Sept. 21, 2026

Behind the Scenes with Jack from Dead Poet Society at Louder Than Life Festival

Show Notes
Transcript

In this episode of The Adventures of Pipeman on W4CY Radio, Pipeman interviews Jack from Dead Poet Society at Louder Than Life festival. They dive into the challenges and rewards of performing at festivals, the process behind Dead Poet Society's new album "Monarch," the importance of artistic evolution, and maintaining authenticity as artists. They also discuss upcoming tour plans and what fans can look forward to.Main Topics Covered

Performing at Louder Than Life Festival and artist experiences
Organization and artist hospitality at Danny Wimmer and Wimmer Festivals
The making and excitement behind Dead Poet Society's upcoming album, "Monarch"
The creative process: balancing self-criticism with artistic satisfaction
The paradox of musical evolution and maintaining authenticity
The impact of COVID on artistic direction and personal reflection
Upcoming tour plans and how fans can stay engaged

Key Discussions & StoriesPerforming in Festival Heat

Jack shares what it's like performing in extreme heat and getting into the "zone" on stage 00:27.
The challenge of performing versus the relief and exhaustion post-performance 00:40.

Wimmer Festival Hospitality

Pipeman inquires about the treatment of artists at Wimmer Festivals.
Jack appreciates the well-organized events, air conditioning, catering, and proximity to stages 01:27.
Contrast with chaotic festival experiences elsewhere 02:11.

Upcoming Album: "Monarch"

Jack announces the album "Monarch" is coming out October 2nd 02:43.
Shares excitement and pride for this collection of songs—the most stoked he’s ever been about a release 02:46.
Discusses the effort to push creative limits and ensure artistic satisfaction 03:13.

The Creative Process & Self-Critique

The value of pushing beyond comfort zones to create something special 03:17.
Acknowledgment that while audience reactions matter, personal artistic pride is essential 04:10.

The Paradox of Musical Evolution

Jack reflects on how getting better at music can paradoxically make things worse if overthought 06:04.
Importance of retaining a "childlike brain" and spontaneity when creating music 06:40.

Returning to Basics and Self-Honesty

Recognition that sometimes the true skill lies in returning to artistic basics rather than technical advancement 07:30.
Insights into COVID’s positive effect, providing the space for self-reflection and honest direction 08:15.

Tour & Future Plans

Dead Poet Society will be touring following the album release, possibly for the foreseeable future 08:58.
Encouragement for fans to attend a show for a memorable experience 09:12.

Notable Quotes

"There's a level when you're making the art that you have to kind of keep pushing past to be like, can this be better?" — Jack 03:17
"At the end of the day, it's like when you put this out, you got to think it's great. Everybody else might think it sucks, but if you think it's great, can't take that away from you." — Jack 04:14
"Music has this weird paradox where it seems like the better you get at it, sometimes, oftentimes the worse it is." — Jack 06:04
"Making sure that you are opening that, keeping that door to your childhood brain open." — Jack 07:37
"Am I being as honest with myself as I can be?" — Jack 08:22

Resources & Links Mentioned

Dead Poet Society Album: "Monarch" — releasing October 2nd.
Tour Info: Band will be touring extensively after album release.
Merchandise: Listeners are encouraged to buy Dead Poet Society merch and support the band.

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WEBVTT

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This is the Pipe Man here on the Adventures of

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Pipe Man W4CY radio and.

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I'm here with jack from dead poet society.

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Nice good to see you again good to see you

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here at hotter than life i mean louder than life

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oh my god i i have such mad respect for

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you artists performing in this heat i like i'm sitting

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here and i'm like dying it's gonna be interesting i

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know right you know and uh but you get in

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that zone right when you get up on stage and

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it's like You don't even think about it. You don't

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give yourself permission. And then after the set, you die.

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Yeah. Yeah, you just start to feel confused and sick.

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Right.

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And then you get off stage, and you're like, oh, yeah,

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that's right. My brain is baking.

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Yeah, no doubt. So, have you played louder? I can't...

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They all swirl in my head by now.

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A couple times, yeah.

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Yeah, so... I want to ask you something. I don't

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think I've asked you before, but has Danny Wimmer and

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the Wimmer festivals treat you as an artist?

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How do they treat us as an artist?

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Yes. Uh, good.

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I think it's, I mean, it's hospitable. I mean, we

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have AC, we got AC, we got catering.

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There you go.

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To the stages. I, I like, I like playing these festivals.

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Well, that's why I ask is like, As an artist,

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you need as little stress as possible.

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Yeah.

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And there's some festivals out there that, you know, it's

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not as organized. They don't cater as much to the artists.

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And loading can be stressful. Soundcheck can be stressful. And

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that makes it harder on you. So I love hearing

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good things at a Wimmer Festival. To where you can

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have the kind of experience where you can just get

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up there and have a fun, good time and give

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us a great time.

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Well, I'll say that it's very well organized, the whole thing.

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And as far as festivals go, sometimes they're just complete

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fucking chaos. Right. And you're just like, what the fuck? Like,

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who's in charge here? I've yet to experience that at

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a Dandy Women's Festival.

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And that's what I mean. That's what's so cool about it.

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And that's why they've gotten so big.

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Right.

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And, you know, I've never heard an artist say a

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bad thing in all the years.

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No, no.

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That says a lot.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. So tell the listeners what else you got going

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on right now that's coming up, that's going on now

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that you want them to know about.

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Well, our album is coming out October 2nd. It is

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called Monarch. And it's a collection of songs that I am.

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Fucking stoked about.

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It's the most stoked I've ever been to release an album.

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I think we got something here that is really fucking.

