Meeting Roger King of The Pine - Bakersfield, California

Watch on YouTube · 2019-03-23 · 54 min

[video] 0:02 Holy crap. We got six more miles of this.

0:13 You want to comment on what we have experienced?

[video] 0:19 A snowy day in hell, basically. That's a good way to describe it. I've never experienced anything like this before. Yeah, we're going all the way back now, because the road is pretty much closed. Very slippery. I almost slipped and fell just walking outside a few feet.

0:40 Good morning, everybody. How do you feel?

[video] 0:44 A little bit tired, but energy will pick up throughout the day.

0:49 We drove five hours yesterday just to get to Bakersfield, but because of a snowstorm, we didn't get anywhere. There was an accident on the 5. So we drove this other way over hills and that was also all backed up. So we actually drove for nothing and came back to LA. even though it should only be a two-hour drive so now we are gonna get to Bakersfield again somehow it has to work out because we actually got in touch with Roger King and it's been a dream of mine to meet him so we just gotta make it work because we are flying back to Europe in the evening so we are going to Bakersfield now back to LA and then home another accident on the road to Bakersfield what do you think?

[video] 1:34 unlucky yet again

[video] 1:37 Now my car's all muddy. I don't even know how worth it that was. I won't save like any five minutes.

1:46 Another accident. Thoughts?

[video] 1:52 Another day, another delay.

[video] 2:00 I was like, I know this guy.

2:01 How you doing, man?

2:04 Nice to meet you, buddy. It's an honor to meet you, man.

[video] 2:07 Yeah, thanks for coming. I don't really know what to say, you know? Yeah, I know. But I mean, it's awesome that people still want to reach out from something I did with music so long ago. That's awesome. Hi. I'm Roger, nice to meet you. That's my girlfriend.

2:23 Hello, nice to meet you. My friend from the Netherlands is going to be very jealous. Oh, really? Is he a listener also? Yeah. Oh, cool. I know a lot of people. A lot of people listen to Divided Europe still. Yeah, that's awesome. I've been listening to all those songs, like Follow You Home. I've listened to it over and over for years. I use the panels in my videos a lot. Oh, really? Like, when I do nature shots as an outro, I use a lot of your songs. Oh, that's cool. Like, Down Below, Sunshine, like that. I just listen to those songs.

[video] 2:53 Yeah, that's cool. Like, hearing someone mention the song titles. Because I, I mean, it's been so long, you know, and I do different things now. But I know Sunshine because I wrote the songs. So when I hear someone remind me of them, it's like, oh, wow, I forgot. It brings me back. Did you write most of the songs yourself? I wrote all the songs, yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought.

3:16 And the bass player was your brother, no?

[video] 3:18 No, the guitar player is my brother. Right. Kurt's my brother. Yeah, we actually, he just, he still does some music stuff. He has a project called Desert Legs. Okay. And he's going to put out a full length. So he had me play drums on that recently. Okay. But it's so different now being almost, I turned 40 this summer. Right. So in like, I have three kids, I'm a school teacher. You know, I told you a few, I mean, just trying to get together for this. It was like, okay, let me schedule a lot of scheduling stuff. But yeah. So even me playing drums for him on that was like almost as intense and as heavy as it is to organize time and the structure of when it was just like the same thing for trying to get together with my brother just to do that. When something simple like that used to be, hey, come over, let's play, okay. But now it's like, well, what about this day? Okay, what about this time? And it's just scheduling conflicts now that we're older, it's crazy. Yeah. You were also into bodybuilding and stuff, right? Yeah, I did that for a long time.

4:17 I watched that Spider-Man thing you did. You were really ripped in that.

[video] 4:20 Yeah, I got really into, like, working out and stuff to where I even opened, like, that supplement store you said you heard that I had, that gym rat. Yeah. And then... Because I was really into skateboarding when I was younger and then I got really into music and the music kind of took over. And so I was playing music while being the workout. Because of the traffic, the sound. Yeah. But like I would play, like when I was in the blind, I was heavily into working out during that entire time. and um i recently seven years ago got back into skateboarding what i i did that for 10 years and got into working out for like 13 or 14 years and i started skating again seven years ago and i started to realize that i'm getting a little older because i was like 32 or so when i started skating again that working out and getting really tight muscle and everything doesn't work with skateboarding where you're jumping and you have to be flexible and light.

[video] 5:17 So the skateboarding slowly kind of took over my time to where now I skateboard a lot. I still lift like a couple days a week, like more practical though. Like I don't like, I used to be like a maniac about working out and stuff like that, but now it's more practical, like two or three days a week. So then I can skate more. with my free time. Are you guys ever going to do a reunion show or something? Well, we did one. In 2014, right? Yeah, we did one a few years back. I'd be open to it because it was so strange because I couldn't even remember how to play the songs. My brother had to reteach me. And it's so funny because I wrote the songs and he was just like, no, it's like this. I was like, huh? But as soon as he would show me and I would...

[video] 6:06 I would have trouble because we played completely different things so he would show me what he played and I had to find it but then something would click on each song to where I would remember and it would feel like it was almost like I completely forgot but then once it really connected you completely remember and so I was like that song after song and then we played the show and playing the show it felt like like it always felt because we only practiced Yeah, I was thinking if you guys ever do something I would have paid just for that.

[video] 6:52 I would. I mean, I would be open for it. Like, I have no objections to like, no, no, I don't want to do that anymore. It's like, I would always do it if the guys are just like, hey, we want to do it on this day. I'm kind of like, okay, well, tell me when and where and I'll schedule it. Like how I was like meeting with you, my brother, just whatever. I don't have any objections. Yeah, when we went through Bakersfield, we went through the Munoz Gym.

