May 22, 2024 • 45 mins
In episode 17, Gandhi talks with Drake Bell about new projects, and all the current headlines. We find out some shocking things about his past struggles, and exactly how dirty his deal was with Nickelodeon.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
What's up. It's episode seventeen. Haha, I'm still say the
number is Andrew Cool. I know you hate it. Diamond
told me to stop doing it too, but I continue.
Episode seventeen saw us on the side. What's up. I'm
Gandhi and I'm here with my two favorite people, Diamond
and Andrew.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hi. Y'all.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hi, I'm so happy that she said my name first.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
I'm here too.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
You know a lot of people said that their favorite
episode of the show was when it was just three
of us talking.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Yes, I'm saucy episode.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Okay, can you not do that in my own microphone?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
You don't on purpose. We'll get to a microphone soon, buddy,
don't worry.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Wow, I'm just your jester in this show.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
You're not funny. Jesters are funny. I just try to
try again. Good Anyway, we're all laughing and having a
good time. But I am kind of excited about this
interview today because it's Drake Bell, who we know from
Drake and Josh but has recently made headlines with all
kinds of other stuff. If you didn't see the documentary
of Quiet on Set, he was definitely featured prominently in
(01:05):
that He's got some new music on the way. I
have a ton of things to talk to him about.
I say, we just get right to it. I'm here
with Drake Bell and so much to talk about. Where
do we even begin? Would you like to start with
new music, new ventures?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah? Sure. I just released a new single called I
kind of Relate.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I listened to it. I like it, but I really
like it.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the music video. We just hit three
million on the music video. It's doing really well, I guess,
one of the most introspective, kind of autobiographical tunes that
ever in a long time. And then I just released
a new song on the tenth called Hollywoodn't and we're
having fun with that one. It's doing pretty good.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So these songs are very different because I'd listened to
both of them. Yes, So with I kind of Relate,
it's almost whimsical. The sound of it is whimsical, and
then you listen to the words and it's so heavy. Yeah,
and then Hollywoodn't well heavy as well. Obviously you're drawing
from things going on in your own life at the
moment or in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, these these two songs, there's been a lot that
has come out recently about my history and my past
and what I've been through in life, and these songs
definitely relate to those those events. It's cool that you
mentioned that, because I love writing songs that sound, you know, happy,
but then the lyrical content takes you somewhere else, into
(02:29):
a dark place, fun juxtaposition. It kind of is a
throwback to the days that I was going through. What
I was going through at this time working on Drake
and Josh, and that era of music was sort of
what was happening at the time, and a lot of
different styles and sounds and I kind of took all
of them and threw them all into the pot, and
(02:49):
then the whole album takes you through this this sort
of narrative journey. I kind of compared to it. It's
like my wide album because there's so many, so many songs,
and I mean, I guess if it was, you know,
if this was the seventies, would be a double album.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
How do you feel listening back to it from where
you drew because I'm sure that there are some people
listening who don't know specifically what you're talking about. There
was a documentary that came out. It talked about some
things that you've been through in your past, which were
dark and very upsetting, I'm sure for you to relive.
And now you have this album where you're pulling from
those things and you're performing and you're listening to it
all the time. What is that like?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It's it's interesting, you know. I often say I was
thinking about this the other day. You know, a lot
of people journal and get their thoughts out through journaling
or writing in a diary, and for me, that's songwriting.
I get it through my songs, and that's how I
get you know, if I'm feeling upset, or I'm feeling
happy about something, or there's something that's I've been dealing
(03:48):
with emotionally, I get it out through song. But then
I was sinking the other day how many people write
in their journal and then go and perform it every night?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yes, Like I couldn't rut. I don't understand how people
like that.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh, I'm using this as like it's like a cathartic
therapeutic avenue to get all of this this junk out
that's inside of me. And okay, cool, it's out. It's out.
It's I don't have to sit there and you know,
work through the turmoil in my mind. And then I'm
like on my way on to stage and I'm like,
I'm about to co read my diary for like fifty
(04:23):
thousand people, and it's some concert I'm playing. I'm like what,
And you like, really that smart?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
It is? Well, I'm sure that it's got to be
a little bit therapeutic to you, but it's also got
to be weird to look out in the crowd and
see people just singing along. Journal that was about some dark,
heavy sound, dark stuff, Like what a weird position to
be in, But you're saying it's good.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, you know it is. It's that's how I do it.
It's been really interesting because that's how I've always written songs.
And my first album I put out Telegraph, I wrote
I started writing when I was fourteen, released it when
I was about fifteen, and I was in the thick
of all of that that junk, you know, all of
(05:04):
that abuse and trauma and stuff that was going on,
and it was all coming out through my lyrics. And
so fans are now going back to that album and
looking at the lyrics and going, oh my gosh, like, yeah,
it's taking on a whole new life. We're seeing it
through a completely different lens. And he's been screaming from
the mountaintop since day one, you know, and we just
(05:26):
didn't you know, we were unaware of what he was
going through personally, and and so we didn't really you know,
these these lyrics are a lot heavier and talking about
things that are whoa you know. So that's that's. Uh,
I've seen a lot of that, which is which is
pretty cool. That's that's how I write. And when I
was starting to write this new album, but I didn't
approach it with the thought of making an album. I
(05:49):
was just you know, I was in the eye of
the storm. This documentary was going to come out. I
the world was going to know my story. And I
just started sitting down at the piano and using it
to get to get everything out, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Twenty six songs later, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Twenty six songs later, I turned into an album. And
and then I just started getting super creative and I
was like, well, you know, this is some heavy material.
There's got to be some more, you know, it can't
just be like, Okay, here's my next album. And there's
a there's such a linear story, there's there's a lot
of flight references, you know, when you're feeling trapped or
(06:25):
you're going through something and you're like, man, I just
want to get away. I just want to escape. I
just want to go somewhere. You know, you always say
I just want to go to like an island and
get away from everybody and get away from everything. And
I started to construct this sort of narrative and the
songs are very linear of starting with like I want
to get away, I want to get out, I want
to do this, and then tragedy happening in my life.
(06:47):
It's it's really autobiographical, and then heartbreak and then that
getting fixed and triumphant redemption and this and that. So
it's like a whole. It's like I putting together a movie,
you know, through sound. It's cool.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So have you gotten a chance to escape and get away?
Because it seems like the last year, or at least the
last few months, all eyes are on you, and everybody's
probably reaching out to you and saying, hey, talk about this,
Let's talk about this again and again and again. Did
you get to get away? Do you have some peace
at all or has it just been a whirlwind of crazy?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, it has been quite the whirlwind. But my escape
is in the studio. And that's how it was when
I was working, for example, Drake and Josh, And even
though I was in the thick of such heavy and
emotional things going on in my life, it's you know,
when I'm on stage and when the lights go up
and I get to start, you know, I get to
work that that that's an escape for me. And it's
(07:44):
sort of a metaphorical escape. That's sort of the narrative
of the record too, is you know, you want to
just escape and get away, but there's a lot of
work on the inside and that you have to do
first before you know. You can relax when you get
to your destination.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I mean, you can run, but it will catch you.
You can go on vacation, when you come home, it's
gonna be there. You can take a nap, when you
wake up, it's still going to be there. You really
have to dive in and write your journal entries and
then apparently turn it into a double.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Discaltel exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And go perform all over the place. When you are
performing now, right, you have some shows coming up, is
it in California?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, I have a couple shows in California, I just
played in Tabasco and in Mexico, which were amazing shows.
This has been the most fun show I've put together,
I think.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Ever, when did you start working on this album three
years ago? Three years ago?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, it's been a long time.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Okay. That explains the amount of songs, yeah, that you
have because a few months I.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Keep I just keep writing, and it just keeps growing
and growing and growing and growing, and I'm like, we
gotta figure out, we got it. We gotta stop sometime.
You know. It's funny because the name of the album
is called NonStop Flight, but then as the album continued,
I was adding songs, adding songs, adding songs. I'm laughing
with my friends, like maybe it should just be called
NonStop album. His album's like never gonna be finished.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
You know, do you find it easier to write when
you're happy or when you're sad?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Honestly, I think it's easier to write when you're sad.
I think it's uh, I don't know, Uh, there's stronger emotion.
I think when and I don't know if necessarily just sad, uh,
but when when there's just something more impactful going on
in your life. It's I think it's easier to find
the words to say. And also, when you're happy and
you're stoked, you're like, I want to know how out
with my friends? Like I want to go, like I
(09:28):
want to I'm feeling good, Like let's go out to lunch,
you know, And when you're upset, you're like, oh, I'm
in my house, I'm bummed. Okay, where's the piano, where's
my guitar?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
You know. So it's almost like a Yelp review. People
always when they're pissed off, they're gonna go leave those
Yelp reviews. But when they're happy, very rarely do they
go and talk about how happy they are, which is
kind of sad but also makes total sense when it
comes to the songwriting process.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Comments on social media are the same way. You know,
if you if you're reading through social media, you're like, oh, man,
there's these bad comment who's gonna write, Who's gonna When
they're happy, they're just scrolling right, you know, so they're
not looking for something to attack or.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
But shout out to the people who do leave nice
comments when they are happy. We love you. There are
less of you than the others. But how do you
please please leave more. Did you hear him? How do
you navigate that because you can't contry. I mean, you
could be the person that shots off all your comments.
But it is nice to get some feedback every now
and then from your fans and from the people who
follow you. How has that been recently with you?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's been really great. I mean, the fan response to
my story coming out has been incredible. It's been a
good Uh, it's been uplifting good.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, that's good because I can only imagine how hard
all of that has been before and knowing what was coming,
because you obviously sat down and did this documentary ahead
of time. How long did you know before it was
coming out that it was like? How long was that
in the works?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
About a year?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
A year? Yeah, we had Mark Summerson not too long ago.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Oh yeah, and that click did you?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, it went viral because he said he was ambushed
and he did not know what was going on. What
did you think of the final product of Quiet on set?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well, I'll say this, okaylad, I'm content with the way
that my story was able to be revealed to the world.
As far as the rest of the documentary goes.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Oh, I know, I've seen all this stuff about it.
It seems like there are some gray area with other people.
When I watched it, my first thought when it came
to you was I want to give him a hug.
