December 21, 2024 23:56 S1:E3

2k AFTER ONE GIG? (ft. AJ from the band Kings of Castles)

Welcome everybody to the third episode of the Creator's Day podcast.

I'm here with AJ.

We're going to learn about AJ and some of the things he does.

So AJ, tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do.

So I'm a singer and guitar player and I play in a rock band.

Got you.

Okay.

So what would you say are some of the types of songs you guys play?

You say rock, which of course I know what that means, but what are some bands you model

off of?

I would say Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of them.

Green Day, Metallica.

Wow.

Yeah, you guys got a little bit of everything.

I like it.

What's your go-to song to play in the band?

So we make originals, but we also make covers.

Okay, yeah.

Yeah, so like right now one of the songs we're covering is Teenage Dirtbag by Weedus.

Oh, that's a great one.

That's a really good one.

Wow.

All right.

That's impressive.

Okay.

What's the name of your band?

It's Kings of Castles.

Kings of Castles.

It's actually an interesting story how we got the name.

Do you want to share some?

Yeah, sure.

So I was in the car with my other bandmates and we were with my grandma because we were

going to go to the movies and I had a random band name generated on my phone and our bassist

was just sitting there and he was like, what about Kings of Castles?

And I hated it at first.

I thought it was the goofiest name, but then I kind of just grew on it and then eventually

you became it.

Yeah, no.

I actually really like that.

That's a, like it's caught on one of those names.

I think it has a lot of, it has a lot of character to it.

It has a lot of, it definitely feels like a rock band name.

So you definitely got it.

You definitely got that down.

So you said you play Green Day, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Yeah, that's, that is impressive.

I like, can you tell me about one of the songs you've recently, one of your original songs

that you guys recently released?

We haven't really released any of them yet, but we've played them live.

We're working on recording them right now, but we have a song we've, we are posting soon.

It's called November Skies.

Okay.

And is it, and how long did this take you?

How long you guys been working on this song?

So this, so this song, it actually didn't take it way too long.

It was maybe like, it was probably like a week.

Wow.

Okay.

Yeah.

You guys just kind of got the ball rolling and I understand.

Yeah.

Definitely.

Why don't we bring the topic away from the band first and we'll bring it towards more

about, more about you.

So first off, kind of what got you interested in the music?

Do you have musicians in your family, singers in your family?

Kind of, give me some backstory.

So it's kind of strange because there's nobody in my family that's really musical.

I, I'm going to be, not to, I don't know if you're about to keep going, but I, I relate

to that a lot.

I think my parents or really distant family played guitar, played music saying, you know,

which not saying they didn't like music, they just weren't musically inclined, I guess.

I think it's one of those things where a lot of, a lot of people, you know, whether their

dad had a guitar or had a piano, something like that.

And of course anybody can be a singer, but you know, it's, it's, it's an interesting

thing, you know.

Are you Lee vocalist?

Yeah.

Awesome.

That's so cool.

Uh, would you say, uh, so you said you're more rhythm guitar, right?

So do you play acoustic in the band or do you also play electric?

I play both.

You play both.

Okay.

Whatever, whatever the situation calls for.

Okay.

How many people are in your band?

There's four.

Four people.

Okay.

So a lead singer, uh, which is you and also rhythm, which is you, you have a bassist from

what I understand.

And then you have your lead guitarist and you have a drummer.

Yeah.

I was about to say, you can't have a rock band without a drummer.

It's kind of, it's kind of like the, the, in my opinion, there's, in my opinion, if

you don't have electric guitar and, uh, and drums, then you're not a rock band.

So what are, so you said that you had, uh, that you guys play Metallica, Green Day, Red

Hot Chili Peppers style of music.

So would you say they inspired you?

Would you say like they were kind of some of the inspiration as to why you wanted to

make a band?

Oh yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

They're like the three big bands.

I've only been to one concert and it was a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert.

That's all.

You know, I really like rock music.

Like you're, you all guys is music.

You'll, you have to definitely send me some, if you have any recordings afterwards because

I, I really like rock music.

It's always been my favorite.

Um, and I love Metallica.

I love Green Day.

I do like Red Hot Chili Peppers.

They're probably not my number one, but you know, do like them.

But the only, only band, the only concert I've ever been to was a country artist and it was

an Alabama concert.

So I really don't have the concert experience yet.

Oh yeah.

