And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan

Today’s guest is a singer, songwriter and musician whose singular sound has spanned punk stages, intimate recordings and songs that have traveled around the world. From “1234” to the unexpected second life of “My Moon My Man,” her music continues to find new audiences.

And The Writer Is… Feist!

In this episode:

- How losing her voice helped her find a new sound

- Why finding your people can change your creative life

- The collaborator who believed in her before she knew they were making a record

- How The Reminder brought different songs together into one world

- The unusual musical choices behind “My Moon My Man” and its unexpected return

- What “1234” taught her about success, belonging and staying true to herself

And The Writer Is… is presented by Amazon Music and SONA.

Listen on Amazon Music:https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/bfeec5ec-e02d-43eb-917c-5d4e182eadb4/and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan

Join the ATWI Patreon for monthly Zoom hangs, demo feedback, special guests and access to 200+ archived audio episodes: https://www.patreon.com/andthewriteris

Subscribe for more conversations with the songwriters behind the songs

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Chapters

00:00 Introducing Feist

01:05 The Stories Behind Her Guitars

04:49 Growing Up Around Art and Finding Her Voice

09:36 Amazon Music & SONA

09:48 The Punk Band That Changed Her Life

18:28 Losing Her Voice on Tour

20:25 Why Singers Have the Least Fun on Tour

21:40 How a Doctor’s Orders Changed Her Sound

23:45 Find Your People

25:35 Inside Broken Social Scene

27:53 Peaches, Chilly Gonzales and Their Creative Community

32:59 Finding the Freedom to Make Let It Die

38:29 The Friend Who Quietly Funded Her Breakthrough

42:12 Creative Control and Growing Beyond a Slow Start

44:05 Supporting Your Friends Instead of Competing

47:48 The Reminder, Folk Music and Sea Lion Woman

52:33 Making The Reminder and the 14-Day Sessions

55:23 My Moon My Man’s Heated Rivalry Resurgence

57:17 Why My Moon My Man Is Such a Strange Song

1:00:21 1234 and the Difficult Side of Success

1:02:21 Imposter Syndrome and Letting Yourself Shine

1:05:06 The Song She’s Most Proud Of

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is a three-time GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter and producer behind some of country music’s biggest songs.

Across more than two decades, she’s built a career on honest stories, unmistakable songs and doing things her own way.

And The Writer Is… Miranda Lambert!

Recorded live at Casa Rosa in Nashville, Miranda joins Ross to tell the stories behind “Kerosene,” “Gunpowder & Lead,” “The House That Built Me,” “Mama’s Broken Heart,” “Vice” and “Tin Man.”

She shares how she co-wrote “Choosin’ Texas” with Ella Langley, why she gave Steve Earle half the credit for “Kerosene,” and why some of the most important songs in her set weren’t written by her.

And The Writer Is… is presented by Amazon Music and SONA.

Listen on Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/bfeec5ec-e02d-43eb-917c-5d4e182eadb4/and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introducing Miranda Lambert

00:56 Writing Choosin’ Texas with Ella Langley

05:21 Finding New Song Ideas After So Many Albums

06:36 Chris Stapleton and a New Retro Sound

08:47 Songwriting Retreats and Creative Chemistry

16:35 Learning the Craft in Texas Honky-Tonks

21:37 Nashville Star and Her Mom’s Wake-Up Call

25:06 Casa Rosa: A Place for the Girls

27:30 Kerosene, Steve Earle, and Doing It Her Way

33:42 The Stories Behind Gunpowder & Lead

36:52 Revolution and The House That Built Me

42:24 Writing Over You with Blake Shelton

45:03 Mama’s Broken Heart and Outside Songs

49:49 Building Platinum

53:55 Somethin’ Bad with Carrie Underwood

57:54 The Weight of These Wings and Vice

1:02:55 Writing Tin Man

1:06:01 Wildcard, the Love Junkies, and Bluebird

1:08:47 Life Off the Road and Writing on Zoom

1:13:08 Palomino and a Changing Music Business

1:14:52 Letting Go of Expectations and Staying Yourself

Join the ATWI Patreon for monthly Zoom hangs, demo feedback, special guests and access to 200+ archived audio episodes: https://www.patreon.com/andthewriteris Subscribe for more conversations with the songwriters behind the songs.