And it makes me actually want to tear up a
little bit right now that you were going through all
of that and putting on a happy face for everybody,
and now you are using all of it to channel
into this wonderful music. And I am impressed that you
(11:40):
can do that. And I don't know how a lot
of people can get through those things and not say
fuck Hollywood in general. I'm out. I don't want to
do entertainment anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
You kept doing it because I love it.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So no thought has ever entered your mind. I'm leaving
this behind.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I can't. It's everything inside of me. And ever since
I was a little boy, all I wanted to do
was entertained. When I was five years old, six years old,
I you know, even though it's a very young age,
I didn't know what it was. I just knew that
I wanted to make people laugh, and that is my essence.
That's my soul, like I I that's my oxygen. And also,
(12:15):
I mean, fuck them, what am I gonna I'm gonna
I'm gonna quit. I'm gonna quit doing what I love
and what i've you know, I believe was born to do,
and so so that these monsters can win.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I love that attitude because it's so easy to get
discouraged and to let somebody doing something bad or even
saying things that are terrible get to you, get inside
you and say, I don't want to do this anymore,
like kind of kill your buzz, kill your spirit and
your light. And you didn't, and you're back better than ever.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Man, when I was on that stage and I you know,
you hear, you hear the hammers hitting building, the sets,
you smell that, you smell the wood being cut. You
you're walking over the cables, you're seeing the cameras, the lights,
and that's home. That's that's where I felt safe. That's
where I felt happy, That's where I felt creative, that's
where I felt alive. I'll be damned if I'm gonna
allow anybody to take that away from me.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's exactly what I want to hear. I don't want
to feel. I don't want to hear from you that
you feel like this is something you have to do,
or that you're trapped in doing It's good to know
that you want to do it and you're having a
good time doing it and at the same time as
therapeutic and helping you get through all the bullshit.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, I mean I've I've lost houses, but I'm not
gonna I'm not gonna lose my metaphorical home.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
You know, you're gonna stick with it. Yeah, Would you
let your kids get into it?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
That's a tough question because there's nothing else I wanted
to do. Had somebody, you know, my parents or somebody
had said no, you can't do that because there's some
horror stories. Well, there's horror stories and everything. I mean yeah, radio, yeah, radio, television, film, school, sports,
(13:52):
corporate life. I mean there's there's You're find you find
bad actors everywhere, mostly in Hollywood, but but but you know,
there's there's there's people, there's there's bad eggs in every basket.
So to take that dream away from a child, I
couldn't imagine doing that. But having my experience and knowing
(14:12):
what I know, I wouldn't not let them.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You'd also be coming from a place of experience where
you're like a hawk, probably watching and able to see
things that your parents might not have been able to
see because they were new to it, whereas you've that's
what I hear.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
About, you know, And that's a good that's a good
segue into this is where a lot of people on
social media, a lot of people in the media are well,
where were the parents?
Speaker 5 (14:33):
What?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Why? How could the parents? And it's the parent's fault
and it's this fault. No, it's not. It's the person
who who perpetrated what happened. It's their fault. You're talking
about parents who have never been on a movie set.
They don't know how to conduct themselves. They don't know what, how,
how far they can go with what they and so
they're learning too. It's just as easy to take advantage
(14:56):
of them because they're just as vulnerable. So to say, oh,
it was the parents, Well, it's like you're actively learning
the boundaries and what I can where I can speak up,
and what I can say, or is my son gonna
get fired? Are they gonna get picked up for the
next season? You're like, why is that important? You're like,
it doesn't have to and it also doesn't have to
be something as extreme as what I went through. It
(15:17):
could be something like, you know what, my son's exhausted, Like,
do we have to throw the pie in his face
another six times? And that's something totally apparent has the
right to go up and say. But as you're in
the process of learning, you're like, can I go up
and tell the director or the producer that my my
son's had enough? Can we move on? So that's why
(15:39):
I think it's important to have changes in the industry
where you have something like somebody like a social worker
or somebody who has experience with mental health and childcare,
and you know, they're they're appointed by not the production
or not the studio, so they have no ties, they
have no concern whether or not they're going to get
a job by this studio the next time. Having somebody
(16:02):
that is experienced enough to recognize, hey, you know, this
child's laughing and saying, oh no, it's okay. I'll slip
and fall one more time. But they can recognize, hey,
you know what, let me give us, give us ten minutes.
I need to speak with this child and their parent
and take them into another room. And I want to
sit down with the child and make sure that he's okay.
And this is what's going on. Because I see him
(16:23):
feeling a little uncomfortable, but he's in a position where
he doesn't feel that he can express that. So we're
going to take the We're going to take a moment
and stop everything. And they have the power to do that.
So I think that, you know, small changes like that
can have a profound effect on that.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Actually seems like a really huge change and something that
is much more possible now that this documentary did come out. Yeah,
and that there are all these people saying, hey, had
we had X, Y and Z on the set, this
stuff wouldn't have happened. And now as dark as what
you went through was, there is something that you can
do for other people in the future to shine a
light and say this is how we make it not happen.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, And maybe there's maybe an aspect of that is,
you know, an hour set aside, maybe two hours set
aside two days a week, one day a week, whatever,
just for mental health and have that set aside for
the kids so that when they do get in a situation,
they feel comfortable enough to go to that person and say, hey,
this doesn't feel do I really have to do this?
(17:20):
I just don't feel comfortable. I don't feel comfortable wearing this,
or I don't feel comfortable this joke makes me feel uncomfortable,
or I just don't know if this is right, and
then they can handle the situation.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
There's more checks and balances in general would be great,
which if we're being real, not just for kids on sets,
but it goes on. It's rampant, one hundred with adults
on set. With entertainment in general. Entertainment is a beautiful, shiny,
amazing thing. And it's also really really dark and has
sharp edges. And if you don't want yourself, whichever branch
of entertainment you're in, you can get got.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Definitely, definitely. And you know, after reading Jeanette's book and
I Janet mccurty, Janet mccurty's book, Yeah, there were so
many parallels in our story. It was incredible. I mean
not just in growing up in Hollywood, but I mean
(18:10):
we grew up in the same city, Garden Grove. When
she was going to Disneyland all the time, I was
going to do that all the time. She's naming street
names in her book, and I'm like, oh my gosh,
I live like four streets away from there. That's where
I grew up. It's just it was really interesting reading.
But I think something that was illuminating in her book
and really stuck out to me is, you know they
(18:30):
put you through media training. For example, when you book
a TV show, they're like, Okay, you've never done and
now you're gonna be doing interviews. You mean to this,
We're gonna do media training. But I think there should
also be a session of listen, everyone's gonna be watching
every movie you make. This is what it's gonna feel like.
Here's examples of what other actors have gone through. Here's
their bad press. Here's what people have said about this person.
(18:52):
Here's what this person said about this person's kids, how
they are as a mother, how they are in their relationships,
talking about their boyfriends and girlfriends, talking about their marriages,
talking about their divorces, all the dirt. Is this something
that you feel like you can hand? And definitely that
should be done with somebody that like a a therapist
or somebody in the room with the kid. You know,
(19:13):
prepare them. They're gonna talk about your weight, They're gonna
talk about the outfit that you wore as you went
to go get coffee that day. They're gonna talk about
the relationship that you're in, be prepared for. You're gonna
have to have a thick skin, and is that something
that you're prepared for or that you want to do.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
And it's changed even since the time that you were
a child star acting and all this stuff because social
media has exploded and is monstrous also wonderful at the
same time, everywhere you go, people are taking a picture
of you, whether you're looking or not. Eating a piece
of pizza.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
It's creepy. And you're still doing dealing with that, I
assume right now.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's unbelievable. I mean, especially in Latin
America where my last single just went number one. I'm
playing huge concerts. I go and get tacos and it's
all on the front page of Reform a newspaper the
next morning.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
And do you ever wear to skies and just go
out and get your tacos?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know, it's unbelievable. I mean even during COVID, I
would have my COVID mask, I'd have a hoodie on,
I'd have my sweatshurant and people would be like, Drake,
can I get a.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Picture with you, you ever act like it's not you,
like I don't know what you're talking about. I would
do that.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
No, you know, you know, I'm a huge fan. When
I'm into something, I become an absolute expert obsess over
this fan. Obsessed maybe that's the wrong word to use
in this kind.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Might be the right word.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Well, in the in the age of Baby Reindeer, maybe obsessed.
Maybe we'll keep the obsessed a little. And with things
that I've gone through, I'm fanatical. And I've met so
many people in my life who shaped me musically. And
I've had so many different situations that are wonderful and
(20:54):
incredible and inspiring. And I've had other situations that have
broken my my heart as a fan. You know, I've
had you know, I go up and I ask someone
for a picture, and you know, I get the rude no,
like why you bother you know, get away from me, kid,
you bother me, you know kind of thing. And then
I get other people who are just so genuine and
(21:14):
kind and my time is your time, like thank you,
so thank you so much for being a fan. Thank
you so much, No, thank you, you know, And this
is something I've learned and I've taken away and why
I'll never say no it's not me, or no you
can't have a picture, or no I won't talk to
you for and especially since the documentary has come out
of there's been a lot of interactions that turn into
thirty minute conversations on the street. But the biggest stars
(21:38):
that I've ever worked with are always the most humble,
most kind, most giving with their time, the sweetest, you know.
And then it's these other actors that you're like, really, yep,
really you're gonna That's how.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
We say that all the time. There's this like happy
medium because when people are just starting out there super
friendly and they're really nice and they're eager and they
want to talk to everybody and meet everybody. Then there's
this weird middle period yep, where a lot of people
become assholes. And then they've passed that and now they're
back up way on top and they're really nice and
friendly again, and we can't figure out what happens and
that little in between where everyone gets crazy. But it's like,
(22:14):
I think, almost guaranteed, you know what, I.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Think now that you mentioned that, I think they're in
that middle ground you still in your mind, and even
though the perception might not be that way to the public,
but in your mind, you're still in the fight. You're
still in that battle to get to that third section.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
You're competing with everybody.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
You're competing and when you're on that third tier, you've
figured out, this is my family, this is my group,
These are the people I keep close to me. These
you can recognize the people you need to show away.