And the thing about the concert we went to, uh, they actually like for a couple minutes

let us come like pretty close to the front row.

Really?

So you always, wow, you always got like the premium seats then.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

That's pretty awesome.

What are some difficulties you guys have ran into?

Are there things that have made it?

Like what are the, what are the issues of starting a new band?

Practice time.

Practice.

Yeah.

Music's all about practice.

I mean, that's one thing.

Anytime any of my followers ask me, oh, I want to learn guitar, what, what tips do you

have?

And again, I'm not a great guitarist, but the one thing I can definitely tell you is

it's all about just getting yourself accustomed to playing.

Because if you don't play often, then you're not going to learn.

It's impressive that you guys are doing this.

It really is.

And, and what, what are some of the, you said you've played at some venues.

So what, what, what kind of, how many places have you played live in front of what audience?

So I would say like four places in front of our town really.

So two towns that we are opening for, we opened at like a little bar.

Cool.

And then another time we, we played the library.

The library.

The house was at the head of this huge stage.

Oh.

And then our biggest show was at like a Fortford, July festival.

And we played bunch of songs.

Okay, I have so many questions.

So first off, you said you played at the library.

Yeah.

At a stage at the, is that not counterproductive to a library?

Playing, playing Metallica?

Like they recently built the stage and I don't know if it was technically meant for music,

but we made it into a able to make for this.

Yeah.

Y'all were like, we're about to, we're about to rock the bookshelves.

Yeah.

I like it.

I love it.

Yeah.

The library was just jamming out to some enter sand man.

You know, maybe that's what was going on.

I'd love to be there.

That's the type of library I would go to.

What about the festival?

Now that's, now the festivals I've been to are huge.

There's like, there's a lot of people at these small town festivals, you know.

And so I mean, how many people would you say were at this festival?

It depends, but maybe like 200.

Yeah.

That's, that's really good for you guys.

You know, that's, that is a, what would you say you're nervous?

So the thing was at first I was nervous, but it wasn't bad.

Yeah.

Once you got up there and you kind of started getting into it, I imagine wasn't that bad

at all.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

I'm really happy to hear that for you.

This sounds like this is really been working out for you.

So you sat at the bars that you've played at, did you get paid at all of these venues

or?

So the red one in the room is what it was called, which is fourth-joy.

We got paid $500 and we all split it.

Oh dang, $500?

Dude, oh my gosh.

That's a lot.

That's good money right there.

And then the funniest part was like there's bounce houses there and our bass player was

like, Hey, can you throw in bounce house free bounce houses for all of us and where the

people fit in free bounce houses?

No way they gave you $500 and let you get on the bounce house.

That's kind of awesome.

I'm really jealous of you guys.

I, you know, I tried to, I, well, I, there was multiple like small bands I was a part

of growing up like, but they never really got any traction.

So please, please try.

How please keep this going?

Cause I would love to see, I would love to come to interview you 10 years from now and

just see how, how big you all guys have grown.

I would love to see how many followers you guys have.

That'd be so cool.

But did you get paid at the bars too?

So we opened for, so the first time we actually just, we just opened for someone.

So the, the people were nice enough.

They gave us their tip jar.

Oh, so they just gave you whatever was in the tip jar?

We got, we got like, it was like $32 and we just went and got ice cream after.

Yeah, that, that totally works.

Yeah.

You get to play music in front of people for the first time and you get ice cream.

I would say that's pretty good.

Something happened that we didn't think was going to happen.

So we were good.

So after we played there, my friends would just say, I'm at a drummer's house.

Swimming pool, she has a, in ground pool.

Uh-huh.

I think he's like that.

He's a young teenager.

Um, was the, it was like, this commercial company wants you to play a commercial.

And we don't thought they were kidding.

So, uh, so that did not happen.

I like a lot in the eyes.

So I was going to make a phone call from the toilet.

And my mom was like, you're getting paid $2,000.

I was like, oh, you know, this part, this one's probably coming to see me split it.

And the guy said, we're getting paid $2,000 each.

Oh my gosh.

You made $2,000 from a commercial?

Here's the catch.

I had to get a low-hawk, so I got an extra $500.

So wait, wait, wait.

So was this after your first show or multiple shows?

Yeah, this was after my first show.

Your first show?

Well, it was like, okay.

Yeah, it was the second.

The second show.

And this is the second show was at a bar, right?

