Speaker 1: 0:15

Hey, KJ, welcome back to the podcast man. How you doing today?

Speaker 2: 0:20

I'm good. It's good to be here, George.

Speaker 1: 0:23

Man, yeah, I'm good. It's good to be here, george man, yeah, it has been a minute.

Speaker 2: 0:33

You were here as my very first guest on this show three plus years ago. Man, I can't believe it's been that long. Wow, it's been that long. Yeah, you look great and there's awesome stuff behind you all those arrowheads and things.

Speaker 1: 0:44

Yes, yes, these are all surface finds from the family ranches down in Texas. Invite's still open and, yeah, all sorts of artifacts, trinkets, a bunch of books and things. We even got the old Dead PA CD insert there from back in the day when I'd be playing music. I mean, it's 15 years ago when I played my last gig with them and that was with you at a concert here at the Mayday Festival or something like that here in Houston actually.

Speaker 2: 1:24

Yeah, yeah, amazing. You know I'm excited to share that. I got a half cow and it's changed my life, um. So, yeah, I was. We were having dinner with a friend and, um, he was talking about the best steak he's ever had and the best ground beef. And he and he got this half cow up in like Wyoming area, the black Angus, um, small, small ranch, and uh, I'm like I'm like, yeah, yeah, I was really interested. And he's like, yeah, I'm about to go in on a full cow. You want to go in with me? I'm like that sounds something like I want to do, definitely.

Speaker 2: 1:55

And so I got a big, tall freezer and filled that bad boy up with this amazing meat. And then I got a smoker out back and we've been smoking brisket, smoked burgers and the beef ribs are like my favorite Holy cow. It's changed my life. So it's cool that you're a hunter and stuff. And I was pretty against hunting when I was young. I was like a young hippie. I was like a young hippie and, um, what I realized, at least listening to some hunters, is that sometimes they're more about, uh, preserving nature than someone who is not hunting. Um, cause, it seems like to be, you do a little bit of that and live in Texas.

Speaker 1: 2:52

Yeah, I got to come. You have a ranch down there, right? Yeah, I've got two family ranches One I own and operate in Central Texas with my wife and then one in South Texas, been in my family for five generations. So the smokers are always ready to go. We definitely do a lot, and you know to your point too.

Speaker 1: 3:04

Yes, I think it's kind of a paradox for some, but a lot of the outdoor people I know are some of the most avid conservationists out there and, you know, every single time someone buys any kind of hunted fishing related item, there's a tax that goes back, pittman-robinson tax that actually puts back more money into state parks, national parks, wildlife, you know it as far as all these things that help preserve that way of life.

Speaker 1: 3:33

So it's, while some people may, you know, kind of look at hunters and, oh, they're bad, like they're actually the ones who are helping to keep wild spaces wild, and uh, just such an amazing way. But, yes, no, that's something that I was taught. You know, use every bit of the animal. Uh, you know, you're not killing to kill. You kill it, you cook it, you clean it, you eat it, you respect it and, uh, that's been with me ever since I was a little kid. But I'm excited to hear you know that you're out there using your smoker and, um, you know what? What kind of smoke are you gotten? You got pellet grill, what is it?

Speaker 2: 4:04

It's just the oh, it's the 4 Series pellet smoker. It's changed my life. To be honest, every time we eat the meat like we have this feeling that we're putting something good, fresh, no antibiotics and steroids and stuff into our bodies. And it really does. And steroids and stuff into our bodies. And it really does. Because every time I ate McDonald's when I was a kid, once those movies came out of Fat, sick and Dead, almost Dead or something like that, and I saw another one about Supersize.

Speaker 1: 4:39

Me.

Speaker 2: 4:40

Yeah, I was like ooh gross and I felt it, and then this has just been is just a bit of a life changing event. Plus, I'm a big meat eater too. Cause I love protein, I work out tons. I try to keep the protein content as high as possible.

Speaker 1: 4:58

Well, I mean, you're using a ton of energy when you're on stage and we'll kind of dive into that too, and it you know, I was just thinking about this it you're on stage and we'll kind of dive into that too, and it you know, I was just thinking about this it you're about to, and this will be dropping on the 22nd. So it's going to be pendulum's first album in 15 years, which was 15 years ago when you and I were kind of on the circuit there and I remember kind of when we were chatting, uh, we were at dallas, I'd come to see you, I was filming one of your sets and you were talking about this band that you were about to be performing with. You couldn't mention who it was. And then I think in the weeks that came, you're like I'm going to be drumming with Pendulum and I know you've jammed with all sorts of amazing musicians, but that was a huge amount of news to see that happening.