7:14 Yeah. And they tore it down, right?

[video] 7:16 I don't know if it's torn down or if they just...

7:18 They said the whole building is gone.

[video] 7:20 Oh, really? I didn't know that. There was a fence and the whole building was gone. Oh, well then, yeah. Then it's gone. I didn't know that. Because it was just like a little barn type place where the people had the boxing gym there. But I didn't know it was completely torn down. But that's where we did the reunion, but I would play again. And I know once, because I'm so into skateboarding now, but I'm getting older and older, and once my body can't keep up with my drive to want to be able to skate the way I skate now and do my tracks and all that stuff, I'm sure I will... pick up a guitar again or do something again. I don't really write any music now. I don't even have a guitar right now. I haven't had one in a long time. But I know the time will come when it's time to do something else. So I'm sure I will play again. But like I said, it's nothing that I object to. Like, no, I don't want to ever do that again. It's just not where I'm at right now.

[video] 8:21 Yeah.

8:22 Did you meet any of the people from other bands, such as, I don't know, Indian Summer or something?

[video] 8:29 No, they were before my time. They were before, right?

8:31 Yeah, they were like... They still have like 96 or something?

[video] 8:35 Yeah, like Indian Summer and Evergreen and all that stuff. You were inspired by Evergreen? I was heavily inspired by that. Because you can hear it, yeah. Just that whole... feel of that genre like it was kind of like a mixture of indian summer evergreen link like those three bands are so different but yeah link i don't even know that oh you spell it l-y-n-c oh i do know yeah like if you listen to them you can see attributes from that in like my songwriting and then indian summer even like some of the like octave like tight progressions like even though i wasn't screaming or nothing like you can kind of if you smash those together you can say i could see that you know that inspiring songwriting um but yeah all that stuff was unfortunately before my time like tour i i couldn't even make it down i think i was in ninth grade when uh those bands were actually playing down in la and at that time you know

[video] 9:31 No one has cars, no one like traveling down south. There was no internet really. It was me maybe barely getting started. So there was like, how do you find out about the shows? How do you get down there? Our parents don't want to, you know what I mean? So like for me to travel, didn't exist but we our our history with it was like we had the records and we were a bunch of little kids with records and we like that people didn't understand why we have vinyl like why do you have records like that's so old and we thought that was cool it was like our special thing there's like a group of us in town that really collected them and um there's a shop in berlin which is where i live uh they sell a lot of the emo scream all right all the old vinyls and stuff oh that's cool

10:17 yeah yeah my friend had a shirt of indian summer and oh awesome i used to also have an indian summer patch on the back of my jacket and actually the pine patch oh really album cover oh that's cool yeah i used to always have an indian summer button on my guitar yeah i mean summer and then i had my friend noticed yeah

[video] 10:35 Yeah, I think I had one or two different ones, and then I had a bunch of pine buttons. I think I might have had a link button too. Yeah, they had a lot of the pins.

10:43 I was looking for the pine always, but they didn't have it.

[video] 10:46 Yeah, we only made a few pins. I think we made like one for the Homeless Life 7-inch cover. We had it in the vat. And then I think we just had a basic one that just said the pine, like the long line on the P. But that was about as far as that goes. It's funny too, because I have, are releases, but I don't even know where they are in my garage. I always made sure to keep one of every release of every vinyl that we did. I don't know where they are. And it sounds kind of funny. I went through kind of a rough spell with money, trying to provide. I had to become a stay-at-home dad for a while because we had some tragedies in the family. And I had to quit working.

[video] 11:33 and so i'd stay at home dad's but i still wanted to bring forth some money to help and so i ended up selling that guitar my main guitar and i had a on the back of it i scratched in like the farmyard a scene that i did for the pine i think we did it for some shirts and some other things i had to sell it someone bought it for like a thousand dollars i think just because they were a pine fan right it was between i think two people that were going back and forth on but i don't i I mean, it's a guitar. My brother was like, what? You don't feel like, like kind of like empty now? It's just, it's a guitar. Those moments of me and my buddies playing in the band, you know, going on tours, people were blown away by us. Like I'll never forget that, but they were blown away more when we would stay at their house, and they'd see, you guys don't fight a lot, do you? No, we don't, like, we never argue, we never got in fights, and everyone, every other band that we would be with on tours, like, you know how bands come, meet up with you guys for, like, a week, and then they go on their own route.

[video] 12:33 Like, they are always just kind of, like, scratching their heads, like, these guys really like each other, you know? Because we were just a bunch of funny little kids, you know? Like, I was the oldest one in the band, but still, I was like... Even towards the tail end of our little venture of being a band, I was like mid-20s. So I was still young, I was still a kid, and they were like, you know, barely 18. Like, I got all the guys when they were like 16, they were all young, so I don't know, it was just funny. Like, they would go bananas and raid people's houses and eat all their food, and I just was the older guy, not super old, but older, that would just sit back and laugh about everything, you know? So, we had really good times. I mean, it'd be impossible now to do tours and stuff, but, I mean, those memories, you know, it was a really good time. If you ever do a reunion, where would you announce it?