You can recognize the people clinging on to you, taking
from you, pulling from you. And I think when you're
in that second tier, it's not only by your team
(22:53):
who wants you to get to that next phase where
you're you know, the artist might be saying, Wow, I'm
really excited about this. This song went. Now it went
really great. They're like, yeah, but it didn't even reach
top ten. You got to do this, you gotta do this,
you gotta do this. And so now they're like being
pulled at in every direction, and they want to go
a direction as an artist, and they feel that they've
reached a point where they should have a say in that,
(23:13):
but they have this whole team that's telling them not
to and so they're that and then they have all
of the people who are just hanging on for the ride,
the clingers that don't have any of their best interests
at heart, and then that just drains you. And so
I was going to say, pulling from you. So it's
soul sucking and you haven't had the experience to get
(23:34):
to the point where you have the strength and the
courage to be like, Okay, you're gone.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Do you feel like you're at the point where you're
comfortable enough to delete the contact and kick people out
of your circle.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
If you need to, Yeah, I mean my circle. You
start realizing the smaller the group around you gets, the
more happy, the more successful, the more that content that
you're going to be, the more opportunity you're going to
have to thrive. Definitely, So my group continues to be
smaller and small.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Keep wing it out. So you were talking about going
down some rabbit holes when you're into something, you're like,
all in, what is this stuff recently that you've been into?
Because when you talked about Baby Reindeer, I went down
a rabbit hole on that one. I did all the stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
So Baby Reindeer was Wow. I had a lot of
friends and a lot of people on social media reach
out to me and say do not watch Baby Reindeer. Wow,
do not watch Baby.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Rain, which probably only made you want to watch it.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Because well, they were too late. Oh, I had already
watched it, and they're like, it deals with some things
that I don't it's going to be triggering for you
that I don't. I don't want you to have to relive,
you know, with what's you're going through right now and
now knowing your story, they they say, dude, don't watch
the show. Don't watch the show. And I'm like, too late, guys,
And my jaw was on the floor.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
And yeah, and I uh yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
There were some episodes that were you know, you go
into this thinking it's about one thing, and then all
of a sudden, it takes such a dramatic turn.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
It's such a dramatic turn. The one episode that I
know both of us are talking about, I when I
was done watching that episode, thought, well, that case I
was not prepared for that.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Well that was that was my life with Brian Peck,
except I wasn't a thirty two year old aspiring writer.
I was a fourteen year old child.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Jesus, I feel like you have a wild tell all
book buried inside you somewhere and I hope that that
is coming at some point.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Oh yeah, I mean if you enjoyed or were moved
by a baby reindeer, just wait for my book.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Really yeah, are you writing it? Are you actively writing it?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
I'm working on it right now. Yeah, you know, it's
a it's a it's it's definitely a process because as
my life continues, there's more, you know, to be added,
there's more to be put in, and there's a lot
of really it's it's difficult because when you're when you're
doing interviews. You know, the way that I described my
(25:51):
abuse that I endured and experienced and what happened to me,
I it's hard to do with a camera on you.
Yeahs and and and and also there's a lot of
things you can't say, I mean YouTube you you have
to say essayed or s O or ab or or those.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
And those are sexually assaulted abuse.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
You can't say sex. You know, you can't say I
can't say Brian is a registered sex offender of s oh.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
And you can't say facts, that's just a fact.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
No, you can't wow. Yeah, yeah, you definitely can't say facts,
but you can tell lies. Totally seems to be I mean,
I have reporters. Reporter is reaching out to me and saying,
we put you put this new song out, and You've
told this story on the documentary, and I've been doing
my research and it seems to me that this song
is about this and this is the person you were
(26:45):
talking about in your documentary. And you're like, dude, I
watch TikTok, I read Twitter. All of this information that
is your research is from TikTok, Twitter and Reddit, Like
that's your research and you're a journalist.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's all the time.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Now you are literally regurgitating TikTok videos from somebody who
could say anything that has like two hundred and fifty
followers twenty three hundred and thirty two followers, and then
you go down their TikTok and it's just conspiracy theory
after conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory, and I'm going what
it was. So it's just unbelievable the things that you
can say. But no, it's it's difficult to tell my
(27:26):
story the way that it needs to be told without
it being in an autobiographical medium.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
You know, it's it's sure, I mean a lot has
to get lost in the time it takes for someone
to come and fix your hair and makeup, and then
lights come on and you have a director talking to
you and now a lot of.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
People staring at you, and yeah, you're trying to and
you're you're trying to put your words together and find
words in real time, and you're you're going, wait, what
am I saying? And then all of a sudden, you're
reliving it in real time and you're on a public
stage and you're telling every That's why I think that
that scene in Baby Reindeer when he has his breakdown
resonated with me so much, because I'm going, I mean,
(28:09):
that's what I feel. I feel like when I'm being
interviewed about these these events and these things, I almost
just feel like doing that and breaking down and being like, Okay,
you want to you you really want to get into this,
You really want to pry, you really want to start?
Oh you really want to open this door? Well, sit back,
buckle up, I'll tell you what really happened. I'll shoot,
(28:31):
I'll i will rip your heart out. I'll say it
like it is. So you have those feelings and then
you're feeling that while you're trying to be like yeah, yeah, thanks,
ask me again, why don't you just google the answer,
because I've talked about it thirty seven times in the
past thirty eight hours.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Like so it's it's difficult, but I'm excited to be
able to sit down and this is one part of
my story. I mean, I've been doing I've been in
this industry for thirty plus years, and that's just one
part of my story. There's beautiful things and amazing things
that happened before and getting through that and continuing and
(29:11):
keeping it inside for so long and still being able
to move on and like you were saying before, you know,
go to work and be happy and excited to work
and not giving up. And and so there's there's a
lot to my story that I think comes through the
new album, but also that I'm looking forward to sitting
(29:35):
down and finishing. I've written a lot of chapters so far,
but there's a lot that I still need to sit
down and write and get ready for.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Obviously, you started acting when you were very young, five
years old. I think you were in like I read Seinfeld,
Home Improvement, like all of these giant, giant shows. You
still get residuals when that stuff comes around.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I do from those. Yeah, but I don't get from
breaking Josh.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Wait what you don't get residuals from dre Josh? How's
that even possible? Right, you're Drake, Drake and Josh. Yeah, okay,
so who gives that check?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Then?
Speaker 1 (30:08):
If it's not you, it Viacom.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Making billions of dollars off of all of us. They
get nothing, nothing, zero, Thank god. I wrote the theme
song to the TV Shoo to Drake and Josh because
that's the only checks that I see, and those are
you know, those are what, you know, not making any
crazy amount of money off of that, but you know,
I can at least maybe, you know, buy my friend
some lunch.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
My mind is blown.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
That's about it.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
And that's like, that's non negotiable. There's no way that
you can ever go back. And it's done.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
No.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
The advantage that they take is unbelievable with kids television,
and I think that that's something that should have been
illuminated way more. And I talked to the producers about
it and impressed it upon them a lot throughout the
process of making the documentary, and I don't know why
it was left out, because that's something that you know,
people think that we are living off of our residual checks.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
There.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well, you're on TV all over the world. You're on
TV every day. I watch you every day. You're stream
I mean, they just sold Drake and Josh and Netflix
and it was the number one, It was one of
the number one stream it was top ten.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
This is insane. And I hope that Netflix hash.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
In the checks. I mean, I don't know, I mean
I wanted. I would love to know how much they
sold Drake and Josh.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Nep Maybe you wouldn't love to know that.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's another it's another bullet for the chamber, and it's
more ammunition to just go, Wow, what in the world.
I mean they're I mean, they're selling advertisements, they're selling sponsorship,
you know, they're selling commercials.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
And everything, all of this, and you're.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Sitting there going it's for everyone who is involved in
those networks, you know. I talked to friends of mine
who are on hit TV shows, on Nickelodeon, huge TV shows.
They have kids now, they can't pay their they're struggling
to pay their rent. Whereas if you're on a network
show or on a show you know, or working with
(31:54):
a company that doesn't take advantage you can live off that.
You know you can. You can decide at eighteen, you
know what, I'm good. I'm gonna go to college. I'm
gonna be able to do that because of all of
this work that I put in in my younger years.
I'm going to be able to use that and put
it towards something that I want to pursue. But when
you're done at Nickelodeon, you are, You're just bye, thank
(32:19):
you for thank you for everything, and.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
They use you forever, clearly. Yeah, And when that book
comes out, I hope you come back. You should tell
your story with your own words, without all the people
around you editing it, cutting things out, telling you what
you shouldn't say. I look forward to you being able to
do that. I think that's gonna be great. Oh shit,
you're that far.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Well.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
So I'm toying with the title. The theme song that
I wrote for Drake and Josh is called I Found
a Way. I wrote that song when we shot the
pilot for the For the show, they were using a
different song. They were using I think Lenny Kravitz. Once
you dig In, Once you digive, We men have a
self a good time. And I was watching the pilot,
and I'm like, man, if I'm in the if I'm
(33:03):
in another room, I'm doing my homework, Like, and I
hear that, I don't know if it's the music video
or a commercial for you know, potato chips, Like, I
don't know all these songs, all these shows that I
love that I grew up on, had an instant you know,
theme song that instantly you hear it and you go, oh,
say by the bells on I gotta go watch it,
or you know, salute you shit, whatever it is. So
I put together a theme song, went and recorded a
(33:24):
little demo version of it, and went in with the
producers during a meeting and I was like, guys, I
have a theme song. Can I write? Can I play
it for you? The executive producers like, a just leave
it with me. I'll I'll call you and let you know.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I don't call me.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yeah, And I'm like, you know, there's this like fourteen
year old kid or fifteen I think I was fifteen
at the time, and I'm like, I got a theme
song for your show that's like a real show and
being produced by a big company and all this and
and check it out. It's gonna be great. And this
guy's like, you've never written a thieves. We have people
for that. This is this is this is not high school.
This is not some high school play.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
It was really cool. Immediately they were working on another
show at the time, and immediately they took the boombox.
They unplugged it, and they walked out onto the set
and they said, hey, guys. Guy they were all rehearsing
for the show. They said, guys, guys, stop for a second.
