COOL KIDS
#11: MIKE BRANDON
of The Mystery Lights and Fast Kids
★★★★★★★
To be empowered – to be free, to be unlimited, to be creative, to be genius, to be divine – that is who you are. Once you feel this way, memorize this feeling; remember this feeling. This is who you really are.
– Joe Dispenza
I create my pain
Embrace my insanity
For it’s my own
I call it home
This troubled mind
Is just my kind
I create my bubble
And ‘cause this trouble
– The Mystery Lights “Trouble”
The Mystery Lights are my favorite band in New York City. Yeah, I pick favorites. No shame. Thank you, Jack Pacilio, for introducing me. Almost three years ago. One of the first bands I ever listened to from here when I moved here. I left a chunk out of this wonderful conversation … for another time.
Mike Brandon (vox/guitar)
LA Solano (guitar)
Alex Amini (bass)
Lily Rogers (keys)
Zach Butler (drums)
Newest release: “Kids of Today b/w Wish You Unwell,” singles, November 14, 2025
Fast Kids is
Mike Brandon (on record all vox/instruments; live vox/guitar)
Alex Amini (live bass)
Max Hersh (live drums/vox)
Murat Aktürk (live guitar)
Noah Kholl (live guitar)
Newest release: “Out Of State Plates,” single, January 23, 2026
★★★★★★★
MB: What’s your shirt?
MW: I just got it, actually. It’s a Harley.
MB: Nice.
MW: I went just thrifting. I did a big clean-out and donated a lot. I didn’t get that much shit in return. But I got this shirt.
MB: I don’t have enough tie-dye t-shirts. There’s nothing like a tie-dye Harley.
MW: I know. It’s timeless.
MB: I always loved the hippies.
MW: I know. The bikers are nine out of ten the biggest softies. They’re the sweetest.
MB: Oh, for sure.
MW: And metalheads. Yeah. They’re just like the sweetest, nicest guys.
MB: 100% agreed
★★★★★★★
MB: This is the first rehearsal space we’ve ever had that has actual windows.
MW: I love it. And this is y’all’s? You just leave all the stuff here?
MB: Yeah, we leave the stuff here. We share with some other bands, like Nude Party and Certain Death.
MW: Oh, I love Certain Death. They’re fun.
MB: Used to be Flasyd, too. A bunch of bands would come in and out. I was just with Broes from Nude Party. He was in here drumming.
MW: This is perfect. Too many amps. You could sleep here.
MB: You could. I think that’s what Broes was doing. [Laughs]
★★★★★★★
MW: When I moved here this time in ‘23, one of my first, best guy friends showed me you guys. The Mystery Lights. He was like, Check out this bass. And it was like the intro to “Mighty Fine & All Mine.” I was like, Holy shit. I never made it out to see y’all until one of the recent Show Brain shows.
MB: I honestly thought we sounded really bad that day. You should come to another show!
MW: I know, I know.
MB: But I love Ozzie, he’s great.
MW: It was one of the most recent ones. Native Son also played.
MB: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We were at the park on the floor.
MW: Yeah. That was when I was starting to get to know Ozzie. Pons played, I’m pretty sure. They were there.
MB: Yeah, Pons played. I know that you might think differently, and every musician is their own critic, but I thought that show sounded so bad.
MW: Just because it’s a park PA. It’s cool that it happens, though. Ozzie gets the best bands. It’s some of my favorite bands in town that play Show Brain. The Thing, SKORTS, you guys.
MB: Yeah, and they sound good to me. It’s always just your set, you know?
MW: Right.
MB: You should come sometime when we play a night show, because we have a whole light show and stuff.
MW: I fucking bet it’s sick. When do y’all play next around here?
MB: Ah, that’s a good question. We’re kind of not playing for a minute, we’re laying low, but you never know, we might pop up. When things hit our inbox that are too good to pass up, we’re like, we said no shows, but …
MW: Here we go.
MB: The money will do it. If it makes sense, we’ll do it.
★★★★★★★
MW: I know y’all have been playing for so long. Y’all started in a way I really admire. You know the band Fcukers? They’re on the come-up right now. They only started a few years ago. But they, too, and correct me if I’m wrong, but they were just like, We just started dicking around for fun. We played one show at Baby’s because somebody booked us. And we called it Fcukers because we weren’t taking it seriously. That’s how it started. And now they’re opening up for Harry Styles and playing Primavera and Coachella and all this crazy shit, which is wild.
MB: Quantum Leaps. That’s how it happens.
MW: And that’s kind of how you guys started.
MB: Yeah, but except we’ve been doing this for, like, two decades.
MW: But at the start, you were just fucking around?
MB: Yeah, for a long time. We played locally for a while and didn’t put out any music, except for throwing stuff up on MySpace. Took a break, no, dissolved the band, thinking, We retired the band. We thought we had a whole career of doing nothing except playing local shows. Played with Shannon and the Clams, Thee Oh Sees, bands like that, back when everyone was starting off, and we were teenagers. Then we stopped, came to New York, and then resurrected the band after realizing, Oh shit, let’s do it out here. So yeah, we’ve been doing this for a long time, but our first “official” release was in 2016, after the people at Daptone discovered us. It was Christiana who brought them out to the show, and then they were like, Let’s go back to Daptone to hang out. We drank some beers, listened to some old 60s psych and soul. And they said, Why don’t we start a subsidiary? Have you guys be the first band? And we thought, This is perfect, this is good. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Our whole life is this opportunity. Because we weren’t going to do it ourselves. We were the worst at that. We were just having fun, you know? And that’s when it became fun to think, maybe we can do this, seriously. Maybe we put this shit out and tour. We got a record label and an agent at the exact same time, five minutes apart from each other. The label said, Let’s talk, we want to do stuff. And right behind them was an agent who walked in and said, We want to take you on.
MW: At a show?
MB: At one show, yeah.
MW: Oh my God.
MB: It was like something out of a movie. Literally. It was really cool. LA [Luis Alfonso Solano; co-founder and guitarist of The Mystery Lights] and I have been doing this since we were teenagers.
MW: Overnight success is never overnight.
MB: It’s never been overnight. We’ve been doing it for 20+ years. It’s a lot of work, the touring and everything. But I do think that, finally, we’re just having a lot more fun. I think everyone’s in a good headspace. From 2016 to 2019, we were drinking way too much. Having really bad hangover anxiety. We didn’t know what it was, so we just drank more. There was a lot of distorted perception of how reality works. That makes you feel fake burnout. You start to feel like it’s a lot, but it’s only a lot when you’re drinking every night and not getting sleep. If you got blackout drunk last night and tried doing this today, it would probably be almost impossible.
