Chris Simpson from Mineral and Mountain Time

Published Jun 15, 2022, 9:00 AM

Let's get introspective with Chris Simpson who is the vocalist for indie rock/emo stalwarts Mineral, The Gloria Record and most recently, his band Mountain Time. We go deep into his family history in the oil biz, his experience with the reunion shows with Mineral as well as being an introvert. I love all his music and hope you gain a deeper appreciation of it after this conversation. 

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I'm not you're listening to a hunder words are less with Ray Harkins, M. What's up everybody? Thank you for listening to this podcast about independent music of the hardcore punk, indie rock, emo variety. Whatever it is you want to label it, As long as it is in small, sweaty rooms in some capacity, and that whole d I Y spirit exists, that is what we cover today. I have a person who I have always wanted to speak to. The opportunity came up, I pounced on it. It is Chris Simpson from Mineral and he also currently plays in a band called Mountain Time and he's also playing the Gloria record and just a very prolific guy and very influential to not only my musical upbringing. What I know, many of yours that personally ushered me along from um, you know, stopping listening to just music that screamed at me. I know. I always cite Mineral Texas as the reason and sense field for bringing me along to be like, hey, Ray, you don't need to just listen to this style of music. You can open your lens up a little bit, um, you know. But and as a fifty you're sixteen year old, that's what you need to hear. And then when I heard the power of Failing, I was like, oh, I see, I'm here, I'm listening. But Chris was very generous with this time, and I love this conversation. So that's what we're gonna do. But you can always email the show one hundred words podcast at gmail dot com. And if you want to leave a rating or review on Apple podcast that is always appreciated, and then you can leave a star rating on Spotify. I know every podcast ask you to do that, but you know, what's one more, What's like another five seconds out of your day to do that. I would appreciate that. I'm actually currently I'm getting ready to go to the UK for Outbreak Fest. If you are in the general Manchester, United Kingdom area, I encourage you to come out to the festival. I know that the tickets are sold out, but I know that there are some places in the secondary market that you can pick stuff up. But I'm doing live podcasts out there and I'm incredibly excited about it because I get to have some chats with people not only in person, but in front of a live audience. And I'll eventually release those on this particular feed at some point. UM, maybe not all, because we'd like to keep you know, a little bit of that for the special festival experience. But I'm really excited because I'll be having like four to six chats a day, um all, you know, probably around a half an hour or something like that. But if you are a listener of this show and you are going to that fest, I would love to meet you. I'll have merch for the first time. I'm incredibly excited about that. So fun stuff in store. And UM yeah, let's let's talk to Chris Simpson. Like I said, Um, he plays in a band called Mountain Time. Who they he's released I would say, like a full length and a couple of EPs over the past couple of years. Is gearing up for a new release. Um has put out some singles as of late. So I if you are a fan of Mineral, you will love this because it's Chris Simpson and his voice you know, carries across all of his projects, and Mountain Time is is really really good. So I encourage you to check it out. But we paint with a very broad brush here talk about Mineral, talk about their reunions and then also talk about the oil biz. That's where his family came from. So anyways, let's talk to Mr Chris Simpson and I will tell you what's happening on the next week's episode at the very end of this one. That's how we do it here. So here's Chris yeahs flow back fun. Yeah. That's as a hardcore kid at a certain age in my early forties, the you know, whole indie rock and emo world started to open up to me in the late nineties just because my musical lens opened to the fact that I could listen to music that wasn't screaming, you know, like that's a positive thing. And and I'm sure that this statement has been echoed back to you in regards to you know, Mineral being a you know, a sort of a starter kit where it's like, okay, here, you know, here's Jimmy World and Texas the Reason and you know, Mineral, and here's all these bands you can listen to and kind of listen to more than just you know, your average hardcore stuff. Um, does you know, how does that reflect on your experience as far as people telling you these anecdotal stories of like, oh, yes, I listened to you know, this style of music, and then now I was able to broaden my lens. Um, is that a common thing that gets brought up to you or is that just my weird head working that way? Well, I think it's probably pretty common. You know. I think, you know, Mineral we found ourselves in this like wonderful kind of network of bands across the country that um it wasn't really a scene that we knew existed beforehand, Like we weren't really coming from the hardcore scene. Um. But in a bit, our drummer, Gabe was he had grown up in the Bay Area and you know, had been into like you know, the early days of like Gilman Street and all that, like Crimp Shrine and I'll Ivy and um, so he probably had more of an idea about like this kind of d I y punk rout scene than any of the rest of us. Um. But I think coming in, you know, just sort of like being accepted into this scene when we were um, I feel like I met a lot of people who were like looking for that same thing or like the sort of music we were doing. And a lot of our peers, like some of the ones you mentioned, uh, it seemed to be striking a chord with a lot of hardcore people if it was just like a musical evolution they went through after that, where you know, even something as simple as like you said, the you know, they're not screaming um, they're singing um and it's funny, like I, yeah, I think it's I think it was sort of comment and I think that happens to a lot of people. Like you know, you look at either the way some of the bands developed. You know, like Mineral Wheel only put out two records, so we didn't have a ton of evolutionary development to our sound. But uh, you see the way a lot of bands from that scene in that era developed, and it seems like a lot of them came from a harder kind of more hardcore sound and got increasingly sort of you know, poppy or even I don't know, some some bands took turns even more to like folk or country or for for the scene. You know, I'm thinking of like the Last Promise Ring record and the like the third Get Up Kids record and bands that you know, really I guess maybe in some sense, Jimmy World bleed American, like just all of a sudden felt like a it seems like the evolution was getting more I guess accessible. You know, yeah, well you could stretch your legs. I mean even looking in a band like you know, Split Lip, Split Lip Slash Chamberlain, where it's like watching them evolve from record to record, where it was understanding the idea that you know, these were you know, punk and hardcore kids, but then had a grasp on like how to play their instruments, you know, and then and not not. I know that sounds disparaging towards you know, bands that you start when you're younger, but you just start to build more of a musical palette. And I think that because you're playing these type of shows, you know, in small, sweaty rooms and plus like to your point when you were getting out there, initially, subculture attracts subculture, so it's not like you could be too precious about who you played with. It was just like, oh cool, who can we play at the hunting to Beach Library? Like, okay, cool, who's playing doesn't matter now, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, that's certainly how it felt with Mineral for me, you know, like not having necessarily been familiar with that saying beforehand, it felt like immediately like a warm, welcoming place that was full of interesting people who were doing things a little differently, you know, and that that certainly appealed