Stop for a second. He plugged it in and he
pressed play. He goes, listen to the theme song for
my new show. And then he turned around. He's like,
he's like, hey, Drake wrote that, isn't that great? And
(34:19):
then and then he took me aside and we walked
back to his office and he looked at me and
he goes, oh, now I just have to convince the network,
but that is the theme song to my new show.
And so it became this this song about friends and
about friendship, and I think that resonated with the producer saying, wow,
this is like the story of my show. It's catchy,
it's and then you go back and listen to it
(34:40):
and you go, oh, huh, maybe that's what I was saying. Oh,
that's what I. Oh, I thought I was trying to say,
but I was actually saying this. And I think that
a lot of because I wrote that song during the
time I was going through a lot of this darkness.
There's lyrics like you know, no one can break what's
so unbreakable? But I found a way. I found a way.
I sing the song every night. How am I?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Anyway?
Speaker 2 (35:02):
If you open up your mind and see what's inside?
And so I started finding all of it. What's what's
what's so unbreakable?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
What's the next one?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
I found a way? I found a way. What's that say? So,
now if you take this like from away from being
about buddies and being about yourself, like I never thought
it'd be so simple, but I found a way. I
found a way. I always thought that it'd be too crazy,
but I found a way. I found a way. It
(35:29):
starts and you start taking that as uh, you know,
more introspective. You know, I'm going, wow, I was intending
to write this about these two buddies, but maybe I'm
singing to myself. Continue and here's your happy sound with
But if you open up your mind and see what's inside.
(35:55):
It's gonna take some time to realign. It's gonna take
some time to get all this junk out to to
get back to who you are. But if you look inside,
I'm sure you'll find and this could be you that
over your shoulder, you know that, I'll this could be
this could be me talking to young Drake, you know,
(36:18):
the little boy. So just turn around. I'll always be that,
you know over your shoulder. You're told you I'll always
be there to pick you up when you're down. So
just turn around. So as you're growing in life and
you're looking back at you know, that little boy who
was in that moment, in that situation, going through this,
(36:39):
going through this gruesome horror, you can go back and say.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Fourteen year old, you wrote a theme song with the
title of your soon to be tell all book. Absolutely,
this is going to be the bestseller. I know it.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
So now the well, we got to talk to legal
about that. But so I was thinking about titles of
the book and this and that, and I don't know
how it came to me. One day. I was, you know,
walking around, maybe in the shower or something where you
where you know, your thoughts are just kind of freely coming,
and I was like, wow, I found a way through
(37:15):
all of what I've experienced, everything I've been through in
my life, I found a way to get through this.
I found a way to get through this. I found
a way to.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Get through this.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
And people can relate to that with whatever you're going through.
Find a way, because there's a way, there's traffic, there's
a roadblock, there's a red light. Find a way. You know,
there's always there's always going to be a way. And
then when you get through it, there's power in I
didn't let it destroy me. I didn't let it. I
(37:45):
didn't allow it to take who I really am away
from me or define or define me through the sickness,
through the sadness, through this family issue, this this loss,
this death, this trauma, this darkness. And then there's power
in that. I didn't let it destroy me or define me.
(38:08):
I found a way. And so that's the title of
the new book.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
That's a great title. We'll play. We'll play the rest
of your theme song as your exit.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Let me get right, because now I'm interested.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
We don't even know even if we don't have to
use it, I know that anything's possible because I found
a way no one can break what's so unbreakable. You know,
I had meant that to be the friendship, but maybe
that subconsciously was like, I'm getting through this darkness right now.
I have all of this tragedy and stuff happening to
(38:42):
me that maybe I haven't even told my mom about,
and the order for it to be taken to court
or whatever. But it didn't break me. And maybe that's
because I'm unbreakable.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Can I make a suggestion, from a place of not
knowing about music or albums or the music industry in general,
besides working here in radio station, if you did the
soft acoustic version of that song and put it on
your album, I think that would be amazing.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Oh yeah, good idea.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
It's just like full circle of everything where you started,
where you are now, and how the two of those
mesh and they reflect one another to the words. I mean,
obviously you know it's your song, but so pretty.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
Isn't it?
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Isn't it interesting when you look at it from another
another perspective?
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Because I would never I mean, just listening to the
opening theme of Drake and Josh, I wouldn't be like,
oh my God, how beautiful. Right, but if you slow
it down with like, it is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Thank you so much for indulging me, and thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
No, this is amazing. I feel like we got some
of the best stuff right here. That's great. Thanks for
breaking that down. And I'm excited to hear the acoustic
version and read your book. I can't wait. Thank you
getting to work on it. Whoa, So would you guys
(40:01):
think of that insane incredible? Yeah? I feel like he
really wanted to keep going down certain paths, but I
almost felt like I didn't want to push him or
pressure him to do that. But once he starts going,
he was going, and he's coming back and he's coming
back baby. Well so he said, and we have it,
we have it recorded. So all right, Drake Bell, we're
(40:25):
feeling wow crazy, let's get into the burn book because
Andrew yesterday was having a day. When's the last time
you saw Andrew like that? Uh, probably six months ago.
It's like a semi annual yes type thing with him.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Yeah, nothing crazy, but when it happens, it happened.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
It happened. And somebody who wasn't who walked into the
studio yesterday and was like, oh, I've never seen him
like this.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
I don't know, but I do go through annual rages.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
And he had a rage day yesterday. So let's let's
make a submission into the burn book. Who would you
like to burn? Who was pissing you off so bad yesterday?
Every time you can take that mic, every time you
went to text this is what I heard, you slammed
your phone down.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
I just I'm my burn book includes the world, Okay,
I mean I am using the world because everything was
awful today.
Speaker 4 (41:11):
The salad that I had was awful.
Speaker 5 (41:14):
It's just like you know when you have a day
and it's like everyone just annoys you and gets under
your skin.
Speaker 4 (41:17):
It's not just one thing in particular.
Speaker 5 (41:19):
It was just everything from the salad I ate, to
the conversations I had to have for work, to the
just idiots that ugh.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Okay, how about it behind the scenes, because I feel
like I was kind of contributing to it, and I
was trying to be nice as nice as I could
because I knew you were having a bad day. But
I get real pissed off when people are not on time,
especially if it's an interview like a show up. Come on,
you have one job yeah, love Drake Bell. He was
great today. He was an hour late. Yeah, an hour.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
I waited around for an hour, which, by the way, Andrew,
I would never do for anybody. But you seem so
stressed when I said I'm gonna walk out. Yeah that
I stayed.
Speaker 5 (41:57):
Well, I appreciate you for staying. Thank you so much. Again,
Like I said, it was just one of those days.
Play that Limp Biscuit song because that's truly how shit. Yeah,
so just happened that one of those days one way
up keep it was miserable. Yeah, it just like add
that to on top of everything. I had three different recordings.
(42:18):
One of them happened earlier than was scheduled, and I
knew it wasn't gonna go well if I wasn't there
for it, and they still went ahead and did it anyway,
and so then I had to edit all that audio.
I had a super late interview. I everybody was graduating yesterday,
So I left at six o'clock from the garage. And
let me tell you something, why do people decide, as
they're leaving a parking garage, this is the perfect time
to reorganize their trunk. The fuck are you doing that's
(42:42):
all I have to say, because I'm sitting there waiting
in my car for an extra five minutes while they're
opening their trunk and talking to each other like moving
things around. I have places to go, I have people
to see. I had a dinner at seven. I could
not get there on time because these idiots were rearranging.
There's stupid drugs, and it was late and it just
(43:02):
added to everything else. But then I did have a
really nice time at my dinner.
Speaker 4 (43:05):
So that's good. It made up for it. It ended nicely.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
The Drake Bell interview was awesome and I stuck around.
Speaker 4 (43:10):
For Yes, the interview is great. I'm so happy it happened.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
Everything prior from six thirty am to six pm misery.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Okay, this is for you, Andrew.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
I'm gonna play the song because I feel like Diamond
hasn't heard it. Have you heard this song? I don't. Okay,
here we go.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
It's just one of those days. Wait, you don't want
to wake up everything and everybody sucks. They don't play,
but you want to us the fuck off.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Don't play. Contract and if you went to last you like,
it's no contracts.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Study your way, mother, it's.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Just one of those days.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
That's the edited version.
Speaker 5 (43:47):
Yeah, that's just how I felt. It wasn't great. You know,
that's my culture. Don't laugh at my culture because Diamond, have.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
You heard that song before? I don't know, I don't.
Speaker 4 (43:58):
Know, you don't know Olympus.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
I'm just so uninterested in Andrew as a human being.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
That is such a lie. You know, by the way,
they're like best friends, besties, we love that. Oh my god,
can I tell you what happened this morning?
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Tell me and how Andrew made me look like an idiot?
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Oh yeah. So I'm walking.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Into the building and he's walking in from the other entrance,
and I yelled my best day, and everyone in the
lobby is looking at me, but Andrew is on his
phone with the noise canceling headphones on, So everybody is
looking like, who is this woman talking to because.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
He ignored you.
Speaker 5 (44:34):
He ignored me.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
You have a burnbug, Andrew burn. Well, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (44:41):
You know, I had my headphones in, I was jamming
out to my musics, and I just I wasn't listening
to you say. And then I looked at you and
I just saw your arms like outstretched, and I was like, oh,
I definitely left up. I don't know how, but she
definitely was saying something in this lobby.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Sorry that happened to you, guys. I think we should
just end this because I don't have a lot of
time left. Drake Bell went long, which was great. Yeah,
but we'll just cut out the ask me anything. We'll
do it next week.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
Okay, sounds good. And in the meantime, congratulations Gracie Winner.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
Yeah, thank you. I'm so excited. Here we go, baby
number two. Number two just didn't start collecting awards collecting diamond.
By the way, no one can see it, but she
threw up peace signs at the microphone. How was going
On't okay? Like follow subscribe? If people don't find you online,
how do they do it? At diamond?
Speaker 5 (45:32):
Sincere at Andrew Pug on Instagram at Baby Hot Sauce,
I need.
Speaker 4 (45:36):
Ten thousand followers.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Oh yeah, oh he does. We'll talk about that in
the next episode. Yeah, yeah, all right, peace out, everybody,
Peace out, everybody. Hi, I sole the end of our
other show.
Speaker 2 (45:45):
Come on.
What's up. It's episode seventeen. Haha, I'm still say the
number is Andrew Cool. I know you hate it. Diamond
told me to stop doing it too, but I continue.
