Warren Zeiders (@warrenzeiders) never intended to become a singer, until a sports injury changed his plans. He sits down with Bobby Bones to talk about his life before music, how he had a lacrosse scholarship in college, and how he got seven concussions while playing. He shares how the pandemic derailed his plans, so he posted a video of himself singing on TikTok that went viral. Warren also recalls the time he posted a video of himself singing on YouTube that he was bullied for, to then having industry people message him. He also reveals why he hired his mom to be his business manager, what fans can expect from his new album Pretty Little Poison coming out in August, and more!
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I wouldn't go back in time and change a thing because I think that I keep that with me as a fuel of source. And I'm happy that kind of happened to me because it made my skin thicker.
Welcome to episode four oh six with Warren Ziders Mike. After we finished this interview, my trainer who comes over to the house, Kevin Klug, he saw Warren walk out. Warren's pretty big dude, big dude, you know, former athlete.
Played what's that support?
They throw the lacrosse? Okay, yes, lacrosse and not cokay, yes. So he was like, was that Warren Zeyders? I said yeah, And what he knew of Warren Zeider's was he said, Oh, he's the guy that figured out the algorithm.
And I said, what do you mean? He said, I watched some of his stuff online.
I like it, but he's known because he figured it out, Like he was smart enough to know how to use TikTok and not only be real good, but implement like the perfect strategy to blow up pack the system. And I s really goes, yeah, so what do you what do you know about the because I don't know. That's what everybody says, like he's the one that figured it out. So did you know I didn't know that. I didn't know that now. Yeah, So I liked warn not really what I expected, but in the best way because his pictures he looks, I don't know, like he would brand uts.
Yeah.
I thought he was gonna come in like spit on the floor, yea, throw some things.
Around, really warm, really nice guy. I mean he left and I was like, dang, I like that dude. So Warrensiders, let's tell you a little bit about him. His debut album, Pretty Little Poison, comes out eight twenty five. Let me do a finger Jani March, April, May, Junejuly August twenty fifth. Got it. So the sampler is already out, and here's a little clip of Pretty Little Poison for more Inxiders right now. Geez MOBOs Ride the Lightning became a big hit, kind of against social media.
Here's a clip of that one.
Because when the.
Class tracks Mann don't alrad.
On tour through November fifteen to go to Warren Ziders dot com, z I D E r s dot com.
He's out with a thousand horses. He's twenty four. I thought he was a little older, young guy. Yeah, just a kid from Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Music, as he talks about, was not a massive part of his household. You know, he's saying in church like a lot of other artists, and played sports and then I mean he had some real some real injury type stuff like there's broken arms and legs, and then there's head injuries like brain stuff, and so he got you know, pretty dicey with him.
But here he is.
Follow him on Instagram and TikTok at warren Zeider's z E I D E r s and here he is our time with Warren Zeiders. Nice watch you got there? Thank you?
That new No, it's actually not it's a probably fifteen years old.
It was my dad's. I'm assuming it. It's from here. It looks like a Rolex real legs yep. Yeah. I mean I only recently started to get them because I've only recently started to make good money, and I always just saw them on TV. So I thought, one day, when I start to make it, I'm gonna get one. I got like seven now and I gotta stop. But now I see them. It's like when you have a car and let's say you buy a you know, on a cord. Yeah, and all of a sudden, you're like, god, damn, there's so many accords on the road. As soon as you walked in, I was like, I didn't even see I just saw a Rolex walk in, and I'm like, a Rolex just floated in the room. So and I'm not liking it. Like Luke Combs is like a big watch guy too, and so he's do you know much about watches? Because I don't. I don't either.
Like I said, this was my dad's and it was actually a gift to me.
It looks good, it's solid. I've had a lot of people trying to buy it, but I'll write a number down. You tell me if it's good enough to buy it from me.
No, I think there's something I'll hold on to and give to my son once too. But it was supposed to be a gift for me when I graduated college. But I didn't graduate college. I signed a record deal instead. So I was like, you know, do I still get the role x?
That's funny. You know, you're a lot smilier than I thought you'd be. I've heard that before, like not that it's good or bad, but hearing your music, seeing press seeing press pictures of you like this here. You look like a freaking cowboy that's gonna kick me in the balls if I say a cross word about you or your mama.
You know.
Instead, you're still that dude and you're ripped and you're a good looking dude. But it's like your friendly as crap. Yeah, I like to think I'm I think pretty friendly. Yeah, I'm surprised, not that you're friendly, but you're just very happy. I like it you. I assume you're grinding pretty hard right now, just traveling playing shows.
Give me your last seventy two hours, last seventy two hours. Okay, so we're on Let's day, Monday now, Yeah, I lean up the roo.
Yep, my bad. We're on Monday now, so you already know he's going hard if he has to go. Okay, we're on Monday. Okay, Yeah, I have the same thing sometimes. Yeah, it's it's weird now CMA week.
It's my first one, first time ever being there as a fan either, So that was weird being in town having shows, not being out of Nashville and.
Bobin and Weavin.
But between I played Riverfront on Thursday and then I did Spotify House and then after that got on the bus that night, went to Iowa, played at the festival, got to go out on stage for the first time with Jelly Roll.
Super sweetheart of a human being.
Him and I had just recently met at the softball game, the charity softball game, and he came up to me and I was like, hey, man, like I'm more insiders, and he's like, I know who you are and I was like, oh, I didn't know that, So super nice dude. Then did that and then got in yesterday morning, and then I just did something for the Highway yesterday as well, and then was doing stuff last night with my tour manager who's also my best friend.
And then now here we are. How many of those you say your tour manager is your best friend? Yeah, how many of those people from home or like your ould school friends do you kind of have in your crew somewhat?