★★★★★★★
MB: Fast Kids are doing a show next week. Next weekend at Alphaville 21st. There’s just a lot going on. I feel like every week I’m preparing for something. This week it’s Canada. We have a sold-out show with The Mystery Lights on Friday in Montreal. And after we have Jonathan Toubin doing Soul Clap. I’m going to judge the competition. That’ll be fun.
MW: Is that like Battle of the Bands or something?
MB: It’s a dance competition. It’s a competition where everyone gets a number, and he DJs, and everyone dances. The judges whittle it down to six people, and then they have a dance-off. I’m one of the judges. I did it one time a long time ago. I don’t even remember it, but this one will be way fun.
MW: That’s so fun.
MB: Jonathan Toubin and I are much closer now than back when I judged. So it’ll be more fun for me. Then next weekend, Fast Kids stuff. I’m also going to be doing some stuff with Paul Collins soon, which is cool. It’s a new relationship I’ve developed. We’re working on doing a show together.
MW: How’d you meet him?
MB: He contacted me via direct message. He made a post or something. I said, Let’s do a show together in the comments. He then DM’d me asking for my number, and called me shortly after. He said he digs the Fast Kids stuff, and we just chatted for like an hour and came up with the idea of doing a show in New York with all Paul Collins’ Beat and Nerve songs. We talked about collaborating in other ways, too. He’s super cool. His bass player in Spain was our tour manager back in the day. It’s all full circle.
MW: And you grew up listening to The Nerves.
MB: Yeah, I was a big Paul Collins and Nerves fan for sure. Full circle. I feel this weird magnetic pull towards the things I desire most, the things that inspire me. I end up finding myself in the same room with those people. For instance, I grew up a huge Hives fan, always loved Pele. Now we’re friends.
MW: Love The Hives.
MB: I was working for this Chinese company called Modern Sky, and I was the project manager, so I’d go to China and oversee some of the international artists. The Hives were assigned to me, which is super random, but I knew the drill. I was a big fan, and I met them there. Then years later, The Hives offered the Mystery Lights a support slot for some shows. We went to Texas, played in Austin, Houston, Dallas, and also visited Florida. It was during COVID. Did you notice I said Texas and Florida? [Laughs] That was fun, and now they’re good friends of ours.
MW: That’s so rad.
MB: Pele was a huge inspiration to me, for sure. With his high kicks and wildly confident stage banter.
MW: I see that, yeah.
MB: He’s amazing. Are you familiar with Mark Sultan / BBQ Show?
MW: Yeah, Mark Sultan sounds familiar.
MB: He’s BBQ Show from King Khan & BBQ Show. That was their group. I think his song became the number one used TikTok song. It’s crazy. But I was always a huge fan of his while I was growing up. If you’re not familiar, you’ll fall in love.
MW: I was going through your interviews, and you were dropping album references that you liked. I went through and saved a lot of them.
MB: He and I ended up doing a lot of collaborating. I went to his house in Germany, and we recorded some stuff. The Mystery Lights backed him up when he came to New York as well. We did WFMU and a couple of local shows. That’s another person whom I’ve always felt this magnetic pull towards their music. It’s weird. It’s Mark, Paul, Pele, and the Hives. I always have these weird connections.
MW: It’s really cool.
MB: Very grateful. But it also feels very natural.
MW: Definitely.
MB: It’s cool to have these relationships. Same thing with Danny Lee from the Nightbeats. I was always a huge fan, listening to the music and seeing him perform. I knew he was special. And now we’re talking about going to Lockhart to work on some music together and collab. It’s cool to meet people who inspire you, and you inspire them, too. It’s this really fun thing to get in a room with like-minded individuals and make magic happen, you know?
★★★★★★★
MB: I grew up in Salinas, California. I was one of the only white kids in my town, because it’s more Hispanic. They used to call me white boy. That’s how small our town was; I was the white boy in town. I grew up in the hardcore punk scene. There weren’t many venues, so we would just do house shows. It was awesome. It was a great upbringing. A lot of underground punk. Small town pun scenes are my favorite. I’m obsessed with Salinas still to this day. When Iggy Pop found out about The Mystery Lights and shouted us out on his radio show, he talked about Salinas, which was wild. He was like, Salinas, that’s farm country. I think that’s the first time Iggy’s ever talked about Salinas, California.
MW: That’s so rad.
MB: I moved here 14 years ago, and I’m obsessed with New York. Salinas is too slow at this pace now, at this point in my life. But growing up there was cool. Small town, everyone knows each other, small scene, house parties, brown bagging 40s, skating at the skate park. Growing up that way, I was really fortunate for that.
MW: Absolutely.
MB: The politics didn’t exist then. You’re just a punk, or you’re not, or you’re whatever. We didn’t talk about it. Nowadays, it’s all it is, and it really gets frustrating. There’s a divided line now. Back in the day, you’d have a friend, and they’d have conservative parents, and you wouldn’t think twice about it. They’re religious, maybe, but who cares? Everyone would hang out. Now it’s so divisive, but it makes sense. I’m just saying, back then, things seemed a lot more carefree.
MW: I know.
MB: You didn’t have your cell phone, so you were just like, All right, I’ll be back one day. You know?
MW: Simpler times, man.
MB: I really loved it.
MW: While you loved Salinas, you obviously knew about New York, and it’s almost the opposite, it sounds. So why did you move here? Was it for the music? What attracted you to it?
MB: I had a friend who had a room available at the same time as somebody else I was making some music with. Do you know Russell Simmons from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion? He’s the drummer. He heard some of my music, and the guy he was working with is a good friend of mine, John Grew. He’s like, You should come to New York, record some stuff. Russel’s girlfriend at the time, Gillian Rivers, was also making a lot of incredible music and also played in the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s orchestra band. It was that scene, you know, the Manhattan, MGMT, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, kind of scene. And I was just a broke kid from Salinas at the time, just crashing on a couch in John’s Soho studio. I thought, Oh shit, this is really cool. I told LA, also one of my best friends from the Salinas area, to come out and visit. He came out and just didn’t leave. And then he and I were like, We should start The Mystery Lights here. We should resurrect the band here. Then we met Jonathan Tobin. We slowly got it back together. It took a little time. But then Daptone discovered us. We didn’t have any goals. Our goal was just to make music and, at some point, maybe make an album. But in the meantime, just play shows and parties. That’s the cloth we’re cut from, you know? Small town mentality. We wanted to be background music, like The Velvet Underground, when everyone just hangs out and parties. But now, we’ve become the party. Now we’re playing, and people are coming out. It’s become something we didn’t anticipate, but I’m happy and grateful to have it. I get to tour the world and get paid to do it with my best friends. It’s pretty cool.