to us. Sure, no, I totally get that, and I'll pull those threads a little bit later. But um, focusing on you and A as a person. Um, were you actually born and raised in the Austin area. I didn't know You're sort of biographical, you know, upbringing as it were. Yeah, Now, I was born in Omaha in Nebraska. Was actually a Glory Record song called I Was Born in Omaha, which is that truthful? Yeah, because was like I'm very familiar with the lyric. I just did not know it was about you literally, Okay, yeah, not fiction. Um, I I was in there. Um. And then we lived in Houston, Texas for a bit when I was really young, like this was all like pre five, and then we around when I was five, settled in Denver, Colorado, and so I mostly feel like that's where I grew up. And I was there till almost the end of high school and then finished like my last year of high school back down in Houston. UM, and soon sort of actually after I finished high school in Houston. I moved immediately back to Denver, thinking that's where I wanted to be. And I got back there and a bunch of my friends, we're a year two older than me, and we're like going to college out of state. A lot of people have moved out to California, and I was like, I guess, you know, I know this place, like maybe I should try something that I'm not familiar with. Um, And so a bunch of people I had met musicians, especially in Houston at the end of high school, had all moved up to Austin after school and that seemed like a cool place. So uh ended up back there like summer of ninety three, and shortly after that met Scott and started playing music with him from Mineral got it And in your I guess formative years in in Denver as you started to you know, become aware as a person, what was your excuse me, what was your family structure like as you were growing up? Like mom and dad in the house, brothers and sisters. Yeah, I have one older brother who is actually, um, the super irish one like nine months and twelve days older than me. And uh, that's perfect, which is perfect adopted, which makes it uh make a little more sense, but um, we yeah, so we were really close when small and you know, we have no memory of this because we've always been very different and kind of butted heads most of our time growing up. So we're assured by our parents that we were once very close, but I have not really been much since. Um and mom and dad in the house. Online merchandise purveyors rockabilly dot com. They are the highest quality and I know that maybe sounds a little robotic, but trust me. You go to their website and you will be able to find so many pieces of merch that you will have in your closet lickety split when you use this code one d words or less that gets you ten percent off your order. But all joking aside, they are one of the best places that you can buy officially licensed ban merch on the internet. It's really important because the bands get paid. You're supporting an independent business, You're supporting this very podcast. It is a very virtuous cycle that happens when you interact with rockabilly dot com. Buy merch for yourself, buy merch for your family and friends, and you will also get the band kicked in on the back end. I love it. It works in so many different aspects. So again, rockabilly dot Com promo code one words or less, thank you for your continued support Rockabilly, I love you and I love the job that you do. Rockabilly dot Com. What were your parents doing from a profession perspective, My dad did many things. He worked largely in the oil industry, which is why we kind of were between Houston and Denver. And I think they lived in Kansas City a bit um before we were born. Um, And my mom was, you know, primarily a homemaker until we were a bit older. Like I think maybe by the time we were in middle school, she started working jobs at like the schools that we worked at. Oftentimes, like that's as if it's not embarrassing enough to get sent to the office, you have to, like in my case, you have to pass your mom at the reception desk on the way, And she was like, what are you doing here? I'm like, well, I just kind of sound to the principle, you know. So she did that for a bit and uh then she got really into like around the time we moved away, um my brother and I she got really into I went through all this training and certification to become paramedic and worked like, you know, like a full career doing that until she retired from that UM So that kind of feels like her that was her main passion things she did. Sure, sure, was there any hope that you were going to do the oil biz as it were? I don't think there was ever any illusion on my father's part that I was destined for anything other than kind of where I ended up, you know, sure, right, the the musical failure that you are just yes exactly, or or some other far flung romantic ideal of some sort, totally, because I mean when you look at these, you know, certain types of industry, whether it's you know, working with your hands and like you know, become a doctor, lawyer or whatever. I know. The common trope, especially for people that pursue an artistic life, is that it's so esoteric for parents to understand, where it's just like wait, how are you going to do this? And like why are you going to make a living? So you know the idea of your your father being involved in the industry and just being like, well, yeah, well Chris is obviously gonna like do something around this, and it's like no, that's not even that's not even a thing. Yeah yeah, yeah, it's it was. And I think, to be fair, like, I think, you know, that industry had so many ups and downs throughout the like eighties and nineties when I was growing up, that like it was really feast or famine. And I think at some point before we moved back down to Texas where I finished high school, at some point in early to mid high school era for me, my dad was working because the oil business was just kind of in the in the tank like he was working. He got certified sell insurance and he had some like route where he would drive out to these mountain towns and had a certain amount of customers and was like an insurance salesman. And then he got his real estate license for a while and was like selling houses. Like at some point he was working like eight eighty five hours a week, like doing all these different things, uh, to to keep things afloat. And I think that's actually why we moved back down to Texas when we did in the early nineties, because he h he got an offer at a company down there that was like, well, I could make all the money I need to make and just a regular like one job week, you know, right, Yeah, there's it's more stability rather than the roller coaster of how the you know, the barrels are traded that day or whatever. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh, as you were going you know into junior high in high school and everything like that. Um, I'm gonna do a little armchair psychology on you. I mean from all the times I've seen I never got to see mineral when you guys were you know, touring in the mid nineties as it were, just because I was again just paying attention to hardcore, So I missed you guys when you came to southern California. Um, but the from all the times that I've seen you, you know post reunion, you're obviously a soft spoken dude. You're not the guy that's like sucking the air out of the room where it's like, hey, you know, I'm Chris Simpson, ready to ready to cut it up with all you? Um, was that always kind of hard baked in you? Like did you find yourself you know, being that as a kid and that's always kind of been who you were? Did you, you know, try on different identities as it were? Uh? Yeah, I think I've always been pretty quiet, pretty uh reserved, I think I have to uh yeah, I'm not. I'm definitely not comfortable h when the attention is drawn to me, or comfortable wronging the attention to me, like in a in a room, you know, um, which is you know a little weird that I ended up doing what I do. But it feels i mean on a personal level, like when socializing with people, you know. Um, so yeah, I think I was kind of always that way. Um My mom uh likes to talk and tell stories and she's usually doing that, you know. Um So I think there was there was a an empty space in the in the family dynamic for like the quiet guy. So I've slotted right