So actually shout out to Jared. He just drove me and dropped me off. My tour manager. He was actually working for my mom, and he did not like his job. He was an accountant, wasn't his thing. Didn't like being at a desk and whatnot. So I pulled him out of that he didn't have any background in this whole thing.
Neither did I. But here we are.
We're doing pretty well so far. But I brought him out of that and brought them on the road with me. And it's nice having somebody from back home that I not only that I trust, but someone that I know has my back and loves me.
That's been a big priority for me through my career too. Like Mike here was an intern for me. Way he runs the show now, Yeah, he's my voice as much as I am. But like my co hosts on my radio show were all people that never worked in radio yep, but that they made me feel good and made me perform better because I felt good, and then they got really good at their jobs in the meantime. And it's just worked out and been pretty amazing that I've been able to do that because it was all for me. Yeah, I mean it's for them too. It really was for me because they made me feel good, comfortable and safe, and so that actually elevated me and it gave me the freedom elevate myself. And I kind of feel like that's happening with you here too. Yeah.
I think as long as you're comfortable in doing what you're doing, You're going to flourish, and I think that that was the mindset behind it.
And my parents are also very heavily involved.
I was raised in a family with businesses, and my parents are both business acumen and my mom was a CFO. My dad did investments for years and he's been in cars car sales and ran dealerships for the past ten to fifteen years as well. So they're heavily involved in just helping me and helping me flourish and just have my back, which is really fortunate to have that.
Are they involved in or do they look at the numbers? Oh? Yeah, my mom's actually my business manager. Okay, now we're talking. YEP. I struggled with hiring a business manager because again I come from a very humble upbringing where I didn't know you just went to the mill to work, yep. And so I was like, wait, I got to pay somebody five percent depending on I was like, I don't, I don't understand. First of all, they're going to look at it everything I make, and then I got to pay somebody. But then what had happened? And I think you're seeing this and you have been for a bit now is that I'm paying percentages to people.
Mm hm.
So I got agents ten percent, I got managed at fifteen percent. I got to pay the ban when I was I got and I'm like, oh my god, I'll pay. I'll pay my bmen or ten percent, whoever it is. So it was weird for me to hire someone because you have to really trust them, and I have that person. But if it's your mom, I feel like I would. I'd be pretty trusting if as my mom too, especially if she has again the business acumen that you talk about.
Yep yep CPAs she likes to say to me, she's overqualified.
But she takes great care of me.
And there's no one else I would trust in the world to look over my finances and.
Just have my back. Where do you live now? I'm actually down here now, So Nashville's home. How long has it been home?
I feel like it's been probably nine months to a year.
That's it, huh.
But by the time I got down here, you know, I joke about it. People are like, you live down here now? I'm like, well, I moved down here in time to start touring so that I'm never around. But it's been great. To me, I'm in and out, you know, writing, touring management. Everyone likes to keep me busy and I like to be busy.
So it's been good whenever you do things like CMA Week and it's consistent, you're going from event to event or event to show. Are you feeling we'll call it love. Are you feeling love consistently now for your music and who you are? I think so.
I think that you know, you joked around when I first walked in here and you were like, I thought you were going to be like this, And I think that I have that part of me that's inside of me, and that's kind of from my sports background and everything, and you know, I get that from my dad. I always like to say my Dad's we're both lovers until we don't have to be, and we're both teddy bears.
But you know, I have.
An edge to who I am and that's definitely a part of my brand and you know what I am on stage. But I've I've definitely felt the love. I think this week was such a success. I didn't know what to expect with CMA Fest and getting out there and whether is this a good time.
Slaughter or whatever it is?
But to see, you know, the pockets of people screaming word for word and making new fans. It definitely felt a successful week for me, and you know, integrating into the scene of Nashville.
Why don't want people to get it twisted. You cant still rip my head off. I'm looking at your arms here. You can still rip my head off, and I think you would if I set a cross word. So when I say your friend like, you're like you could do all the things that I thought you could do, as far as like beat me up, break my back, whatever you needed to do. So don't take that as I'm calling you went Lauren, because you still got it. Man. Uh you played lacrosse, yep. Seems physical, like a physical score.
I have seven concussions to account for it being physical.
You just said that twice. Yeah, I did your concussions. I said it three times. You said, well, so tell me about lacrosse. I didn't grow up around lacrosse. Yeah. Most of my friends that live West Coast or up in the you know, northeastern part of the United States, they are they're introduced, and they play lacrosse more than people from the south. YEP. So talk to me about the game.
The game man, the roots really are Actually it's actually Native American sport. And I don't know how much I have in my blood, but I do have some Native American in my I'm not just saying that, but from my I think it's my grandmother's side. But long story short, I always thought I was going to be a hockey player.
For the longest time. I was obsessed with hockey. Did you played hockey?
No?
Because my dad and I used to watch it all the time.
I grew up going to Hershey Bears games because I'm from Hershey and they were the farm team for.
The Washington Capitals.
So I was obsessed with hockey, loved rollerblading and all that, got into ice skating, the whole thing. But when I eventually moved to Hershey in fourth grade, I was introduced to sport of lacrosse. It was a it's a big thing up there around Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, the whole whole shebang. And when I picked up lacrosse stick, it was kind of in that moment I realized, I was like, this is something cool, this is something I could see myself doing. And dude, after a year of playing it became my life, and I played all.
Year, so there was did you like the contact? I did?
I didn't mind the contact. I was actually kind of a smaller kid. I could never put on weight, and that was always something that kind of bothered me. But I was always super fast and agile, so I could get away from it.
I like to think I'd get.
Away from it, but it's having concussions doesn't really say I did get away from the contact. If now being twenty four and looking back, I definitely probably would.