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nstagram: https://instagram.com/andthewriteris

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .

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Today's guest is the British singer-songwriter behind “Escapism.” and “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!”

After seven years in a record deal without releasing her debut album, she went independent, landed a UK No. 1 and won six BRIT Awards in one night.

This is the story of how she found her own way to succeed—and brought her people with her.

And The Writer Is... RAYE!

In this episode, we get into:

• Signing a record deal at 17, having hits, and still being unable to release her debut album.

• The album called “too risky,” the partner who backed it, and “Escapism.” changing everything.

• Bringing her family and band into the success, and demanding fairer treatment for songwriters.

• Her full writing process, early “Click Clack Symphony.” demos, and nine hours on the “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” bridge. and much more.

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

PRS for Music — supporting songwriters, composers and publishers. Find out more: https://www.prsformusic.com/join

And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period. Have you tried variations yet?

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

1:10 Making music and touring with her family

7:38 What happened to her grandfather's songs

9:49 Ad: PRS for Music

11:09 Ad: Splice 12:16

Ross's stolen-song story and the line between influence and theft

17:33 Who deserves a songwriting credit?

19:52 Why songwriters deserve fees and master points

25:29 The power to say no and protect your splits

28:50 Advice for young writers: choosing your battles and avoiding comparison

33:18 Writing her first song at seven

36:48 The BRIT School and finding her voice

42:21 Subscribe to And The Writer Is

42:50 Jazz freedom and her first music-industry reality check

47:13 The dance hits that came with conditions

48:17 Signing her record deal at 17

54:26 Seven years, hit records and still no debut album

56:33 Going independent and the Escapism. breakthrough

1:02:56 Ice Cream Man. and finding strength through music

1:08:15 The BRIT Awards night she still has not watched back

1:10:38 Making THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. on her own terms

1:12:38 Playing the early Click Clack Symphony. demos

1:14:53 Why she writes with Auto-Tune

1:17:15 Title first: heels, lyrics and theatrical melodies

1:18:48 Nine hours on the WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! bridge

1:21:19 Getting bigger without trying to please everyone

1:23:30 Who is Suzanne? Picking a song for every mood

1:26:18 Her grandfather's poems in Fields

1:27:04 Opening for Bruno Mars

1:28:48 Closing: building a better music industry

CREDITS

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Edited by Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is the Swedish producer and songwriter behind "Problem," "Into You," "Love Me Like You Do," "No Tears Left To Cry," "Santa Tell Me," and "Unholy,".

He finally sits down with Ross for an And The Writer Is interview ten years in the making.

He taught himself to make music from a demo CD that came in a cereal box.

A radio singing contest got him discovered, and he signed a publishing deal at 17.

It then took him ten years to land his first real hit. He tells Ross how a year of playing FIFA with Shellback led to Wolf Cousins, and what Max Martin's famous "math" actually is.

If you've ever wondered how the biggest pop songs of the last decade actually get finished, this one's for you

And The Writer Is... Ilya Salmanzadeh!

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CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open: what Max Martin's "math" really means

1:32 Welcome Ilya Salmanzadeh

3:12 What MXM is: "like Real Madrid signed me"

4:46 Jantelagen: why Swedes won't brag

9:57 Born in Iran, raised in Denmark

16:22 A cereal-box CD and teaching himself music

19:54 The hits: Problem, Into You, Unholy and more

21:32 Early influences: Tracy Chapman, Michael Jackson, hip-hop

24:50 Why the world's biggest pop writers live in Stockholm

27:14 Wanting to be an R&B artist

32:36 The radio singing contest that got him discovered

37:26 Ten years from publishing deal to first hit

39:09 Telemarketing and Apple tech support

43:08 The immigrant drive to prove he belongs

46:21 His first cut: the Bratz album

48:20 A year of FIFA with Shellback and the birth of Wolf Cousins

52:37 The MXM pop family tree

54:21 Competition vs. family inside MXM

58:40 Max Martin: "Why aren't you in LA?"