in there. I love that where you're like, listen, my mom is taking care of the you know, loud mouth storyteller or whatever. Um. Not like you said that. I said that to be clear, just so you don't get in trouble with your mother. Yeah, because I know she's gonna listen to this, um of course, But just that idea that you were able to kind of figure out your lane, whether you articulated that in your head or not, where it's like, oh yeah, I'll be the you know, quite introspective one. Mm hmm, yeah, yeah, it's interesting. Like I mean, I think, you know, like nature nurture, Like I'm sure it was some of both, but like, I was definitely very quiet. I remember as a kid like being very happy playing on my own, and like I had this walk in closet in my bedroom, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. And it was just like this magical place where I love to just go in there and shut the door, and you know, I could sort of pretend or imagine anything, and uh, I you know, I have strong memories of like sitting in their writing songs, and yeah, I liked I was pretty happy being on my own and just kind of in a world of my imagination. Right, we're I'm going to maybe project some of my self on you. I definitely read as an only child, I had entertained myself a lot of the times, and the whole closet, like you mentioning that, I just remember playing in my mother's closet, which was bigger than my closet, with all of like my g jos and action figures and stuff like that and creating these huge worlds. Um was there an aspect of that too, where it was just like, oh, we'll leave Chris in his space and then he can you know, like you said, as you're older writing songs and stuff like that. But were you left to your own devices a lot of the time because you seemed most comfortable in that. Yeah, I think so. You know, like we had some good friends, like on the street we lived in Denver, and man would definitely go out and play with other kids too, and we would like red mikes and go to these like dirt trails that were kind of at the edge of our subdivision. Um. But it, yeah, it did feel like it felt like in a lot of ways, Like I say this sort of mournfully, like it it felt like a different time in that like I have four kids now, and it's like it just doesn't feel like the world is the same, you know, like I can't just let my kids. I can't let my kids be quite as free as I. Maybe it was left you know, like uh, but you know, like I said, my mom was pretty much home. You know, we always knew we could go back home and there she was. But we are Yeah, we definitely were in our era, I think, left to send for ourselves a bit more. Maybe sure, sure, absolutely. And like you mentioned, when you were, um, you know, probably in high school and identifying with music a little bit more. Where did the introduction of a more independent, you know, minded bands and you know, a quote unquote scene as it were. When did that start to emerge for you? And like how did that introduce to you? Yeah, that was really uh, sort of in conjunction with mineral Um. I mean, I definitely, you know, I got into I was into everything. You know. My mom was like heavily into music and playing music all the time. And so my my early influences to be you know, get that excited about music, I think came from her. UM. But I think, you know, like with her, I would have I would have been been hearing like Beatles and Simon and Garf Uncle and Chicago. She loved Chicago, m uh. And then you know, as the eighties started cooking, there was like Moyano Ritchie and Barry Malone and Michael Jackson and like all the big pop stuff. And I was just really really excited about music and really into music. And I think new from even like before ever trying to play any music in any way that it's what I wanted to do. Um And then you know, as I got older, um, middle school, like I got into skateboarding for a while, and through that like made a lot of friends who listened to a lot of like kind of more punk stuff like definitely heard like Miners were Hit and Bad Brains and um, stuff like that through people there, Um, and then I got you know, but there was also obviously the like this period of the eighties where it was like hair metal and I was totally into all that. Um did you ever have like did you try to embody the fashion as well? Or no, sure I would have wanted to. Yeah. I I definitely grew my hair longer like early high school. Um, yeah, I was into it. Um. I remember there was this store in the mall where you could can make your own T shirts and you could see like all these bands like Iron on decals basically, or it could have been like pop culture stuff to like TV shows and stuff. You could like choose your shirt and then choose one of these things decals to put on it. And I remember making myself this Iron Maiden shirt that was like on a long sleeve pink T shirt and these uh and I was skating, you know, and like these skater Guys that I used to hang out with used to give me so much crap about this shirt and they're like, what just weird choice? Still like put Iron Maiden on like a pink sleeve shirt, you know, Like, I mean it feels like you you know, but it's just it's it's funny, you know, and it's I think it is very It was very me like because I I don't know, because I was into skating and that whole culture had was into a lot of the like the colors were brighter and it was more like yeah, like pastels and stuff like you No, Like, it just made sense to me. But I wish I still had that shirt. I'm sure it was awesome. Oh yeah, well I'm I just like, I mean, the juxtaposition of the idea, especially that era to where it's like, you know, metal didn't traffic and those you know, aesthetics and so for you to bring the you know, skate culture of whatever, Santa Crue, skateboards, all that sort of you know, coastal attire and be like, all right, I'm gonna combine my two worlds and see how they feel about this. Yeah, that's that's very forward thinking. Were you um were you good at skating at all, Like, you know, could you do some kickflips? Three stairs? What are we talking to you here? Totally? Yeah. I was best at like street ramp sort of stuff, like let's just make these like ramps and like I never really got into half pipe like big ramps, but just like launch ramps and stuff like, uh, that kind of stuff I was really into. And we actually got me and somebody is like sponsored by local skate shops, so it's not like, you know, like being pros or anything, but it's like, uh, you know, we got to go to all the like cool expos in town where like, you know, the the pros would be coming through and putting on shows and stuff. So I was definitely like immersed in that world for a couple of years. And really it was when I really heavily got into music that I just like totally dropped that. It's just like and I had a lot of friends who did both, you know, but for me, it was just like as soon as I got there, like music was everything I was. I was done with everything else. Yeah, That's it's funny because I mean you hit the nail on the head where I mean a lot of people get introduced to you know, independent music via skateboarding, as you've illustrated. But usually they try to have both. I mean, not like they're trying to pursue being in a bay and and you know, being a professional skater, maybe in conjunction with one another. But I just like that sort of cold turkey where it's like, all right, I'm not gonna be you know, I'm not gonna be sponsored, so like I'm gonna go ahead and do this music thing because it's seems like it's out a little better. Yeah, I mean I think it was more just I just very naturally like lost all interest in anything else. Like it wasn't it wasn't like a sacrifice. It wasn't like, you know, this isn't working out for me, I'm not gonna do the same. It was just like I don't have time to do anything else anyway, you know, like this is my thing. Sure, Sure, And by you starting to get into all of this, you know, counterculture stuff, skateboarding and you know, bringing you know, metal home and all these things that your parents probably had very little context for, were they ever you know, sit you down being like hey, Chris, um, you know this this is concerning like what what's up with this Iron main band, this number of the Beasts, like you know it, was there any conversation that went on