Andrea, Ariana

0:04HostHey, everything's fine. Can you hear me? All good? Yeah, yeah, we can hear you. Can you hear us? Hey, so good afternoon, I guess, for you now, right? In sunny, California. Thanks for agreeing to do all this.

0:20?Yeah, of course.

0:21HostCould you please introduce yourself to our viewers and listeners?

0:26AriSure, sure. I'm Ari, I'm the singer of Psychic Hit.

0:30AndreaAnd I'm Andrea, or you can call me Dre. I play lead guitar in Psychic Hit.

0:36HostAwesome. It's so awesome that you agreed to do this. I really like your music.

0:42HostAnd I know that you have an album coming out this Friday, right?

0:47Psychic HitYeah. Yes, this Friday. It'll be out worldwide.

0:54HostAnd that's what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about the album, your decisions regarding the album itself, because I have some, you made some interesting choices with it. And I wanted to talk about what preceded this album, you know, because it's a base for your decisions. So as a starting point, let's maybe talk about before you formed the band of Psychic Hit, maybe what are the significant points that preceded it, you know, maybe like you moved to California, to Oakland, a little bit of backstory of your journey. I mean, you as a hero, you as a hero, going forward.

1:36AndreaYes. So a hero's journey, right? Right. We were, we started conceptualizing Psychic Hit all the way back, and I think it was like 2017. We both, both of us, we lived together, we're partners, and we both had been in bands before. Ari was most notably in Nick Turner's Hawkwind, and also a band called Hedder Sleeven. And I was in a band called Clean Crescent, and roughly around the same time, both of those bands ended. And, you know, at that point, Ari had been doing kind of more prog and space rock, and my old band was more of like international psych feel. But we both started, you know, really talking about starting a band that was more, was heavier, like, really influenced by like, you know, like, late 70s, like hard rock and early heavy metal, and just like getting into, you know, just like really revisiting old Scorpions records and old Buddhist priest records and Rainbow and being like, you know what, like, we don't want to be like a rip off retro band, but we're so like, inspired by this era of music. Like, like, let's start like a band that has that draws a lot of inspiration from this. And so we started writing together. And then from there, we started working with a bassist and a friend of ours, Melanie, and then we started working with Justin, our drummer, and I always tell the story very chronologically, maybe you can fill in the more fun parts about it.

3:10HostYeah, but that's correct. We should go chronologically. It's really important.

3:14AriYes, it's all very correct. And, um, well, when Dre and I got together, we both would talk to each other about what we really wanted out of our band, and she wanted more professionalism. I was in a situation where I was basically hired for touring, and I was like steeped in professionalism, and I wanted something where I got to have more control over the music.

3:40?And Dre, when she and I started the band, was like my angel of music, because I didn't really know how to sing and front a band.

3:49AriLike, I knew how to do backup singing, and I wrote folk music, and did like experimental violin music, but she really helped draw the energy, the front person energy out of me and inspire me to really just open up and sing, and trust my instincts. So, and I think I did some encouragement for her too, to like be a guitar hero, and kind of like, we developed over the years, a really special collaborative creative relationship. And so, when we decided that we wanted to take on band members, we were very intentional about it. We made lists, we lit candles, we like, made it, there was a lot of magic behind it.

4:39HostYeah, I read about, in an interview, there was some magic, real magic.

4:44AriIt works, it works. I mean, we're all, as humans, like, we all have a ton of energy, and we're always moving energy around, we just don't realize it. So, when you're intentional about it, you can really, you can really, you can make some shit happen.

4:58AndreaYou can really, yeah, call things to your life.

5:00HostYeah, so, actually, I have, sorry to interrupt you, continue, I will have an idea for later, I have it written down, but for later.

5:10?Yes, please continue. Yeah.

5:12AriI'll just wrap it up by saying, yeah, I think that we just wanted to, we felt very strongly that we had to work together, and we had to have a band together, and that was something we both really needed to do in our lives. Because if we didn't combine forces and try to do this, that we would somehow be missing a big opportunity in life. So, it really is our life's dream to continue on making this music that we would want to buy, and that we would want to hear, and be the musicians that we want to see, be the performers that we want to experience, and travel the world playing our music, and see the world. Yeah. Yeah.

5:57AndreaAnd I saw, I really quickly want to say hello to all the friends who are watching.

6:04?Hi, everybody.

6:04HostAnd hello to all my followers, and actually, people can ask questions if they hit the question mark here, I think, down there, and we can answer the questions a bit later. We just don't want to ruin the flow. Actually, I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask you about the California a little bit, you know, for us, you're so far away, exotic, sunny California.

6:29Psychic HitWe feel the same way about you over in Europe. Exotic, Germany, Austria.

6:35HostAnd for us, it's all a dream, you know, California, dreaming and stuff. So, it means a lot of creative people and musicians come to that place. It's like this area. So, I would imagine that there will be a lot of bands, a lot of creative people, and therefore, a little bit of competition among musicians. You know, it's pretty, I don't know, I've never been there, so I'm asking, how is it like there?

7:03AndreaUm, well, it depends on where you are, because we live in, I mean, Oakland and San Francisco, which is right across the Bay, is technically, you know, Northern California. I think the vibe here, I mean, I don't want to generalize, but there is a difference, I think, between Northern and Southern California in terms of, not necessarily work ethic for a musician, but, like, what your particular drive is. Because I feel like a lot of people, when they go down to L.A., they're looking for a particular type of lifestyle, and if you live in more Northern California, it's slightly different.

7:39?But there is a really strong work ethic out here, as far as musicians and music goes.