Episode seventeen saw us on the side. What's up. I'm
Gandhi and I'm here with my two favorite people, Diamond
and Andrew.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hi. Y'all.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hi, I'm so happy that she said my name first.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hi.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
I'm here too.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
You know a lot of people said that their favorite
episode of the show was when it was just three
of us talking.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Yes, I'm saucy episode.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Okay, can you not do that in my own microphone?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
You don't on purpose. We'll get to a microphone soon, buddy,
don't worry.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Wow, I'm just your jester in this show.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
You're not funny. Jesters are funny. I just try to
try again. Good Anyway, we're all laughing and having a
good time. But I am kind of excited about this
interview today because it's Drake Bell, who we know from
Drake and Josh but has recently made headlines with all
kinds of other stuff. If you didn't see the documentary
of Quiet on Set, he was definitely featured prominently in
(01:05):
that He's got some new music on the way. I
have a ton of things to talk to him about.
I say, we just get right to it. I'm here
with Drake Bell and so much to talk about. Where
do we even begin? Would you like to start with
new music, new ventures?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah? Sure. I just released a new single called I
kind of Relate.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I listened to it. I like it, but I really
like it.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the music video. We just hit three
million on the music video. It's doing really well, I guess,
one of the most introspective, kind of autobiographical tunes that
ever in a long time. And then I just released
a new song on the tenth called Hollywoodn't and we're
having fun with that one. It's doing pretty good.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So these songs are very different because I'd listened to
both of them. Yes, So with I kind of Relate,
it's almost whimsical. The sound of it is whimsical, and
then you listen to the words and it's so heavy. Yeah,
and then Hollywoodn't well heavy as well. Obviously you're drawing
from things going on in your own life at the
moment or in the past.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, these these two songs, there's been a lot that
has come out recently about my history and my past
and what I've been through in life, and these songs
definitely relate to those those events. It's cool that you
mentioned that, because I love writing songs that sound, you know, happy,
but then the lyrical content takes you somewhere else, into
(02:29):
a dark place, fun juxtaposition. It kind of is a
throwback to the days that I was going through. What
I was going through at this time working on Drake
and Josh, and that era of music was sort of
what was happening at the time, and a lot of
different styles and sounds and I kind of took all
of them and threw them all into the pot, and
(02:49):
then the whole album takes you through this this sort
of narrative journey. I kind of compared to it. It's
like my wide album because there's so many, so many songs,
and I mean, I guess if it was, you know,
if this was the seventies, would be a double album.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
How do you feel listening back to it from where
you drew because I'm sure that there are some people
listening who don't know specifically what you're talking about. There
was a documentary that came out. It talked about some
things that you've been through in your past, which were
dark and very upsetting, I'm sure for you to relive.
And now you have this album where you're pulling from
those things and you're performing and you're listening to it
all the time. What is that like?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It's it's interesting, you know. I often say I was
thinking about this the other day. You know, a lot
of people journal and get their thoughts out through journaling
or writing in a diary, and for me, that's songwriting.
I get it through my songs, and that's how I
get you know, if I'm feeling upset, or I'm feeling
happy about something, or there's something that's I've been dealing
(03:48):
with emotionally, I get it out through song. But then
I was sinking the other day how many people write
in their journal and then go and perform it every night?
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yes, Like I couldn't rut. I don't understand how people
like that.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh, I'm using this as like it's like a cathartic
therapeutic avenue to get all of this this junk out
that's inside of me. And okay, cool, it's out. It's out.
It's I don't have to sit there and you know,
work through the turmoil in my mind. And then I'm
like on my way on to stage and I'm like,
I'm about to co read my diary for like fifty
(04:23):
thousand people, and it's some concert I'm playing. I'm like what,
And you like, really that smart?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
It is? Well, I'm sure that it's got to be
a little bit therapeutic to you, but it's also got
to be weird to look out in the crowd and
see people just singing along. Journal that was about some dark,
heavy sound, dark stuff, Like what a weird position to
be in, But you're saying it's good.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, you know it is. It's that's how I do it.
It's been really interesting because that's how I've always written songs.
And my first album I put out Telegraph, I wrote
I started writing when I was fourteen, released it when
I was about fifteen, and I was in the thick
of all of that that junk, you know, all of
(05:04):
that abuse and trauma and stuff that was going on,
and it was all coming out through my lyrics. And
so fans are now going back to that album and
looking at the lyrics and going, oh my gosh, like, yeah,
it's taking on a whole new life. We're seeing it
through a completely different lens. And he's been screaming from
the mountaintop since day one, you know, and we just
(05:26):
didn't you know, we were unaware of what he was
going through personally, and and so we didn't really you know,
these these lyrics are a lot heavier and talking about
things that are whoa you know. So that's that's. Uh,
I've seen a lot of that, which is which is
pretty cool. That's that's how I write. And when I
was starting to write this new album, but I didn't
approach it with the thought of making an album. I
(05:49):
was just you know, I was in the eye of
the storm. This documentary was going to come out. I
the world was going to know my story. And I
just started sitting down at the piano and using it
to get to get everything out, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Twenty six songs later, yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Twenty six songs later, I turned into an album. And
and then I just started getting super creative and I
was like, well, you know, this is some heavy material.
There's got to be some more, you know, it can't
just be like, Okay, here's my next album. And there's
a there's such a linear story, there's there's a lot
of flight references, you know, when you're feeling trapped or
(06:25):
you're going through something and you're like, man, I just
want to get away. I just want to escape. I
just want to go somewhere. You know, you always say
I just want to go to like an island and
get away from everybody and get away from everything. And
I started to construct this sort of narrative and the
songs are very linear of starting with like I want
to get away, I want to get out, I want
to do this, and then tragedy happening in my life.
(06:47):
It's it's really autobiographical, and then heartbreak and then that
getting fixed and triumphant redemption and this and that. So
it's like a whole. It's like I putting together a movie,
you know, through sound. It's cool.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So have you gotten a chance to escape and get away?
Because it seems like the last year, or at least the
last few months, all eyes are on you, and everybody's
probably reaching out to you and saying, hey, talk about this,
Let's talk about this again and again and again. Did
you get to get away? Do you have some peace
at all or has it just been a whirlwind of crazy?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, it has been quite the whirlwind. But my escape
is in the studio. And that's how it was when
I was working, for example, Drake and Josh, And even
though I was in the thick of such heavy and
emotional things going on in my life, it's you know,
when I'm on stage and when the lights go up
and I get to start, you know, I get to
work that that that's an escape for me. And it's
(07:44):
sort of a metaphorical escape. That's sort of the narrative
of the record too, is you know, you want to
just escape and get away, but there's a lot of
work on the inside and that you have to do
first before you know. You can relax when you get
to your destination.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
I mean, you can run, but it will catch you.
You can go on vacation, when you come home, it's
gonna be there. You can take a nap, when you
wake up, it's still going to be there. You really
have to dive in and write your journal entries and
then apparently turn it into a double.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Discaltel exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And go perform all over the place. When you are
performing now, right, you have some shows coming up, is
it in California?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, I have a couple shows in California, I just
played in Tabasco and in Mexico, which were amazing shows.
This has been the most fun show I've put together,
I think.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Ever, when did you start working on this album three
years ago? Three years ago?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, it's been a long time.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Okay. That explains the amount of songs, yeah, that you
have because a few months I.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Keep I just keep writing, and it just keeps growing
and growing and growing and growing, and I'm like, we
gotta figure out, we got it. We gotta stop sometime.
You know. It's funny because the name of the album
is called NonStop Flight, but then as the album continued,
I was adding songs, adding songs, adding songs. I'm laughing
with my friends, like maybe it should just be called
NonStop album. His album's like never gonna be finished.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
You know, do you find it easier to write when
you're happy or when you're sad?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Honestly, I think it's easier to write when you're sad.
I think it's uh, I don't know, Uh, there's stronger emotion.
I think when and I don't know if necessarily just sad, uh,
but when when there's just something more impactful going on
in your life. It's I think it's easier to find
the words to say. And also, when you're happy and
you're stoked, you're like, I want to know how out
with my friends? Like I want to go, like I
(09:28):
want to I'm feeling good, Like let's go out to lunch,
you know, And when you're upset, you're like, oh, I'm
in my house, I'm bummed. Okay, where's the piano, where's
my guitar?
Speaker 1 (09:36):
You know. So it's almost like a Yelp review. People
always when they're pissed off, they're gonna go leave those
Yelp reviews. But when they're happy, very rarely do they
go and talk about how happy they are, which is
kind of sad but also makes total sense when it
comes to the songwriting process.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Comments on social media are the same way. You know,
if you if you're reading through social media, you're like, oh, man,
there's these bad comment who's gonna write, Who's gonna When
they're happy, they're just scrolling right, you know, so they're
not looking for something to attack or.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
But shout out to the people who do leave nice
comments when they are happy. We love you. There are
less of you than the others. But how do you
please please leave more. Did you hear him? How do
you navigate that because you can't contry. I mean, you
could be the person that shots off all your comments.
But it is nice to get some feedback every now
and then from your fans and from the people who
follow you. How has that been recently with you?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It's been really great. I mean, the fan response to
my story coming out has been incredible. It's been a
good Uh, it's been uplifting good.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, that's good because I can only imagine how hard
all of that has been before and knowing what was coming,
because you obviously sat down and did this documentary ahead
of time. How long did you know before it was
coming out that it was like? How long was that
in the works?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
About a year?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
A year? Yeah, we had Mark Summerson not too long ago.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Oh yeah, and that click did you?
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, it went viral because he said he was ambushed
and he did not know what was going on. What
did you think of the final product of Quiet on set?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well, I'll say this, okaylad, I'm content with the way
that my story was able to be revealed to the world.
As far as the rest of the documentary goes.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Oh, I know, I've seen all this stuff about it.
It seems like there are some gray area with other people.
When I watched it, my first thought when it came
to you was I want to give him a hug.
