Av Freeman better known as honestav, dropped by the KROQ studios in Los Angeles this week to talk with host Megan Holiday about his song "I'd Rather Overdose (ft Z)" which has become a massive hit on social media as well as a recent add on the station.

Born and raised in a small town outside of Springfield, MO, Av Freeman has been steadily releasing music online since 2021. As honestav, he shares personal tracks dealing with addiction, loss, and healing informed by a blend of Indie-Folk, Hip-Hop, and Pop influences.

“Ever since we made this song, yeah it's been a whirlwind. It's crazy,” honestav tells us. “I wrote this song, I think like late last year or the very end of last year, and then recorded it early January.” Once the single dropped, “People related right away,” he adds. “People played it on the Internet a lot. It kind of became a trend of people telling their story.”

“Oh, gosh, if you've ever seen the trend, it's hard to watch because people's stories are so touching,” he explains, “and I hate to say sad, but kind of sad. I think it just kind of related with a lot of people. Right away it kind of got some attention and, here we are.”

“I was in a really tough spot when I wrote this song. My dad just passed away,” honestav tells us of the song’s inspiration. “ I knew my dad had addictions and stuff… After he passed away, I started learning about his addictions and how he really battled with them silently. My mom growing up battled her addiction, she's in recovery as well though. So, I've seen addiction my whole life. My brother died in his addiction. All my mom's boyfriends, every relationship… addiction ruining people's lives.”

“I've struggled with my own addictions," he continues, “I've seen it my whole life. There's parts in the song where I'm talking about myself, and things that I've put other people through from my own addictions or my own problems. And then the hook, I'm basically just kind of talking to my dad.”

Once he saw how people gravitated to the message, “that's really when it kind of hit me,” he admits. “First of all, it's really cool that I'm not alone in this… to hear other people be like, ‘I went through the same things,’ or ‘I myself am addicted,’ or even people might say, ‘Man, I heard this song and I'm trying to get clean now,’ or ‘the song is helping me through a moment,’ -- that right there, it gives me goosebumps saying that. That's really what makes the song now. It started out as therapy for me, but the fact that it's turned into something for other people like that… that's everything right there.”

Don’t miss Megan Holiday’s full chat with honestav above and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Megan Holiday

Av Freeman better known as honestav, dropped by the KROQ studios in Los Angeles this week to talk with host Megan Holiday about his song "I'd Rather Overdose (ft Z)" which has become a massive hit on social media as well as a recent add on the station.
Born and raised in a small town outside of Springfield, MO, Av Freeman has been steadily releasing music online since 2021. As honestav, he shares personal tracks dealing with addiction, loss, and healing informed by a blend of Indie-Folk, Hip-Hop, and Pop influences.
“Ever since we made this song, yeah it's been a whirlwind. It's crazy,” honestav tells us. “I wrote this song, I think like late last year or the very end of last year, and then recorded it early January.” Once the single dropped, “People related right away,” he adds. “People played it on the Internet a lot. It kind of became a trend of people telling their story.”
“Oh, gosh, if you've ever seen the trend, it's hard to watch because people's stories are so touching,” he explains, “and I hate to say sad, but kind of sad. I think it just kind of related with a lot of people. Right away it kind of got some attention and, here we are.”
“I was in a really tough spot when I wrote this song. My dad just passed away,” honestav tells us of the song’s inspiration. “ I knew my dad had addictions and stuff… After he passed away, I started learning about his addictions and how he really battled with them silently. My mom growing up battled her addiction, she's in recovery as well though. So, I've seen addiction my whole life. My brother died in his addiction. All my mom's boyfriends, every relationship… addiction ruining people's lives.”
“I've struggled with my own addictions," he continues, “I've seen it my whole life. There's parts in the song where I'm talking about myself, and things that I've put other people through from my own addictions or my own problems. And then the hook, I'm basically just kind of talking to my dad.”
Once he saw how people gravitated to the message, “that's really when it kind of hit me,” he admits. “First of all, it's really cool that I'm not alone in this… to hear other people be like, ‘I went through the same things,’ or ‘I myself am addicted,’ or even people might say, ‘Man, I heard this song and I'm trying to get clean now,’ or ‘the song is helping me through a moment,’ -- that right there, it gives me goosebumps saying that. That's really what makes the song now. It started out as therapy for me, but the fact that it's turned into something for other people like that… that's everything right there.”
Don’t miss Megan Holiday’s full chat with honestav above and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Megan Holiday

Listen to the latest audio from KROQ on-demand.

Listen to the latest audio from KROQ on-demand.

KROQ Audio On-Demand

Honestav talks with Megan Holiday

As our country faces unprecedented times in the heat of an election year and remains more divided than ever, there’s one individual who has restored unity. Her name? HalieyWelch, better known as, “hawk tuah girl.”

Welch went viral earlier this summer while visiting Nashville with her friend and making a sex joke on a vlog that was polling random people in the downtown area. “You gotta give him that hawk tuah and spit on that thang,” Welch said in the original video when asked what makes a man go crazy in the bedroom every time. “You get me?”