Have hit the weight room sooner.
But it wasn't until after I kind of got to college where lifting became a huge thing for me because I went to college to play, but now lifting is everything to me. Working out is such a big pivotal part of my life.
But twelve years man, were you pretty good high school player to play collegiate? Did you have scouts coming?
Yep, college visits. I did the whole thing. And like I said, I was playing all year round. So springtime is school season for lacrosse, and so I played summer league ball.
I was going to showcases, I was going to colleges.
I was doing tournaments, same thing in the fall league and then winter league. We played in a dome and stuff, so I was always always playing.
Where'd you play in college?
I went to a school called Frostburg State University. It's in Maryland. I went to go play Division three and what I loved so much about it was unfortunately I didn't get to play very much because day two of practice.
I got laid out by.
A twenty four year old marine who was back from some years of service. And the way college athletics work, you know, you can have years of eligibility if you don't use them.
There have been quarterbacks they've been twenty eight years old, I know. Yeah.
Yeah, So I was coming off of a pick and I got blindsided and laid me out flat on my back, blacked out. Started season called an ambulance and I was out for months, and I was confined pretty much to a black room for months. What do you mean, like as in I wasn't able to play. I was missing Oh you were out of school and was missing classes, couldn't take exams like I couldn't think it was and I kind of.
Went into a depression. Yeah, well I see that.
Yeah, yeah, Because like there was you know, blue light the screens, like watching TV would give you headaches, you'd get sick, like it was a it was a pretty major concussion.
Did you start to think that maybe it was never going to be right again? That definitely was a fear of mine.
And I was spending a lot of weekends traveling back home to PA because we have Hershey Medical Center and the doctors there it took really good care of me, and just was like, hey, man, you've had a couple like minor concussions. This one's pretty major. If this happens again, like we're gonna have a different conversation. And surely enough, you know, I'm I'm a dude that when I'm committed to something, I give everything I have. And now I get to say that I do this for country music and I love what I do. But when it came to Lacrosse and I had those months off and I had some time to reflect, I was like, you know, you know the saying, you know, get knocked down, it's up to you to get back up. So when it came to winter break, you know, friends were out partying and drinking and stuff, but me, I was spending two a day and I was focused on taking care of my health and getting back on that field, spring comes around and get back to school surely enough. I think it was God's way of saying, this isn't for you anymore. And I had another concussion.
Wait you went back? Yeah, after all that, you went back. Yeah, Like there's committed yep, and then there's are you sure? Yeah, so you go back. And my experience with friends, I've had some head issues, but never significant like yours. Some of my friends who've played professional sports talk about how if they've been hit and had a concussion or two, sometimes the lightest thing can cause a concussion. Afterward, it's almost like you've been exposed, so it's easier to be exposed to again. Is that what happened this time?
It was it was the moment where when I went back for the spring season and I got hit, it was like I didn't even have to think about it. I got up from the hit and I was like, I'm jacked up. I just know really yeah, I just knew in my heart the way my neck snapped way hit the ground. I was like, that's it and threw my helmet off, and I just it was just that moment of you do something for so long it becomes a part of who you are becomes a part of your identity. Yeah, that's what I was known as the student athlete, the you know, the lacrosse player, and giving that up was, you know, kind of an identity crisis for a little bit. I was like, what am I going to do with my time now? This was everything to me. And then you know, here we are now here, we.
Are here, we are now do you And the last question sports wise, because I'm a massive sports guy sports show myself, but do you follow NFL at all? I do not as close as the closely as I once did. Why was there just was two? I had all the concussions in Miami, and you know, he's out for a long time, comes back and it's another one. And he said in the off season he debated retirement. He's not going to retire. It just seems similar like he's also a very intelligent sounding, just a sound guy. And he's like, you know, I had all these you guys just remind me of each other when you talk about it. Yeah, And he's had them happen him over and over again. And when you're like, you know, when that got hit again, there was another one. I feel like that happened to him last year, Like he just went back out boom, got another one, Like, how how long until you go? All right? For the sake of my family and for the rest of my career in whatever else, I'm going to stop playing ball. I wonder if that's going to happen to him. Yeah, that was all. It was just the parallels there between you two.
No, for sure, and like that was a tough part for me to like come to grips with giving that up, because you know, not only was it me giving it up, it was my parents, like their time, their energy, traveling to tournaments with me, Sley've invested for sure, sleeping in the hotels, leaving work early, getting me to practice on time.
Like what do they tell you when you're Did you have the conversation with them like I'm thinking about doing this or did you just tell him you're doing it?
So I was the conversation was open after the uh, after the first severe one I had my freshman year before I even had the second one, And you know, it was surprising to see their reactions. My dad was pretty supportive, but you know, he's comes from.
The age of rub some dirt on it. Go back in, yeah, back in.
And you know, my dad's my dad's form of getting better from being sick is going to the gym. And that's what I've always done, even if I'm hat a sniffles, like go work out.
Although it may not make you feel better.
Long term, you'll feel better for the day because you went and got a sweat in.
But it was weird.
To see how much my mom held on too, just what it was for me and come into the games and rooting for me, And I think that they were fearful of losing that part of their lives too. Now they get to come cross and maybe the relationship that's built in.
They get to come and support you, and there is a an avenue for them to be with you without having to go, hey, let's just hang out, and you do hang out, but yeah, that's it's definitely part of the relationship. And now they get to come to concerts all right, Now they get to come to shows. It's all different. Now my mom gets some manage my money and they get to watch and se how much money you're spending too. With mine. I'll call and be like, hey, can I get this. You'll have those calls soon. And sometimes you'll call and go, did you just buy this? And it's not my mom, but I'm like, uh, I forgot. You can see everything. I'm lying. But yeah, now your mom's going to be be doing making those calls.