[video] 13:30 It just kind of depends on who sets it up and them telling me where to be. I mean, I could see if a bigger... Like, we already did one here, and I wouldn't really want to repeat the exact... Say, hey, reunion show in Bakersfield again. If someone set one up, like, in more of a... like a more populated location, like down in LA or something. I could see that being something that I'd be pretty excited about or anywhere that's bigger, but it just depends. I know you said there's such a huge fall line, I guess, still in Europe, you're saying so. I mean, if I'm older and my kids are grown up and I'm not in such a situation, like right now my newest daughter, Addie, she's one. My daughter, Romy, is seven and my son, Eli, he turns six next weekend. So right now I'm not in a state where it's like I've taken off like, hey, let's go do this and leave my wife at home. It's pretty crazy with that many little ones.

[video] 14:26 But once they're older, I can see it being a reality to like, well, they want to set up a reunion show in Europe. You know, it's supposed to be a big deal and like, You could be down there for a week. I mean, why not? Go see some beautiful places again and meet people that appreciate things that you've done. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, again, so I'm not opposed to anything like that in the future. In Germany, there's a lot of fans. Yeah, I remember Germany. In a place like Berlin. I remember Germany. We went to Germany even way back then. Like we had big followings. I was surprised. It's like, whoa, people were like singing along with the songs we were playing. I was like, this is awesome. You know, I never, I just think back to like starting the band and like we would play locally here and we, we might maybe had five people watching us and three would walk away going, whoa. But I loved it so much and I really liked what I, what we were doing and I liked how it felt. I liked how it sounded. So it was just, who cares?

[video] 15:25 You know, and eventually it just kind of, kept growing and growing.

15:31 I also wrote you sometime online. You responded about those songs you did live with that one guy. You played some songs live, but you never released them. Like, acoustic? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I have. I mean, I have songs.

[video] 15:44 They're so good. I wish I could hear it. Yeah. Yeah, something like that. I mean, it would have to be... if a label like this same, I mean, I'm pretty, I kind of roll with the punches, you know? So if someone likes, Hey, we really want to put out X, Y, Z songs. Can you record them? We want to put out a seven. Okay. Let me look at, I'll find them and I'll relearn them and I'll do it. You know, anything with the band stuff like that in my history, I'm not, I'm never opposed to a fan reaching out and saying, hey, we really like this. Is it possible for something? Like, I'm always open for it, you know?

16:23 The last thing you released was the split, right? The one song split that was like...

[video] 16:27 four years ago, three, four years ago? I'm trying to think. Well, we did that last full length, Don't Need Regret.

16:35 Right, right. But you alone, it was as Roger King. I even wrote you and you said that it's going to sound more like The Vine.

[video] 16:44 Oh, yes. Yes.

16:45 That was the last thing, right? Yes.

[video] 16:47 I think that was with, what band was that with? Yeah, I forgot the name. It was a while back, too. That's why, and that song I wrote about, I remember that, too. Yeah, it was about my, because I remember your name. I remember always seeing it in emails throughout these years. Wow. But it's just like it's so like spread out amongst maybe years, you know, to where I don't really like completely remember. But I know your name's familiar. I know you've kind of been trying to connect with me here and there over time. But yeah, that song was when I first had my first daughter, Romy. And I remember like I wrote a song about her. Yeah. I still have some copies of that 7-inch that, because whoever put it out sent me like the actual like, I think he sent me like 10 copies. And I think I gave one to my mom. I kept one. I think I have a box of like seven or eight or maybe seven of them left in my garage. Do you have one? No, I don't. Well, I'll look for it. I know I have them.

[video] 17:45 um at least a couple of them if i do find them i'll send you one and then yeah just an appreciation of you like reaching out and like because i know you'll you'll you'll listen to it and you'll you'll be into it and you want it so yeah i'll try to find i know that it's got my garage ain't that big you know it's got to be somewhere in there yeah i'd definitely do that for you yeah

[video] 18:11 Do you have any more questions? Yeah, I got to go. Well, what time do you guys got to go?

18:19 Well, the 5 is open again at least. Oh, it's open again? That's good. So yesterday we actually drove. We started driving at 7.30 p.m. I drove...

18:30 into the, I don't know, there was tons of snow, like a forest. Yeah, I didn't know. We ended up getting back to LA at 1.30, five hours, because we couldn't go to Bakersfield. So now today we went all the way around, but now at least it's open.

[video] 18:45 yeah like I think I yeah I warned you about that last time my wife told me I was like oh wow it's like yeah there were two accidents now also on the road just today yeah yeah it's that that grapevine it's kind of if it's nice weather it's not a big deal but if it's bad if it's dark or just something's wrong with the weather it can get really sketchy yeah you got to be really careful yeah But what time are you guys flying back? Are you flying back today?

19:13 No, the flight is at 9 p.m. We gotta be there maybe at 7 p.m. latest to check in and everything. It's been a 70-day trip. We started in San Francisco, went to Sacramento, Placerville. all around. By the way, do you listen to black metal? No, I never really got into black metal. I was just curious. Because I listen to a lot of the stuff like the Vine, but then also a lot of black metal. Yeah. Although I listen to pretty much everything. I was just curious.

[video] 19:41 Yeah, I never got into black metal, but it's funny, I used to play in a power-violence band, and I was a drummer, and I was just always doing those crazy beats. It's somewhat similar. Yeah, with my buddy Zach. My buddy Zach used to be really into that stuff, and I just thought, you know, I used to always hang out with Zach, we would skateboard and stuff, so he knew I could play drums, and then he was just like, well, you want to try? Okay. It was kind of like, oh, that was fun. Okay, let's do some shows, so... We did it for a little while. I know we recorded, but I have no idea what happened to that. I think he lost it even, I don't know. But yeah, it's funny too, because I have noticed people that... usually do like our style they will like black metal or like something that's like heavier type genres yeah i always noticed that i like yeah the pine also is like heavy guitars yeah so i like like follow you home that song it's like

20:40 Yeah. I mostly like the bass also in the Vine. Yeah, Bill. That really makes it special. The song will follow you home and you really listen in the background, the bass. Yeah. That's what makes it special.