MW: Living the dream.
MB: I think it took me a minute to be really grateful for it because, as I said, I was drinking too much, not sleeping, and it was burning me out. But now that I’m more balanced, it’s the best job in the world. We just got back from Mexico. I got paid to go to Mexico and hang beachside, you know?
MW: How was it? Just one gig? Or a couple?
MB: It was so much fun. Three shows. We did Mexico City and Querétaro, which was insane. We were in a palace, like a White Lotus resort, in an old textile factory. We then flew to Puerto Vallarta and played a festival. Then we vacationed in San Pancho for 24 hours, beachside, which was so nice.
MW: I’m so jealous. Much nicer weather down there right now. Where else have y’all toured?
MB: We toured Europe a bunch of times. We did Eastern Europe, which was really cool. We went to Serbia, which was a trip. We did Thailand, China, South Korea, the United States, a bunch, and the UK and Spain a lot. Actually, Fast Kids are doing Spain in May / June. We’re going to go out there and do a stretch of a week.
MW: That’s so sick. What’s the market out there? You know a lot of people, too, at this point.
MB: Yeah, The Mystery Lights promoter in Spain is helping me out. There’s a big power pop scene in Spain, so it totally makes sense.
MW: You know what? I actually noticed while listening to Fast Kids on Spotify that it says the majority of your listeners are in Spain. So that checks out.
MB: They’re power pop freaks. Even when The Mystery Lights go out there, they’re rock ‘n’ roll freaks, period. They love it. They go crazy. They’re a really fun crowd.
MW: I’m sure.
MB: I’m not even exaggerating. I’m curious to see how they react to Fast Kids. I feel like it’s more their style than even The Mystery Lights. I think they like the rock ‘n’ roll, no frills, straight power pop, more than even the garage psych stuff.
★★★★★★★
MW: You started Fast Kids because you grew up on power pop.
MB: Yeah. When I was in high school, that was my upbringing. I was wearing white shades, skinny jeans, and a cheetah coat. I definitely stuck out in school, for sure. [Laughs] I looked weird, you know? I looked like a power pop freak. I was just listening to all those old records. Super poppy, catchy harmonies, I was obsessed. With The Mystery Lights, I have this garage psych channel. But I had nowhere to channel my power pop stuff. I had collected nine or ten songs. And then I thought, Damn, I should just do a solo powerpop record. And I proceeded to talk about it for four years. [Laughs] Man, one day, one day. Maybe Mystery Lights could do power pop. I kept talking like that. And then I thought, I’m just gonna go in, make it a solo thing, record it all myself on all the instruments. I can do it. And I did it in a week. It was really fun. I wanted to make it a solo record because I didn’t want too many cooks. I just wanted to be with my ideas and let me make my own mistakes. I had a great producer, Hunter Davidsohn. We had so much fun and did it in five days.
MW: That’s so rad.
MB: It turned out just the way I wanted it.
MW: Did you have those songs written for a long time?
MB: Totally. I realized I have nine to ten songs. I thought, I’m just gonna book studio time and do it. Let’s do it now. And BOOM, Fast Kids Forever was born. I have another seven right now that are perfect for another album, and then three that are okay that could do it, but seven is great. I’m gonna get into the studio and make another album as soon as possible. It’s fun and easy, too. It’s just me. I don’t have to be like, Alright, guys, can we get in the studio? I practice. I know the songs. I got my lyrics. I know the drums, bass, everything. I got it.
MW: How many instruments did you play on the first record?
MB: I did the drums, bass, guitar, and then all the vocals and stuff. Didn’t do too much with the power pop stuff. I wanted to keep it straight. I don’t want to add too much to it. If anything, it should sound like bedroom pop. I wanted it to sound like a cassette recording, so after tracking all the parts, we ran it through a little cassette tape machine to really saturate the tape. Then we spit it back into the computer to mix it. J.J. Golden mastered it, and his techniques are incredible. It really brings it to life. So if you do a lo-fi recording, he makes it sound high-fi, if that makes sense. Really crystal clear. But it sounds like you did it in a voice memo at the same time.
MW: Totally. I know. I just got these headphones, and they’re the best I’ve ever used. I was listening to the album on my way here, and it sounded so good.
MB: I just put out the demos, too, for fun, because I realized that people love the sound of demos more sometimes.
MW: I love a demo.
MB: I love them way more honestly. I was listening, and I was like, Damn, the demo. I’m going to do that every time I do a Fast Kids record now. I’m going to put out the demos as well. You can hear me drumming on the desk. All the little sound bites and all that. There’s something real special about when the idea is first thought up, when you first write and record it. There’s this excitement in your voice. It’s fresh, and you feel energized. When you re-record it in the studio, you lose a little bit of that. You kind of have to fake it. It’s still there, but you’ve already been there, you know what I’m saying? There’s something really special about demos that you lose when you re-record them again. So it’s cool to have the demo out too.
MW: My first love was The Beatles, and whenever they dropped a lot of those early demos years and years later, I was like, This is so much better. It’s so much more raw, and I’ll find myself listening to those way more.
MB: Totally. It’s like you’re there with them. That’s why I love The Nerves. If you haven’t listened to the EP, it also has a bunch of live songs. There are a lot of songs they didn’t record in the studio; they just recorded them live at a show. Genius songwriting. It’s really good, but it’s all shitty quality recordings, you know? I wonder sometimes if they re-recorded it; if they would lose how great the shitty recording is. I’ve heard the studio versions of songs after the demo or the first version, and it’s never quite the same. Usually too clean or over-produced. I like it rough. I want to hear the buzz and feedback. I just love that sound so much. There’s something to be said about a crystal clear recording, too. The Kinks have a really awesome production, but there’s something about those early bands and their approach. There’s just something so pure about it.
