for Well done man.
47:12 - Mel (Host)
Yeah, Well done, I mean you really are like such a well-oiled machine, like it really is a family affair. It seems like, like you said earlier, like everybody's involved and pulling their skills and going to school for the right, smart things.
47:29
And like yeah there's a lot of forethought to this and from you know, I guess you know it's a testament to how you all were raised, clearly putting the love of music in your kids and seeing where it goes from there. Your kids and seeing where it goes from there. I'm curious to find out, aside from maybe like bluegrass or like the dead, what kind of other musical influences would you say has influenced your music you know the most?
47:58 - Broken Compass (Guest)
um tons. Uh, billy strings is like the kind of obvious one yes huge one.
48:04
Yeah, I had been listening to billy for like kind of obsessively like for the maybe two or three years before I joined the band so I was like really into that. But um, yeah, like grateful dead and um, old school bluegrass like Doc Watson and Tony Rice and stuff who actually I kind of discovered after like getting into playing bluegrass but like non-bluegrass influences. I'm like a huge old school funk fan, like the meters, um, just like all kinds of like motown and like that kind of thing you're speaking mel's language right now.
48:47 - Apple (Host)
Yeah, and that funky bait well, that's with billy strings too. I just saw him not too long ago at a festival up here watching royal play the stand or the upright bass. He's insane, it's the best.
48:58 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah, yeah yeah, there's a reason the billy strings effect.
49:03 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, I can just watch royal the whole show.
49:05 - Aaron (Host)
It's just yeah, he's great so being being a live band.
49:10 - Mel (Host)
But wait, I want to hear from other influences that's just me yeah, that's just, sam. Let's hear what. Let's hear what django and kyle and mayin have to say.
49:21 - Aaron (Host)
Batter up.
49:27 - Broken Compass (Guest)
What'd you listen to? Django, I mean everything that Sam said I love. But I also yeah, I don't know I went through a bit of a jazz phase for a little while. I also I got really into like singer songwriters when I started writing songs, like listening more for lyrics than you know, shredding, so people like Sarah Jaroz or Jason Isbell or like people like that. I've been really into that the last few years. But yeah, and then of course, just you know, billy Strings and Grateful Dead and all that stuff.
50:02 - Mel (Host)
Sam talked about as well. I knew those were a given for sure, yeah kyle, what's?
50:07 - Broken Compass (Guest)
let's hear yours yeah, I, I love, I really like random, weird things. You know I I'm a huge fan, especially right now, of uh king gizzard and the lizard wizard are you an orb? Fan A what?
50:22 - Aaron (Host)
Orb.
50:23 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Oh, I wish. No, I don't think so you gotta check out Orb. If you like.
50:27 - Apple (Host)
King.
50:27 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Gizzard, you'll like Orb.
50:30 - Apple (Host)
They're on Fearless Records. Oh, they're from Australia. Check them out, just ORB.
50:37 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Okay, cool, hell, yeah, I'll have to check that out. Let's see, I'll have to check that out. I am and, uh, oh, let's see, I uh love all kinds of directions that, like you know, uh, I really like Chris Dealey, um, which is obviously more in the bluegrass world, but he's taken things to basically any direction that you could imagine. He's does classical music and all kinds of other things that I couldn't imagine doing with amanda lynn, but, uh, you know, I I love fish. That's why my my parents, uh, my dad put would put fish on headphones on my mom's belly when I was in the womb it's in your dna that probably had a little bit of effect on me.
51:20 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I love weird stuff.
51:23 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I'm getting the Primus lately and some fun things like that.
51:29 - Apple (Host)
I love that.
51:32 - Broken Compass (Guest)
You're like, I heard my first yam when I was zero. I was jumping in the womb.
51:38 - Apple (Host)
Have you checked?
51:38 - Aaron (Host)
out Chris Pandolfi from the String Dusters. He has an album out.
51:44 - Apple (Host)
Trance Banjo.
51:48 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I've heard yeah, I checked it out a little bit. That's cool. I love taking this type of music and putting new ideas to it, because a lot of bands have done the pedals and stuff. I love hearing that all these musicians are doing things like that and trying new cross-genre ways that we haven't even tried yet, which is exciting yeah, definitely maylin, let's hear yours um, I mean all of the above and then, yeah, um, kind of in the same camp as django, a lot of singer, songwriter stuff.
52:18 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Aside from bluegrass, um, the person who got me into singing at from the very beginning, um, was iris dement, um, and I just love the way that you know she um just her tone and how she expressed the emotions through song. Um, also folk singer, songwriter folks like logan ledger, rick robertson, katie pruitt, um, and then, uh, yeah, I've been getting into cory wong a lot total funk. Um, yeah, lots of different folks. I have an endless list I think the way.