like that, Yeah, definitely there was. There was some concern I think that, Um I was I don't know. I remember I bought like this one shirt that I really loved. It was like a ted Eye shirt and uh that coupled with the like, um, I think the Iron Maiden shirt. Like I definitely remember my mom just explaining to me once that basically like growing your hair along and wearing these things sort of associates you in some way with like drugs and like bad people, you know, um, like perception wise, like other people might look at you and assume that you're different than what you actually are, you know. Um. And I remember just being so like, yeah, annoyed by that, you know, like I mean, like good looking out mom, but you know, like I just I don't really care what other what other people think, you know, like I'm totally happy like just being myself and like, yeah, I mean I think it was more probably concerned on her part, like people are gonna what what are people are gonna think my shn is into you know, like um, so yeah, I don't know. Um yeah, yeah, well, I mean and plus plus it's you know, especially if there's any um, you know, religious overtones to the house, there there is that element of just like this is like this is going to reflect badly on us as if we go to church on Sundays or whatever. Yeah, definitely, yeah, that's I mean, that's that's the piece of it. And we went to church, and I was actually really into it too, you know, like I you know, I was pretty involved in like youth group with my parents church. And uh I had, you know, at fourteen, what like this weird what I at that time or for a few years after I would have referred to and it's like a conversion experience, you know, like like really felt like, oh wow, I'm a Christian you know. Um. And uh so that was I mean I think they knew that that was part of my identity too at the time, you know, so maybe they were struggling with the Yeah, they were probably trying struggling as I was to figure out exactly who this guy was. Um, but yeah, I I think there was throughout high school there was I think a lot of concern from my parents about just the fact that I no longer had any ambition for doing anything, like you know, quote unquote normal. You know, I didn't planning to go to college, like I had no interest in that. Like I actually did okay in school, Like I struggled a bit my first few years in high school just because I didn't care and it didn't make sense to me why I had to care or try to do good, you know. Um, But by the end of high school, like I had sort of realized like this is actually, you know, like pretty easy, like the work to to get good grades, and then just you know, my parents staffed my back and uh and you know, I feel this accomplishment, like I've you know, done these things and learned these things and gotten these grades. And so at some point I turned the corner and realized, like it actually it feels fine too just do well in school. And then you know, like keep my parents off my back so I can just keep my nose in the guitar, you know, totally in all the other moments, you know, I and I all, I really that that resonates with me, and I know a lot of other people who have expressed those same thoughts of the idea that you can commit yourself to being like, Okay, what is the path of least resistance that can get me, you know, to a show in front of my guitar or whatever whatever it is you're passionate about. And it's like why you know, and then your friends are just making their life so difficult by you know, getting straight seas and their parents just being on their case, and you're like, you know, you just put a little effort there and you'll probably receive a lot of reward and a lot of leeway to do what you need to exactly. Yeah, it was I think there was already that sort of uh bargaining sort of going on for me. Like I was like, if I do this, you know, just sort of keep my parents happy, Like then I get to go on Friday nights and play music with these guys and like, you know, like yeah, yeah, right. Was um, so, I'm guess like you did you play in a band at all in Denver? Or was Mineral ostensibly like your first band? Yeah? So I played in a lot of bands in Denver, like because I started out in middle school on the drums and that was that's a cool way to play with a lot of people at that age. Because there's a lot there's a lot of guitar players and not nearly as many drummers, you know. Um so, yeah, if you play drums in middle school at least what I was in middle school is like, oh, you're instantly in like five bands, you know, like all the bands in school needed drummer. Um So I played. I was constantly playing with a lot of people um on drums. And then at some point later in high school, Uh, a band I was playing with like got had this other guy drummer that they were friends with who really wanted to join the band. Uh. And the guy was playing and bass was really a guitar player, and he's like, well I really want to play guitar, And I'm like, oh, I'll play bass, you know. So I like figured out bass and played bass for a while and that sort of laed to guitar and um So I played in a lot of bands with friends. Uh. Some I mean all over the map, like some more kind of like eighties almost New Waves sort of stuff. Some um some full on like thrash metal that was really big. To tell please tell me the names of any of those projects, because not like to you know, find you out on the internet or anything. But just like I think the names of bands when you're that young is so reflective of the sound. Yeah yeah so uh the band the thrash metal band, death metal band I played and it's called Mortal Enemy Perfect Yeah, and uh, I'm so really close with the two main guys in it, um and I. Throughout the course of that band, Like when I first started playing with them, Um, I think I was playing drums and then quickly moved to bass and never played guitar in that band, but I did write a lot of stuff and did some singing, like, um, so I was really into writing. And uh, I think they were a little behind in that, like they wanted to do that. Um, but I had like once we hooked up, I had all this material. And that happened anytime I hooked up with people to play music. I'd be like, oh, I got this song, and I got this song, and I got this song, and they're all all over the map like stylistically, and usually people, you know, whoever I was playing with, be like, yeah, that's not really the sort of stuff I'm into, you know. But I was like just excited to write with people and like throw ideas around like, so I think I realized pretty soon like I want to do my own music, so sort of in at the same time as playing in all these bands, I was really starting to write songs. And at first it was just filling up these had these yellow legal pad notebooks, like would just fill them up with songs, and often it was just words, you know. But you know, I never thought of it as poetry. Like I knew they felt like songs and they should be songs. So then I would slowly like learn how to play guitar enough to like write chords to them or sometimes rudimentary piano chords, and I would really just like I would get a melody idea in my head with words I had written, and I would find a chord that sounded good under the beginning, and I would keep playing that chord until it didn't sound good under the melody anymore, and I'd be like, oh, I need another chord, okay, Well let's figure out what chord would sound okay next. And you know, that's like how I learned to write songs, you know, just like yep, I didn't learns first. I just like learned what I needed to as I went, you know, right. Yeah, it was like a Swiss army knife like riff salad, where it's like what sounds good next to this? Yeah. And so then when you you know, kind of collected all these different experiences and then headed down to Austin where you felt like you could you know, cut your musical chops, so to speak. Um, what was there a you know, life path beyond the idea of just like you know, trying to find some people to play in Austin? Like, was there a sort of career that you were pursuing in tandem of that. No, No, that's uh the career that was all that was all long abandoned any ideas I had of any other career or work. Um. So yeah, it was it was just I was grated, um, meet people and play music. Um. And so you know those last th first