Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Radio Hodarkeys Off the Record podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
With Let's have a Chat with Amy Shark.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
He thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome back to New Zealand. Although I suspect you have
connections here, right, so you probably come here more often
than we realize.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I do. Yeah, I'm here, I mean mainly in the
South Island. Yeah. I love it here. I'm always here,
always here. It feels like a second home. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I hear about famous rock stars and musicians that pop
in un and ounced sometimes. Like someone was telling me
the other day that Elis Cooper comes over and plays
golf here, doesn't tell anyone, just slips and keeps it
up with a couple of mons.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's so chill. You guys are so like no one
freaks out here. Everything's so relaxed and it's it's a
good it's a good time.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Are you a golfer? What do you do for recreational phone?
When you come to New Zealand? Fishing? What do you
do not golf?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I love fishing and to the point where now at home,
I don't even bother because I've caught snapper in them
as I'm not gonna I'm not gonna try for a
tailor in the Nrrangu River or whatever on the Gold
Coast like no Way, so yeah, I love it here.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Do you have a sing about these sorts of things?
These fishing, the fish, the fish in the sea, I
mean fat Freddies drop have done?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
There?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Is that something you've contemplated?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I think? What what I love New Zealand for, and
especially like the Marlboro sounds is I he's so disconnected.
So I always take my guitar and I've come up
with some really cool guitar bits and ideas for songs
there and have finished songs there and it's it's just
the best ultimate sort of getaway. It's funny because not
many people know what batches are in Australia, so I
(01:40):
feel really privileged to know what they are and to
actually have one in my life to escape to.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
You're off to the batch. What do you call them
in Australia?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I don't even know what we have, like maybe a
cabin or beach house or a tent.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Recording what it actually is, not actually having a nickname
for it. Yeah yeah, And being in the Southend sometimes
they get called cribs as well.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well. Some are some are really boogie mine isn't mine's
not very bougie, but the yeah, there are some awesome
places around around the sounds.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
And so at some point you've been chilling out in
New Zealand and I don't know if it was here
or not, but you came up with this song and
you've invited one of the guys from Blink one A
two to jump on board.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It started very innocently, having Mark Oppas on the first
album in a song called Psycho, and then I got
hit up by Travis Barker and he said, hey, I'm
here if you want to work on a song or
if you want some drums, and obviously, so I put
that in the back of my mind to have for
the second album. So we did a song called come On,
and then it felt weird to not have Tom on
(02:45):
my third album. But then what no one knows is
Tom and I were talking really early on and he
told me that Blink we're getting back together and to
not say anything to anyone, but this sounds so bad.
But as happy as I was, I was like, oh,
but I want Tom on a song with me, and
that's going to be harder because he's going to be
on tour and they're going to be in high demand,
(03:06):
so it was stressful. But yeah, I had this song.
I had my only friend for a really long time.
I always wanted him on it, so I kind of
just patiently waited and you know, made sure I got
all the parts to the song right before I brought
him into the mix. And yeah, he loved it. So
thank god, it all makes sense now, third album, third
(03:28):
member of Blink. Done.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It's the trifecta. It's the holy trinity right there. Well done,
thank you. Yeah, it's amazing. So you got them. So
did you record this with him before they got back
together or was it something you did have to fit
into the schedule.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, well I basically did the whole song. And this
is kind of what I love about Tom. He's such
a great songwriter and he's so confident in who he
is that he's not really and I'm not throwing shaded
artists that do this, but a lot of artists think
they need to put their lyrics in or they need
to do a rewrite. Whereas Tom listened to the song
(04:03):
and he was like, I love it, I love it
how it is. So he put his iconic voice on it,
and that's all it needed, So I felt I was
really proud of the song because you know, he he
obviously just just liked it and I didn't have to
change anything. So he just laid his vocals down and
because I said to him, if you want to, you know,
record your verse, that's fine. But he he really liked
(04:27):
the verse that I had in there, so it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
And what's the verse, what's the course? What's the vibe
of the song? My Only Friend?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
I kind of wrote it about being in this different
world of the music industry, but it's kind of universal too,
as being anywhere with someone and you see that they're
a little uncomfortable knowing that they're doing that for you.
You know, they're in that situation around these people for
(04:54):
you because they love you and they want to be
there for you. I think that's where you know, you're
my only friend in the room, and my heart goes
out to you. It's like it's a very personal song.