52:55 - Apple (Host)
I'm just curious with you too, but like uh, fiddle players as far as influence, or ones that you really admire in the game right now oh my gosh um.
53:06 - Broken Compass (Guest)
My current favorite fiddler of all time is avery merit. He is the fiddler for the sierra hole band oh, okay yeah, but I also, you know love um, you know stewart duncan, of course, mark o'connor um a lot of the folks who have really set a very high standard for bluegrass fiddling and outside of the box fiddling too.
53:30 - Aaron (Host)
Can you tell me something? This may be a dumb question.
53:33 - Apple (Host)
Go for it. It's going to be dumb.
53:34 - Aaron (Host)
I'm going to feel stupid, embarrass yourself, no, no. What's the difference between a fiddle and a violin?
53:42 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Oh my gosh. Well, it really depends on what joke you want to hear about that. But well, you know, a lot of people say that you know you can spear beer on a fiddle but not a violin. Or like a fiddle has strings, a violin has strings.
53:59 - Mel (Host)
But if you want to hear the actual answer?
54:01 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, it's a lot of it is based on genre, genre, like, what type of music you're playing on it. It's essentially the same body of the instrument. Um, there is a little bit of a difference with, like, the bridge. Usually a bridge on a fiddle will be a little bit flatter, so that it's easier to play double stops, which is like two strings at a time, um, for that kind of shuffley feel. Um, but yeah, it's essentially the same instrument. It's easier to play double stops, which is like two strings at a time, for that kind of shuffley feel. But yeah, it's essentially the same instrument, it's just a matter of genre.
54:27 - Aaron (Host)
Okay, I like that. The one has strings and the other one has strings.
54:31 - Apple (Host)
Well, yeah.
54:35 - Aaron (Host)
So what I was going to ask you earlier is being, you know, a live band, and when I say that, like the kind of music that you play is is also dependent on the crowd, right, like the energy of the crowd influences the jam and so on and so forth, going into an actual studio and sitting down and like recording in three days, did you find it difficult?
55:03 - Broken Compass (Guest)
yeah, you want to take that uh, yeah, sure, I I feel like it is difficult, but for different reasons, uh, than I would expect. It's just like it's hard. You don't even really notice until, I think, you, after you've recorded, because you'll be in there and playing and doing your thing and then maybe, like, you'll go into the control room to listen back a couple times and then you'll start to catch on to like that, that lack of of energy that you you feel from a live performance, just slightly, you know, and and it's trying to make, trying your best to go back into the room and try and capture that type of vibe.
55:45
It takes a lot of like getting out of your seat and jumping around and getting like your blood pumping and that same like, because you get a little bit of adrenaline when you're on stage that you don't get when you're in a dark room, in a seat, you know it's hard to hard to like, feel that same thing, and so I think, I think exerting that energy that you're not necessarily getting from a crowd is the hardest part of really making your record sound good, or at least as best as you can.
56:12 - Aaron (Host)
you know, that makes sense. I I um read an article either today or yesterday it was like snippets of other articles of garcia just answering random questions and somebody was asking him about playing in the studio and he was like playing a live show is its own thing, going into the studio is it's completely different animal. Totally. He's like in the studio we have the time and the wherewithal to like go down rabbit holes that we wouldn't normally be able to go down on stage, and when we're on stage the crowd is in control of the music, not us.
56:53 - Broken Compass (Guest)
I was like, wow, I never thought of it like that, so that's that's why I asked um absolutely, and I think a lot of it too is like reading the crowd and song choice, which is kyle's really really good at that. He's usually the one who, um you know, calls out the songs randomly during our set in terms of, like, um, reading the energy and what, what we think people will dig in that moment there's no set list no set list I said that earlier.
57:20 - Apple (Host)
They make it up as yeah, they throw it, yeah, I've got, I've got a.
57:23 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, it depends if it's a short set and a big like main stage short set. It's not worth doing that because it'll be like hard to prep. But you know, for a lot of sets I have a microphone right behind me that just goes to our in-ears and I'll kind of call songs as we go.
57:42 - Aaron (Host)
Oh shit, it's off of how we're feeling yeah, that, that's badass, it's fun it's.
57:48 - Broken Compass (Guest)
It's a lot of fun it in a lot of ways it takes off the pressure, at least for me in some ways, because whenever I write a set list, I want to change it immediately when I step on stage, because things happen and and sometimes it's fun to just go with the flow you don't want to be.
58:03 - Apple (Host)
You don't want to be locked into that set like, oh no, this one's not gonna go good with this crowd we really did have some played in utero yeah, well, that's like I'm curious.
58:13
With little django and kyle you both said your day, your dads are kind of dead heads and stuff. Your all your treatment covers, tributes, whatever, of the dead songs that you've done, the ones I've heard, and stuff is amazing. I'm just curious, like when you did, though, were you like worried about dick? Because, because you know, fish fans and dead fans and stuff are some of the most faithful fans but biggest critics in the world when it comes to other people playing their music, and even to the dead and the fish playing their own music I'm just curious if you had like like a little bit of nerves like covering dead at first about as much as you would have playing bluegrass, because bluegrass musicians are just as just as uh.