MW: I grew up with the mentality that I need to understand the old before I check into the new. I was like, If I’m gonna work in music and really do this, I need to listen to everything that came before me. I love early girl groups, like The Pleasure Seekers. Suzi Quatro’s first band. That album, even on streaming, is so gritty and feedbacky and all of that. I was just obsessed. I want it on vinyl so bad, but I can’t find it. I have a bunch of vinyl-only records that sound terrible. There’s this band, The Feminine Complex, that I found on vinyl in Chicago somewhere. You’re never going to run out of bands.
MB: It’s so overwhelming, in the best way. There’s so much great music in some small random part of town where someone discovers the tape. There’s no limit. That’s why art is so amazing. Anyone can do it. Anyone can write a hit that no one discovers till later. Literally. It’s just the best thing. That’s why I think everyone should make music. There is something that’s been lost, though, from the way they used to do it compared to how they do it now. That’s what I miss. That’s what the Daptone approach is, minimal micing, one overhead, a couple of mics on the amps, but it captures that live sound with the band. That old sound you’re talking about with The Pleasure Seekers, that quality, I wish more bands were sticking to that script. Music felt so much more clever in garage rock psych back in the day. Now it’s very drenched in reverb, and not many are really taking the time to conduct an actual song. They’re just playing a song and doing a little delay thing, and then it’s just, Okay, cool. I heard something, and it was cool. And we can mosh to it, but I don’t know what I heard. Back in the ’60s, in every one of those Nugget songs, there’s a catchy chorus, great tone, and a hook. There’s a really cool sound and a vibe to it. You really feel it. Have you ever listened to the Penrose stuff? The Daptone West Coast soul subsidiary? You would love it. It’s all real-deal soul music, and it’s approached in the way they did it in the ’60s and ’50s. Just one microphone, super talented people in a room, and just press record and let the band do their thing. They just nail it.
MW: That’s why I love The Nuggets and Brown Acid comps. They’re full of one-off singles by bands that probably played once and never again. I would listen to all of those religiously in college. You took the words out of my mouth – I was gonna ask you about the difference between then and now. And it’s exactly that. It’s obviously not the popular genre today, so people aren’t into it as much. But I feel like people don’t really know about it anymore, either. That’s why I am grateful to have studied and listened to what I did in college and growing up. I am here with you today because of it. You guys exist, so you’re proof of it, but a lot of bands today don’t know older stuff or don’t deep-dive into it, even though it’s so formative. It’s why they’re here today; everything that came before them. I immediately fell in love with you guys. That’s something special about y’all, too – you don’t stray from it. Both The Mystery Lights and Fast Kids, you just keep with the vibe, and that’s that, which I love.
MB: I just love that saturated tape sound that I love about the old recordings. Also, the songwriting is very important. That’s why I always say with Fast Kids, it’s just pop music. I always love a catchy chorus and a catchy, punchy bassline. I really am not just into garage music, as some may assume; I love hip hop, jazz, and dance music. There’s something connecting a hit from one genre to a hit from another genre. There’s always that thing that gets you, that hooks you. It’s always a specific thing in the chorus, a specific lyric. Pop songs are vacuumed so tightly that there’s no flaw in them. I wish people took more time constructing the song. With The Mystery Lights, we spend maybe too much time conducting songs. Here’s the verse. Here’s the lick. Here’s the chorus. Here’s what hooks you. Here’s the bridge. We’re not even the best to do it. I don’t believe that one band does it better than another. It’s all art. Everyone does it differently. That’s why art is so great. It doesn’t matter. Everyone’s going to have their own opinion on it. You can’t say, Oh, that band sucks.
MW: It doesn’t exist. It’s not a thing.
MB: That band is just doing something you don’t personally connect with. But to someone else, even if it’s one person, that’s all that matters in this life. And yourself. If you love it and that’s why you’re doing it, it’s all about doing it for yourself. And that always trickles out to other people who can relate as well. Not even speaking selfishly, it’s actually very unselfish to do it for yourself. Because if you’re writing and you’re really excited about it and you really believe in it, when you put it out, people will as well, or they won’t, and that’s fine too. It doesn’t even matter because the only thing that matters is that you love it. Then it really connects with other people.
MW: What you guys do, whatever it is you exude, whatever you put out there, it comes out so organic and natural, and that’s what’s most attractive at the end of the day – is just sticking to yourself. This is what it is. You’re not trying to do anything. We were decorating my house for New Year’s Eve, and Nasa [Hadizadeh] was throwing random shit on the wall. She was like, The less you think, the better. We were throwing confetti everywhere and all this shit. It looked like New Year’s threw up in my apartment, but that’s what made it look fucking rad. That’s what you guys have always done, and I fucking love it.
MB: Wow, thank you. That’s very valid.
MW: You’re not trying to be anything that you’re not. You’re having fun with it, and in turn, you’ve put out incredible music and have attracted so many people because of it.
MB: It takes some time to find your footing. When Mystery Lights first started, I remember we used to cover The Yardbirds, The Doors, and stuff like that. I was the original drummer. I wasn’t even the singer. It’s a whole long story, but I ended up becoming the singer because we didn’t have one, and apparently, I could sing. I didn’t really want to front, but I knew I had to. That was my position. I needed to. We were pretty much a copycat cover band. I loved it, though I didn’t have my own unique voice at the time. We didn’t even have our own unique sound; we just plugged in and cranked it. Over time, you start to find your personality and your way in the world. I thought. And there’s really no limit to it. On Purgatory, I have three different singing styles. And you know why? Because why not? I’m just going to do whatever I want. If I’m inspired, I’m going to sing in a high voice. Or I’m going to sing in a low voice. Or I’ll put on a crazy voice. I’m just having fun. No one needs to listen if they don’t want to. It’s a choice. Come to the show, have some fun, listen to the record, buy it if you want to. But you don’t have to. I think people who understand that will also naturally gravitate toward it if they feel connected to it. That’s what The Hives do as well. God, I love The Hives.
MW: I saw them at Brooklyn Steel a couple of years ago.
MB: Yeah, I was there.
MW: That was so rad. We had him on the podcast I worked for. I’ve met Pele a couple of times. That show was so so good.
MB: Super confident, yet super humble. On stage, it’s We are The Hives, your new favorite band! Then you meet him after the show, and they’re the nicest people ever. I’d say, Hey, nice show. And he’s like, Oh, you really think so? Thank you very much. That confidence, though, that’s something you can’t take away from them. Pele is going to be the best, even if it’s not true. His grand delusion makes him the best. But it’s not delusion, it’s his chosen reality. You can be anything you want in this life; you just have to do it confidently and always back it with humility. People like confidence. I used to think people loved insecurity because it’s better to be humble. You’re humble, quiet, and maybe shy, and that’s a good thing. Over the years, I realized, no, people like confidence. People want something they can put their faith in. People love it when someone acts without caring what people think.
