Plush Discusses Their Heaviest Album Yet and Rocklahoma Festival Antics

0:19 This is the Pipe Man here on the Adventures Pipe Man W4CY radio and I'm here with... Plush. Yes. You guys are so hot and I mean in the... It's hot here. So you've been in this tent, what, for like an hour or so already? I guess so. Oh, has it been an hour? It doesn't feel that way. Time flies when you're having fun at Rocklahoma. I know, right? Have you guys done Rocklahoma before? I don't even remember. Yes, this is our third year doing Rocklahoma, and we're so excited to be back. It is a cool festival, right? Like, what's funny is about what happens after the headliners go off. because those campgrounds here are kind of insane. They're the most insane campgrounds of any festival. Have you actually gone through the campgrounds?

1:11 No, we have not. All right, so after tonight, you need to go through the campgrounds. It's insane. Why? Yeah, how insane are we talking? Should I tell you what goes on out there? Please. Well, do tell. We need to know. Okay, so first of all, If they have it this year, which they do every year, there is actually a strip club campsite. What? Like tomorrow night after the headliner, everybody will be lined up out there. And usually they'll bring people from the crowd up to dance too. What the? And a lot of times it's like the big dudes. Right.

1:51 It's like DIY stuff. They rent for the festival? It's actually this local strip club, and they have a campsite. Oh, they bring the whole thing here? Yeah, it's pretty wild. But then they have all these makeshift bars at the campsites, and everybody's giving out free shots. There is a price, though. What's the price? You either got to show your boobs or your butthole. It doesn't matter if you're a female, male, whatever. non-binary it doesn't matter what you are just. Is that just a festival thing because i went to country thunder and it was kind of the same thing they would have like a pirate ship too someone brought like that they owned and just brought it there and we're having shots like being served out of there yeah.

2:41 Yeah and then like what people do for beads here like it's mardi gras like that's another thing You show your boobs or your butthole, you get free beads. And a friend of mine has a school bus out there. You want me to show my. Boobs and butthole for some beads? I know, right? No. That's great. I'll take the shot. The shot's better. From the campground side? It does blow my mind what people do for some stupid beads. That's really funny. Seriously. But I have a friend that I met. First year I did this festival, I was his neighbor out there. He's got a school bus, and he built a deck on it. So you go up on the deck, and theirs is one of the ones that they'll throw the beads down. It's called, I have the bracelet for it.

3:27 And everybody gives out bracelets out there. Like, they all, they're so into it, they make bracelets for Rock, Oklahoma. Are they beaded? No. But maybe there's some. So, like, this one, that's the one I'm talking about. It's called Buses, Boobs, and Buttholes. That's the name of the campsite. Yeah. Oh, that's the name of the strip club? Are we okay? That's not even the strip club. That's that school bus I was talking about. Okay. Oh, that's the school bus. Okay, so the Boobs and Butt... Okay. All right. Last year. Boobs and Butt Club is the school bus, and strip club is not... that. Yeah i think the strip club strip club has less nefarious stuff going on than any of the other campsites out there if that tells you anything oh yeah you know and like two years ago we were having golf cart races back in the campgrounds.

4:21 Now that's my speed no pun intended 15 miles per hour. Well, it was pretty crazy because it was a flatbed golf cart, and we're on there, and I looked at this girl, and I'm like, I think this isn't safe. She's like, we should probably interlock arms. I'm like, okay. We did that, and they did like a donut, and one of the dudes was exactly what I was visioning when I was saying to her it's not safe, went flying off of it. We were going fast. Oh! On that gravel. Oh, shit. Well, it's gravel out there. Yeah. And me and that girl, we were tight. We stayed on it because of the fact that we interlocked arms. But, yeah, it's definitely, it's one of the craziest crap I've ever seen at a festival is Rock, Oklahoma, in the best way possible. Like, these people, they're dedicated. They love camping here.

5:19 Of course, there's nowhere else to go around here, so everybody does camp. Even I camp at this festival, because where are you going? Right. Especially if you're going to be here for. The whole thing. Exactly. What is cool about here, too, is if you are here, you can drive and go to the store and come back. Most of the festivals, you can't do that. You can't leave. No. Once you're there, you're stuck there. I was thinking while I was walking over here in the heat, I'm like, Shit, I should have just drove from my campsite over here. I think I'm going to do that all weekend with this heat. So what's it like for you guys to play in this kind of heat? I'm always blown away when bands play in this kind of heat.

