The Ampraid Podcast

Aaron and Josiah recap the highlights from various podcast clips from 2019.  

Includes clips from Meara McLaughlin of Music Portland, Chris Young of Portland's Vortex Music Magazine, Austin Lyon's of Future Divine and Silicone Boone (and others)

A short conversation about the British Parliament and Aaron’s CLEAR understanding of exactly how British politics work 

 

Leigh and Richard talk about building ‘the look’ of their live show

 

Leigh and Richard talk The Bright Expression’s future release plans 

 

Rich talks about writing as a drummer and his specific writing process 

 

Leigh talks about other artists that she’s inspired by 

 

Rich and Leigh talk about musical exploration, recording without a click track, and their techniques for creation tension in their tracks  

 

Aaron, Josiah and The Bright Expression talk about complexity and humanity, and trying to grow as human beings 

 

Rich talks about the power of community 

 

We all agree jointly that there’s a chance that our entire existence is just a simulation of some sort 

 

Rich and Leigh talk about the difficulty in writing something truly honest while still being connected to the Christian music community 

 

We play a sample of The Bright Expression’s song ‘Monochrome’

Amy Savin tells us about her first touring experience, her writing process and the process it took to make her most recent full-length record “Unveiled”.   

 

Amy talks about the urge to quit due to the length of time it took to make a full length record 

 

Amy talks about the possibility of self producing her next record, the writing process and the fighting the urge to compare the upcoming record to the last record project.  

 

Aaron talks about ‘battles of the bands’ and says “There are no musical Olympics”  No one wins anything for being the ‘best band’.  

 

Aaron makes some statements about age and a career in music 

 

Aaron:  “Comparison is the enemy of great art, it leads you on a path away from gratitude” 

 

Aaron, Josiah and Amy talk about the value of musical community 

 

Amy makes some points about touring, and overcoming rejection and value of music and art

Silicone Boone tells his amazing origin story, talks about Bob Dylan's influence on his songwriting, and discusses his new album 'The Reaches' with Aaron and Josiah from Ampraid.   

Silicone Boone's ex-Amish background comes into the conversation very quickly and we talk about God, aliens, music and the birth and eventual death of the universe all while discussing his new album which was over 15 years in the making.

Aaron and Bob talk about when they first met (nearly 20 years ago) 

 

The guys talk about working together in Nashville, then moving back to Portland 

 

Shoutout to our buddy Craig Alvin, who recently won a couple of grammy awards and also who helped Bob Gerig start writing, recording and connected him with producer Gabriel Wilson for his first full-length project.  

 

Aaron talks about hope deferred, and common fears amongst artist types  

 

Aaron, Josiah and Bob talk about the wildness of life and the need to pivot from your initial plan in order to embrace and be grateful for other opportunities 

 

Bob Talks about Jackson Browne 

 

Aaron asks about the difficulty involved in being truly honest when you are a Christian musician or worship leader 

 

Bob talks about playing blues harmonica

The guys talk about the first year as ‘Ampraid’ 

 

Aaron and Josiah discuss Thanksgiving food choices 

 

Aaron and Josiah discuss ‘Black Friday’ 

 

We say “Thank You’ to a lot of our clients in the past year 

 

Shoutouts to Nate Lapeer, WRYT, John Mark McMillan, Future Divine, Paul Baloche, Strum PDX, Blackbook guitars, Revival drum shop, Portland Oregon, McMenamins and the people at The White Eagle, Katelyn Convery, Sleep Millenium, The Junebugs, Matt Grecco at The Rye Room, AJC Music, Vortex Magazine, Gabriel Wilson and all of the other clients who have supported us this year.  

 

The guys discuss plans and hopes for the next year.

Flashback to WRYT’s first single “Ivory Tower” 

 

Shoutout to AudioCinema in downtown Portland, Oregon for letting us take over the building for multiple video shoots last week 

 

The guys talk about getting sick right before a show or a video shoot 

 

The guys talk about the amount of diligence required to release musical projects 

 

A discussion on race relations in the US, the US political climate and how it’s affected Mychael’s songwriting in the past 3 years 

 

The Story of “Milk and Honey”, the next WRYT single 

 

Shoutout to 1981 Inventions for their great DRV pedal 

 

Aaron suggests altering your practice regimen to make your band more versatile and to increase the members ability to listen to one another 

 

The guys talk about the first ‘vinyl’ that each of them ever purchased 

 

Mychael ends by giving a sample of the upcoming single “Risk and Fear”

Aaron and Austin become best friends 

 

The guys discuss voice memo vs. text message vs. Instagram DM 

(While an ambulance siren runs through the background) 

  

Austin talks about touring and his time with the band “I am Empire” 

 

The gents discuss touring in vans and give some plusses and minuses 

(Mostly minuses) 

 

Josiah advises all about what he considered “the greatest licorice of all time” 

 

Austin says we should all listen to “Talkie”, another San Jose based band 

 

The guys discuss Gabriel Wilson’s, song-coaching, production style and  Aaron tells a childhood story about skiing together 

 

Austin talks about the new Future Divine project and explains what lead him to start songwriting for it 

 

Aaron loves both Rob Thomas AND Carlos Santana

Matt Gives his musical background and talks about moving from Nashville to Portland. 

 

Matt tells a Billy Gibbons story 

 

All 3 guys realize they once worked at Starbucks 

 

Matt talks about his new, full-length record ‘The Magician’ 

 

The guys talk about overcoming your fears as a songwriter 

 

Aaron talks about building trust with an artist and development 

 

Matt talks about loving to perform live for people 

 

Matt talks about the recording process he used on his new record.  Which includes creating songs on his iPad, using garageband, and recording them in his small apartment

 

Aaron talks about fearlessness

Aaron and Josiah discuss tips and tricks to consider when starting a new project or trying to improve some things involving your existing project.  

  

When choosing a new name, consider “SEO”.  Research your chosen name, prior to committing long-term.   

 

Have a ‘real’ email address helps you appear more pro 

 

Aaron says “You still need a real website” and discusses why. 

 

Streamline and simplify 

 

Conversation about ‘smart-links’ 

 

Some thoughts on YouTube for ‘promotional’ purposes 

 

“Build off of Facebook first”

 

Temper your expectations, have a plan, and take a long, long, look at your future.. Then build towards the horizon.  

 

Aaron says something about ‘gratitude’