7:44AndreaBecause even though California is horrendously expensive, like, where we live is one of the most expensive places in the world, it's a struggle to live here, find housing. And on top of that, you know, musicians, we all, most of us work full-time jobs, so we're doing this because we have so much passion for it. But, so I think that, you know, in the Bay Area, the music scene, although it's changing, I feel like is so vibrant, and there's always new bands popping up. And it's pretty exciting to be here, it is. I mean, you know, maybe 10, 15 years ago, there was more going on. But I think it is, there is a lot of mystique here, and I think a lot of it is well-deserved, for sure.

8:27AriJust to put it in my two cents, you can think about it this way. Southern California, L.A., Hollywood, they're really competitive there. You have to pay to play in a lot of venues. And the Bay Area, San Francisco, Oakland, it's very community-oriented. The venues, the bookers, the promoters, the artists who make flyers and posters and artwork and all these things were all very familial. And, yeah, when I first got here, I lived in San Francisco, and then I came to Oakland, but the inspiration is palpable. I'm from the country in Pennsylvania. I had no inspiration there, and I dropped out of college and just came here, because I wanted to be a musician. And I knew that this was where the scene was good, and I was right. And it's still good, even though it's expensive, and the techies are, like, you know, still kind of taking over. There's still a really, really great scene here.

9:26Psychic HitIt's pretty strong, I have to say. Yes.

9:29HostI wanted to ask about the pay-to-play or pay-for-play thing, because it still exists, and it still exists even here. I can't name, I don't want to name venues or names or promoters, of course.

9:43?Yeah.

9:44HostBut that's what I wanted to, that was my next question. Is it also happening at your place? But I guess, yes.

9:53AndreaIt happened, not really here in the Bay. You don't really, you know, as Ari mentioned, it's very, like, once you're in the scene here, once you're in a band and you're doing stuff, and you get to know everybody, like, it's, it is very, you get to, like, I'm friends, we're friends with a lot, most of the Baker Bookers in the Bay Area, because people are approachable and friendly, and there really isn't that, yeah, pay-to-play that's definitely more, not to knock Southern California, because there's a lot of amazing bands and things going on down there all of the time, but it's definitely more of that culture down there of, like, yeah, you want to get in front of people? You gotta, you know.

10:26AriYeah, I mean, even when I was in, playing with Nick Turner in, in his touring band in America,

10:34Psychic Hitthe, and whenever we went to LA, the people who worked at the venues would treat us like shit. And everybody else, they would treat us like royalty.

10:44AriBut in LA, they will not, they don't kiss ass, they don't kiss ass unless you are hot shit.

10:51AndreaSo, I mean, LA, we love you, we want to come and play in LA, let's not, I don't want to.

10:58AndreaBut, well, let's, it depends, not everywhere. I don't want to, I don't want to generalize an entire huge, huge city under this banner, but it just depends, it depends on who you know. It's just, like, anywhere, you know.

11:13HostI know from the film industry, from the screenwriting industry, the people who, especially if you watch some interviews, like, there is a web, YouTube channel, Film Courage, and it shows the writers that live in LA, they went through the life of LA, they're all broken down and kind of depressed. And, yes, I'm happy here, I'm really, I'm really happy. But, you know, to get here, you need to, like, sleep in a car for a couple of nights, you know, get beaten down a little bit, you know, mentally or physically. But it's worth it. It's definitely the place where you want to be if you want to do a, to be in the film industry.

11:52?Yeah, a little bit.

11:53AndreaYeah, for sure.

11:55HostWell, there, I guess there's a little bit, well, not a little bit, you kind of need to do some grinds and whatever, but I wish it was easier, but it's pretty, at the way, it's really hard. There's so many people, so many creative people coming there. Of course, there's more competition.

12:15Psychic HitYeah. All right. So, yeah.

12:17?Yeah, yeah, please.

12:19HostNo, no, no. Please tell more. I don't want to talk all the time.

12:23AriYeah, I was just going to say, we, sometimes I lament the fact that, like, in other parts of the world, musicians can just live and exist and have a good quality of life just playing music as a career. But here, it's so much harder to establish yourself as a professional musician when you're starting from nothing. But I talked to someone about it once who was European, and he said to me, well, the fact that you have to work harder ultimately makes you stronger. So, I think that even though we have to work our asses off and work full-time jobs and all these things to get where we want to go, get the opportunities that we want

13:03Psychic Hitof our dreams, ultimately, we're stronger for it anyway.

13:09AndreaYeah, I mean, I think the grass is always greener, right? Yeah. There's, like, pluses and minuses to everything. And, you know, yeah.

13:18HostWell, what you say is exactly what people think about California here or United States. You know, there, people can live just by doing what they love, being a musician, like, exactly the thing. But now we can hear that pretty much everywhere. I mean, it depends. It depends what kind of musician you are, in what music genre you are. You know, classical, pop, hard rock, even subgenres, metal, for example. It also makes it... Actually, is there some predominant music genre that's dominating, not dominating, but more in your area, Auckland?

13:59AndreaAuckland is known for its metal.

14:02Psychic HitMetal.

14:03AndreaI feel like right now, like, especially more extreme metal.

14:06?Would you agree?

14:07AriYeah, when I first moved here, like, nine years ago, it was a lot of stoner, a lot of doom, a lot of sludge, really good stuff. And now I feel that there's still a lot of black metal and extreme metal and stuff, but there's also more really good hard rock and, like, 70s and 80s inspired rock, too. I think there's a good amount. I don't know. There's some. But people are doing really interesting things with electronic music here, too. That's true. Really, really cool electronic music, really cool experimental music. So, I mean, there's a whole range of genres to appreciate. And I feel that the people here, they're not just into one genre. So, when I first moved here, it was, like, metal, metal, metal. But now I see people getting into and appreciating and going all different kinds of shows.