I was in Houston, like a couple of years kind of off and on around the end of high school. If we're settling in Austin. Um. And at the time I was just playing writing on acoustic and like playing open mic sort of things. Um. But I had a lot of friends were in bands, and these people at all moved to Austin and so I moved to Austin and pretty quickly, I think the first summer I was there, I met Scott. I actually met his roommate at a record store and I was talking to him about like asking if he knew anyone who played music, and he's like, well, my roommates got plays guitar, and he just moved here and he's looking for people to play with. So so we hooked up and he had a bunch of music and I had a bunch of music, and we showed it to each other, and it's just just I didn't really love his music, and I don't think he really loved my music, you know. So we were sort of floundering, like hanging out a lot, and like, yeah, we want to start a band, you know, Like and uh, it wasn't until I've told the story, I think a lot of interviews, but like the Summer of Siamese dream by Smashing Pumpkins came out and a band from England called the Catherine Leo had a record called Chrome, and those two records just like totally let us up and like showed us like a sort of common place that was exciting to both of us, um musically, and so we just started writing like a lot all of a sudden, you like to feel healthy, right, and maybe you like to feel healthy while exercising and doing the things that you might typically do in order to be healthy. This upped my health game to a new level. And that is the company Athletic Greens and their product A g one. I started to take this because I was curious about it. Frankly, I was like, what's this green powder? I've heard people talking about it, like is it cool? Is it tastes good? What's the vibe? 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And I think that's always important to work with, like the common language of I mean because usually when you are you know, younger, I mean not saying that you were a child as you were kind of passing the ideas out of mineral, but you know that you always see it's like, oh yeah, I want to I want to sound like these four bands mashed together, and like that's just you know, what you're talking about is a further evolution of like what is the playbook that we're going to operate off of that you know, yes, we're not going to sound like Catherine Wheel meet Smashing Pumpkins, but like that's gonna at least set us off in a direction that we can head towards collected together. Yeah, totally, um, because I think yeah, it really it showed us, uh yeah, this common sort of field of we could work in, you know, like and these are like some tools we could use. I don't know, Scott was really into the heavier guitar stuff and I was writing more like acoustic stuff, and um, those bands and those records felt like they sort of encompassed like both of those things in a in a sense you know, um yeah, like they weren't all one thing or another. Um right, yeah, you could be you could be pulling these disparate influences that might not on the surface make a lot of sense, but then you know, as long as you're blending them together appropriately, there's that commonality that people will hopefully be able to have, you know, understand because like you saying, Catherine Wheel, I never would have thought that, you know, sort of bedrock influence in Mineral, but hearing that, it's like, oh yeah, of course, totally, I totally hear it. Yeah. We loved especially like that guitar player was so into like feedback and like his melodies and riffs. Like I think we're really uh it makes a lot of sense to think of Scott like uh blatching onto that. Um yeah it was. And you know, right around that time too, we really got into I think I probably more Scott, but I really got into like, um, Super Chunk and Rocket from the Crypt and like all these kind of indie bands that were uh Pavement, you know. Um so there was all of a sudden it felt like indie rock was a thing, you know, like, yeah, it's funny, like I feel like, uh, that's when you started hearing those uh that phrase even being used in my memory, like, um, so yeah, we we've realized that we were destined to become indie rock, right God, yes, of course indie rock slash emo legends, you know. But I mean it's interesting you name those bands because all of them were incorporating melody and interesting ways where it's like, and I think that is the you know, the the bedrock of how all of these bands that you know came from the punk, hardcore d I Y leanings and wanted to open themselves up to more melody but being able to do it in a non sort of pop manner. And that's exactly why you get indie rock, which is exactly what you're talking about. So yeah, yeah, it was it felt really exciting. Yeah, I felt like something was brewing, you know, totally totally um, And I'm not gonna hit you know, beat by beat of the you know, the Mineral catalog because you definitely have um, you know, opined about that on many different places. But I know in regards to uh, something that I find interesting and I'm sure it was very interesting for you to experience, like, you know, clearly mineral Like you guys obviously did you know a decent amount of touring got out there, you know in the van, you know, really hit the ground running from that perspective to you know, get out to as many people as you possibly could. Um. And then you know, once the band reunited and there was this you know wave of interest and you were clearly playing the largest shows you ever has had as a band, and touring was a much different experience. Um was that. I'm sure the whole experience is bizarre because you're just like, why do people still care about us like this much? Like this is weird? Um? But how how was the touring kind of juxtaposed against one another where it's like, oh, so we just need to like, you know, not be a band for twenty years and then then we become really popular, Like how did that? You know, Like I guess more so focused on the touring experience, just being like, oh, this is a whole different world. Yeah, well it was apparently a brilliant plan. We had this long com how to yeah, the long com um no we Uh it was so exciting and fun and um, you know when we were originally touring with min Oral, we were just so excited to play, like, you know, like bands young bands are, you know, Like we wanted to go wherever whenever and play and uh, if that was someone's house, cool, if that was like a VFW hall. Cool if that was an actual like decent club with a good sound system, cool, you know. Like, but to be honest, we didn't play a ton of good clubs with decent toun systems, you know. Um, just like the world we were in and the trajectory we were on and being a young band and a new band. Um, we got a little bit of that in in on a few tours. Um. But it was really exciting to get to go like play the music for like at really good venues with really good sound systems and uh in a way that people could really hear it like in a big effective way. You know. Um, I think I think that can exist, you know, and did exist like in coffee shops too, Like, uh, there's something about bringing a really loud band into a coffee shop with only a vocal p a and just letting them like destroy the place that it is probably a very cathartic experience. Um, but it felt really cool to be able to you know, and we had had a lot of friends, pure bands that we met along the way that kept going longer than us, and like getting to go see them when they came through town and see that they were playing it like bigger and bigger venues, and um, it felt cool to be able to experience some of that, you know, like some of what might have happened for Mineral had we stayed together longer. Um, it felt cool to be able to come back after such a long pause and like still good to do some of that, you know. Yeah, for sure, especially to where it's like it's not like I mean you personally, it's not like you disconnected from the creation of music and you know, touring and playing shows and stuff like that. So because you were still active, you were able to not only you know, still spread the word of music, but like you said, be able to watch friends that are doing similar things or you know, launching new projects, you're still attached to it. So I'm sure it made that experience all the more sweeter because you're just like, not only am I experiencing of my best friends, but you know I can still you know, be quote unquote relevant in you know, a non sort of commercial I'm trying to you know, become a pop star. Way. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's all felt real fun, you know, like any of the ringing and stuff we did, because I think there's just like a lack of pressure in a lot of ways, like, um it getting to come back after this long like it all feels like window dressing, you know, or like the cherry on top, like it feels like living on borrowed time or something. You know. It's like, honestly, it's like I put you guys and you know, American football in very much the same world where it's like completely unintentional success. I mean, like success as far as you put out good music, but just the the critical you know, slash commercial whatever you want to call it response that was completely unexpected and completely unknown, and then all of a sudden, you're just like, oh, so we're playing in front of like the most people we ever have in this one show that we did like for four years of the band touring. It's like it's weird. It's definitely weird, and you know, great feeling, a great feeling like we were. It was really a wonderful, enjoyable experience, you know. Yeah. Absolutely. And on that same idea of the way that Mineral interacted with the music industry at large, Like, I mean you expressed obviously in the you Know One Day book that the relationship that you guys had with the business side of the band was I mean maybe for you individually kind of like I don't really like this. I understand we need to you know, sign to a label and do all this stuff. Um, but how was your lationship with the music industry at large? Like did you enjoy interacting with the business side of things or you're just like, can I just like write my songs over here and you know, kind of put it out there as I see fit. Yeah, I think there was definitely like, uh a sort of ingrained like protectiveness of what we were doing and what we were making, and um, like like this feeling of a seriousness of like like there's a certain sacredness or sanctity to creative work in my mind. And I think anyone you know, trying to come in and affect that, like in a professional sense or with with money, um always felt sort of suspect to me. Like it felt like I would sort of my guard would go up and and while saying that like that's very much a part of who I was, I also really wanted nothing more than to continue being able to play music all the time for for more and more people, you know. Um, So I think there was you know, to sort of coin aflicting threads within me in that sense. You know. Sure, right, it's like you you knew you had to participate in a you know, either perfunctory or just kind of like, yes, I need to do this because this is what can potentially, you know, not like turn this into a career slash lifestyle, but just like to get you over the hump to potentially, you know, get in front of new slash different people. Yeah. And I'm sure because of that experience, and I know there were certain stories shared within the book, but I'm sure you were thrown into some pretty silly slash funny, you know, courting circumstances of oh we gotta we gotta sign the you know, cool cool band from Boston called called Minerals, So we're gonna you know, fly out and treat them to a dinner or whatever the case may be. Does any particular story stand out to you in regards to it doesn't even have to be like something extravagant, but just something kind of hilariously funny to you that sticks out? Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think there's some some some of the more classic stories are are definitely in that book. Um, but just you know, something about like just sitting in like an actual like corporation board room or like you know, like a conference room, uh, talking to people in like some of the people were dressed more casually, you know, like because it's a casual job and we're at a record label, but other people are like actually growing up every day and like suits and ties and like, uh, you know, like there's just something very weird about like talking about mineral you know, with these people and like what we were doing and what we wanted to do, you know. Um, so I think there was just some some visual humor to it. At almost all times, you know, like, um, we just we were we were we just were in a place we we didn't know like what we were what we were doing at all, you know, and so it definitely felt surreal and silly at times. Um, but it also felt you know, good, and it felt gratifying to uh yeah, to to be able to know like, you know, maybe I don't understand like X artists or that this label has six seated with you know, but like pretty cool that like, you know, the guy who signed Whitney Houston wants to sign Mineral. I mean, it's like, uh bizarre, you know. It's just to be in a world where it's like my parents love Whitney Houston, you know, like I would love this right right, and just yeah, just I mean exactly what you're talking about of walking into rooms and interacting with people that you know don't really understand the concept that you played in front of you know, negative four people last night, and that there's like, hey, h could could we can you guys take us up to breakfast because we're like we're really starving and wheeling a hundred dollars last night? Yeah yeah, Um, And so you know, immediately not immediately, but you know, shortly after Mineral obviously dissolved, and UM, you know, you guys went your separate ways from that perspective for you know, all the reasons that you've discussed openly. You know, you when out was or your record and you were, you know, touring and assembling you know, that band as far as you know, putting out releases. And I saw you guys once at Chain Reaction. I'm fairly certain you were touring with Antarctica if I'm not mistaken. Um, that's a fun one. And it seemed to me, I mean, because I didn't witness you know, Mineral shows when you were actively touring in the you know, mid nineties, it seemed like Lauria Record kind of put a lack of better term, like a pep in your step. Not like I felt like you were, you know, actively depressed per se, but just that idea that you were contributing something that you know clearly had your footprint on it, but was also expanding on everything that you know you were maybe interested in expanding on. Um. Do you reflect on the time in the Gloria Record as being reflective of that or is it something that was a completely different experience and you don't even really um kind of consider that comparable to what Mineral was doing. Yeah, it felt it definitely felt better pretty immediately, like, uh, musically and creatively, like it felt I love the chemistry we have in Mineral, and I love everything we created together. Um and I love just there's something really really unique about the way the sound of Mineral gets created just by these four people just kind of being themselves, you know, and doing what they do. Um. So I have ultimately respect for the kind of mystery that is Mineral in its sound. But but at that time, it also felt kind of limiting to me, Like it felt like there's things we can do, there's things we wouldn't be able to do with Mineral, you know. Um. And I think when I first got away from that and started the Glory Record, I was really interested in expanding the palette and like I wanted acoustic guitars and like you know, keyboards and uh yeah, I wanted uh to just I was excited about expressing like different things and different sounds and uh so it felt very free in that sense, and that like it felt like we were a band of people who were I think, all interested in that you know, like it was more exploratory, I feel like, um, and that was exciting for me at the time. All this time as you were especially well I'm gonna guess also maybe towards the tail end of Mineral and regards to touring, like you know, you were building your family and as we were joking about it at the very beginning of the conversation off Mike in regards to you know, putting your kids to bed, and you know, you were developing this you know, quote unquote normal life as it were, Um, how