Speaker 1: 5:43

Here we are 15 years later, first album in 15 years. Why don't you tell me a little bit about what's going on with that and how that process has been with the recording? And I know you guys are kicking off a tour soon, so just catch me up. I know you had some gigs recently. Yeah, let's just hear what's going on in the KJ Saka and Pendulum world right now.

Speaker 2: 6:00

So we just dropped a collaboration with wargasm called cannibal and we just dropped a collaboration, uh with owl nation called guiding lights and, uh, you'll hear it on guiding lights. Guiding lights has all this like almost metal drumming, metal tom runs and some double bass, kicks and stuff that we all love. And Rob and Gareth are the kind of the Rob is like the main guy of Pendulum. It's his baby pretty much. He will spend hundreds of hours in the studio after we've done all our parts producing it up. He's he's pretty known as one of the best producers, uh in the, the edm space, if not in the world. He's done stuff with rihanna and all kinds of people. Uh, ghost produced for tons of people. Uh, ghost produced for tons of people and uh, once he gets in there, like it's, it's absolute magic.

Speaker 2: 7:10

But we had the opportunity to to record in this big metal uh studio where Bring Me to the Horizon uh, bring Me to the Horizon uh has recorded and a bunch of other metal bands and uh, it was a pretty big departure from what we normally do. But Immersion right when I started, we dropped Immersion and that was a really big departure as well, still keeping the rock, but going a little bit deeper into the metal and then going back to some of the roots of some of the jungle stuff too. So it's almost like a crossover of metal, accessible songwriting mixed with jungle, and it's exactly my cup of tea. That's the exact stuff that I love.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Well, I mean that was kind of how they ended up. You know, discovering you had all these videos out. You're the human jungle drum machine. I mean there was so many incredible you know snippets that were out there. It's kind of going viral back in the day and you know that definitely was your side of things and I I want to take a quick departure for you back to the pendulum, talking about some tour dates and stuff and kind of talk about you know, you know your origin of, of your drumming and such and, uh, some of the things that you're producing. Talk to me a little bit about what's going on with that. Are you working on your own tracks these days? You got Impossible Records. Is that what you got kicking there? Catch me up a little bit, because it's been a minute and I want to hear what you got going on.

Speaker 2: 8:34

Yeah, so we started Impossible Records about 2014 and really kicked things off 2015, 2016, 2017. Had multiple number ones on Beatport number one albums. And just talking to an artist, phenom, who won the last remix contest that I did last year and he has this insane story about fle the ukraine with bombs dropping on him trying to get his family and his baby out of there uh, spent five days backpacking in the woods chased by a bear and chased by by government drones. Uh, he was going to get arrested either way, either shot and killed by enemy or taken by his own government and probably killed or made to fight and probably killed. Insane story and building his Patreon page, building his YouTube page, solely making his income from music. And I had him on the group session that we do in my mentorship and everyone was just like eyes glued to the screen as he's sharing this story and his releases back in 2015 on Impossible Records were career life-changing for him and I had no idea it was just like another release we're releasing and for a lot of people it's just another release. It doesn't necessarily move the needle that much. It's just part of the journey and part of the flow. For him it was absolutely life-changing. Then just a quick more on that. He hit me up. He's like hey, kj, we hit a number one, this is amazing, got top 10 on overall Bport, which is really big. It was especially really big in 2015. It still is really amazing to have that.

Speaker 2: 10:43

And he's like hey, hey, is there any income from from the music? And I'm like let me check. And I opened up the distribution and I said, uh, we've made a hundred dollars and we've put five hundred dollars into the campaign with artwork and everything, so you're 400 in the negative. And it broke him like completely. He stopped doing music for a couple of years. He's like wow. He's like this is nuts. I get a number one record and my life changes, but there's no money and a lot of artists are trying to deal with this and it was right. When Spotify started, we were slow to start in Spotify. That's kind of one of the things. Streaming services was one of the nails in the coffin for Impossible Records.

Speaker 2: 11:36

We didn't fully close. I kept on releasing my own music and sample packs and everything but to try to support other artists. That was just rough. I was like I don't know if there's any upside financial upside but some of the other upsides are dwindling as well, like the morale of artists. So that was rough.