15:01AndreaYeah, there's lots of strong subcultures and scenes here. Yeah, you have, like, extreme metal and then more, like, traditional metal. You have a lot of great electronic music.

15:14AndreaAnd there's a really strong punk scene here.

15:17Psychic HitYeah, really huge punk scene.

15:18AndreaYeah, so there's kind of something for everybody here. And all the scenes are pretty strong, I think. Yeah. I mean, I could be wrong, but from what I see from my lens and perspective.

15:29?All right, cool. Let's get back to you, to your band. Sure.

15:33HostSo, you decided to form a band, right? And you released a demo, right? In 2018, right?

15:42AndreaThat's right. We released a four-song demo then. Mm-hmm.

15:46HostAnd what's interesting about it is that you released it as a tape, a cassette, an audio cassette, right?

15:52AndreaYes. Yeah. That's a cassette, originally cassette, and, you know, obviously digitally online, too.

15:58HostYeah, but it's a little bit of an odd choice, considering that it was in 2018, right? So, it was not as popular, right, as now. Now it's hotter, probably.

16:12Psychic HitI don't know. How was it, actually?

16:16AriThere's a lot of tapes flying around, at least, I think, in the Bay Area. Tapes have been a thing.

16:23AndreaBut, I don't know. What do you think? I mean, tapes, yeah, tapes are definitely becoming a hotter and hotter commodity. I've noticed, I mean, I keep up a lot with, like, music news and industry stuff. So, I know in the past couple of years, it's definitely cool and trendy again to do tapes. But, you know, we're, like, pretty much officially sold out of those tapes. So, I think we did pretty okay. And, yeah, it was also, like, cheaper to put it out on cassette than, like, vinyl. And, you know, just to have something physical to sell at shows was super fun. And it just sounds good. I think just things sound really good on tape. Yeah, it sounds cool.

17:04AriYeah. Yeah. I think that people are just really into all different kinds of mediums of throwback shit. So, like, throwback fashion, throwback, like, tapes and vinyl and all that kind of stuff. Like, people are, I don't know. I feel like there's a growing culture of people just wanting all this old stuff.

17:21Psychic HitSo.

17:22HostAnd what do people usually use to listen to those tapes?

17:26?Where do they listen? In a car.

17:29Psychic HitIn a car. In a car. In a cassette player.

17:32AriOr you can find a boombox. We have a stereo. We have a cassette. Yeah, we have a stereo that has a tape player on it, too.

17:40HostWhat I'm asking is because I've been telling local community, because I'm always researching music industry and I'm checking out, like, United States, what's hot there, you know. And it usually comes here, but a couple of years later, you know. So, cassettes here, tapes exist, but they're not so hot as at your place. Here, CDs still exist, you know. CDs are a big thing. I haven't seen that you released any CDs before. You only did tapes and digital.

18:12AndreaWe have CDs of our demo. And it was funny because it really depends on the community. And this is a trend that I noticed. I don't know if this is, like, you know, I don't have the data to back it up or anything, but I've noticed that in places that are not major cities, like, I guess, small cities, I guess if you would call them B-cities or whatever, that people ask for CDs more. Like, we'll occasionally, we'll go to this small city called Nevada City, which is a great community up there. And we got so many people asked us for CDs that the next time we went up there, we pressed a bunch of CDs to sell. So, it's interesting. I've noticed other places, too, where I don't know what it is, and maybe I'm wrong, but, like, places that are smaller, smaller cities and towns, they want CDs. And, like, bigger cities like Oakland, L.A., wherever, they want, you know, they want vinyl.

19:07?Yeah.

19:08HostI started noticing a new trend, which comes from the Scandinavian countries, from Finland, that CDs are becoming hotter because it becomes a collectible item, especially if it's, like, an old band, you know, so it's, it's, find some CDs from Japan or Germany of special pressing. So, there is a future for CDs, just same, like, with tapes. So, it just depends, I guess, on your local community, what's, what's in demand.

19:41AndreaThat's good, that's good for us to know whenever we get to Europe, we'll press a bunch of CDs. Yeah.

19:47HostAnd I think in Austria, I think, I, I think I checked last year the statistics, Austria is big on CDs still, you know, among other European countries. Well, not sure, but CDs are still a thing, let's say like this. So, yes, definitely bring CDs.

20:05AndreaOkay, sweet, good to know, duly noted.

20:08HostAnd so, you released this demo version, and I read in an interview that after that, you decided to keep it slowish, you know, not rush into finding a label or something like this, because you wanted to keep it slow. Can you expand on that? Why, why?

20:29AndreaYeah, it's, we just, it's really important for us to, like, whoever we're going to be working with, that we're on the level with them. And it's, we're, we're, we're the type of band that we like to make very intentional decisions about, you know, what we do, who we work with. And so it just, we don't, we don't like rushing into things. I mean, that kind of contradicts my personal personality, but like, as a band, yeah, it's true. As a band, yeah, we like to process things and deliberate on things and things like that, because ultimately, we want to make sure that our music is getting represented in a really true and honest and, you know, exciting way.

21:17AriI mean, ultimately, we, Dre, knows so much about music marketing and branding and all these things that we felt that we were self-sufficient enough, and we didn't need a label to do all those things

21:33Psychic Hitfor us, because we can do it well ourselves. So why should we kind of go out and try to negotiate when we put so much energy into our art?

21:45AriWe have a very clear vision of what we want the artwork to look like, what we want our look to look like, what we want our branding to be like. Like, we didn't need anybody else to do that for us. We figured we could do it better. So we wanted to wait and see if there was someone out there, some label out there that was really, really hardworking, shared our vision, really believed in us, was kind, considerate, nice to work with, a friend, you know, and it takes time to find that.

