Intro / Ohio heat complaints [00:00:00]

Nicky P: Welcome everyone to another episode of We Came From Celluloid. We are here deep in Ohio. It is deeply troubling, this heat that we had today. I'm not a heat person. You can tell by the disheveled nature of my hair, I'm sure. But I'm here as always with my good buddy, Mr. Brian Pritchard. How are we doing today, Mr. Pritchard?

Brian Pritchard: I'm, I'm fantastic, Nick. Thank you for asking.

Good things are, are in the wind, you know?

Nicky P: Well, good things, you want them to be in the works. In the wind is kind of like they're getting away from you. It- that's like a criminal go- goes in the wind.

Brian Pritchard: No, I, I, I guess what I'm thinking of is, the degree to which possibilities do feel like they're surrounding me, and inevitably there's some truth in the idea that they'd get away.

So I- I'll still stick to my metaphor and say that, yeah, you can't grab 'em all. You can't grab all the good things, right? And, and, and personally at the moment where my-

Nicky P: Well, I've got a lasso, so I can, I can grab a lot of them

Brian's three-table-legs life framework [00:01:27]

Brian Pritchard: I, I, I don't know that I've ever said here the, the sort of three table legs, idea that, that I, I've pictured my life being that, I'm supported by the table leg of, of creativity, which is the band, you know what I mean?

Like, my musical life is a leg, my professional life is a leg. If for no other reason than you have to spend X amount of waking hours generating revenue, right? And then, and then there's just, you know, this personal side of, of, of my family, my relationships, hobbies and interests, all that shit, right? And, th- there's times where it feels like things are firing on all cylinders, and there's times where, where one or more of those table legs feels wobbly and needs to be, like, shored up in some way, right?

That, like, if, if something's wrong in, that's pulling my focus in any of those areas, it can be detrimental to the other ones. You know what I mean? So balance needs to be struck. And I, I like this notion of creating this flurry of activity. Again, to that idea of wind or a tornado, right? It's like I've gotta stir shit up, man.

And that's what I'm doing in all of those arenas at the moment is I'm, like, trying to create that flurry of activity in, my personal life and in my business life and in my musical life. And, as a result, some shit will probably come and go, right? That it, it's like you see, the fucking, you know, the thing just move right by you and you don't grab it.

But, I don't know. I don't know how much sense that makes, but, that's, that's what's happening, sir.

Nicky's cardinal rule: never be good at what you hate [00:03:21]

Nicky P: Well, I don't try for a flurry of activity. I do feel like I am being forced to kind of be on all cylinders at the moment. Between, like, everything going on that I wanna do to help promote and push the tour, you know, my podcasting or the day job, it's like, ugh, I wish I had more hours to sleep, I think.

Wish I had more hours to hit the gym more and do a lot of other things right now. But it's like, ugh And it's hitting, like I don't sleep well n- normally when it starts getting warm outside just 'cause I'm not equipped for this temperature. But, but yeah man, it's just the, really the, the podcasting and what we're doing here for the tour this summer is, it's just a lot.

And I guess it's a lot of stuff that ends up falling on my plate just 'cause I'm the guy with the experience and the technical know-how to do a lot of it. I'm not mad about it, it's just like, ugh, at a certain point I'm like, "Ugh, why do I have to, why do I have to know all this shit?" I'm violating my one rule, never be good at anything you don't wanna do.

The artiste's selective ignorance / Brian's guitar string problem [00:04:39]

Brian Pritchard: Yeah, no, that, that, that's a thing that like sometimes I'll complain about. Like an example being my ignorance around a lot of technical stuff, right? Is sort of a self, I don't know, pampering for lack of a better word. 'Cause I, I don't in, really look at it as maturity, I look at it as this selective, pampering of the artiste, right?

That, that sits there and says like, "Well, my role is to be the, you know, the creative visionary," and the more that that gets bogged down in process and technicalities and, you know, waxing the fucking, you know, sheen on the, the, you know. It's like again, when, when drummers see me perform and they'll come up to me because I've played the drums for a long time and I've developed some skill and proficiency in the area, and so they'll assume that I'm interested in the drums.

And I am not interested in the equipment. I'm, I'm, I'm saying like the drum equipment doesn't interest me. Guitar equipment doesn't interest me. But that's also like a luxury, right? 'Cause to your point, somebody has to fucking do it, right? So over the years when I've been like, "Oh, can you guys change my guitar strings for me?"