58:59 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, they'll critique you even more probably, which is as even as funny. I, I see a lot of similarities in in, like the deadhead world and the bluegrass world, where you have all these different camps and types of people that have similar types of things that you're not playing that right or you're not. I, I think we try and play dead tunes uh, as differently as we can, to not draw up like a comparison of like oh, you didn't quite get that part right, or something like, at least, if it's different enough that it's hard to you know, just listen to it like it's. It's a cover band context. Yeah, try as much as we can Play it faster. Usually.
59:41 - Aaron (Host)
Do y'all have any shows coming?
59:45 - Mel (Host)
Oh yeah.
59:47 - Aaron (Host)
Let's hear it.
59:49 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Oh boy.
59:51 - Aaron (Host)
Is there quite a bit.
59:53 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, booked out till November.
59:57 - Broken Compass (Guest)
We have a really big September. Before you do this.
01:00:01 - Mel (Host)
How does that feel?
01:00:04 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Amazing, it's awesome.
01:00:06 - Mel (Host)
Congratulations.
01:00:08 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Keep me from sitting on the couch too much. Only so many TV shows, that's true.
01:00:18 - Aaron (Host)
Well, tell me about what you have left for this month.
01:00:23 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, this Sunday we are going up to a festival in Laytonville where they do Hog Farm and the Kate Wolf Festival. We're playing Dead on the Creek, which is like a little smaller dead festival. I think we'll be with. I think it's just us Jerry's Middle Finger and Never Come Down on the lineup. Oh, I think it's just us Jerry's Middle Finger and Never Come.
01:00:44 - Aaron (Host)
Down on the lineup. That's a great lineup. Yeah, those guys are all right, that'll be fun.
01:00:50 - Broken Compass (Guest)
But not before we go see Billy this Saturday.
01:00:57 - Aaron (Host)
You guys go to shows together too, like as a band. We usually end up just yeah, we end up wanting to go to shows together too.
01:01:02 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Like as a band, we usually end up just wanting to go to the same shows anyway. That's awesome.
01:01:08 - Aaron (Host)
Well you all. Thank you for hanging out with us, man.
01:01:12 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Thank you so much for having us.
01:01:14 - Apple (Host)
Absolutely Like I said, you just blew our door, not just us, but the entire crowd. At Winter Wondergrass there were so many people we knew we needed to see you and everybody I forgot who played, and then I love the way they staggered it as soon as the main stage stopped you could kind of catch everything. And then people are running over to the tent where you're at and we're trying to figure out which tent was.
01:01:38 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Who Where's everybody running to and by the time we did the tent was who?
01:01:40 - Apple (Host)
where's everybody running? And by the time we did, the tent was so packed, like you said, we had to work our way in. We could hear the music great but we wanted to see you. We had to, like, work our way through the crowd to get in there and you just made such an impression on everybody. To get to meet you all and hear your story. It just makes sense why you're so badass in three years and rising the way you are. It's just you know. Congratulations, and just can't wait to see you again live and see what you do with your future.
01:02:08 - Aaron (Host)
Cause it's amazing, I forgot to ask. If folks want to find out more, where do they go?
01:02:17 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Brokencompassbluegrasscom or Facebook or Instagram or or any of those fun things too.
01:02:23 - Aaron (Host)
It's just at broken. Compass bluegrass on Instagram.
01:02:26 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, all right, yeah, okay cool.
01:02:29 - Aaron (Host)
All right, y'all. Thanks so much, man. We'll see you out here soon. Hopefully play up in Portland sometime.
01:02:33 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, we'll be back, for sure, yeah.
01:02:38 - Aaron (Host)
All right, y'all, we'll talk to you soon, alright keep doing what you're doing, thank you so much that's dope like the future is in good hands yeah, family, three years as a band and just think of and to become a band in 2021.
01:02:59 - Apple (Host)
Well, in the middle of what?
01:03:01 - Aaron (Host)
this world was in and think, like that Father's Day festival, the ripple that that thing is putting out into the world through these people, yeah, do you know what I mean? That one? Through Frank Sullivan yeah, just like one guy that's dope and a festival, and Iris too, cause she Iris Dement Frank.
01:03:22 - Mel (Host)
Sullivan yeah, just like one guy that's dope and a festival. And Iris too, cause she um Iris Dement that she was. You know May Lynn got was inspired by like.
01:03:35 - Aaron (Host)
I think that sometimes we don't realize the impact that we have when we share our love of music with other people. Yeah, Like like, even if it's just like handing someone an album or cassette, or, uh, sending them a song well, just think of, like the, what it does for a kid to be like get up there and sing your heart out. Go do it.