But I also have tried really hard over the years
to make my really personal songs universal, which is hard
to do without outing every feeling and emotion and the
(05:15):
exact people you're talking about. So yeah, that's that's the
that's the crux of it.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I like to check it out. New from Amy Shark
featuring Tom DeLong. This is my only friend. I'm radio
heard aching.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Keep biting my tongue, want to be a better.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Person, Luis, And.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
If she tries that shit again, say you're here.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
With me, Radio heard Aki. That's brand new from Amy
Shark featuring Tom DeLong from Blink one a too, My
only friend and we are lucky enough to have Amy
on a zoom with us now, Kyota, Amy, thank you
so much for bringing us at June.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Thank you so much for playing it. It sounds so
cool hearing it out in the world.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
How great to have now that the third member of
Black two on music that you've made. When you were
growing up, did you ever think that this would ever
be a thing.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Oh God, no, like never, It's so weird, Like I
just I still can't believe it. Like anytime I hear
a song and I hear like when Psycho comes on
and I hear Mark's voice, I just get this really
goofy green on my face. And now with Tom's voice,
where Tom's like voice is just so iconic for punk music,
(06:28):
you know, and he doesn't do any features like the
rest of the guys, Mark and Travis have featured on
heaps of different songs, but Tom just doesn't do it.
So I feel really lucky that I got him on
a song with me, and I think our voices sound
really cool together because we're both a little shit, but
we make it work, you know, we work with what
(06:50):
we have. And we've spoken about that extensively, about loving
what you do and just doing it because you think
the art that you're doing is cool. Therefore you don't
need to sound like Mariah Carey. Just you just do
what you do and believe in it.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
They were here just a couple of months ago in
Australia as well. Did you catch up with them?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
I did, man, I got Yeah, I got kidnapped by them,
to be honest.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yeah. They were talking about playing some shows and I
kind of was just like, I just want to go
and watch. I just want to go as a punter
and watch all the shows. And I ended up going
and hanging out backstage before and Yeah, it was just
unbelievable having those guys here and being able to be
(07:35):
within the Blink family for like a good month.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, well you've got that connection now with Tom being
on your new album Sunday Sadness, which is out soon.
And there's a Kiwi connection well several.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah, Well Dan dan Hume is a long term collaborator
with me and he's produced He produced Love Monster and
a lot of Cry Forever and a lot of this
one now. And he can speak fluent amy, which is
hard because sometimes I, you know, I don't really zone
in on a lot of production terms. I don't even
(08:07):
want to know. I just want to write good songs
and that's what I put all my energy into is
telling stories instead of knowing how to work things. So
he's so talented with that. And obviously Joel Little I've
worked with him a few times now and I just
happened to be here in New Zealand and he just
hit me up and said, I've got like a week
before I go to LA you want to come and
(08:29):
write some bangers? So I did. Yeah, he always delivers.
You can't leave Joel's house without a song because he's
just so incredible at what he does. And then another
guy is Sam DeJong. He's another amazing Kiwi who's doing
He's working with Racy Abrams now like he's going to
blow up he's just so so talented. Yeah, Kiwi's just
(08:50):
coffing up the goods all the time for me.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah. And did Sam was he able to speak fluent
Amy as well?
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, yeah, yeah, I got to train people, but he
picked it up very quickly. I think they have a
Kiwi group chat with like, oh god, this is.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
A heads up man, this is yeah, like that fluent Amy,
like you have your own language. It's great. And so
you're here at the moment just chatting about the tunes.
You're going to be back in October playing at the
Auckland town Hall.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yeah, the town hall sounds so official.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
It does sounds very formal because orchestras play there, you know,
and then now there's Amy Shark playing there.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I know. I'm really excited because I have some like
kind of really beautiful acoustic moments in the set. I
can't wait for those moments. But also, like you know,
the album has so many fiery songs on it too
that are high energy, and yeah, it's just going to
be a really it's a fun set list because you forget, right,
you forget You've got other catalogs that you've got to incorporate,
(09:49):
and then it's just like a set list of fiery,
bangery songs, so it's fun.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, well you've got almost three albums. By then you
will have three albums to choose from. Well, we can't
wait for that. And thank you so much for your time.
Congrats on everything that's going on, Amy Shark, thanks for your
time on hed Ache.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Thank you so much. Greg appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Radio hod aches Off the Record Podcast. Why not subscribe
so they download automatically and don't forget to rate us
five stars.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Find out more about this podcast and the people who
make it at hodache dot co dot nz.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
It