I'm actually really glad because she's kept me, you know, nice, and you know, on straight and narrow, and you know, the money that I've spent has been nothing, but you know, good resources investing in real estate and everything, and you know, good assets.
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You know, it's guys like you that I really hate because you're a great athlete and now you're killing it music. It's like you have all the talents that I never had. It's like God was looking up and he was like, okay, let's equally put out all these talents. And he like stumbled and fell and like threw some of you guys all of it and it went right over my head. And so I say that and I'm completely serious. But other than that, here you are. Now you're killing it musically. So when did music start for you? In a way of Hey, I think if I invest my time into this like I did. It could be athletics, it could be school. Whatever it is, I think I can well at least have a shot to have a shot. When did that start to happen?
So the short version of was music was always a part of my life, but it was never something that I invested heavily, right too, because it was always athletics.
Did you sing though, young?
I did, but it was never I was never in a band. I was never in the church choir, you know.
I was neighbor plays. Did you ever sing on do a show? Publicly? Didn't even know you could sing? Family, Family, and friends.
I was the dude, Hey Warren, go grab your guitar and play around the bonfire, you know what I mean. I took a couple of lessons in middle school, but I was always so focused on sports that I never put the time and energy into the learning, you know, the proper technique whatever you want to call it.
Whenever I wanted to learn something, I just go to YouTube. I look at the courts sweat equity itself. Yeah right, you don't have the time for that because you're put it in something else. Yep.
So the frame of mind was when COVID hit and I'm an extrovert. I gotta be doing something. I just gave up lacrosse. Now I'm back home. I transferred schools. I'm living under mom and Dad's roof again. We're confined to the walls of our home. I'm like, I'm going nuts. And so my outlet was hop on social media, and you know, while I'm in between taking classes and you know, online zooms, I'm just going to start posting videos and myself for fun of just singing songs that I like and stuff that I'm listening to right now. First one I put out on TikTok and Instagram was a cover of Tennessee Whiskey, and people were like, who's this dude? Like this is cool? Wake up the next morning It's got three hundred thousand views. I'm like, what, Like that was so big to me from first video posting on social media of me singing, like, that's a pretty big number.
Were you shy to sing, let's say five years ago, ten years ago, even you knew you could do it a little bit? And they said Warren was the guy with a guitar. Were you also the guy? We're like, yes, you're all sing or were we like I don't know. I think you know.
Actually I'm glad you bring that up because I haven't really touched on this much in interviews.
But I was actually bullied. I was.
I was an athlete, and in middle school I always loved to sing, didn't matter whether if it was country, whether it was rock, justin Bieber Christian music, whatever it was, there was a song that I was connected to. I just was humming it in the car, I was humming it on the lacrosse field. I was always singing something. But in middle school there was these two girls that I had a crush on, and we got a Christmas party, had a guitar, and they wanted me to sing. Hadn't hit Puper deal yet, so voice sounded a certain way and they videoed it, and surely enough it lived on YouTube for years and years. So I got to high school after three years of middle school of being berated.
About this video. Why we're making fun of you for the video? I think it was because of maybe the way I sounded jealousy though, could you sing yeah? Like there are people that sound terrible that don't get made fun of. And this is my point, Yeah, if you just sounded bad, I don't think anybody's gonna saything to you because most people sound bad. Yeah, so it must be in a way a sense of jealousy, because why would you pick on somebody who just sounded bad unless you're picking on somebody who sounds pretty good and you're a little jealous that you don't have some sort of talent. I got the crap beat out of me as a kid, So like when you say that stuff, yeah, I go, huh, let's evaluate and really get it in the So you sounded weird, but could you hold a tune? Could you stay likecky? Oh? Yeah, so they're jealous of you anyway? Go ahead. Yeah.
So I think that that was a part of it, and I think that's like what my parents kind of taught me to. And you know, I I wouldn't go back in time and change a thing because I think that I keep that with me as a fuel of source. And I'm happy that kind of happened to me because it made my skin thicker. How would they bully well, I think honestly, dude, I'd be in class and we'd have a school project and these kids would put it, put the video in their project and play it in front of everybody, and it was like a thing that they were yeah at any at any turn they could get and it kind of, you know, pushed me away from the whole music thing and probably pushed me away from putting stuff on social media years and years ago. And then it really got bad when I got to high school and it was my first day as a freshman for lacrosse tryouts as a freshman, and we were getting ready to do workouts, and surely enough they put the video on the speakers, over the loud speakers. The same kids, no older kids, because kids in my class told their older brothers on the team got about this video, and surely enough, again try to get into my skin, try to get in my psyche, the whole thing.
And it was kind of like at every turn, man.
Whether it was a school project, whether it was over the speakers, whether it was on the bus after a game, trying to play the video. Like I think the kids just tried to find an angle to come at me. I like to think I'm a pretty, you know, decent dude. I like to think I'm decent looking, you know, I have a charm to me. I hold myself a certain way, but I think that they tried to find a weak point in you know, on my side, and figure out if they could get to me.
But again, I look.
Back and I'm happy it happened because it makes all of this that much better.
Yeah, sure, why didn't you go to the girls? But I take the freaking video down. So I tried to.
I did for the long time, and they were like, we don't remember the past word we did this. You know, you try to file a thing on it, whatever it is, this isn't me.
Try to take it down and it just nothing. I hate that. I hate dad to go through that.
Yeah, it did suck, but you know, like I said, it happened for a reason, and life goes on.
And they're eating it right now because you're killing it. They're eating it like play. Next time you go home, you put the video up.