[video] 20:54 I used to, I mean, I started out, because Bill, that's who was our bass player pretty much the whole run.

[video] 21:03 He was so young when we started. He was my brother's age, so when we started, I think he was, when I got him in, he might have been barely 15, 16. I taught him, he was a good bass player with a lot of Tons of, what's the word? I could just see something in the way he played. Like he had a lot of talent just waiting to come out. But I, since I was a songwriter, I made up the bass lines to go along with the music. Like when I would write, because I play bass, guitar, and drums, so I always kind of had my ideas of what I want kind of done. My brother Kurt always did his own thing because he kind of does more of the noisy, just like sounds that you kind of hear. that kind of go with my, I was more the distorted guitar, just straightforward. And then he was more like making like the delay sounds and a lot of like feedback stuff. But Bill became,

[video] 21:57 way better bass player than I ever could become because he He took the way the methods that I was showing him on like songs that like you said like follow you home I know there's a lot of other songs that had like specific like Really nice melodies and like it wasn't just going crazy on a bass for fills. It was like the song was the bass I would write a lot of the songs based on like a bass line I would hear or in the vocal path And usually I knew the guitars were just going to be like this distorted and straightforward. But he became such a good bass player to where he kind of took over towards the end and he was just able, he had it. And he knew what to do and his fills and everything he was able to do. I never had to, I always could count on him like, just do what you want now. Like, it's almost like a, you graduated, go for it. Just like, I can see it. You grew, like you've surpassed what I can do on the bass and go for it.

[video] 22:49 um same thing with our drummer drummer our last drummer stephen uh he's he was really good like he got to the point where he he came in a little later because we had our we went through quite a bit of drummers yeah we always had some problem towards the end but stephen uh stephen listened to us growing up as as a younger kid and he he just had the songs down and um So it was just like, he was really stoked on it to like be a fan and then start playing in the band. And he just knew what the songs were like. And he knew that it was just solid drums with planned fills. Like you're not just going crazy and doing what you want to do. Like it's just real steady because everything else is kind of like, like the bass is going kind of out there. The guitars are noisy and the drums and the vocals have to be steady, but he, he was really good. I haven't seen him in a long time. I miss Steven. Steven's really good.

23:45 I've got one last question, unrelated to music. What do you think about veganism?

[video] 23:50 Veganism? I noticed, I think I checked one of your videos and I noticed that you had a lot of opinions on veganism. I mean everyone, when we first went to Europe on the tour, we noticed everyone was doing Is that vegan? Are you vegan? Are you vegan? Like, they would come straight up to us, like, are you guys vegan? It was kind of like, what's a vegan? Like, we didn't even know what they were talking about. You know, we were kind of like, huh? Vegan? And we started to understand, oh, okay. And we started to identify, well, I identified it with, like, it's kind of like a, well, if you, like a stereotype, like something, a mold that, you had to be in or else you're not in the crowd, you know. It's like, well, you come to shows and like you have to be political, you have to be vegan, you have to go through these.

24:38 That's kind of the only problem with Berlin is that a lot of the so-called anarchists and such, they're very much into veganism also. It's just that you can't even be, like you said, part of it if you're not.

[video] 24:48 Yeah, it's kind of like I did notice that when we were kind of like, huh?

[video] 24:54 I recently saw some study. I think my pastor at my church was talking about like they've done studies on like eating meat causes more inflammation. So like your free radicals and cancer cells, something. So I was like, I'll try it, but I'm not doing it for political reasons or to take a stance or it doesn't offend me. So I'm gonna try it for a few months. I did it for a little while. And then... I mean, I did notice I feel pretty good when I don't eat meat, but I still eat. I mean, if In-N-Out's around, I'm going to eat, you know, In-N-Out burger. I'm going to eat some In-N-Out burger. So I make a joke sometimes. I stick to a vegan diet, depending on how close In-N-Out is to where I am, you know? Like, I had hamburgers last night. I don't know. I think it's, I mean, people can make it more than what it probably is. I mean, if it didn't have a title, I don't think it would even probably be talked about. You know what I mean? The fact that it has a label, veganism, what does that mean?

[video] 25:53 Oh, you don't eat meat, you don't eat dairy.

25:55 Oh, okay. Have you heard about the government wanting to tax meat or create the slab-grown meat? They kind of want to just get rid of... real meat essentially or all the fake meat everywhere kind of popping up like soy meat oh really yeah yeah see it like something like that's wrong it just seems kind of like i don't really understand they get they have all of these studies but the studies are done on the processed meat usually which you know has maybe 50 meat and then all kinds of garbage in it yeah yeah so how can you even trust any of the studies and Even if they would be done on real meat and it's done on very cooked meat, which then creates the hard crust, the dark one, which is also then not good for you. But that's what they check and then they say it's carcinogenic because my channel is mostly about raw meat. Because I try to promote eating how we would eat in nature without cooking or anything, just eating the meat raw.

26:54 They don't do any studies on raw meat. But it's just this whole problem now.