And it makes me actually want to tear up a
little bit right now that you were going through all
of that and putting on a happy face for everybody,
and now you are using all of it to channel
into this wonderful music. And I am impressed that you
(11:40):
can do that. And I don't know how a lot
of people can get through those things and not say
fuck Hollywood in general. I'm out. I don't want to
do entertainment anymore.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
You kept doing it because I love it.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So no thought has ever entered your mind. I'm leaving
this behind.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I can't. It's everything inside of me. And ever since
I was a little boy, all I wanted to do
was entertained. When I was five years old, six years old,
I you know, even though it's a very young age,
I didn't know what it was. I just knew that
I wanted to make people laugh, and that is my essence.
That's my soul, like I I that's my oxygen. And also,
(12:15):
I mean, fuck them, what am I gonna I'm gonna
I'm gonna quit. I'm gonna quit doing what I love
and what i've you know, I believe was born to do,
and so so that these monsters can win.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
I love that attitude because it's so easy to get
discouraged and to let somebody doing something bad or even
saying things that are terrible get to you, get inside
you and say, I don't want to do this anymore,
like kind of kill your buzz, kill your spirit and
your light. And you didn't, and you're back better than ever.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Man, when I was on that stage and I you know,
you hear, you hear the hammers hitting building, the sets,
you smell that, you smell the wood being cut. You
you're walking over the cables, you're seeing the cameras, the lights,
and that's home. That's that's where I felt safe. That's
where I felt happy, That's where I felt creative, that's
where I felt alive. I'll be damned if I'm gonna
allow anybody to take that away from me.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
That's exactly what I want to hear. I don't want
to feel. I don't want to hear from you that
you feel like this is something you have to do,
or that you're trapped in doing It's good to know
that you want to do it and you're having a
good time doing it and at the same time as
therapeutic and helping you get through all the bullshit.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, I mean I've I've lost houses, but I'm not
gonna I'm not gonna lose my metaphorical home.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
You know, you're gonna stick with it. Yeah, Would you
let your kids get into it?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
That's a tough question because there's nothing else I wanted
to do. Had somebody, you know, my parents or somebody
had said no, you can't do that because there's some
horror stories. Well, there's horror stories and everything. I mean yeah, radio, yeah, radio, television, film, school, sports,
(13:52):
corporate life. I mean there's there's You're find you find
bad actors everywhere, mostly in Hollywood, but but but you know,
there's there's there's people, there's there's bad eggs in every basket.
So to take that dream away from a child, I
couldn't imagine doing that. But having my experience and knowing
(14:12):
what I know, I wouldn't not let them.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
You'd also be coming from a place of experience where
you're like a hawk, probably watching and able to see
things that your parents might not have been able to
see because they were new to it, whereas you've that's
what I hear.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
About, you know, And that's a good that's a good
segue into this is where a lot of people on
social media, a lot of people in the media are well,
where were the parents?
Speaker 5 (14:33):
What?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Why? How could the parents? And it's the parent's fault
and it's this fault. No, it's not. It's the person
who who perpetrated what happened. It's their fault. You're talking
about parents who have never been on a movie set.
They don't know how to conduct themselves. They don't know what, how,
how far they can go with what they and so
they're learning too. It's just as easy to take advantage
(14:56):
of them because they're just as vulnerable. So to say, oh,
it was the parents, Well, it's like you're actively learning
the boundaries and what I can where I can speak up,
and what I can say, or is my son gonna
get fired? Are they gonna get picked up for the
next season? You're like, why is that important? You're like,
it doesn't have to and it also doesn't have to
be something as extreme as what I went through. It
(15:17):
could be something like, you know what, my son's exhausted, Like,
do we have to throw the pie in his face
another six times? And that's something totally apparent has the
right to go up and say. But as you're in
the process of learning, you're like, can I go up
and tell the director or the producer that my my
son's had enough? Can we move on? So that's why
(15:39):
I think it's important to have changes in the industry
where you have something like somebody like a social worker
or somebody who has experience with mental health and childcare,
and you know, they're they're appointed by not the production
or not the studio, so they have no ties, they
have no concern whether or not they're going to get
a job by this studio the next time. Having somebody
(16:02):
that is experienced enough to recognize, hey, you know, this
child's laughing and saying, oh no, it's okay. I'll slip
and fall one more time. But they can recognize, hey,
you know what, let me give us, give us ten minutes.
I need to speak with this child and their parent
and take them into another room. And I want to
sit down with the child and make sure that he's okay.
And this is what's going on. Because I see him
(16:23):
feeling a little uncomfortable, but he's in a position where
he doesn't feel that he can express that. So we're
going to take the We're going to take a moment
and stop everything. And they have the power to do that.
So I think that, you know, small changes like that
can have a profound effect on that.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Actually seems like a really huge change and something that
is much more possible now that this documentary did come out. Yeah,
and that there are all these people saying, hey, had
we had X, Y and Z on the set, this
stuff wouldn't have happened. And now as dark as what
you went through was, there is something that you can
do for other people in the future to shine a
light and say this is how we make it not happen.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, And maybe there's maybe an aspect of that is,
you know, an hour set aside, maybe two hours set
aside two days a week, one day a week, whatever,
just for mental health and have that set aside for
the kids so that when they do get in a situation,
they feel comfortable enough to go to that person and say, hey,
this doesn't feel do I really have to do this?
(17:20):
I just don't feel comfortable. I don't feel comfortable wearing this,
or I don't feel comfortable this joke makes me feel uncomfortable,
or I just don't know if this is right, and
then they can handle the situation.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
There's more checks and balances in general would be great,
which if we're being real, not just for kids on sets,
but it goes on. It's rampant, one hundred with adults
on set. With entertainment in general. Entertainment is a beautiful, shiny,
amazing thing. And it's also really really dark and has
sharp edges. And if you don't want yourself, whichever branch
of entertainment you're in, you can get got.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Definitely, definitely. And you know, after reading Jeanette's book and
I Janet mccurty, Janet mccurty's book, Yeah, there were so
many parallels in our story. It was incredible. I mean
not just in growing up in Hollywood, but I mean
(18:10):
we grew up in the same city, Garden Grove. When
she was going to Disneyland all the time, I was
going to do that all the time. She's naming street
names in her book, and I'm like, oh my gosh,
I live like four streets away from there. That's where
I grew up. It's just it was really interesting reading.
But I think something that was illuminating in her book
and really stuck out to me is, you know they
(18:30):
put you through media training. For example, when you book
a TV show, they're like, Okay, you've never done and
now you're gonna be doing interviews. You mean to this,
We're gonna do media training. But I think there should
also be a session of listen, everyone's gonna be watching
every movie you make. This is what it's gonna feel like.
Here's examples of what other actors have gone through. Here's
their bad press. Here's what people have said about this person.
(18:52):
Here's what this person said about this person's kids, how
they are as a mother, how they are in their relationships,
talking about their boyfriends and girlfriends, talking about their marriages,
talking about their divorces, all the dirt. Is this something
that you feel like you can hand? And definitely that
should be done with somebody that like a a therapist
or somebody in the room with the kid. You know,
(19:13):
prepare them. They're gonna talk about your weight, They're gonna
talk about the outfit that you wore as you went
to go get coffee that day. They're gonna talk about
the relationship that you're in, be prepared for. You're gonna
have to have a thick skin, and is that something
that you're prepared for or that you want to do.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
And it's changed even since the time that you were
a child star acting and all this stuff because social
media has exploded and is monstrous also wonderful at the
same time, everywhere you go, people are taking a picture
of you, whether you're looking or not. Eating a piece
of pizza.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
It's creepy. And you're still doing dealing with that, I
assume right now.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's unbelievable. I mean, especially in Latin
America where my last single just went number one. I'm
playing huge concerts. I go and get tacos and it's
all on the front page of Reform a newspaper the
next morning.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
And do you ever wear to skies and just go
out and get your tacos?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know, it's unbelievable. I mean even during COVID, I
would have my COVID mask, I'd have a hoodie on,
I'd have my sweatshurant and people would be like, Drake,
can I get a.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Picture with you, you ever act like it's not you,
like I don't know what you're talking about. I would
do that.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
No, you know, you know, I'm a huge fan. When
I'm into something, I become an absolute expert obsess over
this fan. Obsessed maybe that's the wrong word to use
in this kind.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Might be the right word.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Well, in the in the age of Baby Reindeer, maybe obsessed.
Maybe we'll keep the obsessed a little. And with things
that I've gone through, I'm fanatical. And I've met so
many people in my life who shaped me musically. And
I've had so many different situations that are wonderful and
(20:54):
incredible and inspiring. And I've had other situations that have
broken my my heart as a fan. You know, I've
had you know, I go up and I ask someone
for a picture, and you know, I get the rude no,
like why you bother you know, get away from me, kid,
you bother me, you know kind of thing. And then
I get other people who are just so genuine and
(21:14):
kind and my time is your time, like thank you,
so thank you so much for being a fan. Thank
you so much, No, thank you, you know, And this
is something I've learned and I've taken away and why
I'll never say no it's not me, or no you
can't have a picture, or no I won't talk to
you for and especially since the documentary has come out
of there's been a lot of interactions that turn into
thirty minute conversations on the street. But the biggest stars
(21:38):
that I've ever worked with are always the most humble,
most kind, most giving with their time, the sweetest, you know.
And then it's these other actors that you're like, really, yep,
really you're gonna That's how.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
We say that all the time. There's this like happy
medium because when people are just starting out there super
friendly and they're really nice and they're eager and they
want to talk to everybody and meet everybody. Then there's
this weird middle period yep, where a lot of people
become assholes. And then they've passed that and now they're
back up way on top and they're really nice and
friendly again, and we can't figure out what happens and
that little in between where everyone gets crazy. But it's like,
(22:14):
I think, almost guaranteed, you know what, I.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Think now that you mentioned that, I think they're in
that middle ground you still in your mind, and even
though the perception might not be that way to the public,
but in your mind, you're still in the fight. You're
still in that battle to get to that third section.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
You're competing with everybody.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
You're competing and when you're on that third tier, you've
figured out, this is my family, this is my group,
These are the people I keep close to me. These
you can recognize the people you need to show away.