Well, so it's funny you bring that up. My mom, she took it much more to heart than I did. I never had those parents, and I was never that dude who was like, I'm gonna get my mom and dad involved. I was like, I'll handle my own stuff. I'll take care of it. It's fine. I'm focused on lacrosse, and I think that that was a big thing too that bothered them that I never let them see me sweat. My dad always said that, and I was just I was a pretty good lacrosse player too, so I think that that didn't help that I was getting playtime over some older.
Kids as a sophomore.
You're in as a freshman, so like also, you know what I mean, So like they anything you can find.
I'd be playing your video too if I was a senior in your.
Trying to find someone's weak point. But like you said, it makes it that much sweeter. But my mom said, when you come back to Hershey and you play the Hershey Park Stadium, I think we should put that video completely agree up on the video walls.
Not only for you, but for all the other es that are ten fifteen years younger than you that are there watching it that night. Because again, as someone who got bullied a lot, I got the crap beat out of me constantly. I just kind of felt like I was alone. But you get older and you realize that a lot of people are going through it, but nobody really talks about it, so everybody feels like they're doing it by themselves. Yeah, yeah, I'm on your mom's side. I think it's a great testament. I'm sorry I had to go through that, And you know, the sweetness of it is that, hey, look at me, I'm successful. The sweetness is that you've been able to go through that and you have the most valuable possible thing, which is empathy for that situation and perspective. Yeah, and you can't get those two things unless you've gone through that thing. And so for that, like, I hate it happened, but you made it through it, and now you can make sure it doesn't happen for other people. Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, and I think that you're one hundred percent right.
And it definitely did push me away from pursuing that for the longest time. It was until really you know, COVID and that whole thing and I got on social media. But there was one more moment where when I went to college, I brought my guitar with me and I was kind of like, you know, against bringing it because I was like, Okay, now I'm going to go to college and I don't want to put up with the same My mom was like, just bring it along. You know, the chicks will love it. So I bring it, right so I bring it along and I was playing in my dorm room and it was super nice because the I lived with seven other lacrosse players in a quad, and they were like, their way of saying you're good was, dude, you're actually not bad like you actually said.
It's not yet exactly. You don't suck as bad as I thought you would. Exactly. Yeah, pretty much.
And so then I was their little their little party trick whenever we had, you know, women involved.
And stuff hanging out with us.
But yeah, it was small, little moments like that, And I think that the Good Lord was always putting seedlings out there for me. That music was something on my heart that it was going to be something that I would eventually do.
So were you nervous, because I would have been the very first time I'm recording myself to put it out there republic, I'd have been like ooh, PTSD, almost like I I'm gonna because you're playing, that's great. Heckmit's phone would have come out whas playing. I'd be like, put your phone down. I don't want to. I would feel that just in me. So if you're posting a video of yourself singing, I would think that would kind of come into play.
It definitely did, and I think that, you know, my brain wanted to play tricks on me, and you're overthinking it, overthinking it.
Like am I really going to post this? Am I really going to put myself back out there?
But it was one of those things where you know, post, don't even look at it, don't acknowledge it, put it away. And that when I said, when I woke up the next morning and I saw the reactions, I was like, oh, like that's kind of cool, Like.
There's people out there that might enjoy what I do.
So then I took that And then it wasn't in that exact moment where I was like, this is something I'm going to do. It was just kind of like, you know what, that was cool. I'll continue to post videos on social media in the meantime. Wow, I'm you know, this will be my platform to start posting stuff for fun, taking classes whatever.
Finished my junior year of college, Oh was the plan because music wasn't quite there yet, but athletics was over like that that purgatory, we'll call it purgatory. Yeah, well what was the plan? Then?
Purgatory for me was just focusing on the books on school, and I think that at that time being I was actually working with my dad. I sold cars for two years, and sales has always been in my blood, from my grandfather to my dad to me.
As my dad would like to say, shout out to Papa Bear.
We can wheel and deal, and We've always been really good with just interact with people, and so I always thought maybe I'd get into some form of medical sales or something of that sorts just interacting with people. Now I'm in the position of interacting with people all the time, and now I get to sell my music and sell myself as a person. But that purgatory for me was focusing on mental health, focusing on physical health, and the gym became, you know, my safe place, and that's where I spent a lot of my time. After all those concussions, I was like, you know, I'm so sick of being small, whether it was now, when I develop a good body, I want to develop strength whatever, and kind of build up myself to be able to stand on my own two feet and feel good about myself. So that was kind of where I was at at that point in time, super focused on lifting. But then after starting to post those videos.
What was the second song you posted?
Ah, that's a good question. What was the second song? I know early on Chris Staples and was a lot. I was doing some whiskey Meyers, I was doing What else did I do? Broken Halo might have been the second one.
What was the biggest early The biggest early one, the one where I was like, Okay, there might be something here was my version of Nose on the Grindstone by Taller Childers, and that had seventy eight hundred thousand views, and that was.
Kind of like, Okay, this, this could be something cool to pursue. And at this time, in this duration of just sporadically posting here and there, there was no thought process.
There was no watch you.
And when I continued to do this and post the covers, there was people being like, what's your original music?
What are you writing? And I was like, had you written any to know?
I'm like, I'm not a writer. I wasn't I wasn't supposed to know. I wouldn't know anything about the music industry. I'm going to be straight up with you. My thought process of the music industry. I thought you had to go on American Idol to actually get into the music industry. I had knew nothing about this whole scene. No one in my family was musician, musically talented, none of that, so I never had any things to draw from to know better. So like, hey, like, we want to know your original music. So I was like, well, I don't do that, but okay. So then I started writing, tried it out for a song I wrote was my song on the run in my childhood bedroom. I went to guitar Center, I bought two microphones, bought an interface, watched a YouTube video on my laptop, plugged it all in one take in my bedroom, just set it up.
Had no idea what I was doing.