Speaker 2: 11:58

But we've been navigating the waters of streaming services and it's very bittersweet. You know, so many artists are like F you, spotify, and rightfully so. However, it's the dance with the devil. It's like the dance with a major label. They're not going away and most people on earth go to Spotify to look for new music and if you're not on there, you know you're shooting yourself in the foot. It's just. It's going to be that much harder Now if you're Snoop Dogg and you want to pull off and you make a public announcement, I mean he's Snoop Dogg, he is on Mars and everyone else is on Earth.

Speaker 2: 12:47

In the sense that I tell my artists I'm like you cannot compare your career with Snoop Dogg's, like he's the top dog, rightfully so. He's totally badass. He's an actor, he can do anything and, yes, he can create a movement, and hats off to him for doing that to try to create a movement, but it does take a lot more to. I don't know, I don't know how to. I can't even comprehend what the solution would be except just keep on driving forward.

Speaker 1: 13:26

Well, you mentioned that too, working with your artists. There are still a lot of things you're doing with helping artists and you still have your mentorship, your courses. Why don't you talk a little bit about what you got that and where you can? You know what you can offer to people from your decades of experience in the scene and in producing and in touring. You have a lot to offer all around and I'd love for you to kind of plug that if you would.

Speaker 2: 13:48

Yeah, so Impossible Records was helping artists to get out there, to get their records out there, and we were doing kind of everything for them. I would help them with artist relations and helping them fix their song and giving them tons of technical guidance and things hey, let's change this around and tutoring them a bit, mentoring them all for free, cause I was excited about their song, but it needed just a little bit of tweaking, and they were happy to do it, and then many artists just sent me tunes and I'm, and it was perfectly done. So I was putting resources, time, energy and money into these artists, and I loved it, but there was really no end in sight of the resources, and the resources were only so much. Only one person. My wife and I were both doing Impossible Records. We had a label manager at one time. That was it, though and we had an art designer. Everything was out of pocket, and, yeah, I think the most we've paid well, I've paid my collaborator thousands of dollars because it's KJ Saka Tunes, and we've had some millions of streams and stuff like that, but the rest of the catalog, it's nothing quite like that. However, just like Phenom, it's really made a massive impact on so many artists' careers, stuff and paying for everything.

Speaker 2: 15:48

People pay me now, uh, as as the mentor, uh inside the mentorship, with courses, uh, one-on-one sessions and things. So now they have some skin in the game and for some people it's not very much, for other people it's it's a lot. There's a big sliding scale, um, and there is a big sliding scale of what I can offer an artist. I used to call them students. They are all artists now. They're all grown adults and looking to excel their careers. Some people just want to get better at making music, some people want to finish music, but a lot of the people are like I just want to make a little bit of money from music and if I can't do that, I feel like my life is not complete. And that's pretty big, because once you get that music bug, that artist bug, it's there forever.

Speaker 1: 16:45

For sure.

Speaker 2: 16:46

Yeah, so that's what I do. I've built up several hundred students in my mentorship. We've got a school program. It's called Elevate your Craft. So if you go to SKOOL, we'll maybe put that in the show notes, oh yeah, um, we'll put, maybe put that in the show notes, oh yeah. And also, if you just go to kjsakacom and hover over lessons, you'll see everything there as well.

Speaker 2: 17:11

And, um, I love helping people. So many people come to me with drum questions, drum module questions, electronic drum questions Uh, how do you do it? How do you? How are you in pendulum and release your own music and teach people get a lot of those questions. How do you do it? How are you in Pendulum and release your own music and teach people? I get a lot of those questions and I've kind of filtered all of that into the mentorship. There's loads of free resources there too for people who can't afford to be in a paid membership, and that's totally fine. I'm just happy to try to help people, to see them elevate uh, hence the name elevate your craft any way, shape or form.

Speaker 1: 17:51

Yeah, well that's. It's an amazing thing you're doing, man, and when people get the kind of experience they can give back and be able to have that one-on-one time with you to help them kind of move, move that needle forward. It's important and you know you kind of just mentioned is the idea of, like, your drum module and the setup and I was kind of curious you know it's every few years I'll see some additions and some different technology coming to play and what you got, you know, in your kit. I mean I was kind of curious, what is it that you are having? As far as your live gig right now, what do you have using? I mean, I know that you got a gig this will air the 22nd. You'll have a show that night at Woodkey Festival. Curious, what you're bringing there. And then also, what are you doing with your live pendulum sets? What does that look like? As far as your setup, Nice, nice.