1:00:41 What Max Martin taught him about songwriting

1:03:13 "Problem": Savan Kotecha's original voice memo

1:08:59 The morning "Problem" hit #1 on iTunes

1:10:57 His father and the number he keeps seeing

1:14:31 Weeks on one pre-chorus: making "Into You"

1:21:55 "Love Me Like You Do" started as a Sunday hang

1:27:08 Producer vs. writer credits: "Bad Blood" and "Bang Bang"

1:31:42 His creative wavelength with Ariana Grande

1:32:23 "No Tears Left To Cry" breaking the pop rules

1:34:00 "God is a woman" was almost for Beyoncé and JAY-Z

1:35:48 Ariana Grande as a producer1:37:27 "Unholy": the hotel staff, Max and his daughter

1:44:20 When a release doesn't hit

1:47:11 14-hour days: how he finishes so much music

1:48:57 Chris Martin, Coldplay and the "mind movie"

1:52:17 Why he keeps working with new artists (Tate McRae, LISA)

1:54:53 "eternal sunshine" vs. "petal": the two-room process

1:56:54 "Santa Tell Me" and chasing a Christmas classic

1:59:24 Has Ilya finally proven his worth to himself?

And The Writer Is, hosted by Ross Golan, is a podcast about the songwriters, producers and artists behind the songs you love.

Instagram: instagram.com/andthewriteris

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is a multi-platinum rapper and songwriter who took Compton to the charts and gave the world “My Hitta,” “Who Do You Love?” and “Big Bank.”

From his debut album My Krazy Life to collaborations with Drake, Nipsey Hussle, and Nicki Minaj, he’s built a catalog that’s done serious damage to club speakers. Now, with The Gentlemen’s Club, he’s getting personal and reminding everyone there’s a storyteller behind the hits.

And The Writer Is…

YG!

In this episode we go deep on:

- The inspiration behind his new album

- The Def Jam singles deal with five album options: "I could have sued everybody"

- What he'd tell an 18-year-old holding a label offer

- Why having a catalog doesn't mean you own it

- What a YG session looks like: tequila, "next beat," and a BPM in his head

- How "FDT" got made with Nipsey, and why Def Jam wouldn't release it

- The night Nicki said "don't put this out without me"

- "Who Do You Love?": three months, hook writers, and Drake telling him to do it himself

And much more...

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications.

Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, our Patreon!

Patreon.com/andthewriteris

And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:32 Hiring a "Hitman"

8:07 "Were you ever suicidal?" and the homies who said "same"

9:10 Chin up, chest out: what the streets never let you say

10:28 "2004," the song he cut from the album

24:31 Turning himself in while his song blew up, and the label that called his mom

27:31 Signing young: "I could have sued everybody"

28:24 Ross: athletes get rookie orientation, artists get "good luck"

34:57 What he'd tell an 18-year-old holding a label offer

39:40 The masters trap: you have a catalog, but you don't own it

41:30 What a session with YG actually looks like

47:39 Why he made Gentleman's Club: "they were playing with my name"

50:10 How "Hollywood" with Shoreline Mafia got made

53:51 How "FDT" happened with Nipsey, and why Def Jam passed

59:40 Meeting Nipsey: two different gangs, one mission

1:05:56 How do you stay brave when the people around you get killed?