Yeah.

Okay, so second show and y'all's band is probably very new at this point.

And you each get paid $2,000 to a total of, uh, what is that, $8,000 to the band.

And then the 500, so you would have a mohawk?

Yep.

I'm, I'm speechless.

Did you get, do you have the mohawk still?

No, I had to get rid of it.

Did it look nice though?

Like would you have styled that?

The problem was they, they wanted to make it look good for after the commercial.

So they had to put like actual, my hair is so thick, they had to put like, it was like

glue in my hair.

Oh yeah.

That really thick hair, Joe.

I know what you're talking about.

I know exactly what you're talking about.

I was one of those kids I had, I had like the, the, I would grab like gobs and gobs

of hair gel and just grab it, put in my hair and just point it straight up.

It wasn't even like a mohawk.

I don't know what it was.

And I just went out like that for a long time.

So hey, the mohawk I'm sure was awesome.

Just don't do what I did.

Okay.

Just don't do it.

Um, though I think bad, I think bad hairdos build character.

I'm, I'm a strong believer in that.

So our commercial is actually coming out like this year.

Wow.

That's cool.

What is a, are you able to like tell any details about like what the commercial is?

Yeah.

So it's for first energy.

First energy?

Do you mind if I look this up?

Yeah.

I think it's for people who they sponsor the Browns, the Cleveland Browns.

Oh, whoa.

First energy?

Yeah.

Hold on.

And they sponsor the Cleveland Browns.

Yeah.

That's me.

The first energy stadium.

Yo.

Oh, yo, no way.

Is this going to be like on live television?

I'm almost positive.

This is awesome.

Holy crap.

This is actually really cool.

Okay.

Um, dude, no way.

I'm interviewing, I'm interviewing you before you become famous off this commercial.

Dude, it's awesome.

So why did they pick you?

Did they tell you?

Yeah.

So they were actually looking for a group of kids, preferably for who knew how to play

instruments for this commercial.

And that was it.

And they were just saw you guys.

Yeah, and then they just randomly saw us on Facebook.

Wow.

Talk about, that's like winning the lottery right there.

Uh, I mean, for a new band, I mean, your second gig, they're like, all right, we want

you in a commercial.

I mean, come on.

I mean, I'm looking for sponsors.

You tell first energy if they're looking for a podcast to sponsor them.

I'd love to.

Man, this has been a lot more interesting than I thought it would have been.

Not to be mean.

I just didn't think you'd have so much lore.

Okay.

Um, what does music mean to you?

What is it?

How has it impacted your life?

What is this?

This is a really deep question.

I know.

But how would you explain that?

Um, well, it's really impacted me.

Because so I do a lot of things.

I do, I do sports.

I do football, baseball, basketball is basically all year round.

Dang.

All right.

I'm not going to travel for baseball, but ever since my band got so big, I'm actually

just doing like a little league thing because, because we need more time for a band, but

I'm, I'm not complaining.

Yeah.

And it's really impacted me because like, I would just like normally I would just come

home and just watch TV, but now I come home and practice.

And then I have different things I do.

Like I go to guitar lessons, singing lessons.

Yeah.

I mean, it's really, uh, I'm impressed by you.

You say you do, you do sports, you do three sports.

So that's kind of a good bit.

Um, yeah, you've got a busy schedule.

I'm sure you're still in school.

Yeah.

So yeah, I imagine, uh, the debt, you have a lot of dedication, a lot of motivation and

like you got to make sure you keep that going.

You know, cause that's the big thing, um, in my, with my opinion with like with art and

like with music, it's like what really makes, uh, what really makes artists and these creative,

these people, you know, really get successful is the fact that they're willing to just dedicate

themselves to what they do and really be motivated to go do it.

So I think, you know, uh, you know, obviously you guys haven't played a lot of gigs and

you guys might not have a ton of fans right now.

You have one right now.

You have one extra fan now.

Um, obviously you might not have a ton of fans, but you know, yeah, keep in mind like

the more you put forward to it, the, you know, the more you'll get back from it.

And since you guys are, it's really great that you guys are starting this now because

I feel like it's a lot, even though it is probably difficult, even though you guys are

probably busy, it's probably going to be a lot easier for you to, you always are getting

the basics down, right?

Yeah.

Oh, and I forgot to mention we actually have another show coming up.

Another show?

Really?

Where are you, where are you guys playing?