22:13AndreaAnd the label that we're currently working with, Seeing Red, run by this really great guy named Tommy, has been really wonderful so far, fantastic to work with. And I guess that would be my piece of advice for anybody in bands out there watching this or who will watch this in the future, is that really, honestly, the best thing that you want, the most important thing you want to do is really build your own voice, build your own story, figure out what you want to do, what you want to say, not just musically and creatively, but just aesthetically and everything before you pursue trying to build relationships with a record label or with, you know, whoever in the industry. Because the stronger your voice is and the more that you know yourself, the better time and, you know, you're going to have more negotiating power and you're just, you're going to feel more confident about your own, your presentation and all of that. And when you do, then you could start building, like, you know, stronger and healthier relationships rather than just, like, you know, doing it out of, like, desperation or whatever.

23:17AriYeah. I mean, ultimately, even if you're working with a label, there's a lot of work that you still have to do anyway to get people to notice you and to get your people listening to your music and paying attention. Like, you have to convince people consistently on a consistent basis why they should take the time to listen to your shit.

23:38Psychic HitSo...

23:38AndreaYeah. Just because you get signed doesn't mean you stop working. You work even harder, obviously.

23:42AriLabels don't, labels don't do a ton, ton, ton of stuff that they used to do. They just, they just don't. So...

23:50AndreaThey don't have the money or the personnel.

23:53Psychic HitLabels are not going to want to invest any money in your band unless they see that you work your asses off.

23:59HostExactly. That's what I've been talking for a long time. That's why I'm asking you, because you've been through this process by analyzing how you're, like, how you were doing with the demo, that you were touring. I knew that you will answer like that. So I don't need to repeat myself. Exactly.

24:15AndreaSo true. So true. Yeah. You got to, you got to prove yourself a little bit before anybody's like, wants to sink their, their energy, time and money into you. Yeah. Because they want to make sure they get a return on investment. And that makes total sense. You know, like 30 years ago, record labels were throwing money at bands, but it's, the industry is so different now. You gotta, you gotta like stand in your own two feet first before somebody is really going to like, want to push you up even further.

24:43AriYeah. It doesn't matter how great your music is. You could be the best band in the world, but if you don't have an Instagram or you never post on it and you don't do photo shoots and get your image out there and like interact with the world, then the world is not going to interact with you. And labels are not going to want to work with you. They'll work with a different band that's more motivated that might not have as good of music, but they still have good energy.

25:09AndreaYeah. You gotta kind of, you have to wear multiple hats these days. And it's like, a lot of people don't want to hear that, but like, honestly, that's, that's what you got to do. Again, it comes down to like, uh, solid music and, uh, incredible work ethic. And if you have that, you could do whatever you want to do with music, honestly.

25:27AriOne last thing I'll say about this is that we do approach our band as a business and we are artists. We're very creative people and we want to be creative for our careers, for our main careers, for the rest of our lives. But we also have to be business minded and there's so, so much we can do with every human walking around with a little computer in their hand and all kinds of apps to help you and support you. We can do this as creatives, whether you do art or filmmaking or music, you have to be business minded. If you want to reach people and you want your art to be experienced. So, I mean, you can't just be an artist. You also have to learn this stuff, but it's really easy to learn. You go to YouTube university

26:18Psychic Hitand watch some videos and take the advice and just do it. Yeah. Exactly. I don't want to ruin

26:25Andreathe magic for anybody to talk about, be like, oh, a band talking about business. That's so whatever.

26:29HostNo, no, no, no, no, no, no. You should, you should ruin the magic. You should ruin the magic because there's too much bad magic. This is good magic, what you're talking about. This is the real.

26:42AriI mean, we have to, in this world, I mean, at least in America, they're not throwing money at artists the way they used to. The arts and culture are not invested in. So you have to do it for yourself. We have to fight to keep the culture delicious and new and fresh and vibrant because city, uh, you know, civilizations have, have crumbled and died without art. We have to take the responsibility to keep creating and keep pushing it out there so that people have access to it and they can relate

27:21Hostto it and they can understand their world. Yeah. Well, exactly. Yes. And people always forget that it's music industry. It's show business. Half of it is business. Yeah. So you, you, yeah, maybe you don't like it, but it's not that hard. As you said, you can figure it out. You can. And if there are like four people in a band, at least, or three, four, each person can have a responsibility for each platform booking. By the way, you did your booking yourself, right? I guess. Yeah. Well, we,

27:58Andreawe, we were planning on doing more out of town shows and then the pandemic hit. So like we, our next, our next step is to start playing more regionally. Um, once, you know, things are really back into full swing. Um, and this is like, you know, our, our personal intuition and the advice of our record label too, is that start sort of building it out from, from the Bay area. So, um, right now, as of now, um, we do do our own booking, it's really easy locally though, because usually we get asked, we don't have to usually, we get invited to play things, which is really cool. Um, and yeah, I think, you know, obviously in the, in the near future, as we, as we book out more regionally, um, we'll probably do it ourselves unless somebody wants to hook it up. Um, we can work out on something. Um, but that's just kind of how it goes. That's just usually how it is. You, you do it yourself first and then, um, a booking agent might take interest and you start working and working on that relationship. So, um, so yeah, as of now,

29:00Hostit's pretty DIY in our world. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's a standard process for each band. You start your, on your own, then you get to a certain point that you can't physically already doing this because you're so busy. And then when the booking agent comes in, when the manager comes in, then the label comes in and then you need the lawyer, always get the lawyer. If you're right, if you need to come to sign a contract, that's what we know from movies at least.

29:27AndreaYes. Yeah. We, we, we highly recommend having a lawyer. We, we work with one and it is so important, um, to have, you know, somebody look over your contracts for you because you want to protect your, your music and your livelihood and you want to make sure you're getting the best deal. And it's, it's business, baby.