I literally just pressed record, no mixing, no mastering, nothing, just recorded it, singing the song from top to bottom. I must have done it ten times and I picked. I remember the pick in the tenth one. I was like, that's pretty good. And uploading it. Had no idea what you know people used tunecore and you know all these other things as independent artists.
I was like, I don't even know how to get a song with Spotify. I was like, I don't even know how people do that.
So I had to do all these things and learn all these things to even get myself out there.
So I want to headed in that.
And during this duration of time, my manager today had been reaching out to me for.
Four months through like the DM.
DM email trying to find my phone number. It was just trying to get a hold of me because he thought I was already being managed because of the way I was marketing myself, the way I was branding myself, how I was controlling the fans from controlling, maybeout the right word, but being like they were following me. They weren't just followers passive followers on social media. They were like, Okay, we're going to go hear what you're putting on YouTube. We're going to go listen to your song now on Spotify and Apple Music and YouTube. So he had already thought I had a manager. I'm like, no, man, this is this is just me doing the whole song and dance. Finally got a hold of me, and it wasn't until him and I spoke and we met.
How do you finally get a hold of you? He got my phone number, and I wish I remember how he told me.
He got it in a roundabout way, probably creepy, but he got my phone number. Somehow calls me up and I'm like, who's this dude, Some bald guy from Nashville wanted to talk.
To me forty two years old.
I'm like, I know nothing about Nashville, never been down there, had rarely traveled besides what I did for lacrosse. And he was just like, hey, man, I don't want to have a manager.
I don't want to step on any toes.
I just wanted to reach out and just check in and see if you do or not, and see if there's any way I could be of help.
And I was like no. He's like, no, a tot all, no manager, and you can't help me. No, no, no, no to manager.
And then I'm just again, no one knows anything about the music indust true in my family. So I'm like, hey, Mom, like there's this dude that wants to talk to me again. I'm twenty one at this point, so in college he wants to talk to me about me become out of Nashville to meet him, YadA YadA. So him and I build a rapport on just phone calls and texts for a month. It wasn't until I went down to meet him. It's so funny. Man just this story, I go down and meet him. My first write in Nashville was when I wrote Ride the Lightning. First time being in Nashville. I wrote it in his guest bedroom. It was a zoom right with Eric Pasley and Rob Crosby. I'm nervous as crap love Eric Pasley, amazing artist, amazing writer. I'm like, dude, I listened to you and now I'm going to be on a zoom call with you and I'm writing.
I'm like, what is this world? So we wrote Ride a Lightning and spend a week with him.
I come back home, but he was the first dude to tell me you have something and it's up to you if you want to pursue this, you can do this. He was the first person to tell me this is something you can do. You have something special. Because my parents didn't know better. You know, they just knew I could sing, but they didn't know like, this is something to pursue and whatnot. So I come back home and I was like, hey, man, I think you should really fly back with me and meet my parents. I think it's a respectful thing to do. I just spent a week with you in Nashville.
He didn't kill me. This is great. I'm still living here dating somebody. I'm like, yeah, long DN the relationship. You should come back. I'm I'm still living. I meet the family. Yes.
So he comes back, and I remember on the flight back, I was like, okay, so remind me what you told me.
You're we're gonna go back.
We're gonna have my parents, and then you're gonna tell them I'm dropping out of college because I'm like, I hate school, I'm done with school. You're going to tell them I'm dropping out. This is real because he went through my dms with me. I had record labels and I had publishers in my dms and had no idea because I wasn't looking for it.
Like I had no idea I was looking for the hot blawns. I wasn't. I wasn't looking for you know, and who even knows, like you said, in Hershire, Pennsylvania, the music industry isn't taught at the level you would even know what a publisher is. I didn't know what a publisher was, and I still barely that right. I mean, so, I mean it's not that crazy, I know, being in Nashville. If you said that, you're like Oh, but it's not that I come from a down a seven hundred pe in Arkansas. Yeah, I know crap about music. Yeah, except for what I saw on television. And so what did your parents say when this random guy shows up and says your son's dropping out of college.
They were shell shocked. My mom and dad. There was pushback. They're like, you're so close to graduating.
Close.
I think I was probably a little over a semester. I was a little over a semester and that is close. Yes, and me I was. I did well in school, but it was never something that I was so I was very just straight smarts, and I always did really well in classes where I had the ability to use my talent. So I did really well in marketing and sales because it was just it was just kind of like things you knew internally. It was in my blood. So long story short, comes back, we sit down, we have a nice meal, tells him and my mom was like, okay, so if you're this was your son, what would you say?
And he was this is his words.
He was like, if my son was a talented as your son, I would tell him, don't look back this. You can always go back to school, this is something you have a chance to do. And from that moment forward. Once, like I said too early on the interview, when someone tells me I can do something, and when I believe in it myself and I have the ability to put everything I have into it, I will. I will go all in and I will do whatever it takes to succeed. And once he gave me that green light and I gave up school, dude, I was going. I was flying back and forth to Nashville every other week, week at a time, two weeks down there, writing, shaking hands, meeting people, taking care of the socials.
I still manage my socials man like.
It's still me heavily, whether it's what I'm posting, what I want to say, commenting the fans, like, I'm still very heavily involved in that because that's what got me here, and I still really want to be involved in that.
So I love what I get to do.
It just took someone to come along the way to be like, you can do this, and I'm glad he did.
And he's still your manager. He's bold, he has both throw that in there. I know where I had to I had I didn't visualize it better. Once you said that, I thought, Okay, that's the only detail I remember. Yeah, yeah, there you go. And a picture is like bald, pasty, white head and I don't even know who it is.
Yeah, yeah, the Bobby Cast will be right back.