1:10:59 The night "My Hitta" got made

1:13:03 "Big Bank": Nicki says don't put it out without me

1:18:15 What he knows at 36 that he didn't at 20: the streets don't love you back

1:27:20 "Who Do You Love?": three months and Drake's "you do the hook"

1:30:02 What makes a Mustard beat different

Credits Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is a singer, songwriter, producer and dancer who has spent her career trusting her own instincts—and building a world around them.

From “2 On” to “Nasty” and “No Broke Boys,” Tinashe has kept releasing music through major-label deals, independent projects and viral breakthroughs.

She’s collaborated with artists including Calvin Harris, Charli xcx and Kaytranada, and joins us to talk about the journey behind it all.

And The Writer Is... Tinashe!

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications.

Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.Splice, the best sample library on the market, period.

and our lead sponsor, our Patreon page!

We're still giving away free Universal Audio Recording Gear in our next zoom hang.

Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

0:46 Tinashe and Ross reconnect—back to The Stunners

3:48 “Deep in the Night”—the song she wrote at five

5:08 Tinashe’s French fry rankings

6:12 Child acting, Whoopi Goldberg, and moving to LA

9:11 Life in a girl group without creative control

11:22 Buying a microphone and building a bedroom studio

14:10 Getting signed—and expecting it to be easy

18:40 Join the ATWI Patreon

19:32 Splice: Sounds and Variations

20:39 Early Travis Scott sessions and being taken seriously in the studio

23:29 Recording 200 songs—and trusting the big producer’s opinion26:33 Trusting your gut and knowing when to leave a session

30:43 “2 On” takes off. What happens after the first hit?

36:03 Writing “2 On” in a garage with friends

37:37 Does having a hit teach you how to make one?

39:20 Leaving her label and rebuilding trust in her own ideas

43:29 What releasing music independently actually takes

46:10 Filming her own videos and building her visual world

48:14 How dancing shapes the way she writes songs

50:08 Working with a label again—and finding Ricky Reed

52:11 Getting the call from Calvin Harris

53:52 Why genre doesn’t define her music

55:19 “Nasty” takes off after she stops needing another hit

57:04 Why she won’t write for a TikTok trend

58:43 Charli xcx and finding freedom after early hits

1:00:41 The unexpected remix journey of “No Broke Boys”

1:03:31 Taking the Grammy off her lock screen after seven years

1:05:14 Making POPSTAR—and giving herself time to play

1:05:55 Which POPSTAR song fits every mood?

1:08:19 Claiming the pop star she’s always been

1:13:32 “Just don’t stop”—keep putting your music out

1:14:42 Her advice to young women in music: intuition

Credits

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is one of the most unmistakable voices in modern pop — an artist, songwriter and producer who has built a career by making music that sounds like nobody else. Her catalog has passed two billion global streams. She’s played top billing at festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, opened for Olivia Rodrigo, Lorde and Paramore, and collaborated with artists including Nile Rodgers, Beck, Dominic Fike and Sylvan Esso.

And The Writer Is... Remi Wolf!

In this episode, we get into

- The USC training that rebuilt her voice

- Waiting tables and taking Craigslist gigs while building a career

- The 30-minute session behind “Photo ID,”

- Industry lessons for every artist to take notes on...

and much more.

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

0:40 “You can’t teach tone” — how Remi found hers

2:13 USC: “We’re going to beat you down until you feel like you’re nothing”

6:15 Fourteen, busking the Bay Area, and writing songs in Chloe’s kitchen

13:40 “Carousel” — the first song she ever wrote

15:41 A substitute teacher, an apartment, and her first recording

18:05 Ski racer by day, songwriter by night

19:05 Meeting Jared Solomon at 15 — then finding each other again

21:07 Applebee’s on tour — and the road to sobriety

24:04 Rehab, writing Juno sober, and why clarity changed the songs

29:02 “It’s not ready” — why she refused to release music in college

30:22 Six songs in one week — the reunion that started everything

34:24 Restaurant shifts and Craigslist gigs: how she paid to keep making music

39:26 The Sofar show that led to her first manager

42:39 “I had no expectations” — making music before the industry got involved

45:28 35,000 decisions a day — what creative control actually costs

49:22 “You have to start protecting yourself”