MW: That’s what they want. And it often goes unspoken. I make this reference a lot: if David Bowie went on stage with a shy voice and was scared or embarrassed, he wouldn’t be Bowie. But if he gets up there wearing tights, has paint all over his face, especially in the time that he was Bowie, putting his legs up above his head or whatever, that’s what people eat up.
MB: That’s where I’m an ego fan. When we talk about ego as the embodiment of your ultimate self. I’m a big fan of that. When you get into meditation, there’s this weird state of understanding your essence, which is this spirit having this human experience. You get to embody whatever you want, as long as you understand that you’re embodying that, and you are not that in reality. You are a spiritual being taking on this persona. But if you confidently step into that part in life, you are playing this really cool act of God. And not, you are God, but you are just doing what you’re meant to do on this earth. You’re meant to figure it out. Meant to figure out how to communicate with people. Meant to learn how not to be an asshole. Learn how to speak to people. Don’t be a jerk; that ego is different. But the ego of stepping into yourself, like at shows, for instance. I used to not know what to say on the microphone. Hi, hi. I’m shy. I always believed I’m shy, but I’m humble. I don’t think I’m the best, and I still don’t think I’m the best. But you don’t have to be the best to be confident. Now, I get up on stage, and I’ll raise both fists in the air like Rocky, like a champion, as a fun joke, as The Hives or The Monks do. And I’m like, Who cares? This is fun. I’m not an asshole. Confidence is everything. Get up there, speak into the mic, speak your mind. Who cares? If people don’t like it, they don’t have to listen.
MW: Nine out of ten, they’re eating it up anyway.
MB: Your stage banter sucks is a lie. If you get up there and be yourself, that’s what people love. Getting up there and being shy isn’t being yourself; it’s actually handcuffing yourself. You just need to step into that confident person. That was a game-changer for me because my whole life, I’ve been so crazy shy and weird. Not wanting to be on camera or speak into microphones. Now, I couldn’t care less. You could be a balding rock ‘n’ roll guy, and everyone will think you’re the sexiest man on planet Earth if you’re confident and a good person. If you come into the world with a specific type of energy, it doesn’t matter what you look like. You can be very attractive, even if you’re not “conventionally” attractive. If I used to think that I talked weird or looked weird or had a specific opinion of myself, with all I’ve experienced now, I know that I’m not doing myself any favors by being the shy, humble guy. Now I’m like, I can play the hell out of a guitar. I’m not the best guitarist in the world, and I’m not the best singer in the world, but I’ll sing, and I’ll play the guitar like myself, period. That’s just me, this is what it is, and you’re going to get all of it. I’m going to be confident in myself, and that’s it. That has changed everything for The Mystery Lights. I get on stage, and I know what we’re doing. We’re going to give a good show. And, again, I’m not up there thinking, We’re the best. I don’t have that kind of thing. I love when The Hives do it because it’s funny. I know that it’s tongue-in-cheek for them. At the end of the show, what ends up happening? You’ve been to their shows. They win everyone over. I honestly think Pelle could run a small country.
MW: By the end of the show, the crowd is worshiping him. I love it when the band is just standing there, frozen.
MB: He does that psychologically. You notice how he does it? He gets people to warm up to him, then He talks a little trash, eggs them on a bit. By the end, they’re all just eating out of the palm of his hand.
MW: It’s psychology.
MB: He’s a genius of psychology. He’s got the confidence. He’s charming. He’s got the accent. It’s hard to get away with that if you have an American accent. [Laughs]
MW: His accent is so charming. His little, sweet face.
MB: Yeah, he’s got it going on. The whole band has it going on. I was just with Vigilante in LA. He DJ’d the Fast Kids show at Permanent Records. He’s the bass player. Super cool guy. Big power pop freak. They have good taste in music, those guys.
★★★★★★★
MW: You created and recorded the whole Fast Kids album by yourself. Who is in your band when you take it on the road?
MB: It might change, but right now I have an East Coast and a West Coast lineup. On the East Coast, it’s me, Alex Amini from The Mystery Lights on bass, Max Hersh on drums, Murat Aktürk, who plays in Exploding Hearts and Daddy Long Legs, and Noah Kholl, both on guitar. And then on the West Coast, it’s Noah Kholl from Color Green, who also played drums for Mystery Lights for a minute. It’s all in the family. Though I like to keep it separate. It’s very different than Mystery Lights. Mystery Lights is the jumpsuit, the lights, the candles, the backdrop, and that whole thing. It’s nonstop. It’s an hour, an hour and a half of just nonstop rock ‘n’ roll. The Fast Kids powerpop stuff is moreso taking breaks in between songs, drinking beers, hanging. It’s more of a party, a hang, and I like that. Sorta how the mystery lights started back in the day.
MW: That’s really cool that you get to scratch that itch.
MB: It took a while, but it’s getting scratched, for sure.
MW: Do you have another music itch you want to scratch?
MB: A lot. I have a whole soul record of soul songs. I wrote a song for Charles Bradley back in the day.
MW: No way.
MB: Well, I pitched it to him, but then he passed away. But I really, really, really wanted him to do this one song. I also wrote four or five others and thought, Why can’t I do it? I could sing these soul songs. I have a somewhat soulful approach to Mystery Lights. Why not make a solo soul record? I also have a psychedelic, wild garage rock record I want to make; maybe solo, or maybe with The Mystery Lights. I have 12 songs of that. I have acoustic stuff as well, because I’m kind of a folk guy, too. I love stripped-down acoustic stuff. Maybe an acoustic piano record, too. I have a bunch of songs for that. I have about 60 to 70 songs in different genres. I have another Fast Kids record, a soul record, a super crazy psych garage record, maybe with The Mystery Lights, and then some other stuff. Up next, a new Fast Kids record and a new Mystery Lights record.
★★★★★★★
MW: Where did your love for music come from?
MB: My dad raised me on ’80s hair metal. I love it.
MW: Does he play instruments?
MB: He played bass. He thinks the bass is the coolest instrument. Though for me it was the Bass and Drum combo. He dragged a drum set out of some storage unit that he had with work, because he was a mover. And I just started banging on the drums, my first instrument. I also grew up on hip-hop. I was a huge hip-hop freak. That’s a reason why we worked so well with Wayne Gordon, the producer of all 3 Mystery Lights records.