how did that kind of interact with the you know, band life where it's just like, I mean, clearly your significant other understood you would be gone for periods of time touring and releasing music and stuff. But you know, how how were you, I guess, kind of attempting to balance both worlds? Yeah? Well, uh, you know, right towards the end of Mineral, I started dating the girl who is now my wife, and we've basically been together with you know, a few off and on periods like since then. Um so the whole time in the Glory Record and you know everything since Mineral, like I had had this uh committed relationship, like we didn't start having kids until our oldest kids are Ah, we have twins who are about to turn eleven. So, um, it was post Gloria Record, like we had kids in between Glory Record and ending in the mineral reunions, you know. Um So, I feel like I always knew that I wanted and was like building towards you know, a family and like wanted kids. Um So it felt like a very natural thing for me to do. Um. But but it never felt like ah and either or with continuing to make music. It always felt like these are two you know, important parts of my identity and who I am and what I want to do in my life, you know, right, Dad life was always in the equation for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I knew I wanted it, and I knew, you know, my girlfriend wanted it. So we Yeah, I think we always assumed we'd we'd get there. Were you were you ever labeled the dad in any of your bands? Were you the guy waking up first to you know, get everybody on the road and stuff like that? Hell yeah, I was. So It's funny. Um, I have a ah, I also have a bizarre relationship with um substances, Like I was just not really interested in drinking the way most people were. Sure, did you ever claim edge or you know, you know, I never. I never claimed edge now, but I you know, even when I I would drink occasionally, you know, like in Mineral and the large portion of the Gloria record, like I was, I'm just not interested in that. Like maybe I just couldn't give up that control, you know, Like I think I was a very like tense, uh anxious person, and um, I couldn't. I could not do that, you know, like I couldn't use that as a way to like I don't know, so yeah, by default, then ended up being the guy who was like, you know, waking up, cursing everyone, trying to kick them out and get them into the van just so I could drive us seven hours somewhere while they all had their hangovers. And um I was very very curmudgedly about it too, like a lot of the time, you know, Um, I was not happy about it and didn't I didn't love that role, but I just sort of naturally fell into it, you know. So someone's got to do it, you know, I mean there, I mean, everybody fills their certain roles in bands, whether it's like, oh this guy can you know, is the graphic designer or you know this person is able to order merch and stuff. Like you all, you need to have at least one person that is going to be up before everybody else, maybe you know, hitting that shower at the person's house you're staying at first, and then you know, kicking everybody else to wake up and stuff, and so you know, someone's got to do it exactly. Yeah. I was definitely definitely guy in Mineral and the early Glory Record, and then something flipped at some point, and I you know, like I think I had a late in life compared to when most people do it like just full on, like I like drinking, I like drugs, Like I like I want to do all this. I want to like party and have fun and like not be the responsible guy, you know. But I had that phase later. You know, So you were you were first engineered that you waited until you're late thirties or your late twenties. Maybe I did. I waited until probably my early thirties are like right around when I turned thirty. Like my thirties in general were like pretty pretty well spent in that way. But you didn't, I mean, fortunately at least, I'm I'm assuming like you clearly didn't get swallowed up by you know, the darkness as it were. But did it get kind of I guess spotty during those times or was it a responsible party? It definitely got spotty. Um. And yeah, there's a My wife and I got married in two thousand eight, UM, and it was still spotty for several years. UM. My first kids were born in the thousand eleven UM, and it's been on a like trajectory towards less spottiness. You know. Obviously that sort of kicked things into gear and in the sense of me realizing, like I've got to I've got to be a more responsible human being, Like I've got to get my ship together, um, have kids, you know. Um. So, and I've been actually like totally sober for like as a conscious decision for I think it'll be six years in September. Did you, like, were you doing the program I guess as it were, or were you just kind of using your own resources? I did at first for sure, lean on the program and go to a lot of meetings, and I had a sponsor, UM. And then I slowly like I started going to like twelve the twelve step thing was never like I just couldn't. I didn't quite like get with it. Um, I just couldn't make myself do it for some reason. Um. And maybe that's a weakness of my own. But I started going to a like I think it's called Dharma Recovery now it's more of a like Buddhist approach to recovery network, um and that. But they have meetings all over too, and like online meetings and um, so I got into that and really I just I think I just uh saw benefits of that decision, in that commitment to sobriety, and like I just knew I didn't want to go back. Yeah, it was you saw the dividends of that investment in the sobriety. Yeah, for sure. No, it's incredible, it's incredible. Um. And the last thing I want to hit on was the you know idea, or actually two last things, and I promise I'll let you go with the It definitely seemed like a time where you were not interested in being sort of overly nostalgic, especially towards you know, mineral and then you know, I mean everybody always went directly at you in regards to like the emo legends and like, you know, just the jokes that can you know, be made about that labeling. Um, So it seemed like there was a conscious effort of you to not, you know, sort of from a press perspective, address that and to be clear, like not from like a dickish manner where you're like, oh, I'm above that, you know, like I don't talk about mineral or whatever. But but it seems like there was maybe difficulty in you kind of wrapping your head around how to you know, speak about it or contextualize it. Um. Is that me just reading too far into situations or was was that kind of part of your journey and being able to talk about you know, your old old music. Yeah, I think you totally read read it right. Um that I was not interested in talking about it, like for the longest time. It's like I don't want to be defined by what I did, you know, for four years in my early twenties, it's like I want I mean, I was so interested in so many things, and like I felt like my ideas and my everything was expanding, and to have like for so long to feel like all anyone wanted to talk about when they wanted to talk to me about music was this thing, like, yeah, it was very off putting for me, and it was something that I felt I think I sort of went the other way. It's like pushed me away, you know, like I really wanted everything to be different. I wanted to be able to make that just completely disappear, you know, like I really wanted like a fresh start, um. And I think it took a long time for me to realize, like what and accept what an important part of my life Mineral was, and how how big of a thing it was, like an experience it was, and and also to to really accept like, but there was something really so special about it and that it's a it's a positive thing that so many people like latched onto it and we want to keep talking about it. And so it was something that was a gradual like kind of coming to peace with the legacy of Mineral, you know, yeah, sure, well, and you definitely don't want to feel like that old man on the porch talking about the touchdown in their high school football game sort of scenario, because you know that that's what it does feel like, sad of you trying to rest relevance out of the fact that you know, this cool thing you did twenty years ago is yeah, but that I mean, and