You can recognize the people clinging on to you, taking
from you, pulling from you. And I think when you're
in that second tier, it's not only by your team
(22:53):
who wants you to get to that next phase where
you're you know, the artist might be saying, Wow, I'm
really excited about this. This song went. Now it went
really great. They're like, yeah, but it didn't even reach
top ten. You got to do this, you gotta do this,
you gotta do this. And so now they're like being
pulled at in every direction, and they want to go
a direction as an artist, and they feel that they've
reached a point where they should have a say in that,
(23:13):
but they have this whole team that's telling them not
to and so they're that and then they have all
of the people who are just hanging on for the ride,
the clingers that don't have any of their best interests
at heart, and then that just drains you. And so
I was going to say, pulling from you. So it's
soul sucking and you haven't had the experience to get
(23:34):
to the point where you have the strength and the
courage to be like, Okay, you're gone.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Do you feel like you're at the point where you're
comfortable enough to delete the contact and kick people out
of your circle.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
If you need to, Yeah, I mean my circle. You
start realizing the smaller the group around you gets, the
more happy, the more successful, the more that content that
you're going to be, the more opportunity you're going to
have to thrive. Definitely, So my group continues to be
smaller and small.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Keep wing it out. So you were talking about going
down some rabbit holes when you're into something, you're like,
all in, what is this stuff recently that you've been into?
Because when you talked about Baby Reindeer, I went down
a rabbit hole on that one. I did all the stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
So Baby Reindeer was Wow. I had a lot of
friends and a lot of people on social media reach
out to me and say do not watch Baby Reindeer. Wow,
do not watch Baby.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Rain, which probably only made you want to watch it.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Because well, they were too late. Oh, I had already
watched it, and they're like, it deals with some things
that I don't it's going to be triggering for you
that I don't. I don't want you to have to relive,
you know, with what's you're going through right now and
now knowing your story, they they say, dude, don't watch
the show. Don't watch the show. And I'm like, too late, guys,
And my jaw was on the floor.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
And yeah, and I uh yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
There were some episodes that were you know, you go
into this thinking it's about one thing, and then all
of a sudden, it takes such a dramatic turn.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
It's such a dramatic turn. The one episode that I
know both of us are talking about, I when I
was done watching that episode, thought, well, that case I
was not prepared for that.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Well that was that was my life with Brian Peck,
except I wasn't a thirty two year old aspiring writer.
I was a fourteen year old child.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Jesus, I feel like you have a wild tell all
book buried inside you somewhere and I hope that that
is coming at some point.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Oh yeah, I mean if you enjoyed or were moved
by a baby reindeer, just wait for my book.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Really yeah, are you writing it? Are you actively writing it?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
I'm working on it right now. Yeah, you know, it's
a it's a it's it's definitely a process because as
my life continues, there's more, you know, to be added,
there's more to be put in, and there's a lot
of really it's it's difficult because when you're when you're
doing interviews. You know, the way that I described my
(25:51):
abuse that I endured and experienced and what happened to me,
I it's hard to do with a camera on you.
Yeahs and and and and also there's a lot of
things you can't say, I mean YouTube you you have
to say essayed or s O or ab or or those.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
And those are sexually assaulted abuse.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
You can't say sex. You know, you can't say I
can't say Brian is a registered sex offender of s oh.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
And you can't say facts, that's just a fact.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
No, you can't wow. Yeah, yeah, you definitely can't say facts,
but you can tell lies. Totally seems to be I mean,
I have reporters. Reporter is reaching out to me and saying,
we put you put this new song out, and You've
told this story on the documentary, and I've been doing
my research and it seems to me that this song
is about this and this is the person you were
(26:45):
talking about in your documentary. And you're like, dude, I
watch TikTok, I read Twitter. All of this information that
is your research is from TikTok, Twitter and Reddit, Like
that's your research and you're a journalist.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's all the time.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Now you are literally regurgitating TikTok videos from somebody who
could say anything that has like two hundred and fifty
followers twenty three hundred and thirty two followers, and then
you go down their TikTok and it's just conspiracy theory
after conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory, and I'm going what
it was. So it's just unbelievable the things that you
can say. But no, it's it's difficult to tell my
(27:26):
story the way that it needs to be told without
it being in an autobiographical medium.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
You know, it's it's sure, I mean a lot has
to get lost in the time it takes for someone
to come and fix your hair and makeup, and then
lights come on and you have a director talking to
you and now a lot of.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
People staring at you, and yeah, you're trying to and
you're you're trying to put your words together and find
words in real time, and you're you're going, wait, what
am I saying? And then all of a sudden, you're
reliving it in real time and you're on a public
stage and you're telling every That's why I think that
that scene in Baby Reindeer when he has his breakdown
resonated with me so much, because I'm going, I mean,
(28:09):
that's what I feel. I feel like when I'm being
interviewed about these these events and these things, I almost
just feel like doing that and breaking down and being like, Okay,
you want to you you really want to get into this,
You really want to pry, you really want to start?
Oh you really want to open this door? Well, sit back,
buckle up, I'll tell you what really happened. I'll shoot,
(28:31):
I'll i will rip your heart out. I'll say it
like it is. So you have those feelings and then
you're feeling that while you're trying to be like yeah, yeah, thanks,
ask me again, why don't you just google the answer,
because I've talked about it thirty seven times in the
past thirty eight hours.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Like so it's it's difficult, but I'm excited to be
able to sit down and this is one part of
my story. I mean, I've been doing I've been in
this industry for thirty plus years, and that's just one
part of my story. There's beautiful things and amazing things
that happened before and getting through that and continuing and
(29:11):
keeping it inside for so long and still being able
to move on and like you were saying before, you know,
go to work and be happy and excited to work
and not giving up. And and so there's there's a
lot to my story that I think comes through the
new album, but also that I'm looking forward to sitting
(29:35):
down and finishing. I've written a lot of chapters so far,
but there's a lot that I still need to sit
down and write and get ready for.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Obviously, you started acting when you were very young, five
years old. I think you were in like I read Seinfeld,
Home Improvement, like all of these giant, giant shows. You
still get residuals when that stuff comes around.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I do from those. Yeah, but I don't get from
breaking Josh.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Wait what you don't get residuals from dre Josh? How's
that even possible? Right, you're Drake, Drake and Josh. Yeah, okay,
so who gives that check?
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Then?
Speaker 1 (30:08):
If it's not you, it Viacom.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Making billions of dollars off of all of us. They
get nothing, nothing, zero, Thank god. I wrote the theme
song to the TV Shoo to Drake and Josh because
that's the only checks that I see, and those are
you know, those are what, you know, not making any
crazy amount of money off of that, but you know,
I can at least maybe, you know, buy my friend
some lunch.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
My mind is blown.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
That's about it.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
And that's like, that's non negotiable. There's no way that
you can ever go back. And it's done.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
No.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
The advantage that they take is unbelievable with kids television,
and I think that that's something that should have been
illuminated way more. And I talked to the producers about
it and impressed it upon them a lot throughout the
process of making the documentary, and I don't know why
it was left out, because that's something that you know,
people think that we are living off of our residual checks.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
There.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well, you're on TV all over the world. You're on
TV every day. I watch you every day. You're stream
I mean, they just sold Drake and Josh and Netflix
and it was the number one, It was one of
the number one stream it was top ten.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
This is insane. And I hope that Netflix hash.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
In the checks. I mean, I don't know, I mean
I wanted. I would love to know how much they
sold Drake and Josh.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Nep Maybe you wouldn't love to know that.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's another it's another bullet for the chamber, and it's
more ammunition to just go, Wow, what in the world.
I mean they're I mean, they're selling advertisements, they're selling sponsorship,
you know, they're selling commercials.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
And everything, all of this, and you're.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Sitting there going it's for everyone who is involved in
those networks, you know. I talked to friends of mine
who are on hit TV shows, on Nickelodeon, huge TV shows.
They have kids now, they can't pay their they're struggling
to pay their rent. Whereas if you're on a network
show or on a show you know, or working with
(31:54):
a company that doesn't take advantage you can live off that.
You know you can. You can decide at eighteen, you
know what, I'm good. I'm gonna go to college. I'm
gonna be able to do that because of all of
this work that I put in in my younger years.
I'm going to be able to use that and put
it towards something that I want to pursue. But when
you're done at Nickelodeon, you are, You're just bye, thank
(32:19):
you for thank you for everything, and.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
They use you forever, clearly. Yeah, And when that book
comes out, I hope you come back. You should tell
your story with your own words, without all the people
around you editing it, cutting things out, telling you what
you shouldn't say. I look forward to you being able to
do that. I think that's gonna be great. Oh shit,
you're that far.
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Well.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
So I'm toying with the title. The theme song that
I wrote for Drake and Josh is called I Found
a Way. I wrote that song when we shot the
pilot for the For the show, they were using a
different song. They were using I think Lenny Kravitz. Once
you dig In, Once you digive, We men have a
self a good time. And I was watching the pilot,
and I'm like, man, if I'm in the if I'm
(33:03):
in another room, I'm doing my homework, Like, and I
hear that, I don't know if it's the music video
or a commercial for you know, potato chips, Like, I
don't know all these songs, all these shows that I
love that I grew up on, had an instant you know,
theme song that instantly you hear it and you go, oh,
say by the bells on I gotta go watch it,
or you know, salute you shit, whatever it is. So
I put together a theme song, went and recorded a
(33:24):
little demo version of it, and went in with the
producers during a meeting and I was like, guys, I
have a theme song. Can I write? Can I play
it for you? The executive producers like, a just leave
it with me. I'll I'll call you and let you know.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I don't call me.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Yeah, And I'm like, you know, there's this like fourteen
year old kid or fifteen I think I was fifteen
at the time, and I'm like, I got a theme
song for your show that's like a real show and
being produced by a big company and all this and
and check it out. It's gonna be great. And this
guy's like, you've never written a thieves. We have people
for that. This is this is this is not high school.
This is not some high school play.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
You know.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
It was really cool. Immediately they were working on another
show at the time, and immediately they took the boombox.
They unplugged it, and they walked out onto the set
and they said, hey, guys. Guy they were all rehearsing
for the show. They said, guys, guys, stop for a second.
Stop for a second. He plugged it in and he
pressed play. He goes, listen to the theme song for
my new show. And then he turned around. He's like,
he's like, hey, Drake wrote that, isn't that great? And
(34:19):
then and then he took me aside and we walked
back to his office and he looked at me and
he goes, oh, now I just have to convince the network,
but that is the theme song to my new show.