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Tell me what makes you feel that way. How do

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you feel about... How do you feel... Like... That's not

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always the case. So the fact that you feel so

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stoked about it, I want to hear.

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I think it was a concerted effort to get to

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the end and be stoked about it.

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There's like.

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There's... A.

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There's a level when you're making the art that you

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have to kind of like keep pushing past to be like,

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can this be better?

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Can this be better? Is this going to be better?

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If I keep pushing and.

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And it's easy to.

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Not listen to your gut, especially when you're tired of

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working on something.

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Yeah.

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Or it's not coming together, and you don't know why,

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that you just want to say, like, all right, enough's enough.

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And making sure that wasn't part of the process by

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the end of it was super important from the start,

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I think, for all of us. And you think you're

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doing that sometimes, and you get to the end, and

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you release a song, so you're like.

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Is any of this shit good?

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Right.

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And, you know.

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Because you're your own worst critic, okay, as an artist.

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And whether or not other people think it's great isn't

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really up to you. So, at the end of the day,

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it's like when you put this out, you've got to

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think it's great. Everybody else might think it sucks, but

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if you think it's great, can't take that.

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Away from you.

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No doubt. And if you don't think it's great, it's

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hard for anybody else to think it's great.

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That too.

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And if they do, you're like, Well, I still don't

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think it's great.

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Right.

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You know, it's kind of like when you're performing a

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live show, when you guys screw up, which all artists do.

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Most of us in the audience never know.

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Yeah.

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You know, but you're like, fuck. I do that way

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in an interview, too. Like, sometimes I'll get off an interview,

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I'm like, man, I fucking sucked. And they'll be like, man,

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that was a great interview. I'm like, really? Okay.

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But at the end of the day, you want to

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do interviews that you're proud of.

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Exactly.

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I'm here to make art that I'm proud of, you know?

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It's just.

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Otherwise, why do it?

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Why do it?

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Yeah, exactly. So, what is it that, like, it's different

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now of making music compared to through all the years?

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Because one of my things I always talk about is

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artists need to evolve, like, for themselves. I don't mean

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I need to evolve, for yourself.

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Yep.

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And you want to get better at your craft. You

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have your old school fans that always want you to

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stay that garage band vibe. But you want to get better.

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You want to experiment. And as you get more mature

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as an artist, you kind of want to create differently

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than you did when you first started.

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Yeah. Well.

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If I could speak to that, like.

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The weird thing is music is one of those things

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where it's... I feel like with interviews and visual art and.

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You know, like.

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Any form, any creative form, you get better at it

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as you get more experience. But music has this weird

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paradox where it seems like the better you get at it, sometimes.

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Oftentimes, the worse it is.

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Wow. And I don't know if that's just familiarity and

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people want familiarity when it just comes to sonic art.

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Or it's just like you start allowing yourself to think

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too much, but that holding onto that childlike fucking dumb

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shit that like didn't make any sense when you presented

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the idea, but you still did it anyways, I think

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is important. Yeah. Cause it's really easy to, to get

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too good quote unquote at music and that can make

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your music fucking suck. You know, you kind of have

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to be cognizant of that as you're getting quote unquote better.

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I think in a lot of industries, too, when you

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get to that point that you're talking about, I think

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sometimes you do have to go back to the basics.

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It's just like a baseball player, they'll send them back

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to the minors when they're in a slump.

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Yeah.

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And kind of when you go back to the basics,

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I think it gives a refreshing feel in your head

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that now you can advance because you've been so busy

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on the hamster wheel that you haven't really had a

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chance to evaluate things. what you're doing, or if you

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even like the direction you're going in.

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Right.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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And it's weird because it's like, is that going back

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to basics or is that the actual skill tree that

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you need to follow and you think it's getting better

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at writing lyrics, getting better at writing music, getting blah, blah, blah, blah,

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but really it's just like making sure that you are

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opening that, keeping that door to your childhood brain open.

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Yeah. That's a great way to put it. Because I've

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always talked about, if you're going to take a positive

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out of that two-year time of COVID, it gave you

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guys as ours a chance to jump off that hamster

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wheel and maybe evaluate, is this the direction I want

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to be going? Because you're going in a direction, but

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you're so constantly going that you never stop and say, wait,

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is this where I really want to go? Yeah.

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Yeah, or like... Yeah, is it.

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Maybe.

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To rephrase that a little bit differently, it's like, am

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I being as honest with myself as I can?

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That's a good way of putting it.

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Yeah, yeah.

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And doing you, opposed to what everybody, all the chatter,

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the outside chatter. Yeah. You're finally listening to your inside chatter.

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Yep.

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So is there anything else you want to tell the

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listeners that we haven't covered already that they need to

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know about you guys and anything that you have coming up?

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Of course, we want them to go check out the album.

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We want them to go buy your merch Because they

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can't listen to my show But is there anything else

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you want them to know?

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We're going to be on tour Once this album drops

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And we're probably going to be on tour For the

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rest of the foreseeable future Which isn't long Because of

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the way the world is headed right now.

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Yeah, we're supposed to end at the end of the decade, right?

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Yeah, something like that So come see us play a

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show And that'll be one of your last memories And

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it'll be a pretty good memory.

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There you go Well, you guys are badass live. Thanks, man.

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And your music, I can't wait for the new album

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to drop because I think everybody's going to love it.

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Thanks, man.

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And thanks for being here on The Adventures of Pipe Man.

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Thanks for having me, dude.

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You got it. All right.

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Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pipe Man

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on W4CY Radio.

Behind the Scenes with Jack from Dead Poet Society at Louder Than Life Festival

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