Speaker 2: 18:41

So as far as my kj saka solo sets, I do a couple handfuls of of those sets a year. Most of the dates I have to actually deny because we have so much pendulum touring happening and uh, I'm always like, oh, poor me, you know, like I have to choose a bigger show, you know. And it's weird because I really want to pursue my KJ career, but I am in an amazing collaboration with Pendulum, which I love, and it's kind of like Pendulum and Knife Party too, like they love doing Knife Party stuff, and so there's only so much time, uh, to do things, um, but anyways, most of the kj gigs, my setup is kind of like a dj setup, but I have my drum pad. It's the roland spd sx pro. I've done a bunch of different um musical setups from a laptop with a keyboard, laptop with a drum machine, but now everything is inside the SPD-SX Pro no laptop, no IO device, gaff taped to a laptop and it's shaking on stage and all that stuff was getting harder and harder to put on stage too, because they kept on making the DJ table smaller and smaller just to fit the CDJs, like that's it. There's no extra room, and so this SPD-SX Pro drum pad is almost the exact same size as one CDJ. So we just pull a CDJ out, I put my drum pad right there, I plug into the DJ mixer, I'm off to the races. I got all my songs in there all stemmed out. I can mute different parts, I can have just the vocals playing and I can do amen breaks and all kinds of improv stuff.

Speaker 2: 20:39

I don't do much live looping anymore. I used to do a ton of live looping with Ableton, using a bunch of Max for Live stuff. It was very, very cool. It was very, very cool for me. But the audience, they really can't see it. 99% of people don't know or care what I'm doing. And the drum pad is quite convenient. I don't have no check bags anymore and I can still deliver a great performance with my sticks in my hands. I was trying to do just DJ gigs too and I would show up with no sticks and people were like where is the drum sticks? Dude. So that was short-lived. But I still have my USB stick that I put in there in case my drum pad takes a poop or something like that on stage.

Speaker 2: 21:33

Plus, it's really fun to do the DJ-style stuff because it is a DJ setting. People do expect the DJ performance. So tweaking the DJ effects and just being behind the table and doing the DJ hands, you know, yeah. And then I have some collaborations. Have some singers come up with me at Woodkey I'm going to have All Fires come up with me. He's my biggest collaborator right now we have. He's my collaborator on my most streamed tunes on Spotify. We love working together and he makes kind of like indie rock stuff. He's an incredible songwriter and I think we met during COVID. He just hit me up on Facebook. He also submitted some music to Impulse Records a while back or back in 2016 or something like that. Yeah, we've been producing together for quite some time.

Speaker 1: 22:33

Well, you've had a lot of collaborations too. I know you did some stuff with Blake Lewis and you guys are old friends, I mean dating back to the uh days when, when he was on there too, um, and I was curious as far as that did. You guys are y'all planning on doing any other work together? Is that kind of a one and done? What does that look like?

Speaker 2: 22:55

blake and I have a group called the private language and we're signed to Black Hole Records and we have, I think, about five or six more tunes to put out on Black Hole. Black Hole is an amazing record label. I think Tiesto started it. One of their largest artists over the years has been BT. He puts out almost everything on Black Hole. Arnie is the main owner.

Speaker 2: 23:23

We love that guy and, yeah, it's totally different. It's almost tropical house pop, indie, kind of indie pop, electronic music. We're going a little bit more into the drum and bass territory because we were like what are we doing? We love drum and bass and we love a little bit harder music mixed with accessible vocal music. Blake loves pop music and hence being on American Idol. So, yeah, we try to get together several times a month to try to finish that project. A lot of different projects, though, and as a mentor, I tell the artists it's not the best idea to have multiple projects. If you want to see success in a project, it's just twice as hard. One of my mentors told me it's like setting up if you're trying to climb a tree and it takes a 16-foot ladder. You are better off with one 16-foot ladder as opposed to 16 one-foot ladders. How are you supposed to climb that tree with just a one-foot ladder? And that definitely rings true. However, I am a testament to being successful with multiple projects, but it is a juggling act.

Speaker 1: 24:53

Yeah, well, you've juggled it well, but there's been so many different bands you've played with and different projects and your own and the record label Another one that comes to mind too is Destroyed. I was curious is there going to be any more Destroyed? I have yet to see you guys on tour. When y'all did that, the shows looked amazing. I'll have to send some pictures and videos along for everyone so they can see what the entire setup was, because it was incredible. But I was curious as far as that. Is there any Destroyed in the future?