[video] 26:58 Okay, so they're like seeing more like the carcinogens from like cooking the meat.

27:02 Yeah, or usually processed meat, which is usually complete garbage. But even if not, then it's very well done meat. Okay. But you got to really look into it and what they actually say and what these studies are. Because there's a lot of people who want to push it, who want to tax the meat and make it super expensive right now.

[video] 27:22 So there's a I guess oh, yeah, I see I don't even know about all that So there's a lot going on I guess behind the shadows. I mean, you know how it is like based on anything but I mean, I don't really know. That's all I really remember. I remember a lot of vegans, and it started around... I know, I'm sure it was going on before the time that the pine was in Europe, but it just seemed like it was a lifestyle, like, if you don't do this, you're kind of off. And we were open to, like, no, no, we eat meat. Where do we get some hamburgers? And, like, I remember... us being a little shunned by some people that were really, really heavy belief and like, no, you have to be a vegan. Like, you have to do this and that. And I remember that they kind of would like, I don't know, you can tell when someone's kind of talking a little bit behind your back when you're somewhere. We could kind of tell. We were like, I don't know. We were just those silly kids, you know, couldn't care less. And still I have... I don't really have strong opinions on it.

28:21 I mean, eat what you want to eat. That's kind of the problem. They don't want you to eat what you want to eat. They want you to eat vegan. That's the problem with vegans. I don't care if somebody's vegan, but they really care. A lot of people get out of veganism because they interview ex-vegans. They call it a cult or a religion. They were in this mindset that they couldn't get out of it. It's like you can't eat any animal products because then you'll be shunned by the other vegans. And they call you names and they even give you death threats once you become an ex-vegan.

[video] 28:53 It's pretty... Yeah. Is that like worldwide or is it more like in Europe? That's pretty world.

29:01 Oh, really?

[video] 29:02 It's mostly the United States and Europe. Australia also. Australia also, right. Wow, I didn't even know. That's insane. Yeah, that's crazy. But I did notice when we were in Europe, it was... And, like, I don't really... I guess I don't notice it much here because, like, I don't go many places. I go to my work. I skate at the skate park. I'm at home with my kids. So I don't really go out socially to kind of see where people are on opinions of that. I mean... If you're a vegan, I work at a school, so if you tell someone, oh, I'm eating a vegan diet, oh, what, huh? Everyone's kind of like, you're kind of like the minority. So if that's, I mean, but when we were, the only time I know that I was in a situation where the majority was vegans was in the DIY scene in Europe. And it was like, whoa. But then also I did start to notice it in the DIY, it's just, I guess it's more the DIY scene is where I notice it, like more like underground music scene.

[video] 30:01 But that's the only time I was really around, I guess, people or a crowd that had more like political, outspoken views on certain things.

30:13 By the way, the name The Pine, doesn't it come from the tree in LA? I read it online. I don't know where the name comes from.

[video] 30:20 Well, I came up with that name just because I remember there's a movie, yeah, that Blood In Blood Out movie. Yeah, there's a pine tree. And I remember they used to always were like, the pine, the pine, let's go to the pine. Like that was like their neutral ground where they were able to go and meet and like, what do you want to talk about? Like on the neutral territory. I mean, I didn't pick it mainly just because I just seen, I saw peace, like that's their peaceful place to meet. and like they met there when they were young and then throughout the movie they still would meet there when they're older like if they got out of jail they're still meeting at the pine but then the pine also i think i wrote something on it like for our something i put out for some unreleased songs a long time ago it was almost like just like we were kids living up in like we climbed up in this tree like this is the allegory that i made up like we kind of we We climbed up in a tree and we were living in that tree and all we cared about was each other in the tree.

[video] 31:20 And there wasn't anything else going on in that tree except us having fun in the tree. That's what the Pine, that little era that we had the band, it was us in a tree having fun as kids. And I mean, we had to climb down from the tree eventually, but still, that time of the pine, it's like, when I think of the pine, I think of, like, I think, it seemed like the main memories I was remembering and talking to you about, I'm not talking too much about the music attributes, but us messing around, us joking around, having fun, getting along. Like, those were more the heaviest memories of having the band, was being with a bunch of, with... like a group of guys that we just had a blast. You know, I always just had fun. She has no idea about like the pine and like me playing like louder music or going to watch me play loud, distorted music, you know? So the time of the pine was like, so before she knew me, to where she doesn't really understand that we had a pretty big following.

[video] 32:16 She does, but I don't know if she really understands that fans still are into it now, even though we're not even playing. Right, right. So it's just like, okay, I guess. So hearing someone say that they're so stoked to meet me, it reminds me that I did a bunch of stuff in music. I forget. If someone's like, hey, you used to play music, I'd go... Yeah, I used to play. It's like, let me go through everything in my mind. Yeah, I did play music. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

32:43 Yeah, I wasn't sure how you think about it because when I called the gym place, I called the other place because they moved and changed the name. Yeah. And then I said, I thought maybe they know who you are. In my head, you're just a celebrity basically. So for me, it's weird to think that

[video] 32:59 nobody like they didn't know who you are yeah no yeah i'm just no one really knows me except the people i'm immediately like connected to or people from people that are fans of like the music i put out there and the kids you know yeah right but Did you grow up in Diggersfield? Yeah, I was born and raised here. Like when we were the Pine, we started here and we always played shows here. But what's funny is you never really get that much credibility in your own hometown. That goes with anything, you know. So like even until the reunion show like that, we had a lot of people packed in there to watch us and it was never like that. Like even if when we were touring like the U.S. or Germany, wherever we were going, like we had followings, we would play a show here again, there'd be like a dozen people watching. It's just because they're so used to it. It wasn't a big deal to anyone here. But then when we go somewhere else, I don't know. It's just different. Yeah.