Eventually I had to learn how to like change my own guitar strings lest like, you know, that be a bridge too far for your relationships with people where they're like, "No, dude, that's enough. That's enough. Fucking figure it out. Yes, I know you write songs, but fucking grow up, will ya?"

Yeah. So that's all. I like to sometimes be kind of a, you know, childish in, in that arena intentionally in order to protect, I, I'm almost superstitious sometimes a- about the muse, right? To get even lofty about it. And I can laugh at that idea. Um- I don't remember where the phrase dancing about architecture came from.

You and I may have discussed it before. I, it, it is one that I r- I really like and think about often, where it's like to even get this, like, lofty and serious about the artistic process i- is a thing that, like, you know, you have to be able to fucking laugh at yourself and not be self-serious. But, I am analytical by nature, and I find, I find it interesting to step out of, like the role of doer and to try to, like, analyze what's happening and why it's happening.

I suppose that's part of the fun with, you know, talking to my, my pops as I've been doing about songwriting and things, and, I look forward to just even, you know, continuing that into years ahead. I can see talking to you, I think I mentioned talking to you, talking to my son, talking to Amelia. I want, somebody to turn around and, and s- let me, you know, indulge my ego and be like, "Take me through the Dome album song by song," and be like, "Oh, I'm so fucking pleased you asked.

I've been waiting. I've been waiting for someone to ask that very question."

Commentary albums, Wheeler Walker Jr., and talking about your own work [00:07:00]

Nicky P: I mean, I'm, I'm all, I, I, I think we n- need to be, at least for us, need to be releasing the, what do you call it? Commentary albums. I only know one other person who's done it.

Brian Pritchard: I love that. Even when, like, iTunes will do that, they'll, they'll do it in written form for a lot of releases, and yes, I love that stuff where people are giving those who care, something to chew on.

Yeah, you're right. I love that stuff.

Nicky P: Yeah, Wheeler Walker Jr. Did a bunch of his albums with commentary on, on Spotify. Now, he's, he's a stand-up comic, so it's all jokes and stuff.

Brian Pritchard: That's interesting. So you're being as specific as, like, the way movie commentary works where somebody's, like, recording themselves talking on top of a song?

Nicky P: Mm-hmm.

Brian Pritchard: Got it. Okay. So yeah, I, I hadn't thought of that as its own, like, specific, specific format. I think, you know, I probably talk too fucking much, and the length of the song wouldn't be enough. I'd have to be pausing it all the time and be like, "Hold on, hold on, hold on. And then, and then this happened."

Nicky P: Well, I would, I would treat it as an actual, I would treat it as an actual, like, you know, as, as a, a single recording where you actually listen back to the whole album and you do have the time to stop and start. And yeah, it'd probably be two to three hours long, but whatever, it'll be fun.

Brian Pritchard: Of course. No, it would be a pleasure.

It would be a pleasure to do it.

The Venture Brothers commentary tracks [00:09:37]

Nicky P: I always say my fav- my favorite part of The Venture Brothers is their commentary tracks, and that's, that's what kept them going for many years for me, is just how ridiculously good the commentary tracks were for them.

Kevin Smith's Cop Out, hired guns, and why Mallrats deserves respect [00:09:50]

Brian Pritchard: Yeah, it's, it is, to me, its own little mini, mini art form, and, I don't remember if I talked to you or not about, like, watching the, the Cop Out, Kevin Smith's Cop Out Blu-ray.

It's like, it's, it's- easily the, the least enjoyable film in his filmography in, in many respects, you know? Although I was talking to my son about how, like, for all the bad rep it gets, like, it was fine. You know what I mean? Like, it's got Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, it's got a bunch of people I like in it.

But anyway, o- one thing that was interesting-

Nicky P: Well, I think, I think a lot of the reason for us it's bad is 'cause we've got 25 years of Kevin Smith talking about how much he hated making that movie.

Brian Pritchard: So

Nicky P: That probably weighs in on it a little

Brian Pritchard: Bit. Well, it, it did authentically land that way from day one.

Like, he'll-- he would talk shit about Mallrats, and I'd be like, "Dude, stop it. I love Mallrats. Shut the fuck up." Like, you don't need to poison the, the, the well, like, and be embarrassed of this wonderful thing. Like, Co- Cop Out was always just boring. It was middle-of-the-road boring. If anything, like, as a slight digression, 'cause I still didn't even get to what I, why I brought it up, right?