Speaker 2: 25:26

My answer to that is there any destroyed in the future? My answer to that is destroyed will never die. Yes, yeah, yeah, that's pretty much. It really. Uh, jeff and I have had a long relationship, same with sean and I, so it's sean or uh, sean, downlink, jeff, excision and I, uh, are the crazy EDM robot aliens. You know a lot of young people who go to Lost Lands and go to Base Canyon and who are big Excision fans, sometimes don't even know who Destroyed is, because that was almost 10 years ago, if not, yep, 10 years ago, yeah. And so some of these kids are 21, that they, they were 11 years old and, um, I'm 47 years old now and I'm really sinking my teeth into music more than ever, but also into life and um, not just kind of running away doing music, but like the music and the touring and the busy schedule is much more integrated with my whole life, which is, I guess, more balanced, and that's what I've been trying to teach in the mentorship as well in the mentorship as well.

Speaker 1: 26:43

Well, you know, let's let's talk about that, cause I know that you just guys got off a string of dates and I know that there was the single ticket record. Was it like 40,000 people that were at the show? I mean it was.

Speaker 2: 26:54

Milton Keyes bowl in the UK. In Milton Keyes kind of a younger city, only a hundred years old or so for England Cause every city is freaking ancient. There's castles everywhere and most of the cities kind of have like from various castles there's like six or seven roads that go out in a circle and it's not a grid system at all and a lot of times in London the roads kind of follow the Thames river and it's super windy. It's really cool. The Thames River and it's super windy. It's really cool. And it's very European and America's very grid. Um and same with Milton Keyes. It's a grid system.

Speaker 2: 27:30

So when we showed up I was like, wow, this kind of reminds me of America and the guys from England they're like I know it sucks. I'm like, oh, that makes sense. You know. I'm like I could see why you don't like it. But they have this gigantic natural bowl and now it's called Milton Keyes. I think it's a permanent stage there and it holds about 40, $28,000 or something like that. I think Milton Keyes made maybe $35,000 or something like that. I can't remember the actual number, but it was our biggest show ever and it was considered the biggest hard ticket show that we've ever done.

Speaker 1: 28:20

Well, and I know you guys have played in festivals where there's more people there in attendance, but yes, this was the single ticket.

Speaker 1: 28:25

And I know you guys have played in festivals where there's more people there in attendance, but yes, this was the single ticket and congrats. And what I was going to kind of you know, move with that idea is that you know you talk about this work-life balance and when you guys are touring and you're going to all these amazing cities I mean in October you guys have a full-on tour all around Europe and beyond and I was kind of curious when you talk about that balance, what is that balance for you? Are you and your wife getting out there and, you know, doing your own set of travel, or is it just are those moments so much work oriented and interviews and different things and kind of soundchecking getting around, or are you guys building in some time to also visit these areas and kind of have the taste of cultures of these areas? It's kind of curious what that was like for you and you mentioned that balance that came to mind.

Speaker 2: 29:08

Lately it's full on work. Yeah, yeah, not much play time. Perry and I, our guitar player, we'll venture out together. We're like there's. It's funny that there's a show that aired for years in the UK called the Perry and Kevin Show or the Kevin and Perry Show, and it's the Kevin and Perry Show.

Speaker 2: 29:30

We're always going out hand in hand, like in Greece we saw a bunch of old shit. We call it old shit. We're like let's go see some old shit and castle ruins and all kinds of stuff, and so we get to like on show day sometimes we don't, uh, hit the lobby, call until like 8 pm, 9 pm or something like that. We got all day to kind of prep for the show and we'll do a nice lunchtime walk see some stuff. But that's kind of about it. Uh, it's mostly we fly in, fly out, or or this time it's going to be the bus and um, so it's going to be a big bus run and, yeah, no wives or girlfriends there, because it's busy, busy. The crew wakes up, sets, spends most of the day setting up the whole stage, massive stages, and we prep. And on the beginning and ends of tours, especially like Australia and Asia and things, sometimes we'll have family fly in, especially Rob and Gaz, because they have family in Australia, so they'll stay a while there sometimes, but I usually fly right back. But we are going to change that and that is our goal as far as a family and get more out there. Yeah, work-life balance is more and more a thing that is just more and more important. Everything is more meaningful, everything is more emotional. The stuff from childhood it pokes its head up, it seems like with everybody as we get older. We're like God. Why do I feel that way about that one certain thing and then it was something when we were born or really really, really young that is causing these emotions to come up and stuff. And yeah, that's a real thing, learning about that.