34:00 What do you listen to yourself nowadays?

[video] 34:02 Nowadays, I don't really listen to too much music. I started playing drums at my church. And so I actually listen to some different worship type bands. But then one band I just got into that's more just like a regular band that just puts stuff out. I don't know if they're more of an underground band. They're called Twilight Sad. I don't know. They have pretty good songs. I heard some of that stuff. Since I got back into skating, I kind of graphed towards different types of music too like not mainstream sounding by any means but just stuff if you look at twilight sad that's kind of the that it's like almost like the cure almost like a reaching away-ish type sound sounds good yeah yeah i like them but i don't I mean, it's funny, too, because I don't ever listen... I still have my Indian Summer records and all those old records. I don't even own a record player. But it's like those songs and that style of those songs. What's your favorite Indian Summer song?

[video] 35:02 I think probably Angry Sun. Or... Mine, too. What was that one? They had that split. They're split with Current. That song... I think it's called Orchid. Oh, probably. I think their song was called Orchid. Yeah, because the cover, they actually silkscreened the cover, and it was like a well and something. But that song that starts with the guitar, most of their stuff starts with a picky part, but... And then I was really into this band Allure. Did you ever get into Allure? Oh, yeah. Yeah. They just had like a cassette. They were really heavily influenced by Indian Summer during that time. And I used to really be into that stuff. Super good stuff, yeah. I just recorded a song, actually, not too long ago for a split with the band. I don't know if they're still wanting to do it. They seem stoked on it. But it is that...

[video] 35:59 genre, Indian Summer, Allure, where I did the vocal style, I did the guitar. I recorded everything. I'll have to email you a link just so you can have the song. That would be nice. And it's just me, my portrayal of... Because I know with the Evergreen and Link and all that stuff, that's how I kind of put out the pine and different sounds. But I've never really, really got to put out my interpretation of... my love for Indian summer and that genre of music. The song that I put out, or I haven't put it out yet, but that song is my interpretation of my appreciation for that style. So when you hear it, you're going to hear that sound from that time, but me doing all the stuff. So hopefully you like it. I think you'll recognize it right away. You'll be like, okay, I can see. And just knowing my songwriting so well from listening to my stuff, you'll know it is my interpretation of

36:54 that because you'll probably pick up on little like rhythms and things that i kind of graph towards usually nice yeah do you have my email um i emailed you two different emails i didn't know which one you really use uh somebody gave me uh some subscribers and they also gave me the phone number what um i don't know what it was called anymore

[video] 37:17 But I can email you again. Yeah, email me again and just say, send me that song here, and then I can forward you the email, because my buddy Darren recorded it. I can forward you the email that he emailed me the finished song, and I can just forward you that email that will have the attachment. And then you can just have it. Probably don't put it online or anything. You just hear it. Because I don't know what the band that wanted to do it, the split, I don't know what happened. but they still want to do it. The guy, they seem stoked on it and I don't know what happened. Oh, you know what I should have brought you? Oh no, I'll have to send it to you. I forgot I have pine trucker hats.

37:56 Oh wow.

[video] 37:57 Yeah, I have some that I had made a long time ago. Probably like I don't know how, like, I made them because a buddy of mine said that he could silkscreen trucker hats, and I figured, oh, well, I can see some Pine fans wanting to buy some trucker hats, maybe. But I think I sold maybe, like, a few of them, and I probably, I think I have, like, five of them left, but I'll send you one. When you email me, give me your address, and I'll get you that, too. Oh, thank you, yeah. Yeah, I forgot about that. I completely forgot.

[video] 38:26 Yeah, yeah. It's funny, too, because they're, like, on the... They're somewhere in the room that I sleep in, and they're just in a bag, like, kind of buried. But they're there. They're, like, out. They're not, like, in a garage or something. Yeah. But I made them so long ago, like, I forget they even exist. I'm just used to them being around where I don't even see them, you know? Yeah. I'm a fourth grade teacher and I'm going through, are you the one that you've gone through your school? Yeah, he mentioned, yeah. I'm like at the tail end of all my credential stuff. And it's like, I got hired with barely, I barely got my BA. And I had no credentialing, I had no anything. And there's such a teacher shortage here in Bakersfield. They hired me while having to go through, it's almost like your own probation. Right. But you have full pay, full insurance, all the stuff a regular starting teacher gets.

[video] 39:25 But it can be gone anytime if you don't... Yeah, so I've had something similar. It's like you have to follow through with your credentialing program by this point or else they're going to drop you. They won't rehire you. And I'm right on point, but yeah, it's a song and dance for sure. But do you teach like one subject or how does it work? Well, here we do like if it's fourth grade, anything for kindergarten through sixth grade is all subjects. Right. And then junior high is when they split up into single subject teachers. Yeah, right. I have to think, like, with the grades and everything. Europe, it's very different. Oh, really? It's like primary school, basically, and then you have high school. Oh, okay. Yeah, they have the three split here, so. I did teach on the primary school, like, I don't know what grade it is, when they're, like, 11, basically. Something like that. That was really cool. Oh, yeah. I studied to become a history teacher.