M h. This is the Bobby Cast writing songs. How I'm not gonna say quickly, yeah, but I'm gonna I'll say, how fast did you uh like acclimate to being in a room with other people and sharing personal things to be put into songs? You know?
Man, It's it's like a muscle and you have to work it to get used to it. And and it is a It is an intimidating thing. I mean, again, from a kid who knew nothing about this. I'm coming into town, new kid on the block, never a writer. These dudes are people I've looked up to, great writers, great artists who are writing with me. It's intimidating, very much so. So it definitely took time. But what I'm so grateful for is I was getting into the right rooms of people being welcoming and it was very much of like, we know you're new to this, so we're going to help you out. And it was an understanding of knowing I'm new and people believing into me early. So I think it was really cool of just perfect storm getting in the right rooms with people that understood what I was doing repetition and a lot of the writers that are on my debut album coming out are dudes that I've been writing with since I started in town and because they believed in me early on, and they just wanted to help me grow and just help me get better doing this whole this whole thing I call a lifestyle, not even a job.
It's a lifestyle. That's what we do. It's pretty cool that past lay is your first rite, Yeah, that you write ride the Lightning, I mean. And Eric's written only for breaks your Heart. You like young band, Barefoot, Blue g Night, Jacob and Friday Night. His song that was number one. I think you want to Cma for she Don't Love You. She just loved that song. Yeah, awesome song, that song. And but you may not know, which probably you probably do because everybody knows the song in the whole world because it's a massive hit. Eric and I wrote a kid song together called When I Grow Up that had just tens of streams. Here you go, Thank you, Mike A. Little past lay Jim there, you've heard vocals like that before, exactly exactly, no words. How many streams does it have? Like, honestly, I don't see it on this service. That's probably ten million every probably crushes Ride the Lightning, I think about a billion. Yeah, oh yeah, it was the first billion billion stream kids song. So yeah, not desires. I'm just letting you know, buddy, you've done one hundred shows. Now, that's that's you're putting that. I mean you that's muscle memory there right, Like things are going wrong enough that you don't have to freak out about I'm going wrong. I mean that's me on stage on a stand up. I was scared to death, not of at first of my jokes just bombing because that was going to happen anyway, but it was like, technically what if some went wrong? But once it goes wrong a few times and you're like, oh, what worst cases this can happen? And then you actually get better because you've gone through some crap on stage, you don't worry about the crap as much anymore. And one hundred shows. When I read that you did one hundred shows, I'm like, oh, he's had enough mess up, so he's probably pretty comfortable now, it's just getting on stage and letting it go. Yeah, any accuracy there with that.
One hundred percent. I think that it's like you said, it's repetition. It's getting used to the uncontrollable. There's just there's too many factors that you can't control, and I'm just shy. Just passed a little bit of one hundred Now. One hundredth show was Stagecoach, which was a lot of fun and but yeah, I think my first show ever it was It was funny. It was my acoustic tour last year in March. First time I was stepping on a stage, first time stepping on a stage. Man, I was from seven hundred people for a sold out show and I was like, holy shit, I'm actually about to do this.
Was it weird that people came for you and paid money for you, specifically you're selling your tickets. Yeah, I think that that was the first couple of times, right, Yeah, you're like, I have seven hundred people here.
Yeah, because you're so especially coming from the social media thing, you see the numbers on the phone, You're like, okay, like that's cool.
Well, the real eyeballs that paid, real money.
Honestly, now they're there time energy, merch their time, they're buying drinks, they're having a great time, and no one's forcing them to sing the words and they're singing word for word at the top of their lungs. And it's like, I was so nervous taken that stage, and there was so many thoughts going through my head. And when I tell you, things could have went wrong, things went wrong. Vocal Mike's not working, feedback from the wedge that wasn't getting fixed for four or five songs, like just having to and I think I'm so grateful for the sports background, just having to acclimate in uncomfortable situations, and I think being in uncomfortable situations all the time, you get so used to being uncomfortable and it just makes you a better person for the uncontrollable. So it was after that night though, that first show I played, people ask me like when did you know, Like when did you know this was like your thing? You know, you write the music, you got the songs coming out, you're streaming, it's a crazy it's cool, you're posting social media videos. But that night, after playing my first show, it was like, Yep, this is what I was born to do.
Was it a high when you were done?
It was a high like no other. And there's just there's And you can attest to this too. There's no feeling like going out there in such loud crowds and seeing the faces and shaking the hands and seeing the signs and seeing them saying word for word, or just laughing to your jokes, whatever it might be. It is just like it's a unreal feeling of just the heart, the passion, the people, the way they resonate with songs. You write a song one way and they take it another way. But that's the beauty of music. It's you take songs and fit them into your life the way you need them.
To tell me about Pretty Little Poison? The name first, yep, why why the name pretty Little Poison? Is that about me? Be honest, you.
Wanted to be about you? I don't actually go ahead, I don't think you do. Actually pretty Little Poison? So I wrote that song? Well, how long did I write that song?
Already I was in the room, and that day I just had on my I had on my mind.
I was like, I would love to write a darker themed love song because as you can I'm sure see from some of the music that I have out very minory keys, you know that outlaw feeling dark sense.
To me minor for those listening. Minor usually dark, sad, somber, major, bright, fun.
Happy yeses and I love I love the major keys. Think it's very on brand for what I do. But when it came to writing Pretty Little Poison, I was like, I don't have a song title, but I'm like, just conceptually, we started talking about this idea in the room and shout out to Ryan Beaver. He's got a couple songs. I'm like, I love Ryan Beaver too, such a sweetheart of a dude, Like.
It's so good as a and a singer, Like I love his music too. Yep. Yeah, And he was one of the first.