29:47AriYou got to understand what's going on so that you can protect, like you're putting so much energy and money and time into making music and making albums. You've got to make sure that you're protecting yourself and protecting your, your, uh, your art. So you gotta, I mean, most people don't know how to look at a contract and really understand it. So going over with the lawyer, just pay the money, like play a few shows, three shows, put the money toward the, and that's probably going to be enough for a lawyer to go over the, go over a contract with you a few times.

30:22HostSo it's worth it. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Uh, and how did you, how did seeing red records, uh, who, who approached who, or how did you find it or a little bit about that? Because for many, uh, artists, they think about labels and labels, you know, if they don't think about do it yourself, they want to get signs, but it's just a next step. Can you explain, expand on that a little bit?

30:49AndreaUm, so yeah, so I, how we developed, so how we developed our relationship with seeing red,

30:54Hostthat label? Yeah. Who approached who, or at least? Yeah, it was,

31:00?I don't know exactly how it happened, but, or who followed whom on, on social media, but it really

31:07Andreastarted with just like us seeing each other, like game recognized game, as they say, like seeing each other on, um, you know, social media and, um, you know, I was looking at, um, Tommy's roster and, you know, and sort of the things that he was doing and what the, where he was able to take fans in terms of, you know, good PR and, you know, and, and things like that. And I was like, huh, this is, this is cool. So after like, sort of like the initial stage of us liking each other's posts and commenting and that sort of thing, um, started, it like turned into having like a DM conversation. And at one point I was just like, Hey, we have this record, you know, it's already, it's done, it's mixed and mastered. We're looking for somebody to put it out. And he was just like, hell yeah, let me listen to it. And, um, he got really excited about it and immediately started having, we started having conversations about like, um, you know, he's like, this is, these are the things that I can provide for you. And we're like, that's awesome. These are the things that we've done. And it was just this like really awesome dialogue. And then we eventually had like a zoom call with him and we worked at a contract. And since then it's just been like, you know, uh, you know, it was just like really awesome premieres. Like he's been able to get us on Brooklyn Vegan and Cult Nation and we're going to have a premiere on, on Decibel this, this week, I think, um, fingers crossed. And so he's been able to do some really cool things like that with us. And, um, and also just all around being a really transparent and hardworking person. Like his label is still pretty, you know, I guess, compared to other, a lot of other indie labels, like pretty small, relatively new, but he's just, his, he's just got a really strong drive. And I can definitely see his label just continuing to grow exponentially in the future. And that was like exciting for us that we're, where we're at in the stage of our game. It was like, we're excited to like, you know, grow with this label, um, and kind of see where we can take it and how, you know, how far we can take it with this particular, on this particular platform. Uh, awesome. Yeah, it was really, it was very natural.

33:15HostIt was very natural how it all happened. Yeah. The, the key thing, uh, key points there that you established a connection on social media and you had almost, you had a ready album, you know, it's all clicked together, you know, uh, I know, I know this, uh, label because, um, one of the bands, I did an album cover for them. And they're also on that record table, the scream of the butterfly bands. I did, uh, yeah, I did the cover for them. So when I saw seeing Rose, like, Whoa, cool. We have a connection, you know, that's cool. And now let's talk about the, your new album that's coming out on Friday, July 9, uh, as a solution. I discovered you on social media. And the first thing I saw was an Instagram. I saw the album cover, right? Uh, and I was like, okay, awesome. That's totally awesome. I will check out, I will check out the music. I checked out the music. Freaking awesome. Even, and then, you know, like the rest is history. Like they say, it's great. Can you, and then I read out, read about it a little bit on your social and Facebook. Can you please tell us more about the, um, the direction? Because there's a history behind the cover, the whole characters that's on the photo, you know, a little bit expand on that.

34:44AriWhere do we begin? Where do we start? Um, I think that it all originated because Melanie, our bass player and Dre and I, we're the three original members of the band. Um, and we were doing a lot of magic together. We were all getting into shadow work. So we were doing a lot of exploring our shadow sides individually. And there is an alchemical expression, salutio, or it's actually salve et coagula, which is the idea that you take your shadow side and your conscious side, your ego, and you combine them so that instead of rejecting parts of your ego and parts of yourself that you think are bad or naughty or unacceptable, you just own that shit and you own your evil side and you own your dark side and you coagulate all of that together psychologically. And then you become the whole person that you are. Because otherwise, if you don't incorporate your shadow, you're really just half of a person filled with judgment of the other half of yourself, right? Okay. So that being said, we were in conversation about this kind of thing in an ongoing way. Um, and when we started writing music together, all the three of us, we kind of had those ideas in the back of our minds. And so we decided that we wanted to call the album Saluteo,

36:24Psychic Hitbecause Saluteo has to do with the salve disillusion or, uh, dissolvement dissolving and, um, and coagulate, which is that coagulation, your shadow and conscious self. So yeah, Saluteo has to do with that. And then,

36:47Arium, when it came to the characters, we were working with Janice Gonzalez, who is another amazing musician from the Bay Area. She's a wonderful singer. She was in a band called Wild Eyes for years. Um, and she also is a brilliant artist and sculptor. And she wanted to work with us and do a photo shoot with us where we were all came up with our own characters. So she brought her ideas and we brought her ideas and we established basically archetypes. Every member of the band had an archetype that they're representing because we're shy about doing, using our personal image all the time, but it is necessary. But we thought maybe if we can bring a character for each of us, an archetype for each of us, then it's kind of like an illustration of something otherworldly and another way for us to