The Tennessee native’s response has since gone completely viral and her life went from small town living and working a minimum wage, factory job to big-time fame as she now makes high-profile public appearances, has hundreds of songs about her, her own merchandise, and gets marriage proposals on the regular.

“I actually had guy last week at one of my appearances propose to me with a ring pop.... It’s hard to turn down,” Welch told KROQ’s Klein/Ally Show. before detailing just how much her life has changed. Welch appears to be embracing the fame and new-found attention well as she went from not being on social media at all to almost 2 million followers and the ability to quit her minimum wage job on a whim.

“I really didn’t even plan to quit,” she explained of recently putting in notice at the spring factory she worked at. “The day I quit, I had no intention of doing it, but I was like, ‘Well, I might as well. I’m fixin’ to start traveling a whole lot.’ It’s a factory, so you got points and stuff like that you can use when you’re calling out and I was running out of points,” she laughed.

While she is embracing new opportunities and cashing in on being in what she described as “the wrong place at the wrong time,” Welch is also staying true to her humble roots and making sure she never forgets where she came from. “I know this is probably all a mind, brain fog with all this stuff going on — cash in as much as you can, but you need to get back home with your grandma,” a caller named Ken shared while calling in during Halley’s segment on KROQ.

“I agree completely, I’ll be there with her soon,” she responded. “Don’t you worry.”

Hear more about how Welch plans to handle her new-found fame, some relationship advice she had for listeners and exactly what she remembers from the night she gave the response that would change her life forever by checking out her entire conversation above.

As our country faces unprecedented times in the heat of an election year and remains more divided than ever, there’s one individual who has restored unity. Her name? Haliey Welch, better known as, “hawk tuah girl.”
Welch went viral earlier this summer while visiting Nashville with her friend and making a sex joke on a vlog that was polling random people in the downtown area. “You gotta give him that hawk tuah and spit on that thang,” Welch said in the original video when asked what makes a man go crazy in the bedroom every time. “You get me?”
The Tennessee native’s response has since gone completely viral and her life went from small town living and working a minimum wage, factory job to big-time fame as she now makes high-profile public appearances, has hundreds of songs about her, her own merchandise, and gets marriage proposals on the regular.
“I actually had guy last week at one of my appearances propose to me with a ring pop.... It’s hard to turn down,” Welch told KROQ’s Klein/Ally Show. before detailing just how much her life has changed. Welch appears to be embracing the fame and new-found attention well as she went from not being on social media at all to almost 2 million followers and the ability to quit her minimum wage job on a whim.
“I really didn’t even plan to quit,” she explained of recently putting in notice at the spring factory she worked at. “The day I quit, I had no intention of doing it, but I was like, ‘Well, I might as well. I’m fixin’ to start traveling a whole lot.’ It’s a factory, so you got points and stuff like that you can use when you’re calling out and I was running out of points,” she laughed.
While she is embracing new opportunities and cashing in on being in what she described as “the wrong place at the wrong time,” Welch is also staying true to her humble roots and making sure she never forgets where she came from. “I know this is probably all a mind, brain fog with all this stuff going on — cash in as much as you can, but you need to get back home with your grandma,” a caller named Ken shared while calling in during Halley’s segment on KROQ.
“I agree completely, I’ll be there with her soon,” she responded. “Don’t you worry.”
Hear more about how Welch plans to handle her new-found fame, some relationship advice she had for listeners and exactly what she remembers from the night she gave the response that would change her life forever by checking out her entire conversation above.

'Hawk Tuah Girl' Haliey Welch

Pro skater Paul "P-Rod" Rodriguez talks about the upcoming X Games Ventura with host Megan Holiday.

Pro skater Paul "P-Rod" Rodriguez talks about the upcoming X Games Ventura with host Megan Holiday.

Paul "P-Rod" Rodriguez talks X Games Ventura

This week Sublime founding member Eric Wilson and the band’s new frontman Jacob Nowell -- son of the late Bradley Nowell -- dropped by the Klein.Ally.Show at the KROQ studios in Los Angeles, bearing gifts including an exclusive spin of their new song, “Feel Like That,” featuring both Bradley and Jakob's vocals.

Now a full member of Sublime, Jakob remembers, “I was definitely a very small child when he passed away but you know, growing up with so much of the interesting culture that Sublime created, it was sort of always there in the background of my life.”

“Having been in and out of bands the last 10 years just trying to toil in obscurity,” he says, “It's so crazy,” getting to work so closely with his uncles, and especially now hearing his and his late father’s voices side by side. “It's totally eerie,” he admits, “but it all came together in such an organic way of us just jamming with people that we like that it feels really natural.”

“I think the universe put it together for us pretty much,” Eric adds.

“It's only gonna keep getting better,” Jakob says of his involvement with the band. “I try to take the gig super seriously and just learn it as best to my abilities, and also try to portray the music faithfully and have fun doing it. That's the main thing when I'm up there with these guys. We’re just having a blast.”