The, the-- because he didn't write it himself, as somebody who was following his trajectory, that aspect alone struck me as a sort of bummer. And, and so when he then... The stuff he was talking about after the fact truly had already occurred to me as a fan as far as going like, "Damn," like, "this is a, a new low for this guy," right?

In, in terms of, like, you know, Jersey Girl wasn't well-received, but it was still your heart, you know what I'm saying? It was you. It was your fucking personal statement, writ large, right? And, and to be a hired gun, then who the fuck are you? You know what I mean, in, in, in that space. And that was the question he found himself asking that led to the revolt of, you know, Red State.

But briefly, the reason I brought it up was the bonus features that he had, like, a four-hour thing that, like- I've never seen anything like it, where like, it was like this enhanced version of the movie where he was popping up on screen and like, it was like interactive where Warner Brothers at the time...

And he kept referencing the technology they were using and being like, I- he was like, "This isn't the way that Zack Snyder did it for his 300 Blu-ray." Like, like they were, it was like something that Warner Brothers was trying to make happen in terms of how they did bonus features differently. And anyway, it just, it, it, it, it made me nostalgic even for something, you know, 20 years ago where the format of, physical media collecting was embraced in s- that specific way.

That, that, as people were still figuring out what it was and what it wasn't, the sort of ideas and experimenting that was happening with like, "Okay, we have this new tool, Blu-ray or DVD, and now we can do these things with it." There's some weird fucking examples of what people did with, with the format of, of like, not just film, but like the physical release of film has become, to me, its own mini art form.

Bonus features are their own mini art form. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Physical media bonus features as art form [00:13:29]

Nicky P: Let's take, let's take it back even further. So Real Big Fish, my first Real Big Fish CD I ever got was actually an enhanced CD, and I think it was like 1995. To put in like the CD-ROM enhanced? Exactly. So you have your CD, but then there's the computer portion of it.

So you'd plug it into your computer, and it didn't have a ton of different stuff in there. You had like- Like, you had the video for Sellout, which, oh man, we're talking like 240 like... No. Oh, God, it looks so bad. So, so bad. But then like, you, it was like, there were like other little tidbits in there.

Like, it was like, like a little game or something you could play. But it was this idea of people experimenting. Well, we have other ways to express ourselves, you know, and it, it don't, isn't just the music. Like there was this very four-dimensional space that was created, and ah, I love it. I always loved it.

Reel Big Fish is on my mind, I say, because So Brian, Reel Big Fish, one of my favorite bands, some big Ska kid, has just reunited with like their, one of their original members. They've actually reunited with a couple of their very original members. The one that really matters is, Scott Klopstein, who was like the guy who did all the backing vocals for the early stuff, even sang lead on a couple tracks, and they're, they're going on tour with said band members while we're on tour.

Reel Big Fish enhanced CD, 240p "Sellout" video, 1995 nostalgia [00:14:00]

Reel Big Fish reunion with Scott Klopstein — and why Nicky will miss it [00:15:20]

Brian Pritchard: Okay. So how does it intersect? I mean, yeah.

Nicky P: And they will, they will be... It, it, it doesn't, that's the point. I will have to miss them because they will be in our area while we're not in our area, and won't be anywhere near this at any point in time that like

Brian Pritchard: I could get to it. So just to, to clarify, like when you say in our area, I tend to be open to, let's say a five to seven-hour radius.

Like, now if, if they're in the West Coast by the time we're back, and you know what I'm saying? Like, i- if it's just that dramatic, but if it's feasible, you know.

Nicky P: Yeah. No, they'll be, I think they'll be, they'll be in Florida or Canada when we're like back. I think w- we could technically stop in Nashville, or is that what it is?

Not Nashville. Um- Maybe it is. There, well, I think that's sitting right outside of, fricking Cincinnati, whichever one's across the border. Maybe Louisville? Maybe they're playing in Louisville? I think they might be in Louisville, like, while, while we're supposed to be traveling back. Like, I think day, day two or three of our tour they're gonna be in Pittsburgh, and then they're, like, nowhere near any- They- it's gonna be mostly West Coast, the South, Canada.

Like, I was like, "Please, just one date that's within a couple hours, I can find someone to drive me there." But unfortunately I will miss out on this, grand reunion so I can go and tour myself. You can miss out on one dream for, for a different type of dream. And at least the one's, I guess, a little bit more personal.

We'll give it that.

Outsiders EP acoustic recording plans, Levi, bonus tracks [00:17:13]

Brian Pritchard: Well, you know, and even where I was talking to you about, like, the low-hanging fruit of an acoustic track, one of the places my mind went to was going like, it would be cool to me to, like, throw those three acoustic tracks onto- 'Cause you could upload just the MP3s, right? Like, we don't have to go back and change the Outsiders EP as it currently exists.