37:40Andreabe creative. So, um, so yeah, that's, that's all. Yeah. And, uh, we, you know, we got to work with Janice. Yeah. Uh, like Ari mentioned, really amazing artists, makeup artists, um, and a really amazing photographer in the Bay Area as well, uh, Rob Williamson. And, um, it was just like this really amazing experience and, you know, the photos turned out really well. And it was like, well, we absolutely have to use this for the album. Like, this is just, you know, it goes together. Um, so well, so as far as like the aesthetic, like, you know, artistic aspect of the, of the album, um, I think Ari did a really fantastic explanation that just now. And yeah, I don't know if there's like another part of the question or not. Um, sorry if I missed that. No, no, no, no. Like,

38:32Hostthat's what I wanted to, you know, like the story behind, you know, how it was created, you know, that we just, because it's, it's deep. That's, it comes from inside, you know, this is the, the inner stuff that's really important. It's a, it's a unique thing that's, uh, because when you see it, you already know that, all right, just a photo, you know, there's something deep there, you know, I want to check it out. And that's, what's really cool about it. Um, uh, and you wrote for each character, a huge biography, I think I saw on your social media. Are you bringing this to the stage also? Are you going to play with this, with the theatrical parts? You know, I think it

39:15Andreawould be, uh, just where we're at in terms of like our, our band trajectory, it would be pretty difficult to be, you know, in, in costume. And I don't, I don't think we're necessarily a costume band or anything like kiss or anything that'd be kind of cool. But this, this is like a concept we're doing for this album. And I think by the next, you know, by the, our full length, we're going to have a, uh, even different sort of take on things and different sort of thing that we want

39:42Psychic Hitto express, um, maybe some elements of, of the, of the costuming and future shows and stuff. Um,

39:51Andreabut probably not all of the get ups that says that would be quite a lot of prep work for us.

39:58HostAnd actually, I wanted to ask about the album itself, you know, usually these days, um, the whole trend is to release singles, singles, singles, and then maybe collect it into EPs, you know, and you decided to go with the album, you know, which is kind of, I don't know, like from the business side, these days is already now like, you should do singles, you know, what was the

40:23Andreadecision behind that? Well, we did release two living on in California. So those are like two singles off of the record. Um, I mean, we could have probably broken it down to having every single song on the record being a single, but a couple of the songs on the album are more, um, lengthy or pretty lengthy, which would, they would be pretty, they would be pretty long to be a single. And I know that rock and roll audiences have a slightly longer attention span, but like, um, but even so, uh, you know, it's kind of, it's, it's like a lot of the songs are meant to be, are meant to be listened to one after the other. And I know maybe that's a little bit dated and today's sort of like streaming single world. But I mean, I'm personally open to that in the future of, you know, doing something where we release the singles and then have it presented as a full package. That's definitely not off the

41:18Aritable for me personally. But well, our idea with doing a six song EP instead of a full length was that we were doing incremental releases instead of going from a four song demo to like a 10 or 12 song full length. So we thought we'll do an EP. Um, we'll release a couple singles leading up to it to promote it. And in the meantime, we're working on what our next album is going to be is probably

41:47Andreagoing to be a full length. Yeah. Um, and also, uh, there is a certain single aspect to this album in that we are doing a music video for every song on this EP. So we've released, we've released it already. And then when, uh, and soon after the EP is out on Friday, we're going to be doing another release of another video on it. And then probably a month later, a video after that. So in that sense, it's kind of like, there's like a video single aspect to this album. Um, and you know, each video kind of has its own flavor. Um, so, and, and we, you know, we thought about doing that a long time ago, but especially with pandemic, you're like, well, we want to be able, we don't know when we're going to play shows. So let's just do a bunch of videos. And so we've been, we've been filming those for like, I don't even know how long at this point we've been working on things for a year for a year.

42:36HostSo, so you have all those videos ready, ready to go, right?

42:41Psychic HitYeah, most of them are done.

42:44HostSo you're already, so you kind of know already what you're going to do after the release on Friday, you know, you have kind of a plan.

42:52Psychic HitYes, we got a plan.

42:53HostYes, that's, that's cool.

42:55AriYeah, yeah, we've used a content calendar too, which all these things I'm talking about, I learned from her, by the way. But, so if you want to learn more about,

43:05Psychic Hityou know, that kind of stuff, definitely follow her on social media.

43:10HostAnd give, give the name of the Instagram if you want to follow on social media.

43:15AndreaI appreciate that. Hesher Hustle. It's like, it's like, it's like DIY branding, but from that perspective of a DIY artist who is, you know, everybody follow. So, oh, that's so sweet. Thanks, guys. Oh, thank you specifically. I appreciate that. And by the way, I would love to chat with you more one on one about this, because we have a lot of tons of stuff. But what I wanted to say was that,

43:44Psychic Hitbecause if you want to be business oriented and business minded with your music and your art,

43:50Aricreating more content is the best thing to do. So we knew that even though we couldn't get out and promote the new music live, we would have videos, which people love, everybody loves watching videos. And Instagram's really become, according to Instagram, a video platform, instead of a picture platform now. So things are very video oriented these days. So we thought, okay, let's make videos, and then we'll have lots of content to ride out throughout the promotion of the record and after we release the record too. So we just have this, we're just like riding the wave of content. And so it's like a whole, it's like a whole plan. So yeah, it's definitely part of like a big overarching plan. And then by the time we're done writing out all of the content and videos and everything from the EP, we're already going to be ready to go into the studio and record the new album and come up with

44:48Andreaall new ideas for that too. Yeah. Which we will be releasing singles off of that one first too,

44:55Hostfor sure. That's awesome. And have you tried, what's your experience with TikTok?

45:01AndreaI have, you know what, I have been thinking about it for so long. And I'm just like, oh my god, I'm still trying to get like, just like figure, like focus on doing reels for us. And then also

45:12AndreaYouTube shorts too. Like, it's just, it's, those are the things right now that I'm, that I'm focusing on. I would love to get in TikTok world, but I would, I would need more time in my day. I think eventually, I mean, that's, it's somewhere we're going to need to be. But yeah, it's just all these platforms. It's just, I feel like just choosing a couple, just choosing a couple and going for it, building your following there and then jumping over.