Uh, I don't actually know where it is, but it's for, it's just, it's like for our school

and, uh, it's in March.

Awesome.

Is it like a talent show or?

Yeah.

Well, no, no, it's not a talent show.

It's like, uh, there's other bands actually playing.

Oh, so it's like it, it's not just a random miscellaneous thing.

Yeah.

So like, um, uh, our drummer, his dad is actually a drummer who also plays in a band.

Oh, okay.

So I'm sure that's helpful.

Like, yeah, it's helpful for sure.

Like he has a whole recording studio at his house.

Maybe I'll need to interview the rest of the band at some point, maybe in the future,

you know.

Um, because this is, wow, you guys have a, you guys have an interesting story brewing

here, you know, I'm going to be honest.

I really, you've answered a lot of my questions.

Um, this has been a very short interview, but I feel like we've kind of cut to the chase.

And this has been very, very interesting for me.

Um, do you have, do you have any questions for me?

Do you have any, is there anything you wanted to mention?

So when, uh, when I was little, I didn't, I didn't even like rock at all.

I like just country music.

That was it.

And then when I grew up a little bit, like maybe like not like, like after three years

ago, I liked rap a lot.

But then like these couple of two years, I like progressively like got really into rock.

And that's like the only thing I listened to, but like I also listened to like Johnny

Cash and stuff.

And yeah, you have good taste, really good taste.

Yeah.

Johnny Cash is a big inspiration.

Yeah.

I would, I, I'm a big Johnny Cash guy.

I, I would, he's, I don't listen to his music very much anymore.

Um, just because it's one of those things, it's just doesn't fit into most of my playlist.

You know what I mean?

Um, but, uh, a lot of those bands, like, uh, I grew, I grew up, I grew up, I grew up, I

would say on the same, I grew up on a lot of country music.

Uh, I would say there's a soft spot in my heart for country music.

So anytime anybody's like, Oh, I hate country music, go, it's the worst genre.

I'm like, Oh, I don't know about that.

Like it's not, it's not great, but it's not bad.

You know, it's very sentimental for me.

Um, but when it comes to rock, I mean, like for me, I personally listen to a lot of AC

DC guns and roses, uh, poison, but sadly I don't really get into Metallica and Green

Day until later on, but Green Day, Weezer, Metallica, all great bands, Kiss, you know.

So like when I was a letterlay, uh, the only really rock bands I'd listen to what AC DC

and guns and roses.

And that was really it.

I didn't really know like any other genres of like rock or metal, but then this year in

particular, I've listened to a lot of new metal, like corn, uh, olympusket system over

down.

Yeah.

You're like hyping me up just saying so you're like, you got like the, the perfect set of

music come on.

You're, you're, you're discovering the great bands.

I mean, if you ever need any other bands, you should discover.

I mean, just let me know because I know, uh, not all, but I know a good bit.

I mean, do you like the Eagles?

Oh yeah.

I love the Eagles.

That's obviously that's different than Metallica.

Like obviously.

Yeah.

I listen to softest stuff too.

What about, uh, yeah, yeah.

You got, you're very well rounded.

Um, what about Bon Jovi?

Oh yeah.

I love Bon Jovi too.

Bon Jovi.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, see what about Leonard Skinner?

Yep.

I have a band shirt Leonard Skinner.

Uh, please, please play free bird at one of your shows.

Oh, I would love to see that.

I feel like y'all could do it.

If I saw our guitar player, he's, he's really delicate, dedicated.

So if I was like, if I was like, learn this one one day, I bet he would do it easily.

You tell him that I said that, that you should learn that.

And then whenever it happens, please, please show me.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's my only request.

Um, well, I think that's the, that's the last bit of my questions.

Um, is there anything you would advise to anybody in your situation or anybody like starting

a band or musicians?

Is there any bit of advice that you would give them?

Oh yeah, for sure.

So, you know, there might not be a lot of people as lucky as we were, but that doesn't

mean they quit.

Just keep going.

You're going to, you're going to eventually like, you're going to eventually get there.

That is a very, very nice thing to say.

That was very, very true.

Uh, well, um, this is a bit of a shorter episode, um, but I want to thank everybody for listening.

And I want to thank you, AJ, for being on the podcast.

This has been, uh, very, very interesting.

And, uh, well, you guys have a great day and, uh, thanks for listening.

Bye.

you

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