But at the moment you wanted to burn a physical CD copy, you could add fucking bonus tracks, right? And, and, and go like, "Damn, the physical CD version of the Outsiders EP," like if you were lucky enough to get your hands on it, had the acoustic version of New Soul, right? Like, it's an Easter egg.

Nicky P: I would probably just do it as its own disc, honestly.

But-

Brian Pritchard: Fair enough. No, no, I, I love the idea too of, of giving it, giving us another excuse to have, like, a three-song fit- separate thing with its own artwork that would be just as fucking joyful.

Nicky P: So I will ask, do we have original sessions on that?

Brian Pritchard: I doubt it is the answer. Max recorded the first... Well, nothing's on the first album.

So the, the guy, there's a guy that I could ask, but my gut tells me that he doesn't have it anymore, because it wasn't, like, a real studio. It was, a buddy and... I, I, his, yeah, I'll, I can ask Andy. It, it, no harm in posing the question. I certainly know how to get, get ahold of the guy.

Nicky P: Just because there was, was some things that I would rather work out level-wise if I could.

And if I do, so I, I actually already started a session on them. I couldn't get, anything... I, I, I could only get crappy MP3 versions of it, so I'd like to at least get, like, a CD rip or something from you to get a better quality at the very least. The other thing is if I do it, I'm not going to do just me.

I'm bringing Levi in too, so.

Brian Pritchard: Okay. Well, you know, he'll be, annoying about scheduling that. So just factor that in.

Nicky P: I, I'm gonna be honest, I never have any trouble scheduling Levi, but my schedule's a little bit more conducive with him.

Brian Pritchard: It's the difference between spontaneity then and, like, a hassle from my perspective at the moi- point that you even bring that name into the equa- equation.

Bring that name. No, that's terrible. Um- Okay. I d- I, I mean, that's literally the, the reaction we got the last time we brought up, doing acoustic stuff. L- like, he went on some rant about, like, being so busy and not, it not being a priority and blah, blah, blah, so, you know. You could do stuff quickly without him, or...

But in the same way that I said I want Miami, b- by all means, try Levante and see if he is, willing to play.

Nicky P: Well, I also have the fact that I have run a recording studio, like, it's a little hold over his head, 'cause he always has stuff that he wants to record. So if he can get hisself in here and, like, drop one of his songs and get it recorded, he's, he's always a little excited to, to make that happen.

And I'm imagining those three songs he should be able to play in his sleep, one take all of them with no issues.

Brian Pritchard: That's true. That's true. Those are a particular trio of songs that we've lived with, Yeah, you're right. That, that, that's some of his high school shit. You're right. You're right.

Nicky P: Like, I'm like, how, how many takes do I think it's gonna take me to do these?

We'll find out. M- m- I think-

Dome band practice sounding good again [00:21:00]

Brian Pritchard: We were sounding good the other night. D- dome practice sounded good. That was, a nice moment. Noel wasn't there the other night, but, it was definitely cool to You know how it is. It's like, like, you get with a batch of material, maybe it's, it's like a new song that's being developed where practice one you're sort of getting that rough draft where it's like, "No, that sounds like a fucking song.

We got through it. We understand the structure." Like, there it is, right? That's something I try to capture in voice memo form when, when it happens for the first time. But then there's this other thing which is where everybody kinda sounds relaxed and confident and, like, cool, cool with it, right? And, and that can happen with old material too when, when you're going back and shaking the dust off of something that you haven't, you know, revisited in a while.

There's that exact same sort of v- you know, version of that process of, of, shaking the dust off and going like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we were able to play that song again," but, like then there's the point that it starts sounding like, yeah, s- sounding cool again. And it was sounding cool again, and that was exciting

You just reminded me of it, 'cause technically those are songs like we've, we've played them hundreds of times. But yeah, you, y- y- you take years off from a, a project and, and you have to go, like, find it again. So-

Outro / next episode preview [00:22:32]

Nicky P: Let's, let's call it here today. And, we'll have a short one. We, we do, we do fair enough of these that run long.

Let's do a short one. And we're calling it short because, as you all know, we've been doing these musician interviews, and we're gonna drop this to get a new musician interview.

Brian Pritchard: Sounds good. See you there.

Nicky P: So take it easy, folks.

Brian Pritchard: And we're turning it into music and podcast for you