Speaker 2: 31:32

A lot of people in the mentorship are kind of dealing with that too. Um, the struggles of confidence in their art, in their music, in themselves why aren't they doing what they want to do? How come they're not on stage? Those are tough questions and so you know it's easy to say, well, it's because of this and it's because of that. I have some like mentors who are really hard, hard as nails and you're like you got it. It's a light switch. You got to either turn it on or turn it off. Like you know, you can't just, like you know, say I'm, I don't feel like it today. You got to do it and there's times for that. For sure. If you work for somebody else and you can't do your job, you're going to get fired. That's it.

Speaker 2: 32:19

However, with music it is a little bit different. I try to teach people how to kind of. If you want to make money from it, if you want it to be a career, you do have to kind of look at it like a job. It to be a career, you do have to kind of look at it like a job. But one of my latest blogs was quote, unquote no, I didn't sign up for this Meaning that a lot of artists. They had no idea that making money from their art would require them to wear every hat of a business. Start a business, run a business, promote a business, market a business, create the product. Who else is going to do it? You know, but some people are just like. It baffles my whole brain just to think about that, and it is baffling, you know. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:12

Well, I know that well, I had a, a team of artists. I used to have a company called texas collective where I would do the management for artists, because a lot of the artists that I knew were great artists and it ended there. They weren't great marketers. They didn't know how to speak to people, they didn't know how to get their stuff out, they didn't know how to get things to be able to be sold, whether it was, you know, hard copy art in the walls or whether it was music. They didn't know how to get that to that next stage.

Speaker 1: 33:39

And that's something that I think a lot of artists, they just they don't have that Right, and unless you've worked on those things and you put those tools in the toolbox, that isn't something that comes naturally to everybody. Um, you know and that's when you talk about those kinds of things too, it is true A lot of those artists had no idea how many hats they have to wear, and I mean, we see so many starving artists that are out there, or people who sometimes give it up because a lack of success. Where it, it may just be those tools that they need to be able to develop, and I think that's important that you're talking about with your mentorship, of bringing that out and teaching them maybe how to go about and find those and turn them into strengths that they can use.

Speaker 2: 34:19

And it can be very discouraging and so many people kind of miss the core concept, which is social media. There's two different buckets You're a consumer or you're a creator on social media and if you're a creator, that means you have something to share with everybody, just like being on stage. And a lot of people kind of miss that, that core concept. It's really hard for them to even conceptualize that. Uh, they haven't been on stage. And once you're on stage, it's like okay, everybody's looking at you, what are you gonna do? You know, that's kind of like a creator with social media.

Speaker 2: 35:12

But social media is nuts. We're seeing people who don't necessarily have that something as far as performance, like on stage. They've just figured out the algorithm and maybe they're just freaking cutting fish and it would not be very exciting at all on stage, but it's really exciting to watch for some reason on that platform and that works for them and that's really awesome. I think, actually, when people find their niches and can create a really big buzz around it, I mean that's not much different than being an artist, really.

Speaker 1: 35:52

Yeah it is its own medium of art, and that's something that you know it it's. It makes them happy, and a lot of those times you see people making a living doing that, uh, when they get good and successful at it, which is you know, hats off to them, right.

Speaker 2: 36:08

One of my biggest uh YouTube shorts besides a bunch of drumming ones is is me cutting into the brisket and I'm like, okay, my second ever brisket 13 hour cook and it has, like I don't know, 100,000 views or something like that. And it's nothing special and it but people really like to look at that stuff. You know, the comments are like my mouth is watering. And then some of the comments are like you ruined it with the cut and it's like so funny, yeah, it did taste good and it did flop over my, over my finger.

Speaker 1: 36:49

You know there's so many other things that I kind of wanted to get to. I know we've kind of got some time constraints there. Why don't you kind of tell us a little bit about what's happening with the upcoming tour and where all you guys are going to be going and what does this look like? Is there anything that you guys are doing a little bit different for this? Are you bringing out some of those collaborators for some of these live shows? I mean, almost the entire month of October is booked, and then maybe you can answer the question of when the hell are you coming to Texas with Pendulum, because that's another question I have. But yeah, let's talk about the tour first. What's happening in October?