MW: I read about that. He’s a big hip-hop guy.
MB: He did Sour Soul, Ghostface’s record, The Frighteners, which is more reggae, and a lot of other stuff. He got a Grammy for Engineering Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”, which is wild. I actually talked to him on the phone today. I talk to him a few times a week. He’s one of my best friends. We were talking about maybe a fourth Mystery Lights record; slowly discussing it, talking over ideas. It could be a collaboration with Hunter Davidson, too, who did the Fast Kids record as well. We’re figuring it all out; the next steps. It’s cool to have him. But yeah, I’m a diehard hip-hop fan. I grew up on Too Short, Wu-Tang Clan, N.W.A., and California Bay Area hip-hop. With The Mystery Lights, if you listen very closely, it’s got that hip-hop backbeat.
MW: That’s rad.
MB: That’s a lot to do with him. He wanted that bass-and-drum sound. If you listen to old ’60s stuff, a lot of the bass and drums are a bit more buried. It’s not as prominent. He helped us make garage rock psych that you can bump in the club. That was the whole vision. It’s like, you walk into a club, and they can play “Follow Me Home,” and everyone’s bobbing their head.
★★★★★★★
MW: When did you start wearing your jumpsuit?
MB: We played a show, and a friend of ours backstage gifted it to me. It’s an old ’70s jumpsuit. I don’t wear jumpsuits, but I was like, Oh, cool, so I put it on, kind of as a joke, because I usually don’t wear jumpsuits, thinking This is going to look kind of funny. And then it looked cool. I’m going to wear it tonight!
MW: Did it have Mike B on there already?
MB: Nope, nothing. I’ll tell you why I did that in a minute. Because there’s a whole thing. But I wore it, and in the photos from that night, I noticed it looked really cool when I was jumping in the air. It had this cool aesthetic. I read a book by Eddie Shaw of The Monks called Black Monk Time. It’s about them being stationed in Germany. It was a very military band at first. They met while serving in Germany and became The Monks. They’re a genius band. You have to listen to them. Black Monk Time is the best record ever. If you watch them, they’re just the best. I communicated with Eddie Shaw, the bass player, who wrote the book. I was reading it when we were traveling through Germany. Anyway, I thought, you know what? I’m going to wear the jumpsuit for the Purgatory Tour and put the Purgatory bulb logo and “Mike B.” on it as if it’s my work uniform. Reporting for duty! And it’s a JUMPsuit, which is very suiting. I spend a lot of time in the air at the shows, as you’ve seen [Laughs]. It would be cool if everyone else had the vibe, too. We have never really been a “gimmick” band with matching outfits. We’ve always been very keep-it-real, quote-unquote, but I’m over that. I wanna have fun with it. I put the suit on, and it made sense for that tour. I’m about to retire it, try to find a black jumpsuit, and keep it more low-key. Make it look like black jeans and a shirt tucked in, then slap on a Mystery Lights patch. No Mike B or any of that. Keep it as something you’d show up wearing, and people are like, Oh, nice jumpsuit, but they wouldn’t think it’s a thing. A little more low-key. Under the radar. I like the idea of all black, too. Looks good in the dark. It matches everything.
MW: When I saw y’all play at the park, as I was saying earlier, I had seen a bunch of my friends there in the crowd. I was stoked to see y’all’s set, though, so I stood next to the speaker getting my fucking ear blown out. A friend of mine comes up to me at some point and goes, Yo, looks like everyone in this band is from a different era. And y’all did in that moment: your guitarist looks like an alt 90s rocker, who could have been in Portishead or something; your bassist with the full Italian leather motorcyclist get-up; you with a jumpsuit; the keyboardist and drummer straight out of the ’60s.
MB: That’s so funny. That was a total accident. We’re slowly getting there. I think we grew up on everyone just being themselves. But I know there can be a vibe. When you see The Rolling Stones in the ’60s, when they show up, that’s The Rolling Stones. When you see Jimi Hendrix, it’s Jimi Hendrix. He looks cool. There’s something so cool about that. And don’t get me wrong, keep it real, but you can keep it real and have fun with outfits. When The Mystery Lights were The Monks for Halloween at Jonathan Toubin’s party, Halloween Hop, I looked at us and was like, Man, this looks great and this is fun. If you get clever with your outfits, you could make it a thing.
MW: Y’all should all jump suit up.
MB: Oh, dude, if everyone had a black jumpsuit with just a patch, it would look slick. So slick. All black; just the stage. I could see it being real cool. It would have a punk edge, too, because if it’s black and tight, it looks like tight jeans with a tucked-in shirt. So cool. We were talking about it, maybe, but it’s hard because LA and I and our whole growing up has always just been be yourself, keep it real, no gimmicks.
MW: You could say that about The Hives. They’re all wearing the same thing. They were wearing suits when they were nobody.
MB: By the way, let me give you a little crazy history on The Hives if you don’t already know. The neon sign and suit thing. They were doing that back when no one was coming to their shows. They would do a show just like they do now. We’re the best band, we’re your favorite band.
MW: But no one was there. I did know that.
MB: They did it as a joke. We’re going to pretend to be a stadium rock band, the biggest band in the world. It’s a joke where they are now, but now they’re there, and they’re like, Well, let’s just keep doing it, I guess.
★★★★★★★
MW: You were touching on it earlier. The idea of saying what you are, and then you will be that.