45:36HostWhat I'm planning to do right now, for example, with, with the interviews that we're having right now, I'm going to chop it into clips and to pieces. Of course, I'm going to tag you everywhere. And I'll upload it to YouTube and then upload clips of you talking about the music industry to places like TikTok and Instagram stories and stuff. We'll see how it goes, should go fine from what I know. But yeah, so you, you are the content also.

46:08HostAnd actually it's, it's, it's a way, it's a way how to make content. If you don't have any, like have an interview, you know, talk to your band members and interview other band members, chop it up, put it everywhere. You know,

46:21AriYeah, it actually gets kind of fun to come up with ways to create content because I see bands, like, like, for example, band Lucifer, they did a bunch of Instagram posts.

46:41Psychic HitYeah, like they did a series of Instagram posts where each band member was talking about one of

46:47Aritheir favorite records. And it was like, I think they did videos too, corresponding videos where they would talk about what they liked about it and stuff like that. And what, how it came into influence their music and stuff. And I thought that was so cool. I was like, we should do that.

47:03AndreaSo yeah, there's just so many things you can do. It's like, there's, it's, and it does take work and time. I understand that a lot of musicians, you know, and bands are like, we're trying to write an album. We don't want to have to do this. It's like, you can do both. You can't, we do it. You know, you just got to make sure the cameras are around, let them roll and, and figure out what you want to do with the stuff later. You know, it's, it's just, it's like, I think now as a band, you have to like resign yourself to the fact that you're actually a multimedia artist. If you want to be like, like doing stuff these days, you just kind of have to be like, all right,

47:36Psychic Hitwe're a band, but also we're making videos, photos.

47:41HostExactly. You need to, you need to be doing everything. Well, you have limitations, of course, but there are like several people in a band, so, uh, you can figure it out. And, uh, uh, each platform requires its own content. So you can't put videos into Twitter. It doesn't work like that. But for example, what we discussed today, uh, some phrases can be quoted as tweets and you can tweet them like that, or it can be chopped and go into Tik Tok and it can go as a, because I'm going to split because we have Instagram, but I'm going to put them horizontal and put them on YouTube because you can download the video. So here it is.

48:26HostBy the way, I wanted to say that I really liked the merch that you have, the t-shirt design. That's

48:34Andreareally cool. Yeah. We, we, we're, we're, we want to step up our game a little bit on with merch. Um, you know, we had stuff from the, from, you know, the first release and, uh, that's definitely on my mind is like a bigger merch, but we, yeah, we have a new, a new t-shirt design that we, that our awesome bandmate Justin actually, um, did for, it's based off of our album cover. Um, and so we're really excited to like have that be available to everybody. Also, if you create a Shopify account

49:08Psychic Hitand then, you know, you can create a design so you can take your logo and your artwork and put it

49:15Arilike we put it on a pink, uh, sweatshirt and like people love them or like on a white sweatshirt. And I just keep vintage. We like to keep vintage designs in mind. Um, but there's a lot of options that you can

49:30Psychic Hitwork with on there where you don't have to actually get, um, screen printed stuff and like

49:38Aribuy a bulk amount of it's, it's a print on demand. Yeah. And like, we want to support our screen,

49:46Psychic Hitour screen printers, but when you're short on cash and you want to get more diversity with your designs, like a print on demand things is kind of cool and fun. Yeah. Yeah. That's,

49:58Hostthat's what I've been telling, uh, the, uh, like up and coming, uh, bands is that in the beginning, uh, everybody wants to be, uh, like super awesome musician, have their own merch and, uh, get the tour and it's like all the cool stuff. But in the beginning, uh, uh, it's highly likely that, uh, nobody can, nobody will buy the merch because nobody knows you. So, uh, don't spend, if you have money better spend it on the music or something else, but, uh, have the print on demand,

50:34?uh, service ready with your logo, something basic or maybe a design. And then when there will be

50:40Hostenough people who will be asking for you to have like, Oh, that's really cool merch. Then you can print hundreds of t-shirts if you want, then it becomes economically feasible for a long term.

50:52AndreaYeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a better way to do it. I mean, I think it's a, it's a good way to do it because also you can test out designs. Like you might have like three or four things that you've come up with or, and you're just not sure. And then you can see which ones sell the best. And then the ones that sell the best, you can actually print out and then sell those on tour. And it's just like, you're more likely to sell them because they were more popular. Um, and so,

51:16HostYeah. Yeah. Yeah. You need, you need to test everything. If you don't know, Oh, I don't know which cover is that or this, you know, just ask people. There's a communication. That's really important with the, with the audience. Yeah. Your audience feels like it's

51:33Andreaparticipating and it's like, it's fun for them because people love to share their opinions.

51:38Psychic HitYeah. I mean, surveys, surveys on Instagram stories, people love those. I love those.

51:44AriSo getting a little bit of market research is kind of fun and you get interaction from people. So yeah.

51:53HostOr for example, we're talking about data. For example, I know a band, uh, what's the name? Well, I don't know the name. Maybe I'll figure it out completely blank as usual, uh, from Switzerland. Right. And one year ago I was checking on Spotify, their most, um, popular places where the music is played, you know, and they're from Switzerland and their city. Well, that the most, um, listened city was Mexico, right? Somewhere in Mexico. Right. And I was like, okay, cool. Maybe they should, based on the data and there are a lot of cities in Mexico, maybe they should go on tour there. It was before it was a couple of years ago. And then literally one week later, I checked their Facebook account and they're on tour into like the, there, you know, somewhere in that region. I was like, ah, they're probably also like checking out the data. Right.