Speaker 2: 37:25

All right. So, yeah, we do Helsinki, stockholm, copenhagen, prague, all over Europe, copenhagen Prague all over Europe. And then we end last week with a UK run. And it's crazy about the UK because it's such a small country literally, texas is bigger than the entire country of the UK but we can play arenas in places that are only like two, two and a half hours away from each other full arenas that, and then multiple, like thousands of people drive to almost all of the dates too. That is so locked in with us. Like, maybe our social media is not growing like crazy, but our hardcore fans have been there with us and that is really really something. You can have millions of streams and millions of followers on Instagram. Do you have the fans that can sell out arenas? And we've been able to build that over like the last 20 years and we count our lucky stars every day for that, taking life less for granted. Really, every time we get another gig and another tour, I'm like every time we get another gig and another tour, I'm like this is amazing. This is amazing because we're getting up there. You know, we're all in our 40s now and we didn't.

Speaker 2: 39:07

I'm gonna die on stage, that's a fact. I'm gonna play drums and be producing music. People ask what are you gonna do in your later years? I'm like this is it. This is what I'm gonna do. I'm going to play drums and be producing music. People ask what are you going to do in your later years? I'm like this is it. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to venture off into life a lot more as well.

Speaker 2: 39:21

And, and, uh, you just have the freezer stocked with game and amazing farm animals. Uh, treat animals with even more respect. My goal is to try to treat humans with more respect, but the concept is nurturing our fan base and, yeah, so there's going to be a bunch of fun stuff for the fans, a bunch of really cool social media things along the way that we're doing. And as far as special guests, our collaborators do a lot of touring as well. So I'm not sure exactly what dates we're going to have collaborators with us, but so far we have a big package, a big live show package that is multimedia, crazy videos around us, really cool set. We'll be rehearsing that set early, late September, early October. For that. Then we hit the tour bus. Yeah, so it's going to be. All I can say is. It's going to be the best tour that we've ever done.

Speaker 1: 40:32

Hey KG, I had another question. That's one about AI and music and just kind of that technological change in this realm. I mean, we've seen so many different types of precursors of change, going from vinyl to cassette to CD to minidisc, you know, and like streaming and then all the different things. And now you got AI where some people can kind of hit a button and create a song, you know, just from a prompt. What are you seeing and are you utilizing any of this AI technology? What does that look like for you? And you know, talk about that landscape, if you will, please.

Speaker 2: 41:14

With the evolution and the technological advances, with AI and everything, the landscape of music is changing rapidly. Copywriting is down the tube because of ChatGPT and songwriting now is on the brink of almost extinction in a sense, because of websites that can literally write a song with a prompt and then a layman, someone who doesn't know anything about music, can write a song and copyright it as their own work, and songwriters have been trying to make the best songs possible for their entire lives, so it's absolutely soul-crushing to many people. However, it's not going away and maybe some of these AI companies might shift or get taken down or have a really big dent in their journey because of major copyright lawsuits, which all that stuff is happening. I'm following all of it. It's the wild wild west right now, but it's always kind of been that with technology and I kind of share that. In the 80s and 90s, when pure analog started to switch to digital, the invention of the ADAT from vinyl to cassette to CD, that was huge. Minidisc was a little thing for a while and then streaming oh, people thought it was the end of music. Napster, it is just another chapter and it's a big one because the computer can write a full song which is super freaking. Nuts. This is way beyond just a Napster stealing your song type thing or someone stealing not paying for a song. This is way bigger. But what are you going to do, though? That's like there's like we have to move forward. Going to do though that's like there's like we have to move forward. And so I for myself, I'm more head down into my music, so I'm putting out more music, I'm writing more music as KJ Saka, I'm collaborating more. I'm actually expanding into. I have this country meets drum and bass thing that I'm working on. That is fire. I'm so freaking excited.

Speaker 2: 43:39

I got multiple songs and because I recently got into country during COVID, we spent some time in like this A-frame house in southern Oregon on our way up to Washington from Las Vegas. No internet, no cell reception or anything, just some country CDs and a local country radio station and that environment. There was no running water either. We had to go out with these buckets of water, bring it in, boil the water, put water down the back of the toilet to flush the toilet. I loved it. I thought it was so cool. I was cooking up dinner and the dogs loved it, and then we turned on.

Speaker 2: 44:29

My wife has loved country forever but she didn't really play a whole lot of country because I despised country for so long. I'm like drum and bass rock, and she turned on that country music and those lyrics sunk in. I'm like I get it Because I'm like why would you talk so much on the nose, like you're actually talking about your Ford truck and your cowboy boots, like it's so on the nose? There's no like thought provoking lyrics. It's just like that is what it is. But I get it now and I think it's freaking awesome, and especially the country mixed with trap, like a trap beat, uh. So we got a I got a big country trap playlist started.