MB: You manifest whatever the hell you want. You actually can step into that. I believe that wholeheartedly. I’ve learned that with meditation. When COVID hit, I really needed a reset. I was drinking way too much. I was so burnt out. Once we finally got those COVID unemployment checks, I thought This is my opportunity now to sit and meditate. I got super into Dr. Joe Dispenza, who is big into subconscious reprogramming through meditation. You can back it scientifically. When you adjust your subconscious mind, your perspective on the world changes and magnetizes specific opportunities you wouldn’t have if it were rigged a certain way. It’s this change your thoughts, change your life kind of thing. And it’s truly not woo-woo, it’s a scientific fact. I meditated for hours a day during COVID. I had a lot of internal conflict. I had such bad ADD. I had so many, what I used to call demons. So many of them were going off at one time, and it was hectic. But I meditated consistently, an hour of meditation every day. I remember so clearly these voices. I would give the microphone to these demons and just let them rant. They’d rant, and I would watch. Okay, keep going. What else do you have to say? And finally, it all went silent, while Watermusic II by William Basinski played faintly in the background. I felt like I was at the bottom of the ocean, and the ocean was finally crystal clear. There were no thoughts. None. I felt like my essence was the entire room. I could feel the sides of the walls with my spirit. That’s when I knew: I am a spirit. I’m in this temporary human vessel, having this cool experience; you can’t go beyond this realm. Energy can’t be created or destroyed, and we are energetic beings. It all made sense at once. I thought, I can instill any thought that I want, and my whole perception will change. I’m not my thoughts; I’m the thinker of my thoughts, so I’m going to instill ones that serve me, not ones that bring me down. Limiting beliefs; we cling to them, even though they don’t help us, so why think that way? Why do I think I can’t do this thing? That doesn’t help you do the thing. I don’t have limiting beliefs now, where I don’t accept that I can’t do it because I’ve proven myself wrong multiple times. I became a lot of things in life. I went to China to become a project manager for a record label. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did it. I managed a coffee shop. I did a bunch of things I just jumped into, with no experience. And here I am, figuring out how to do it. If I strummed the guitar when I was young, I sucked. I strummed it again, and I sucked again. If I put it down and said, Ah, I suck at this, I’m out, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today with the guitar or the drums. You suck at everything until you don’t. Everyone had an idea and brought it to life, but they had to do it. They had to make it happen for themselves. And thoughts like I don’t know what to do, I’m overwhelmed, I’m not going to do it, I can’t do it, are limiting beliefs. If you’re making something that’ll help people, there’s reciprocity. Millions of people are millionaires, and they do good things with their money. Why can’t I be there? That’s my new thought process, and if I were to think, what is the other process? The other is limited: Oh, I can’t do that; leave that to the professionals. I’m just gonna do what I am comfortable with, playing a small, little band, and we’ll play at the pub. I don’t have that anymore. That came from meditation and realizing that your thoughts are what create and manifest things. It’s a little bit of magic, but it really isn’t. You adjust your thoughts to make it to where you know that you can accomplish a specific thing, where you step into whoever you want to be in life. That’s so possible for every single person.
MW: I’ve been living by the power of manifestation forever. It’s as small as getting up to brush your teeth in the morning.
MB: Yeah, totally.
MW: It’s the same as when you think to yourself while you’re lying in bed, Oh, I have to go do that, just as much as it is me loving your album two years ago and being here with you right now. The greats will tell you that, always. There’s a video of Virgil Abloh, the Off-White designer who passed away, and he talked a lot about and believed in manifesting. It’s up to you whether to take it or leave it. Embrace it. That’s why they say, Be careful what you wish for. Because sometimes it happens to you and then it’s all in your face, and maybe it goes wrong. But the professionals are the professionals because they did it.
MB: Exactly.
MW: It’s rad. You need to give me a book by the meditation guy.
MB: He’s a neurologist. It’s all science based. It’s what meditation does, where the subconscious mind is put into a specific brain wave state where it’s receptive to input. The subconscious mind doesn’t know what’s true and what’s false, so when you get into this specific brainwave state where it’s open, you can visualize specific feelings. If you feel and see it and sense it in your mind, when you come out of it, your body and the world respond as if it already has been happening to you. You start to see opportunities where you would have missed it. He convinced me to do some stuff I never would have done, like literally meditate. You take longer if you’re busy. I’m like, Yeah right, I have way too much stuff to do. And they’re like, If you have way too much stuff to do, you need two hours of meditation. I thought it was crazy, but during COVID, I didn’t have much to do, so I did it. I now see why. You’re so effective when your mind is clear and your thoughts are directed. You spend so much time being overwhelmed; thinking that I have so much going on. But 90% of the stuff you got going on, they’re not that big of a deal. They just need to be reframed. It’s reframing your issue. This is coming from somebody who struggled with that a lot. I’m really big into stoicism too, so when shit is going really, really crazy, especially in the world, I’ve learned to try and find a calm center. Stressing out usually doesn’t help a situation.
MW: We live in a world where there’s always stuff going on; entertainment and music. There’s so much to deal with. Though I always try to recenter, I’m not saving lives. The last two days, I literally sat on the couch. There’s some days I’m on the phone all day, running around on coffee dates, meeting with people, and going to a show. But I remember, I can technically just sit here if I really need to. I believe in the power of sitting in silence. In order for me to go out and be the social butterfly that I am and talk to people, I have to sit in silence for the day. People will ask me, How are you talking to people all the time? You have so much energy and you’re always nice on a night out. And it’s like, well, because I’m sitting in my room all day in silence. I’m working. Sometimes, I don’t listen to music. I love sitting there with myself and preparing to do whatever it is I have to go do. That’s what keeps me going.
MB: You also seem to feel naturally energetic, though, too.
MW: A little bit. Whether it’s the southern hospitality in me or whatever it is, I’ve always been social. I’ve never been afraid to talk to people. Every now and then, sure, but for the most part, not really. I was the oldest kid, so I would get thrown into every sport and activity growing up, and I would be there with people. I had nothing else to do but talk to them. And I’m a Gemini. Not that I’m too astrological, but I do believe that I’m good at adjusting to the vibe. I’m still myself, but for example, sitting here with you, I’m enjoying this vibe, but if one of my best friends walked in, I’d be like, Girl, what’s up?! I’ve always been that way, which has come in very clutch in this industry. Being a people person has gotten me opportunities. If people like you, then you’re probably going to work with them. I’m always down to work with people. If you work with people, you rise together.
MB: That’s cool. I see that in you. It’s important to be a chameleon with people, and it’s not being fake; it’s actually being really respectful. It’s matching people’s energy. I notice when I’m with my nieces and brothers, there’s something inside of me that doesn’t swear. The things that come out of my mouth are way different, and I act differently. Then, when I have a friend or something, I read the room. Also, I have a real estate license, so sometimes I’ll help people find commercial spaces for their new businesses and homes. The way I approach it is very, Read the room. If there’s a daughter and a concerned mom, I read the room. I aim to make them feel comfortable. To ease the mother’s concerns. If someone comes in with long hair, looking a little like a rocker, we just hang out and talk about music. If it’s a very tech person, I’ll be a little more professional, a little more articulate. You want to match the vibe so they feel comfortable. I think you’re probably big on making people feel comfortable. As you said, the hospitality thing is the same for me. That’s my number one value: connection and making sure everyone feels comfortable and safe. I hate the bullying mentality. I hate someone feeling left out. I spend a lot of time with fans who want to talk and hang out. There are some people who are like, My God, I can’t believe you’re talking to me. I’m like, What do you mean? Like, yeah, you’re important. People shouldn’t see themselves as of lower status. I’m just a freaking musician. You can do anything. Usually, when I ask them, What do you do for work? And they do something crazy cool. Oh, I’m a graphic designer for Converse. Like, that’s it; that’s cool. People are making a difference by being their true selves. My grandmother and I at one point had … and we’re kind of off-railing here.