52:52AndreaThat works. Yeah. It's good to look at all that stuff. Cause then it's like, oh, shoot, we have fans and this, this is totally random. We have fans here. And then you go, it's, it makes sense. It totally makes sense. It's good to make decisions that way, or at least have that big part of your consideration of like how, you know, you tour,

53:09Hostall of that. Cool. I wanted to ask quickly before we run out of time, just two things that people talk about always, you know, it's like Facebook ads. Oh my God. Can you like do some Facebook magic and then we're famous? Right. Have you, do you have experience with those?

53:30AndreaI have, I have done a little bit of Facebook advertising with, with this band and I, I, I definitely want to do more in the future, but there's been some changes and, and, and the, uh, and the, but the business platforms or whatever they call it now, the Facebook. So I have to like look into that and sort of re-learn it. But I think that's, it's a good thing to do if you already have a little bit of hype underneath your band first. Um, because you, you, you like people who are checking you out for the first time, they want to see some social, they want to see like social proof that like you're an actual band or music artist doing something. And then I think you can have more, a band, it can have more effective ads when they have, yeah, they have some like organic, I hate to sound so markety right now, but like when they have like some organic like heat underneath them from people actually like music and supporting them. Um, but I'm for sure,

54:29?uh, exploring that option for the future. Um, just if nothing else, just for fun to experiment to

54:35Andreasee if like it really sort of impacts like our, our listenership.

54:42HostExactly. And you should, uh, well, you should sound marketing because it's important for people to get used to those terms because I don't want to hear again, uh, a phrase somebody saying, I don't get it. I don't, I don't know. You do this. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. No, you should understand. Everybody should understand because they would just, I'm just afraid that bands will, uh, find some, uh, weirdo guy. And he says, yeah, okay, I will give you so many views or followers or whatever. And you're famous. Just give me your money. They do this and then nothing happens. And he's like, I'm not, I don't know. Something is wrong with you. Not my problem.

55:26AndreaYeah. There's a lot of that scammer stuff out there too. And I agree too. It's like, especially, you know, younger, newer bands who are like, we just want people to hear us. Okay. This sounds cool. We'll just like give this person a thousand dollars. And then it's like, you're getting kicked off the Spotify or whatever, because you only have bots listening to your music, you know, and just like stuff like that. So I agree. I think it's, it is important for musicians to, to educate ourselves about this industry so that we can make good, smart, uh, informed decisions about like who, you know, how, where we put our energy into and, and you know, if we want to hire somebody, like all of that, like, it's just so important. So I agree.

56:15HostI believe that people, even though they need to slowly educate themselves, even though that you don't, uh, need it right now, but you, at least you need to get the hang of it when the time comes, because there's a certain point when you need all this, but later in the development of the band, you know, for example, like the new hot topic is NFTs, right? Everybody's talking about NFTs, NFTs technology and all this stuff. All right, cool. But what's important is that you need to understand a little bit of it so that when the time comes and you need to sign a contract to the label and maybe there inside, there will be like some kind of NFT because they already know it, you know, or maybe you don't understand it, which, which happened before with streamings and everything, you know, it was the same story. Uh, but you need to understand a little bit about it. So, so, but don't get too much into it. Just keep an eye on everything. I usually, for, for upcoming events, I just say that you just need to send messages, not messages, but contact each person, your family member, friends, and you know, everybody, you know, when, if you want to get followers or whatever, do it hand to hand, person on person, establish a connection, a relationship.

57:35AndreaIt's like, oh, James, it's like, stay. Yeah. I agree. That's way, way more authentic than, you know, trying to pay for stuff. Like, at least at first. So, yeah. Yeah. Save your money in the

57:52Hostbeginning and then just, you know, grind and, and then you'll get to the point when you can spend money without thinking too much about it. Uh, uh, yes, I think we're almost out of time. Uh, where can people reach you? Like what's, where should they follow the band Psychic Hits? We are the most active

58:14?on Instagram. So right here, if you are watching this and you are not following us, uh, and you are intrigued, follow us here. Uh, we also have a YouTube channel too, that we're sort of building

58:27Andreaon slowly. So if you're in the YouTube world, feel free to follow us there. We're also on Facebook and Twitter. Um, although a little bit less active there. So if you really want to like, get to know us, follow us here. We post pretty frequently and, uh, we would love to get to know you too. Anyway, you can always drop us a DM. We are a really friendly band and I'm not just saying that like, we are so open to like building awesome, you know, connections with our fans and followers and stuff. So we're very approachable. Uh, and yeah, check us up whenever. And thank you again for letting us chat with you today. Thank you very much for coming. And I will need to mention

59:07Hostthat, uh, uh, that the name of, uh, of the psychic hit on Instagram is, uh, psychic hit, psychic underscore hit, right? That's correct. Yeah. It's for people who, it's for people who are listening, you know, so that they know. So you always need to spell it out. Yeah, that's true. All right. And the album is coming out on Friday and everybody should pretty safe and follow. Great. Please do. And you can

59:41Andreahave a chance to win a t-shirt if you do. Just go to our link in our bio right now. Yeah. Tell us,

59:46Hosttell us now, now, tell us now what do people need to do? You want to go take this one? Sure. So you just

59:53Arigo to the link in our bio and follow us on Spotify. If you don't have Spotify, you can still get into, um,

60:01Psychic Hitthe contest. And then we will pick a winner the day after the release on July 10th. Yes.

60:12HostExcellent. Thank you very much for coming. Hopefully see you in Europe when you're going to be touring. Super busy. Right. All right. Thank you very much. Have a nice day.

60:28Psychic HitHave a lovely evening. Have a good night. Bye. Bye.