6:04 Yeah, it's definitely... You know what's funny is I feel like. What's funny is I feel like when. It's actually hotter, for me anyways. I feel like, or maybe it's not hotter, but to me, it feels hotter walking around than playing on stage. You know where it probably is? Because you're in a zone when you go up on stage, right? Yeah, you kind of just dissociate the heat out. As soon as you get up on stage, right before all this stuff's going through your head, as soon as you get on there, It's like an out-of-body experience. Right. And you don't even give yourself permission in your head to, like, not feel good or to be hot.

6:47 Right. It's not until you get off stage and it's like, ugh. Exactly. Right? Yeah, for sure. I will say that, like, the heat, like, makes... This is the type of heat that, like, makes you delirious, I feel like. I got super spacey right now, too. I'm like, whoa. But it ends up being fun always. Always. What were you going to say? I think the first time that we played Rocklahoma, we had a thermometer on the stage. Really? I mean, I didn't know anything. About Oklahoma heat. I was, what, 18. It was our first time going on tour, really. And I just picked out an outfit for a festival. I wore long pants, long shirt. I think I had something with feathers on it and these boots that were really high underneath my pants.

7:36 And the thermometer on stage was. You definitely weren't prepared for this heat. No, it was 120 degrees on stage. For our whole set. Oh my god. That's insane. Mariah was wearing a jacket. Idiot. Was I? I think you were. That's horrible. He doesn't stop you. You were for at least a portion of the day. Stupid. And look, that must be hot, wearing those spikes and the leather and stuff on your arms. It is. I guess it's kind of like mesh, so it's breathable. But I'm from Arizona, so I was born in the heat. So I feel like I'm kind of used to it. But in my room, too, drumming during the summer, it gets so hot. It honestly feels like what it feels like.

8:17 it is to play in a club in the heat. It kind of feels similar. It's true practice then. It's good conditioning. Yeah, it's like a dress rehearsal. It really is. So tell me about this new album coming out. You just dropped a new song. Tell me about it because I like the whole concept of it from what I saw so far because this world is definitely batshit crazy right now. It's wild. Your album is so appropriate for right now. Thank you. Thank you so much. Like it, yeah, it definitely, that was a huge inspiration for it. Um, it's called mass hysteria because well, of what you just said, basically it's kind of is all hysteria right now.

9:00 The world is hysterical. Oh my God. And not in a good way. Right. Exactly. Um, and yeah, it comes out September 18th and it is by far the heaviest music that we've put out. Nice. So far. And, We can't wait to be able to play it, the whole thing live too. Because I was just saying over there, I was like, we're so sick of playing the damn same songs for like five years. It's going to be so freaking fun to be able to just play new music, a whole album's worth of it. That's always more fun. I'm glad that you brought that up too because I think a lot of listeners, they don't get it, especially the loyal fans from the beginning. You know, after like a certain amount of time, They want you to play these songs that you've played like a million times.

9:49 Yeah. And they don't realize, like, kind of get tired of doing that. Especially, like, if it's the really old school songs. because you get better as musicians. And it's like now musicians are always so critical of themselves anyway, that now you're going to play the stuff that, you know, you weren't even as good as you are now. And you're like, wow, that's kind of cringy. Yeah, exactly. And it's, it's tough to like feel, it's also like tough to feel connected because you know, after playing it for so long and, and like you said, you just get older, you, you're writing matures, like you, you know, you just evolve like as musicians, as artists, like you just, so it's, you know, it's hard, it's harder to sit there and perform the songs that you don't really feel.

10:39 Connected to anymore. Especially when you write stuff as a teenager. Right. And then you're an adult and you're not really thinking that same way anymore. So it's kind of weird. It was funny. Yeah, then you feel like a kid. You're like a freaking kid singing kid songs. Well, you know what's funny about that one year Blink-182 headline aftershock and a lot of people were out there in the audience going like, man, I really dug this when I was 15, but it doesn't even make sense to me now. Right. No, it's true. Like that same concept. Right. So, what made you want to do something that's the heaviest you've ever done? And I say that because a lot of metal bands, they start off really heavy and then they tone down. Right. And you're going the opposite way, which I actually absolutely love. What made that happen?

11:37 Well, I think, I mean, definitely. just the natural evolution of us all getting older, I think, and the years going by. But also, I think that it was always something that, like, I think some of the stuff was not very, like, some of it didn't come out as intended, you know what I mean? At least, like, because I feel like we've always listened to, or I, as a kid, too, was always a very, I love heavy music. Like, I always, my favorite band growing up was Korn. Nice. So I love heavy, heavy music, heavy riffs, you know, double bass. Like, I love all that stuff. And, you know, I just felt, and I think a lot of it was confidence, too. Like, we kind of just were like, this is what we want to do. We were having conversations about it, too. Like, we should go heavier. Because, like, this is more authentic to who we are anyways. And also, it's more relevant to... I think the times in our lives right now, personally. I mean, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that, but.