He's one of the dudes early on to buy into me and you know, helped me form myself into what I am now and ever growing. But he's got a couple songs on the debut album, Pretty Little Poison. But when it came to writing pretty Little Poison, he came up with pretty Poison. I was like, I love the piece, I love the alliteration. I was like, what if we wrote pretty Little poison and it was from that moment, just the word little it just made a click for us. We wrote that song so fast, it just fell together. And when we're done writing it, we got a demo and I wrote the demo.
I sang the demo twice.
I got the demo back that we and I remember when I got it, I said it to my manager. I sent it to my ar dude, and I was like, this song is something special and it was one of those moments where you know you get a song like this is a good song.
It was. I believed it. When I got that song back, I'm like, this is something that's going.
To be heard, and yeah, that song is. It actually kind of is a dark song if you actually listen to the lyrics and what it truly represents and what I've explained.
It to be. But wrote it is the album dark than it's got hints of it for sure.
The overall ching arching theme I like to talk about when it comes to the album and why we called it pretty Little Poison was that's our focus that song. But the overarching theme if you've watched you've seen the music video by chance for Pretty Little Poison, it's okay if.
You have no I wouldn't lie. Don't If you get a chance to watch it, I'd love it if you did.
But you never see the girl's face in the music video, and it's supposed to represent this. I like to say the faceless Cowgirl because the songs in this album are about some women along the way in my life. Whether it's my life personally, it's friends, life's overall arching stories that I've heard from mothers as well, but a lot of them hit home for me. But I wanted to have that ideology of the faceless cowgirl. And you can, whether you're dude or whether you're a girl, it's a faceless cowboy whatever.
You can put yourself into those shoes.
But the overall arching theme for Party Little Poison itself, whether it's a female, it's going back to something in life that you know is not good for you, you love it that much. It's the temptress. It's this thing that you know really deep down is not good for you, but it just it's it's just that good that you can't let it go.
Pop tarts For me, it's pop tarts, whatever it may be. Your points is a cowgirl part. Yeah, Hey, I'm glad. I know I shouldn't eat them, but I do, and I keep rocking on brown Sugar guy at all. No, Yeah, that's okay, they're okay. I'll lead them through the last one. Okay. But brown Sugar and then Coffee went are disgusting too. But anyway, back to you, it's about you, only about me occasionally. But no.
Yeah, the like I said, it's it's this thing that you can't say no to, and it's just it's that sweet. And I think that when I wrote it at that time, I would like to joke that I spoke this song into fruition, like I spoke this song into existence. I thought when we were writing it, I was like, oh, I've been here before. Because me and Ryan were going back and forth. He's like, dude, I've had this before, and I was like, yeah, I feel like I've definitely had it.
It wasn't until after I wrote this song that I truly knew what a pretty little poison was. I spoke that song into existence man, and I went, so, you manifested manifested poison in your life. Oh yeah, I'm gonna leave it there, but you manifested the poison YEP. And I hope. Sure you weren't searching for it purposefully, so I hear you say no more. Yep, yep, probably was. So the sample of the four songs that I had and heard, that's the Pretty Little Poison sampler. It's the EP. But and there's when I asked about Prety Little Pison that this the whole album. I'm gonna be named that too, right, Yep, got it. Well, Look, let's play a clip that I know we talked about it before you got here, mic, but let's play a little bit of Pretty Little Poison, Little Poison.
Genous.
Just I'm excited for you, man. You know, it's it's cool to see not just how you did it, but what you're doing with what you did in the direction that you're going still, because it's different, honestly, you know, it's different, and in a time where a lot of homogenization, no doubt about it. There's a reason we wanted to talk to you. Reason I wanted to talk to you, Yeah, like I like to watch how you're doing it and congratulations on everything. And I think there's also a lot to be said about being uncomfortable, and if you're uncomfortable, a whole lot of the time that when you're uncomfortable again, it's not a shock to the system, and that for me, it makes the comfortable times on most uncomfortable. I'll be honest with you where I'm like, this feels too good. Yeah, something bad and sometimes that's unhealthy and I gotta stop that. The one it is good, I'm questioning it. But now I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan.
I appreciate that, and I'm I was super happy when I figured out that. You know, I was wondering if you ever want to have a conversation with me, But I'm really I'm really happy you did and you brought me on because I'm happy to hear that I'm not crazy. But you know, I'm doing it a different way, and I kind of knew when I was making this approach and taking this way.
Me and my manager were like, you know, you will help.
You will have a certain time going through this process because of the way you want to approach.
The same way that you were bullied, and you learn so many things about well all of it. You're going through it a different way. You're gonna learn there are gonna be a lot of haters too that are not just you, but anybody that does it differently, And I could list four or five artists that have done it differently, and all of a sudden they're the worst. They're not they're not country there's and then all of a sudden what they were doing pop so hard it became the norm. And what I'm doing is kind of seeing this again with how you're doing it, where nobody's hating on you for your vocals or your image or anything, but you are doing it in a bit of different way. But also that's very legitimate, and that's that's what's different about it. I like it. Keep your head down, keep pushing. I gotta tell you that you're already going to do that. So yeah, you know me now, Yeah, big big fan for sure. You guys follow Warren. It's just on Instagram and TikTok. It's just warn ziders and Jennifer of March, April, May, June, July. I alstill go to dor Fingers August twenty fifth, it's when Pretty Little Poison comes out, you know, all the months my number ten no okay, oh wait hold on, well no, if you look up in the sky, I was kind of my fingers, I know, twelfth December, right, twelve is December. I know that way. Yeah. I can go like five deep May and then I lose it until about November eleven and twelve. So you guys follow warm big fan, really keep it up and really been great talking to you. There is warren Ziders everybody. Thanks for listening to Bobby Cast Production