[video] 40:21 Cool, so but actually that was way cooler than high school Yeah, my students are like nine and they're turning ten like towards the end of the year And so they're really good. It's a great age because the kids are like they don't they're not defiant on purpose And they want to please you and I get along with them all it's cool. You can connect with them and I Like they're like little adults, but they're not rebellious super rebellious. Yeah, you know Yeah, I'm almost done though. That's been that's been a lot of work like getting into it I just like the way I live I just live day to day So it's just like well what homework is due today, and that's all I worry about But if someone would have said well take a look This is everything you're gonna have to do for over the night. I would go. I don't know I would have really waited out but I guess in Europe it's the same.

[video] 41:15 So to become a history teacher in high school they have too many but primary school still they want a lot of people and primarily men because there's more women supposedly. It's like that here too. It's dominantly female teachers so then when they do get a man that wants to and I noticed I only have six girls in my class the rest is like 20 boys because they want a lot of from the the demographic of the the area it's in a lot of the boys don't have like a solid father figure oh yeah so it's very important yeah it's like their prominence yeah so they they stuck all the boys with me so yeah i'm like like a second somewhat father figure to them, so I try to be a good influence at all times. What's the church that you go to? Just a Christian church? Yeah, it's a Christian church. You've always been Christian? Well, I just became Christian, I'm trying to think, probably a couple years ago.

[video] 42:15 I always grew up just kind of... believing in God but didn't I never well I went in stages it was always well I believe in God but I don't think I'll ever like want to read a Bible the Bible or anything like that and then in some I I was given some it's very intense moments four days after my brother passed away that it was undeniable what I was being shown. It was like a real-time, real-life vision that connected. And I still had never read the Bible, but everything that I saw, it blew my mind. That's like a whole other interview right there. But then once I started reading the Bible, It started connecting with some things that I saw that weren't of this realm. It's really strange, but more real than real, what I was able to see.

[video] 43:10 So I did pick up a Bible and started reading it and going, huh, that kind of sounds like something that I saw.

43:17 You said realm? Are we in a realm?

[video] 43:20 Well, like I guess in our world, like in this world, we know what we see, right? And we're used to like the physical attributes of what we see and what I was able to see

[video] 43:38 was some things I was able to recognize, but it shouldn't have been what it was. And it was just completely... But you would call it the created realm, right?

43:49 Sort of.

[video] 43:50 Yeah. I agree with that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, what I saw, I mean, just to put it out there, just so people can hear this. I mean, some people will usually automatically put on a wall if someone starts maybe talking like this. They're like, okay, whatever. If they don't want to hear that, but hopefully someone that maybe has been listening to my music and kind of believes and trusts who I am based on my honesty and my music and just everything that I've ever put forth, they might go, okay, I'll listen to him. I might listen to him. Like I said, I listen to worship music. The next thing was, well, I don't think I'll ever want to go to a church. I'll read the Bible on my own. It's my own thing with my connection with the Lord Jesus. But then I ended up at a church. I was like, hey, this actually is a blessing. This feels really, really good. I don't think I'll ever be into the style of music. It's kind of cheesy, this and that. And then it turns out, I started really liking it.

[video] 44:49 Well, I don't think I'll ever want to play that kind of music. And before I know it, I'm playing drums at the church having a blast. So it's just, I mean, one scripture says God will change the desires of your heart. And it's, I mean, I feel like I'm a walking testament of that. Like, I never thought any of these things would come to pass, and they all have. And it all started, though, because I had that faith that God hears me. I'm praying to God. I know you hear me. Like, I can feel I'm not talking to nothing. I'm not trying to communicate with nothing. I believe you, and I have that faith that you hear me. And I expect, like... I think God could tell I expected nothing in return. All I was gonna do, my plan was I'm gonna pray and I'm just gonna continue to pray the rest of my life. I'm gonna train my kids to pray for my brother. And it was all about my brother. I want my brother to be safe somehow. I want him to...

[video] 45:48 And if I never get a message back, it's fine. I'm just going to keep going, keep going. And within four days, I was shown that, and everything kind of fell together, you know. Thanks for sharing that. Oh, yeah, man. Yeah, anytime. Like, if anyone, if you put this out there, and if anyone ever wants to, like, talk to me about it, well, what about this, or what about that? Like, I'm not a scholar in the Bible, or, you know, I just... Just based on my life and my moments and experiences and what I've put together and things that I've read and studied, it's what I've connected with. My relationship with the Lord now, it's a big deal to me.

[video] 46:31 Yeah, it is what it is. Some people don't want anything to do with it. But I was a living symbol of that, too, because as soon as anything would come on, I would change it. Because I was scared. Part of me was deep down just knew, if I really investigate this, I'm going to lose what I like. Because I really like this and that and my ideas and... Just, I don't wanna change. I can feel that knowing some things, it's gonna, I'm gonna change, I don't want that. So that's why I was like, instantly change the channel. Don't wanna listen, nope, don't wanna hear it, you know? Like, hey, you wanna talk about the Lord today? Nope, say have a good day. You know, and I was that person, and it's just, Like when you finally like reach to a certain point, I think my moment, my point was my brother passing away and me like really, truly calling out to God and just trusting. I know you hear me. I know you hear me.

[video] 47:29 with with no intention of feedback or give me this or you know yeah yeah i think it is i mean it was just like i had just a pure heart towards i'm calling out to you i'm calling out to you i know you hear me i know you hear me and then i got an answer back that i just i never expected to get and I don't know. I always try, like, one day I want to meet someone that has, like, possibly experienced something like that as well, so I can, you know, because I, sometimes when I'll tell someone, by the way, I appreciate you guys hearing me out on this too. I mean, it's a big deal. I mean, sometimes if I tell it to someone, They'll even be a believer, you know, a follower of Jesus, and they'll just be like, oh, wow, that's cool, man, right on. And it's just like, okay, cool. But it's just like, me, I would be talking to this person, asking, because of what I experienced, it would be completely different.