to be clear, that was never the impression that I got. It's not like you're you know, hawking your your wears on the internet being like, hey, I'll do a mineral cover for your wedding or whatever. But you know that could be a good idea. I'm just kidding. But um. And the last thing of just you know, you continuing to you know, release and put up music and you know, play shows and be active with you know, zookeeper, and then obviously that transition into you know, mountain time. UM. I mean, clearly it's a compulsion of yours and clearly it's something that is you know, hardwired in your DNA that you're going to continually write and release music, regardless of you know, how wide or small an audience it that it is for you, um And to me, it just seems like it fits very much in your life properly where you can't go out play a few shows a case. Really there's no pressure attached to it, um, and you're just happy that people are interacting with your art. Um am I am I painting that picture accurately from that perspective, or are there are there other things that you want to you know, expand into from a musical perspective as well. Yeah, I think you're totally Yeah. I think that's an accurate picture of where I'm at. And and you know, I think I realized at some point that the process is kind of has to be its own reward, you know. Um, and I really love, uh writing songs and recording songs and putting out those recordings of those songs. And I really think that that's the main thing I want to do with the rest of my life. Um. I hope there's other things I'm doing too, you know, like in my life expands and and lots of fighting ways. But um, and I would be you know, sometimes I see like professional musicians who like you know, put out records and then go on tour for like a year a year and a half, and think like, oh, that would be fun, you know, But like I want I would like the would like the respect that people like that have achieved, you know, But but it's not really it's not really practical to my life in any way, you know, like at at forty seven, almost forty eight, with like four kids to be like I mean, it just it doesn't seem like a realistic role for me at this point in my life. So I like, I love the idea of like what I sort of jokingly referred to as my semi retirement, where I just it to do whatever I want um and primarily focus on writing and recording and releasing new music. And if someday I get to like go on a big tour and get to really play some of the later music of my that I've made for people in like a very professional like setting, that would be amazing. But but I think the recordings are are the the artifact. Where do your kids interact with your music? Like are they like, oh Dad's doing is you know, dumb sad guy music again? Or like are they reacting to it? They all really like it? Um uh yeah, it's cool, Like they I like it and they're curious about Like when we did the first Mineral reunion, the oldest kids were still pretty young, like nobody was really old enough to like have much of an idea of what was happening. But by the time we did the Year thing in twenty nineteen, Uh, it was funny, Like I was listening to the the records in the car a lot too, sort of when I was as I was getting back into rehearsals and relearning everything, um, and that time they were all like really getting into it and like actually they were like, Oh, let play that one that's my favorite mental song, or play this other one. So like it was cool to see and they're they're clearly definitely excited about like what I do. They think it's interesting and cool and um, so they yeah, they don't. I think that will come, you know, Like I think when we get to a certain point there, I'll I just won't be cool, you know, Like I think that's that's the fate of all parents, you know, in their children's eyes, and you can't be cool forever because they have to like somehow like dismantle their ideas of what they thought was cool before and figure out what's really cool in life, you know. And that's the natural part of what human beings do. So yeah, I won't. I'm sure I won't be cool forever. But I think in general, like I've been seeing it's pretty cool. Yeah that that well, that's special, especially to for you to showcase something that you did, you know, so long ago, and then have that resonance with people just you know, simply playing in in front of them, in front of you know, seven eight hundred nine or people or whatever the shows that they went to and just saying like, oh, oh, that's like that's cool that you know, this this random band that dad did, which is not common amongst most dad life stuff. Besides, you know, like cover bands at you know, the local bar or whatever. So it's cool for them to at least see you in your element, so to speak. Yeah, for sure they like it, and it's uh, I like, I like, yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. Like eating them music. I mean that's like not just not just my own, you know, like I feel like, um, it's fun to see like how much kids pick up on music, just because I'm such an obsessive, passionate like music listener and explore and I'm always you got something, I'm excited about it at the time, and it's been fun to see just how much they pick up on that and they're like, oh what's this? You know, like or you know, they'll tell you if they don't like something or tell you if they do like something, and it's always fun when they asked me, like, Dad, have you heard you know, like, you know, recent examples would be like, uh, Seven Nation Army by White Stripes. I'm like, oh, yeah, I've heard that song. Uh. And then they're like, yeah, I want to learn to play that, you know. And then they learned to play it. We can sit around and play it together, and it's fun to like, it's fun to be asked my opinion by them on things they think are cool, like is this cool? Dad? Totally? Well, just wait for the day they that one of them brings home a long sleeve pink Iron Maiden shirt and then it's all full circle. That's right. I would be so proud. I would know my work here was done totally. You're like, well, I guess this is the crowning achievement. Everything else I've done is nothing. Yeah, this is what it's all been leading up to. Exactly. Well, Chris, thank you so much for hanging out. I really appreciate you letting me a pink pong around your brain. No problem, I appreciate it. I enjoyed the conversation right. Thank you very much to Mr Simpson for his time, because I know we had to record this late at night because he's got a ton of kid I was running around the house, and you know, quiet time is of a premium. Where do you got that many kids run around the house. I also want to give a shout out to his publicist, Mike from your Shop Media. I always love to give credit where credit is due, because you know, publicists kind of unsung heroes of the music bizz as it were. So thank you very much to Mike and Chris next week. This is one that I chased down on social media. I love when I can punish people on you know, whether it's Twitter, Instagram, whatever the case, maybe I will do anything to speak to certain people. And uh, I have Don DeVore from Inc and Dagger Frail and he's also played in a lot of other projects. One that is currently going on is called Collapsing Scenery. But um, Inc and Dagger is a huge band for me. They really flipped my musical perspective on its head to be like, wow, not only can you be theatrical in punk and hardcore, but you can have a really sort of outrageous show presentation, and then on top of that you can push the boundaries of what blok and hardcore is. And also they were really confrontational. Uh, and they really you know, gotten people's faces and really express their opinions and I love that about them. So Don was a trip of a conversation. He was, you know, like no one bugs him about I mean some people probably bugg him about inco Dagger, but so yeah, we we did that, and I chased sound Don de Vore for making Dagger, and I'd love to have this conversation and Frail, Oh my gosh, Frail, I'm so excited. So that's what we got in the show next week and until then, please be safe, everybody.

100 Words Or Less: The Podcast

Host Ray Harkins dives deep with creators of independent culture from musicians, artists and other i 
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