Speaker 2: 45:14

That is hot, freaking stuff, and so that has been a big inspiration in my songwriting, cause, let's face it, they're just like love songs. You know, they're like the greatest songs and they hit your soul, and so I guess that's what it is is a little bit of soul searching and a little bit of like whatever happens happens and wars are happening, there's nothing that I can freaking do except make music, because that's kind of what. Why people make music is they're like oh my god, the news is insane. I'm going to go be creative and do something, because I cannot.

Speaker 2: 45:55

Almost everybody has dabbled, at least, into ChatGPT and everything. We should I think everyone should. We should not neglect that form of technology, because I tried to not do streaming for a while and it didn't do any good trying to boycott streaming, especially as a record label, and so, yeah, that's what I'm doing. I'm going back to my roots more drum and bass, but mixed with love songs and accessible songs. That's what I've always loved. And, taking advantage of the new tools that we have, I'm doing a remix contest right now, actually my new song, crazy, and we are in partnership with an AI company called ACE Studio, and it's an AI singer app inside your DAW, so it's ethical and you can use it and publish it Like other apps. That's not inside a music DAW. You can't really publish it, it's not okay, but this one you can. You can create your own AI voice, which is really cool, yeah, so hunker down and make music is my advice for all the artists out there and go check out the a-frame.

Speaker 2: 47:46

Smoke some meats, listen to some country dude, I can't wait to get down to texas.

Speaker 1: 47:53

Dude, you need to come out here and do some ranch time. One of them, you know, we got Central Texas. You can fly into Austin. The other one's out the beaten path a little bit. But that just gives you time to get in the truck, the Ford, and listen to some country music on the way down there. But I'll tell you, when we hit the ranch down there there's only one type of music that normally gets played and that's Tejano. There's something about being out near the Mexican border checking out some good Tejano music and it just kind of fuels you man. It's upbeat. My buddy started doing that. As soon as you get to the ranch you turn on the Tejano. And it was funny because, like, whenever we have a power outage, then you know if someone like goes off into town, or the family or whatever they come back to the house, then it's like for whatever it resets to that Tejano station, it's blaring. So you'll know if the power went out when the Tejano is kicking.

Speaker 2: 48:42

But it's always a good time. That is wicked.

Speaker 1: 48:45

Who knows, tejano drum and bass? Maybe there's a collaboration for us yet that we'll swing back on.

Speaker 2: 48:51

I'm going to make a marg and crank up some Tejana tonight for sure.

Speaker 1: 48:57

That's great. It pairs well with smoked meats as well. Kj, You're going to love it.

Speaker 2: 49:03

Incredible. That's what I'm going to do.

Speaker 1: 49:05

That's what I'm going to do. Good deal. Hey, is there as far as folks who want to follow your journey? Obviously you know you've got the Pendulum Tour coming up. We talked about that. I'll have some links down below for people who want to go and see those live shows. You've got some live shows coming up too, and I know you kind of have a calendar of events on your website. Why don't you let people know your website and your socials and how people can follow your journey there?

Speaker 2: 49:31

Thanks, george, it's been an absolute pleasure to be on this show with you. And, uh, for anyone who wants to follow my journey, you could just go to KJ Sakacom. Uh, I'm really easy to get ahold of too. Uh, pretty much all my social media is KJ S A W K A, kj Saka and uh, uh, yeah, you can message me, you can DM me. Uh, I'm, I'm, I'm, the, the, the, the talkative one in the band.

Speaker 1: 49:59

I'm glad, man, it's listen. Uh, again it's. It's you kind of started this journey, man. Episode two of of the son of a blitz podcast. It was you. We kind of were the ones that kind of kicked this whole thing off. And uh, it's fun to come back and circle back to that and check in with you and uh, looking forward to hosting you some tejano and barbecue down here in texas. Man, get on down I'm coming.

Speaker 2: 50:22

I'm gonna buy a ticket right now awesome, awesome.

Speaker 1: 50:24

I'll send you some dates, cool man. Well, hey, you take care. Uh, I appreciate it and I hope you have a phenomenal tour. Uh, good luck on the gig here on Friday and yeah, man, we'll be in touch.

Speaker 2: 50:36

All right, George.

Speaker 1: 50:37

All right, take care bud, bye.