[video] 48:28 It would be me asking question after question, well, what about this? What did this feel like? What do you remember seeing here? I would really want to investigate what they saw. Can you draw it for me? Here, let me draw it for you. Tell me what you saw. Does it look like this? So when, I don't know, you really can tell when someone is like believing what you say based on like the feedback they want or not the feedback but the questions they have and like if they want to know more about it or if it's just like oh that's cool right on like usually it's oh that's cool right on poor guy you know that's what I usually picture sometimes if someone hears it and they either dismiss it or like, I don't know, it's usually like a, like, okay, cool, thanks for sharing. Then as soon as I walk away, oh, poor guy, you know. But, you know, that's the only thing that's ever happened like that. Nothing like that has ever happened since.

[video] 49:21 And it's not like I don't take medications. It was nothing that could have happened because it was some kind of a,

[video] 49:31 a substance induced type thing, you know, that I would have seen if it was something that would happen normally like maybe it's a condition I have but it was just one time and like the comfort and then people say well maybe it's something that you imagine okay well what about the hit on the wall like you if you know you I think you could in your in a dream watch a giant the world explode it's not gonna move the wall you know towards just like boom you know if you in front it If you smack something in front of someone's face hard enough and loud enough, they are going to wake up and know that something just smacked in their face, even if you do it and then you move your hands away. So it goes back and forth. It's just like, well, what about the hit? Okay, well, maybe the hit, the vision, then the comfort and that feeling that I was able to kind of like translate afterwards of I'm here. And that's all it was. It was I'm here, I hear you, you know.

[video] 50:33 So people can take that for what it, what it is, you know, cause that it just is what it is. You know, you know, there's no, there's no huge, I mean, there's no, I'm not preaching about it or anything, but that's, that's what led me to like my strong faith where I'm bold. I could speak boldly about it because it really happened. It's the truth, man. So yeah, I think it's awesome. I get to share this with you. Oh yeah, man. Absolutely. Yeah.

51:02 Yeah. We're gonna have to head back now if we want to make it to the airport. Oh yeah, I don't want you guys to be late, man. No, it's all good. We're in time.

[video] 51:11 Yeah, and luckily it's not raining. I'll pray for you guys to just make it back safe, not only to LAX, but just back all the way to Germany.

51:18 Oh, yeah, should be fine. Okay. We fly to Paris first and then to Germany, just because the ticket was cheaper. Okay, cool. But, yeah. It's getting cold out here. Yeah in the evening again because it was raining but well there was actually some hail and in the evening then it turns more into ice. I guess that's why there was the there was a big accident I guess yesterday.

[video] 51:40 Yeah actually maybe maybe because well you asked maybe we could come earlier later maybe it was good that we couldn't because you know you never know what happens with all those accidents. Oh yeah. Yeah. It's getting cold here now. Yeah. Yeah, it's getting chilly. All right? Yeah. Yeah.

[video] 52:03 I got to hang out with you longer than I thought. I mean, I thought maybe by this time I would get a call home or something. Right, yeah, thank you. Oh, yeah. So I'll email me for sure, and then I'll be able to send you that song probably within the next couple days. And then also make sure to give me your address, and I'll send you a pine hat. And then, like I said, I'll always, like, once my kids are older, if you ever want to be the one that sets something up for us to come to Europe, like, and do a reunion show over there, like... I don't know, maybe 10 years from now or so. I mean, I'd be interested. I think that would be awesome. Yeah, totally. Probably. I mean, my kids would be older. They're like, let's go. I would love to take my kids to go see the beautiful places I got to see. Yeah, right. That would be cool. Nice. Okay. Yeah. All right. Good to go? All right, man, one more hug. I'm really glad I got to meet you. Thank you so much for coming. Hey, man, thanks for filming. I appreciate it.

[video] 53:03 I want to get going. Oh, get the heater. You guys got a heater, right? Yeah, no, the car can be really hot, so it's good. Yeah, it's chilly.

53:12 Yeah, say hi to your family.

[video] 53:14 Oh, yeah, I definitely will. And email me anytime you want if you just want to talk about... music or if i have what what do i remember about this album or just anything you want just hit me up uh if that goes for any of you just hit me up yeah cool awesome all right thank you all right god bless you guys

[video] 53:38 Yeah, of course. Yeah, hopefully we'll get to Europe. Yeah, hopefully we'll meet up. Well, I'll miss you both a lot. All right, have a safe flight. Take care. Hope everything goes well. And hopefully everything works out. I'll meet you again in Europe in a month or two.

53:54 Yeah.

[video] 53:55 Cool. All right? All right. Cool. Tot ziens. See you later in Dutch. Doei. Bye bye. Interesting. What was the ring?

54:09 Can I see the ring?

[video] 54:10 Oh cool. Can I come close?

[video] 54:15 You know somebody? Mason?

54:20 I have known, yeah. Which degree my scenario? Third degree. Up to third degree only.

54:34 Pretty cool flight with Norwegian. We actually got to sleep four to five hours because the seats here were free. So me and Luna used free seats each and our food also wasn't stolen as it was in Spain. Thank you everybody who supported us in the United States, who made the trip possible. We really appreciate it.