Earshot Performs at Inkcarceration 2026 at Shawshank Prison - PipemanRadio Interview

0:04 Hi, you have done to censure? Wow for you young This is pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four C Y Radio and I'm here. With well Martin Fremireshot. How are you. I'm good, little sweaty, but good. Welcome to prison. I know I've never you know, I've never been to an actual prison, and I think it's really cool because I love the movie Shawshake Redemption. Me too, man, It's like one of my favorite movies of all time. So it's really cool to be here at this location and play a rock show. I think that's really awesome.

0:46 You know what, I do festivals all over the US, UK, Europe. My youngest stars should always call me. So you're excited to go to this festival. I'm like, well, I love it. It's a lot of fun. I don't know if excite it's the word and when you're doing it every weekend. But the first time I did this interview and this uh in prison, this uh incarceration, I called from a prison yard and I'm like, I'm on the prison yard of Shawshank. Now I'm excited. I mean, it's history, right, I mean that movie I think won a bunch of Grammys. It's one of the most iconic movies ever. Love it. And now you gotta do the tour.

1:28 And now we're here. We haven't done the tour yet. We're gonna do the tour. But this is the first time we've played Incarceration and we had a great time. It's our first time, so we played a little early, but we're looking forward to coming back again. And great crowd. Yeah, did blow your mind, okay that you're playing this early. Yeah, And there's that kind of crowd out there. It was. There was a lot more people than I expected would be that early, So kudos to the festival and to the people that came out early. Just a really awesome layout. The whole thing, you know, very well run organized. For the most part of me, it's chaotic, but it's organized chaos. Yeah. And behind you in the interview is the the warden's widow.

2:09 Yeah, I know, not the most attractive thing. Well, yeah, she might eat you during the interview. I'm not sure. It's like she's gonna come eat me. And they have this thing called Blood Prison which is down in the basement, which is the Haunted tour really, and the characters are gonna haunt you but it is also really haunted, so you might not know if it's the characters or a real ghost. Gotcha, Okay, So I hope they like your music. I hope so too, you know, because if they don't all turn them into one. That's the key right there, That's what we do. So is this your first Danny Wimmer Festival? It is, it is, and it's it's so crazy. I mean, we to be fair, we stepped away for about a dozen years before we reactivated, so you know, I remember right before we took a hiatus. I remember when you know, Danny was first starting to do these things, and he'd called me up and asked me if if we were interested in being a part of it, and we just we were already coming off the road at that time.

3:11 And and and we didn't do anything for many years after that, So we could have been on them earlier, probably had we not taken the hiatus. But I'm glad that he had us on and brought us out and looking forward, like I said, looking forward to doing many more of these. Sometimes hiatus is needed, right to recharge. Yeah, I needed to break I mean things. We had a pretty rough go there for a few years and a lot of things happened really fast forwards at the beginning, you know, between our first and second records we had, we had a lot of great success that happened, and it was just it's it's tough. It takes a mental toll on you eventually, and and you know, things go sideways when you're that busy. Yeah, and that much going on, and I just for my own mental sanity needed to just take a break. I wasn't. I wasn't loving it as much.

3:57 And if you're not loving it, yeah, the industry, Yeah, I wasn't. I wasn't loving it. I love playing music, I love writing music, I love performing. I hate the business that hasn't changed. But I heard her will never will well. I heard her. So when we were making our latest record, human Ing, we made it with Johnny Kay, and we were in Nashville and we went out to lunch and someone recognized us and they came up and we're talking to us, and he asked Johnny Kay, and he said, what do you guys think, Like, what's what's the secret to staying in this business as long as you both have? And Johnny Kay said, well, you have to love making music more than you hate the music business. And I went, wow, that's it, absolutely right, the.

4:41 Perfect thing, because like I always talk about, if artists aren't having fun playing up there, sure, what are you doing in this business? Because there aren't even rock stars anymore? And there's no way like that in these big checks from the record label and we still have all the ship part of the business, right. I remember being a teenager in LA in the eighties and I was very involved in the business. Knew all the bands, and that's what I was gonna do until I saw the back end and when I was backstage and look at what these record labels were doing with other band friends of mine, Like, it's not as glamorous as everybody thinks. It's like fuck this.

5:27 Sometimes it is, sometimes it is, but you know, there's a reason why A C. D C penned the song. It's a long way to the top. If you want a rock and roll it's it's it's tough getting up there, you know, And even when you get up there, it's still tough. You know. There's a lot more that goes up there, a lot more pressure, right, and once you're up there, there's still the pressure. So you know, I learned that, you know, the first handful of years of our career, and and it did. It took a toll on me eventually, but you know, I had to get back to loving it again more than I hated the business. So playing here, I think incarceration make you. Love it absolutely like I love. I love seeing the other bands, I love seeing all the I mean, this is a community really if you think about it, Yep, that's what this is, and that's what we need. That's that's more than ever where we are in the world right now. We need more community together.