01:03:53 - Apple (Host)
You can do this go yeah, you're good at, you're good you're good at this and everybody else is doing it.
01:03:58 - Mel (Host)
So it's not like weird you're being.
01:04:00 - Apple (Host)
Yeah, it's like going to play soccer you're paired with a bunch of other nervous kids that are like well, and there's no competition.
01:04:06 - Mel (Host)
At that point it's like everybody's showing what they can do, not like you're the one that everybody's watching. Like everybody gets to go up there and like giving them that confidence. Like those are a bunch of faces that we just talked to that are confident.
01:04:21 - Aaron (Host)
That's something that they all share, oh yeah.
01:04:23 - Mel (Host)
You can. You don't even have to ask, you can just see it in their body language how they respond, Like they were clearly ready to be on tour at their age, yeah, educated and all kinds of other than just music, with the family backing them like, like everything that was meant to be.
01:04:40 - Apple (Host)
Yeah, how could you not back your kids family backing them like everything it was meant to be, obviously, how could you?
01:04:43 - Mel (Host)
not back your kids when they have that much passion for what you taught them?
01:04:48 - Apple (Host)
Yeah, yeah, you did it.
01:04:49 - Mel (Host)
You taught them and they've got passion for it. You'd be like no finish school. I love that.
01:04:53 - Apple (Host)
That's one of my favorites, that Kyle said oh yeah, my dad put headphones on my mom's belly and played fish. That's something like if we would have been in fish back in the day like you would have been, you two would have been doing that Like oh, a little got a taboo, a little a little punchy in the eye.
01:05:11 - Aaron (Host)
Well, everybody go follow broken compass when they come through town. Go see them.
01:05:17
Support those wonderful human beings, man, because um support those wonderful human beings man because um that's the the future happening right before your eyes, and I think it's cool to like to be able to see a group of musicians find their voice in real time. Do you know what I'm saying? Like billy strings is billy strings now, but there was a time when billy strings was finding his voice and it's was dope to watch yeah, and you want to know what's the this, what you're talking about.
01:05:46 - Mel (Host)
It has in common with winter wondergrass and scotty, like billy strings he was. Oh, that's true. Yeah, he pulls, has a knack for pulling this type of talent, um, or or displaying this type of talent for people to see and for and for the artists to grow yeah, man, if you all get the chance.
01:06:06 - Aaron (Host)
I mean, I know, if you've listened to no simple road, you know that we love winter wondergrass. But like, if you get the opportunity to go to steamboat or go to um tahoe, do it or baja, or baja, or on the river or and stuff or all the things. But specifically, I'm talking about Steamboat and Tahoe. It's unlike any other thing, any other festival that you've been to.
01:06:31 - Mel (Host)
It's its own thing, yeah.
01:06:32 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah and like. Mel said Scotty has a really keen eye for curation.
01:06:38 - Apple (Host)
Yeah, and he said he likes to bring new talent in each year that hasn't played. Yeah, it's to kind of keep it rotating and fresh I remember people a chance.
01:06:46 - Aaron (Host)
That's fair I remember talking to scotty about broken compass at wondergrass and him saying that, um, one of their dads came up to him and was like just want to thank you for the opportunity, and Scotty was like no man, thank you guys for what you did here.
01:07:06 - Apple (Host)
Like thank you for the opportunity to have your kids up here. Yeah, man.
01:07:13 - Aaron (Host)
Alright, everybody we will be back.
01:07:16 - Apple (Host)
It's really the best we'll be back on.
01:07:20 - Aaron (Host)
What day is it today's Friday? We'll be back on Monday. What day is it Today's Friday? We'll be back on Monday with another edition of the no Simple Road Weekly.
01:07:26 - Broken Compass (Guest)
Rewind.
01:07:27 - Aaron (Host)
And until then, take care of each other. Smile to the strangers. Safety third Hydrate and you know what. Listen to Broken Compass Bluegrass. And if you've got kids, man, get them playing an instrument or singing, playing the piano.
01:07:40 - Apple (Host)
Or whatever they want to do. Encourage that shit.
01:07:42 - Mel (Host)
Well, you know what? You don't have to discourage them from anything else, but also an instrument that's right. I feel like that should be like yeah, you can be a soccer player and a baseball player and whatever, but you can also play an instrument.
01:07:54 - Apple (Host)
You got a lot of energy here. Take this out while you're inside. Oh, you don't like the flute. Here's the drum. Oh, you don't like the drum, here's the tambourine. You know what I mean.
01:08:02 - Aaron (Host)
Yeah.
01:08:03 - Mel (Host)
You can find one instrument that your kid will love.
01:08:05 - Aaron (Host)
Listen to Mel, she knows what she's talking about. We love y'all Peace.