12:46 My idea is, like, at this point, like, when you start out as young as you did, there's a lot of people telling you how you have to do your music. For sure. And now you have earned the right to determine how you want the music to sound. That's what I'm thinking. For sure. But it's also, like, you know. I mean, yeah. Sorry. I'm not even going to lie right now. This heat is getting to my head. I don't blame you. I think with the three of us as a trio, just the three of us, this is always something that we've wanted to. We've always wanted to go in a heavier direction. It's always been what's true to us. It's always been just kind of where we've wanted to take this.

13:32 What you'll be hearing on the album is, much closer of a reflection of what we would actually probably be listening to like in our headphones on a drive or something. It's much closer to that. And that's the way it should be. 100%. I agree. It's weird to me. There's a couple artists I know that they're total metal heads, but their music isn't metal at all. Yeah. Perfect example is funny is like I do this. I used to do this thing every year for Vanilla Icy. That's this big event. Like it's funny. Because he lives in the town that my studio's in. Somebody one day years ago was like, you should interview Vanilla Ice. I'm like, why? And then, you know, basically I got friendly with him.

14:14 And I did one of his events where like 50,000 people was broadcasting live. And he's helping me get the radio equipment out of my vehicle. And I'm blasting Slipknot and he's headbanging. And I rolled my eyes at him. I'm like, really? He goes, no, man, young kid, this is really my jam. I hate singing Ice Ice Baby. I wrote that when I was 16 to the point of what we were just talking about. Or like Christina Aguilera is a metalhead. Did you know that? That makes sense to me. Right? She looks like a metalhead for sure. Yeah. That's true. She rocks out like one too. Yeah. Who? Oh, yeah, totally. It makes sense. I was just going to say, in the same way it makes sense that Lady Gaga is a rocker.

14:58 Oh, my God. When she did that thing with Metallica, I'm like, what a fucking badass rocker. Oh, yeah, they did Moth to a Flame at the Grammys, I think, in 2016. Oh, my God, she was such a rocker in that. Yeah, she was so badass. So it's funny who we don't realize are really into heavy music. Right. So I think it's cool when a band like you... Can dictate and say, I want to play this. Because it is different when you're into it. Yes. You know? 100%. Like, how are we going to be into it if a band's up there going through the motions, but they're not really passionate about it? Right. You know? Yeah. That's what's cool about Rock, Oklahoma, is there's a nice mixture.

15:38 Yeah. Like, you have Paris Jackson here, and you have Slayer. Right. Like. you couldn't go the much opposite spectrum. So that's, what's cool. I like about Rock, Oklahoma. And like, so everybody just literally everybody. Exactly. And that's the way it should be. 100%. You know, like we all like different music. Like, it's not like you just like one thing. Right. And it's okay to like different music too. Cause you know, you have like the gatekeepers out. Here who are like, Oh, you know, I grew up with that shit. That's not heavy enough. It's like, I grew up with that crap. Don't listen. It's, like, ridiculous. Like, to me, I have more of a problem with the people that listen to one subgenre. Like, I only listen to metalcore. I only listen to deathcore. Right.

16:26 That's just stupid. It is. It says a lot about the type of person, or at least it could suggest your mindset. No doubt. I think it definitely does. Who is anybody to say what is rock and what isn't? Rock isn't, it's not just a sound. I think it shows your ego, and it shows your very narrow-minded mindset, and it shows that you're not really willing to expand or grow or evolve. Like, do you know what I'm saying? Exactly. Exactly. And that is a big turn-off. No, I'm just kidding. Major. Major. So, is there anything else you want to tell the listeners we haven't covered already that you got going on, coming up? And tell them your socials and how they...

17:10 Because you got some cool pre-sales for the album, too. Yes. That I want you to talk about. Yeah. Yeah, we have the pre-sale bundle. And you can find that on our website. It's called plushrocks.net. Okay. And our social media handles on Instagram, we are at Plush Rocks on X as well. And then Facebook is Plush Official. And yeah, the album will be out September 18th. And we're so, so excited. Cannot wait to be able to play it for you and for you to hear it and share it, you know, and embrace this new rageful, heavy era of plush.

17:59 We need it. As a trio. This world needs that. 100%. 100%. You know, we need to stop all the bullshit and just all get along. Right. And love each other to heavy music. 100%. That's it. And that's what you're doing for us. So thanks for that. Aw. And I'm so excited you're at Rock, Oklahoma. And thanks for once again being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Of course. Thanks for having us. Anytime. Anytime. Anytime. I'm looking forward to your set here at Rock, Oklahoma. Oh, yeah, us too. Thank you for listening to The Adventures of Pikeman on W4CY Radio.