6:17 I have an idea to cure all the world's problems that I talk about. We need to just create one music festival that the whole world is required to attend. No political leaders are allowed, they're banned, yes, and everybody just gets in the mosh pit and we. Work it all out exactly exactly. I mean, like we don't need guns and bombs and missiles and all this just. How many things I've worked out that I didn't kick the shit out of somebody in real life from going into the pit. You know your idea, I'll vote for you. There you go. You're not a man for president. Why, I know what's funny about that. You're gonna run. Is this where you're gonna.

6:58 Actually have been? O? I have. I did this bit on my show every election pipe Man for Prevs. Okay, I love it. I run this commercial where we do a voiceover of Bill Clinton saying I did not have sexual relations with that woman. And then I come on and say, I'm pipe Man and I will have sexual relations with that woman. Vote pipe Man for Prevs. And I'll tell you the silliest part about it. You know, it's a bit on the radio. I've done it every election in recent years. In twenty sixteen, I couldn't vote for anybody, so I wrote myself in as a candidate.

7:42 I like that, And I. Know factually at least six of my listeners voted for me for president. That shows how fucked up shit is that six people besides myself at least are voting for a radio personality, and even my real personality, but my. Radio person Yeah. Can you blame them though? No? I can't. Fucking Why did I vote for myself? Because fuck all these clowns on the same team and it ain't mine exactly all this trick in the book Divide and Conquered, We got to stop being assholes. Just live and let live. You're if you're a decent person, out give a fuck who you vote for. It's not my business. That's how I was brought up. You know, don't talk politics and don't don't tell people you vote for.

8:34 It is not their business. Who gives a shit anyway, It's all about. The music or the politicians. Don't give us ship about us and then not give us what we think we're voting for. They never do, you know, it's a bait and switch. Music's the best fucking therapy, the best united especially this this genre. We're a big family. Everybody thinks, oh they go mushmitz are scary, dude, We have rules, picks on my up if they fall down. Yeah, listen, they are scary, but it's not as scary as a fucking bomb. Get ready to drop on your fucking. No doubt and you could work your shit out. Get the therapy, and at the end of the song, all these big scary dudes are given a big hug. Yeah you have. You just smashed into each other. A lot of people could learn a lot from us.

9:21 Then we've done our job there. It is so now that you're starting to love the music again. Have you figured out the coping skill of dealing with the ship you didn't like? Yeah? I have, And the answer to that is to stay in my lane, you know not. It took me a long time to understand and realize that, you know what, we only have control of things so far, right, Like people ask me all the time, like when you wrote this song, like do you hope that it's a hit or do you think that it's gonna be a hit? And I always say to people like, you can never really predict that, Like you, I always tell a new artist that asked me for advice, I say to them, write what you love and beyond that, the rest of it's out of your hands. Like you write it and you hope that the world loves it as much as you do. That that resonates in and connects, and your job is to go out there and help them connect with it, hopefully or not. But not every song is a winter. I mean, look how many songs like I'm a Big Alison Shain's Van, for example, Like a lot of people are their first three records. If you ask me, every single song on those records could have been a single, but they weren't. Yeah, but the ones that were, I mean one hundred percent should have been the you know, the hits that they were, but if you ask me, there was so many more. But sometimes the world doesn't look at it that way. Yeah, you know, and that's just the reality of it. So my new coping mechanism or way to cope with the things that I don't like is to always remember, none of this shit is in my control. I'm just staying in my lane doing

10:53 what I do, and that's that's what I'm here to do. So I'm also homotivational speakers, so I'm big into forget this you can't control because you can't control it, but you can control your attitude. Exactly exactly, and that's that's where a lot of work happens for me. Like I do a lot of reading. I'm really big into self development and being aware and I also coach people too when I'm not out making music. So one hundred percent to your point, like, that's what it's all about, is you can't control anything in this world, but you can't control you. That's right, that's right. And you know the fact is is you made a good point too. Is like the Artists that try to write a hit are not going to write a hit. In my opinion, you have to do what you feel is something you would want to listen to, that's in your heart, your passion. Because also, if you're writing something for a hit, it's not really you and people can tell that you're just writing it for that reason. Yeah, you know, leave that to the pop people.

11:56 Right And and that's I think that's the hardest part I think for artists and general is that it takes a real effort in practice to sort of detach yourself from your own work, right, Like, you can't you can't get so attached to it that just because it doesn't do what you think it's gonna do that you get so offended by it. Otherwise, like you said earlier, it'll be a short lived career for you. But you know, when we were writing our newest record, human Ing, we went back to ignoring what everyone thought we should be doing and we went back to writing what we love, what we do. You know, there were a lot of people that were saying, oh, you should, you know, you should do this, you know, and this is happening. As you do more of that, you can do it. Your voice.