MW: No, I love it. This is perfect.
MB: Even my grandma, when she started to feel that she’s getting older, she’s like, I don’t know what the purpose is. I don’t really do my ceramics anymore. And I’m like, Grandma, your purpose is just this. Just being. You make an impact on people just by being yourself. The way you interact with people changes people’s lives. You don’t even know it. You crack a joke, and it changes someone’s life. Someone might be thinking about suicide or be down and depressed, and the way you articulate something or say something inspires them to stick around. The power of even nonverbal communication is magic. The way somebody walks to the bathroom. I had a friend whose mannerisms were so cool. He had such confidence in his strut, and he was funny with his mannerisms. He didn’t have to say a word. He was so hilarious.
MW: I know those people, yeah.
MB: You change people’s lives by just being, period.
MW: I’ve taken note as my frontal cortex has slowly been developing over the last year that, yeah, all those things matter.
MB: Even just a hello.
MW: I’ve seen it for myself. It’s made me realize that what I say is just as important as what the next person says. And how you say it. Showing up, making somebody’s day, listening to somebody’s song if they send it to you, or whatever it may be. It’s a really beautiful thing that I think often goes unspoken. It makes me want to be more careful, more authentic in that sense. I look forward to being an adult. I’ll watch movies about powerful women, or see one in real life, and I love how she carries herself. I’m excited to be 50 one day, and everything that comes out of my mouth is confident, pure, and hard-hitting. That swagger and confidence.
MB: What’s that quote? They won’t remember what you say. They remember how you made them feel. It’s so powerful because it’s all about intention. It’s something that’s super attractive and charismatic. Cultivate that. That’s what Pelle has.
MW: As soon as they step into the room, the aura is so powerful.
MB: It’s so cool. All of our favorite artists usually have that.
MW: Yeah, absolutely.
MB: Jimi Hendrix might have been shy, but he had a lot of energy.
MW: That aura was not shy.
MB: That loud energy. So sick. That’s a really cool way to be in the world. People don’t think about it that way. They don’t need to, though.
★★★★★★★
MB: I’m very psychological. I love reading psychology books. I love spirituality. I studied a lot of religions. Catholicism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism. When I was younger, I studied a lot of Eastern philosophy and wanted to be a religion professor. It’s so fascinating. But I didn’t do that, I just did music, though I went to law school. I wanted to be like a public defender.
MW: Did you finish?
MB: I did about three months. The literature was too crazy. I got unattracted to it. I was thinking about the Black Panther Party for self-defense and doing something to protect people whose rights are being messed with. I thought I could be a hero in that. Though a public defender, I’ve learned, actually has to defend some sketchy people. I was big into the Black Panther Party. I studied Hugh P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and that whole thing. They had some cool lawyers that would get up there, and the way they presented themselves was just so well articulated, and they were standing for something beautiful.
MW: What other things do you think you would be doing if you weren’t doing music?
MB: Working in psychology or a subconscious programming course and helping people would be cool, like therapy. A lot of people are plagued by unnecessary issues and disempowering beliefs. They end up going to the therapy chair with issues that are baggage they’re carrying that they don’t need to carry. Helping people sort through that, not giving them answers to their problems. I don’t think any therapist necessarily should. I think therapy is for reframing and helping people see, so they know what to choose for themselves. I don’t think any therapist should say you shouldn’t date that person. I think the therapist should paint the picture so that you see, I see the answer clearly. I know what to do. I would love to do that, be in that chair. I looked into it a little bit. It would not take much schooling, four to five or six years. I could be a cool therapist. Or in psychology or even coaching, like studying NLP and CBT, getting into that. I was in a subconscious reprogramming course. One time, I signed up for it, and it changed my whole life. It’s awesome. It taught me how to use self-hypnosis to re-shift the things that I was holding on to, limiting beliefs, and instill empowering ones. It completely changed how I am and my perception of life. Being a teacher would be cool, because you get to talk about the things you love every day. Can you imagine? If you were so obsessed with Eastern philosophy, and every day you got to talk about that with your students. Or music, even. If I were a freaking music teacher, I would get to do music all day, which would be so fun. There’s a lot I would do, to be honest. There are a million things. And I am doing a lot of them.
MW: I love how many ideas you have.
MB: I want to write a book as well. It would be based on fun tour stories, music, and crazy things that have happened in my life. And then for The Mystery Lights, a memoir type. I would probably call it, “Flowers in My Hair, Demons in My Head.” It will also be about lessons I’ve learned in life. I’ve had addictions in the past, and I’ve had crazy things that have happened, crazy stories. I’ve been through the darkness. There’s a lot to write about.
MW: All I mainly read are books and memoirs about music and artists.
MB: I’ve read some good books where I’m like, I’m not gonna write mine because this is too good, and I could never write a book as good as this. But then my friends are like, They want to hear from YOU, man. If you have a Mystery Light fan, they’re gonna buy the book.
MW: Have you read White Bicycles? By Joe Boyd. He produced Fairport Convention and Pink Floyd early on. I have a copy if you want to borrow it. He’s a producer, and he probably had the same thought you have. Him being so behind the scenes. Who fucking cares? He worked with so many of the early blues cats. It’s a wonderful read.
MB: That’s crazy. You have to write a book if you’ve done that.
MW: He had a story to tell.
MB: Everyone does. Everyone should write a book. If there’s an audience for Mystery Lights and Fast Kids, people paying attention, the book automatically would have an audience. If people really resonate with it, maybe the audience expands. It would take a while to write it. I’ve already cut out stories, lessons, and chapter titles. I was thinking about naming some chapter titles after songs and then relating each chapter to its song. “Purgatory” could be a moment of having the option to ascend or descend in life. Am I going to succumb to the negative thoughts and quit music? That’s where I was during COVID. Or am I going to ascend to the next level and grow?
★★★★★★★
MB: … I can go on about it. It’s been cool talking to you.
MW: You too. I’ve loved it.
★★★★★★★