And so it became this this song about friends and
about friendship, and I think that resonated with the producer saying, wow,
this is like the story of my show. It's catchy,
it's and then you go back and listen to it
(34:40):
and you go, oh, huh, maybe that's what I was saying. Oh,
that's what I. Oh, I thought I was trying to say,
but I was actually saying this. And I think that
a lot of because I wrote that song during the
time I was going through a lot of this darkness.
There's lyrics like you know, no one can break what's
so unbreakable? But I found a way. I found a way.
I sing the song every night. How am I?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Anyway?
Speaker 2 (35:02):
If you open up your mind and see what's inside?
And so I started finding all of it. What's what's
what's so unbreakable?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
What's the next one?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
I found a way? I found a way. What's that say? So,
now if you take this like from away from being
about buddies and being about yourself, like I never thought
it'd be so simple, but I found a way. I
found a way. I always thought that it'd be too crazy,
but I found a way. I found a way. It
(35:29):
starts and you start taking that as uh, you know,
more introspective. You know, I'm going, wow, I was intending
to write this about these two buddies, but maybe I'm
singing to myself. Continue and here's your happy sound with
But if you open up your mind and see what's inside.
(35:55):
It's gonna take some time to realign. It's gonna take
some time to get all this junk out to to
get back to who you are. But if you look inside,
I'm sure you'll find and this could be you that
over your shoulder, you know that, I'll this could be
this could be me talking to young Drake, you know,
(36:18):
the little boy. So just turn around. I'll always be that,
you know over your shoulder. You're told you I'll always
be there to pick you up when you're down. So
just turn around. So as you're growing in life and
you're looking back at you know, that little boy who
was in that moment, in that situation, going through this,
(36:39):
going through this gruesome horror, you can go back and say.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Fourteen year old, you wrote a theme song with the
title of your soon to be tell all book. Absolutely,
this is going to be the bestseller. I know it.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
So now the well, we got to talk to legal
about that. But so I was thinking about titles of
the book and this and that, and I don't know
how it came to me. One day. I was, you know,
walking around, maybe in the shower or something where you
where you know, your thoughts are just kind of freely coming,
and I was like, wow, I found a way through
(37:15):
all of what I've experienced, everything I've been through in
my life, I found a way to get through this.
I found a way to get through this. I found
a way to.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Get through this.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
And people can relate to that with whatever you're going through.
Find a way, because there's a way, there's traffic, there's
a roadblock, there's a red light. Find a way. You know,
there's always there's always going to be a way. And
then when you get through it, there's power in I
didn't let it destroy me. I didn't let it. I
(37:45):
didn't allow it to take who I really am away
from me or define or define me through the sickness,
through the sadness, through this family issue, this this loss,
this death, this trauma, this darkness. And then there's power
in that. I didn't let it destroy me or define me.
(38:08):
I found a way. And so that's the title of
the new book.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
That's a great title. We'll play. We'll play the rest
of your theme song as your exit.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Let me get right, because now I'm interested.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
We don't even know even if we don't have to
use it, I know that anything's possible because I found
a way no one can break what's so unbreakable. You know,
I had meant that to be the friendship, but maybe
that subconsciously was like, I'm getting through this darkness right now.
I have all of this tragedy and stuff happening to
(38:42):
me that maybe I haven't even told my mom about,
and the order for it to be taken to court
or whatever. But it didn't break me. And maybe that's
because I'm unbreakable.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Can I make a suggestion, from a place of not
knowing about music or albums or the music industry in general,
besides working here in radio station, if you did the
soft acoustic version of that song and put it on
your album, I think that would be amazing.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Oh yeah, good idea.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
It's just like full circle of everything where you started,
where you are now, and how the two of those
mesh and they reflect one another to the words. I mean,
obviously you know it's your song, but so pretty.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
Isn't it?
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Isn't it interesting when you look at it from another
another perspective?
Speaker 1 (39:27):
Because I would never I mean, just listening to the
opening theme of Drake and Josh, I wouldn't be like,
oh my God, how beautiful. Right, but if you slow
it down with like, it is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Thank you so much for indulging me, and thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
No, this is amazing. I feel like we got some
of the best stuff right here. That's great. Thanks for
breaking that down. And I'm excited to hear the acoustic
version and read your book. I can't wait. Thank you
getting to work on it. Whoa, So would you guys
(40:01):
think of that insane incredible? Yeah? I feel like he
really wanted to keep going down certain paths, but I
almost felt like I didn't want to push him or
pressure him to do that. But once he starts going,
he was going, and he's coming back and he's coming
back baby. Well so he said, and we have it,
we have it recorded. So all right, Drake Bell, we're
(40:25):
feeling wow crazy, let's get into the burn book because
Andrew yesterday was having a day. When's the last time
you saw Andrew like that? Uh, probably six months ago.
It's like a semi annual yes type thing with him.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Yeah, nothing crazy, but when it happens, it happened.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
It happened. And somebody who wasn't who walked into the
studio yesterday and was like, oh, I've never seen him
like this.
Speaker 4 (40:47):
I don't know, but I do go through annual rages.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
And he had a rage day yesterday. So let's let's
make a submission into the burn book. Who would you
like to burn? Who was pissing you off so bad yesterday?
Every time you can take that mic, every time you
went to text this is what I heard, you slammed
your phone down.
Speaker 5 (41:03):
I just I'm my burn book includes the world, Okay,
I mean I am using the world because everything was
awful today.
Speaker 4 (41:11):
The salad that I had was awful.
Speaker 5 (41:14):
It's just like you know when you have a day
and it's like everyone just annoys you and gets under
your skin.
Speaker 4 (41:17):
It's not just one thing in particular.
Speaker 5 (41:19):
It was just everything from the salad I ate, to
the conversations I had to have for work, to the
just idiots that ugh.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Okay, how about it behind the scenes, because I feel
like I was kind of contributing to it, and I
was trying to be nice as nice as I could
because I knew you were having a bad day. But
I get real pissed off when people are not on time,
especially if it's an interview like a show up. Come on,
you have one job yeah, love Drake Bell. He was
great today. He was an hour late. Yeah, an hour.
Speaker 4 (41:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
I waited around for an hour, which, by the way, Andrew,
I would never do for anybody. But you seem so
stressed when I said I'm gonna walk out. Yeah that
I stayed.
Speaker 5 (41:57):
Well, I appreciate you for staying. Thank you so much. Again,
Like I said, it was just one of those days.
Play that Limp Biscuit song because that's truly how shit. Yeah,
so just happened that one of those days one way
up keep it was miserable. Yeah, it just like add
that to on top of everything. I had three different recordings.
(42:18):
One of them happened earlier than was scheduled, and I
knew it wasn't gonna go well if I wasn't there
for it, and they still went ahead and did it anyway,
and so then I had to edit all that audio.
I had a super late interview. I everybody was graduating yesterday,
So I left at six o'clock from the garage. And
let me tell you something, why do people decide, as
they're leaving a parking garage, this is the perfect time
to reorganize their trunk. The fuck are you doing that's
(42:42):
all I have to say, because I'm sitting there waiting
in my car for an extra five minutes while they're
opening their trunk and talking to each other like moving
things around. I have places to go, I have people
to see. I had a dinner at seven. I could
not get there on time because these idiots were rearranging.
There's stupid drugs, and it was late and it just
(43:02):
added to everything else. But then I did have a
really nice time at my dinner.
Speaker 4 (43:05):
So that's good. It made up for it. It ended nicely.
Speaker 1 (43:08):
The Drake Bell interview was awesome and I stuck around.
Speaker 4 (43:10):
For Yes, the interview is great. I'm so happy it happened.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
Everything prior from six thirty am to six pm misery.
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Okay, this is for you, Andrew.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
I'm gonna play the song because I feel like Diamond
hasn't heard it. Have you heard this song? I don't. Okay,
here we go.
Speaker 4 (43:27):
It's just one of those days. Wait, you don't want
to wake up everything and everybody sucks. They don't play,
but you want to us the fuck off.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Don't play. Contract and if you went to last you like,
it's no contracts.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Study your way, mother, it's.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Just one of those days.
Speaker 1 (43:45):
That's the edited version.
Speaker 5 (43:47):
Yeah, that's just how I felt. It wasn't great. You know,
that's my culture. Don't laugh at my culture because Diamond, have.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
You heard that song before? I don't know, I don't.
Speaker 4 (43:58):
Know, you don't know Olympus.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
I'm just so uninterested in Andrew as a human being.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
That is such a lie. You know, by the way,
they're like best friends, besties, we love that. Oh my god,
can I tell you what happened this morning?
Speaker 3 (44:11):
Tell me and how Andrew made me look like an idiot?
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Oh yeah. So I'm walking.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Into the building and he's walking in from the other entrance,
and I yelled my best day, and everyone in the
lobby is looking at me, but Andrew is on his
phone with the noise canceling headphones on, So everybody is
looking like, who is this woman talking to because.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
He ignored you.
Speaker 5 (44:34):
He ignored me.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
You have a burnbug, Andrew burn. Well, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (44:41):
You know, I had my headphones in, I was jamming
out to my musics, and I just I wasn't listening
to you say. And then I looked at you and
I just saw your arms like outstretched, and I was like, oh,
I definitely left up. I don't know how, but she
definitely was saying something in this lobby.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
Sorry that happened to you, guys. I think we should
just end this because I don't have a lot of
time left. Drake Bell went long, which was great. Yeah,
but we'll just cut out the ask me anything. We'll
do it next week.
Speaker 4 (45:08):
Okay, sounds good. And in the meantime, congratulations Gracie Winner.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
Yeah, thank you. I'm so excited. Here we go, baby
number two. Number two just didn't start collecting awards collecting diamond.
By the way, no one can see it, but she
threw up peace signs at the microphone. How was going
On't okay? Like follow subscribe? If people don't find you online,
how do they do it? At diamond?
Speaker 5 (45:32):
Sincere at Andrew Pug on Instagram at Baby Hot Sauce,
I need.
Speaker 4 (45:36):
Ten thousand followers.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Oh yeah, oh he does. We'll talk about that in
the next episode. Yeah, yeah, all right, peace out, everybody,
Peace out, everybody. Hi, I sole the end of our
other show.
Speaker 2 (45:45):
Come on.
Host
Medha Gandhi
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