12:40 But that's not who I am. You know what Tony Robbins says about that? Right? What's that you all over yourself? Oh right? You know I learned a I learned a really good lesson about the words should have. Should have creates an argument and someone has to be wrong and someone has to be right right should have, But the real, the real words you could have, that's different. You could have done that. It is all about that changing one word of word. That should have should or you should or you shouldn't. Like that whole word I try to eliminate. I think that's true in songwriting too, because like take war Pigs, the original lyrics, Yeah, we wouldn't have that song today, I don't think, because let's say, have both versions and those lyrics make no sense.

13:24 Yeah, yeah, love that record. We were listening to that on the way up here. Actually now you mention. That, Yeah, that's a good way to warm up for just don't piss on the prison. You won't do that yet, you know. Like obvious and so that that new album. I love what you said, because I think what the hiatus does for you is what in everything. Baseball players when they gave a slump, what happens is send them back to the minor lead, right, Like you're in that mode. You can't keep going in that mode. That's why I even like with COVID, I always said some of the best music's gonna come out of COVID because all these artists that were on this hamster wheel that they couldn't jump off of have a chance to step it back and decide what they really want to do with their music.

14:21 Because when and that's what happy you. I'm sure before it's like you're on to go, want to go on to go, you never have a chance to decide is that the road you want to be on? Right? You know, so you can evaluate. So I think your newest album, you were able to go back to the basics and what got you loving music and making music? And that's key. Yeah, that's that's the whole key. And you know, even when we started this band back in the day, you know, we we had no idea you could make money, because none of us ever had before, right, And we were just four guys that just sat in a rehearsal space and we just wrote four songs that we loved, and as it turns out, those four songs generated a lot of label buzz and interest and ended up getting our first record deal with Warner Brothers. So the key to success is actually really simple. Be yourself. It's not rocket science.

15:17 It's just write what you love and be kid. Yeah, be real, be real to yourself, and you write lyrics that means dy you and the best songs. Also, the audience puts their own meanings right like you. They don't have to feel the way you do about those lyrics. Yeah, they just have to feel right. And I don't know if you feel the same way about this, but I get a lot of people that asked me like, what's this What was the inspiration for this song? Or what's that song about? And two things I say to that, I mean, I find that as I sing these songs many years later, I realized that what I thought I was writing about wasn't what I was writing it about it all. I was actually writing about something deeper under the hood, which was actually about me and not about what I thought I was writing about. That's number one.

16:09 Number two. I think it kind of takes the fun out of the connection away from people when you tell them this is what it's about. To me. I mean, I was always that music lover that I when I my favorite songs were my favorite songs because I went, this is how this lyric applies in my life, and that's why I love this song. So if somebody tells me a song that I thought was you know, about blue Skies and pieces someone because I was about a shit in the toilet or whatever, like oh really, Oh you just ruined it? Like so, I don't know. It's a double edged sort of I'd love for people to connect with their music and figure out, but I also like to give space to people to figure out what it means for them.

16:52 I totally agree with you. That's why I never asked those questions and interviews guys. Yeah, but it's sometimes interesting though, Sometimes you do one of. The whole story. If there's a cool story. Or maybe there's like an expiration day like after this many years, then you can talk about right, I don't know, Like I would love to know what inspired Stairway to Heaven, but that song is how many years old. I'm never not gonna love that song. Now, that's true. But it would be interesting to ask Robert Penley, what were you, like, were you just high on acid that day? Like what That makes sense, right, could could you make a great point? Yeah, So tell everybody how they can check out the new album, check out your merch further zerror dates, and they have to buy your merger and they can't listen to my fucking show.

17:37 I like that rule. It's a good one. So people can find us, We've we've worked really hard to make it super easy. Our website addresses earshot band dot com, and all of our social handles handles our Earshot band so easy. Everything's the same Spotify, Apple Music. We're on all of the streaming platforms, and we have some dates coming up in September. We're not all the way downe booking them yet. They're not quite ready to announce them yet. But I would invite people to go to our website or follow us on social media, and follow us also on Spotify, Apple Music, because one thing I just learned about these streaming companies that is, if you're following an artist, it actually alerts you not only when there's new music, but it alerts you when they're coming to your city. Yeah, it's really cool.

18:24 Music now has tour dates. Yeah, it's cool, Spotify all of them. So it's I think that's the next thing. Now that it's a really cool feature that they've rolled out for both of those platforms. I even love it because now instead of me like searching, yeah, I just got Apple Music and it's right there, it's done. Yeah right, we're already listening to music, so it's exact thing. So soon, tour day's coming up soon, just keep checking, all right. Well you freaking rock du pive man. Thank you, my man, and I hope you do win the president. I hope so too. I don't know who I'm going to vote for anymore, but. I don't either like I think we just fucking vote for nobing. You should run for president and I'll run as vice president. Let's do it. I'll put you on the next campaign.

19:07 Love it. Thanks for being on. Me so much for having me on pleasure. Hey, this is one Martin premiere shot and you're listening to the Pipemin on W four c Y. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipelin. I'm w for CUI Radio.