“To be back with my brother Bud [Gaugh] is fantastic,” Eric says of the reunion. “You know, I miss him to death and we weren’t getting along for a long time, but now I'm just so thankful.”

Jakob’s contribution, he says, “Added to his dad's vocals because he's been doing this stuff… building his band… and then so he came out with us. He's put his time in.” Turning to Jakob, Eric asks, “How long have you been listening to Sublime now?”

“I mean, it's always been there when I was a little kid, but actually listening, man, just since we started jamming again. Before the [benefit for Bad Brains frontman HR], I went and actually listened to all the records all the way through because it's like, it was hard for me. I never sought it out because it's kind of emotional hearing a passed family member's voice. It kind of tugs at you, but for this right reason, it just felt totally right.”

“I never thought I'd do something like this track and I think it's the lyrical content, the sound of it -- It's kind of perfect for the era we're in,” Jakob says of their 2024 track “Feel Like That.”

“All the music means so much to me,” he says. “It's been so many years this music has meant so much to so many people, it's so cool to kind of usher in a new era here.”

It’s worth mentioning that Bradley Nowell’s vocals featured in the song are his actual vocals, not AI-generated, a concept the guys are both absolutely opposed to. “It kind of cuts out our job, doesn't it?” Jakob asks. Although he does admit that since the day he started singing he sounded similar to his father. “There's certain things,” he says, “it'll come out almost when I don't even think about it, when I don't try to.”

“It's almost like the less I try to, the better,” he explains. “You know, I could do it one-for-one and try to sound exactly like him, and there'd still be people who would be like, ‘Well, now he doesn't have enough…’ You're never gonna please everybody by doing things one-to-one, so I try to hit things in a genuine way. I think that a lot of times what made my dad's talent so cool is it appeared so effortless, and it appeared so fun and just in the moment, and improvisational. I try to keep that in mind in the spirit of everything we do.”

Don't miss Klein and Ally's full interview with Sublime above, and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Klein.Ally.Show

This week Sublime founding member Eric Wilson and the band’s new frontman Jacob Nowell -- son of the late Bradley Nowell -- dropped by the Klein.Ally.Show at the KROQ studios in Los Angeles, bearing gifts including an exclusive spin of their new song, “Feel Like That,” featuring both Bradley and Jakob's vocals.
Now a full member of Sublime, Jakob remembers, “I was definitely a very small child when he passed away but you know, growing up with so much of the interesting culture that Sublime created, it was sort of always there in the background of my life.”
“Having been in and out of bands the last 10 years just trying to toil in obscurity,” he says, “It's so crazy,” getting to work so closely with his uncles, and especially now hearing his and his late father’s voices side by side. “It's totally eerie,” he admits, “but it all came together in such an organic way of us just jamming with people that we like that it feels really natural.”
“I think the universe put it together for us pretty much,” Eric adds.
“It's only gonna keep getting better,” Jakob says of his involvement with the band. “I try to take the gig super seriously and just learn it as best to my abilities, and also try to portray the music faithfully and have fun doing it. That's the main thing when I'm up there with these guys. We’re just having a blast.”
“To be back with my brother Bud [Gaugh] is fantastic,” Eric says of the reunion. “You know, I miss him to death and we weren’t getting along for a long time, but now I'm just so thankful.”
Jakob’s contribution, he says, “Added to his dad's vocals because he's been doing this stuff… building his band… and then so he came out with us. He's put his time in.” Turning to Jakob, Eric asks, “How long have you been listening to Sublime now?”
“I mean, it's always been there when I was a little kid, but actually listening, man, just since we started jamming again. Before the [benefit for Bad Brains frontman HR], I went and actually listened to all the records all the way through because it's like, it was hard for me. I never sought it out because it's kind of emotional hearing a passed family member's voice. It kind of tugs at you, but for this right reason, it just felt totally right.”
“I never thought I'd do something like this track and I think it's the lyrical content, the sound of it -- It's kind of perfect for the era we're in,” Jakob says of their 2024 track “Feel Like That.”
“All the music means so much to me,” he says. “It's been so many years this music has meant so much to so many people, it's so cool to kind of usher in a new era here.”
It’s worth mentioning that Bradley Nowell’s vocals featured in the song are his actual vocals, not AI-generated, a concept the guys are both absolutely opposed to. “It kind of cuts out our job, doesn't it?” Jakob asks. Although he does admit that since the day he started singing he sounded similar to his father. “There's certain things,” he says, “it'll come out almost when I don't even think about it, when I don't try to.”
“It's almost like the less I try to, the better,” he explains. “You know, I could do it one-for-one and try to sound exactly like him, and there'd still be people who would be like, ‘Well, now he doesn't have enough…’ You're never gonna please everybody by doing things one-to-one, so I try to hit things in a genuine way. I think that a lot of times what made my dad's talent so cool is it appeared so effortless, and it appeared so fun and just in the moment, and improvisational. I try to keep that in mind in the spirit of everything we do.”
Don't miss Klein and Ally's full interview with Sublime above, and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Klein.Ally.Show

Honestav talks with Megan Holiday

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