51:34 What is the goal? Redefining success

56:51 Her first album rollout sober

59:21 Social media, warped expectations, and screaming into the void

63:22 “Photo ID,” TikTok, and the accident that helped it explode

66:40 “Photo ID” took 30 minutes — and she thought it was horrible

70:15 Her first professional topline session: “I was overcome with social anxiety”

72:11 Why I’m Allergic to Dogs worked during lockdown

74:56 Why Juno is called Juno

78:50 Hayley Williams and singing with another “belt queen”

82:25 Five years of nonstop touring — and finally hitting pause

87:15 “I Won’t Cry” — her favorite song she’s ever written

89:15 “I was sick of the uptempo shit” — writing 130 songs for Mud

90:49 Her first pitch session was for BTS

92:34 Which Mud song fits every mood

94:10 “I’m the happiest I’ve been in my life”

Credits

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is a musician's musician who co-founded The National, the Grammy-winning band behind Boxer, High Violet and Sleep Well Beast.

He co-wrote and produced Taylor Swift's folklore and evermore, including cardigan and willow. folklore won Album of the Year at the Grammys.

He worked on The Tortured Poets Department and produced Ed Sheeran's Subtract.

He's behind Gracie Abrams' I Love You, I'm Sorry and Noah Kahan's Porch Light.

In the last year alone, he's made records with Mumford & Sons, Florence + the Machine, Brandi Carlile, Sam Barber, Kevin Morby and Suki Waterhouse.

He's one half of Big Red Machine with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.

And he built Long Pond, the Hudson Valley studio where many of these songs were made.

And The Writer Is... Aaron Dessner!

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Amazon Music for Songwriters. Your support means the world to us.

And SONA — Songwriters of North America. If you write songs, join them. They fight for us.

0:00 Intro

1:00 Cardigan, willow, Porch Light — and eight albums in a year

5:26 Why "I Love You, I'm Sorry" was never the single

7:27 Secretly rooting for the weird song

8:17 When a pop star needs a single right now

10:25 Don't fill the space: how he walks into a session

12:12 Long Pond and "you never make a mistake investing in your creativity"

17:24 Twin brothers and their dad's jazz drums

22:48 "We faked it": how The National got signed

26:48 Playing to no one — then 500 strangers in Michigan

30:05 "Did you lose yourself?"

33:14 When one bandmate starts writing hits for other people

35:38 On stage with Taylor: "You're playing a stadium. It's okay."

37:27 "Hey, it's Taylor": the text in 2020

40:34 The Dropbox folder — and cardigan by 3 a.m.

47:45 The thank-you note that became willow

51:49 Meeting Gracie Abrams — and 2–3 songs a day

57:47 How an instrumentalist became the storyteller's whisperer

1:01:11 Why his albums don't get shelved: finishing Prizefighter

1:04:23 Studio stories: Gracie, Brandi Carlile, Florence, Sam Barber

1:11:40 Noah Kahan arrives burnt out — and Porch Light

1:15:41 Live Q&A: finding the corners, his first key change

1:18:24 Advice for musicians with day jobs

1:20:07 What all the greats have in common

Credits:

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is a Grammy-winning songwriter, bandleader and activist who has spent four decades inside the most famous name in reggae — but whose real story isn't the inheritance. It's the set of rules underneath it, the ones the family actually lives by, which turn out to have almost nothing to do with music.

And The Writer Is... Ziggy Marley!

Subscribe to our channel and follow us on socials @andthewriteris Every week we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

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Chapters:

0:00 He inherited a legacy and built a voice of his own

0:45 Why reggae heals

4:53 What makes the Marley family so consistent

6:43 Seven kids, and the family business that isn't music

8:36 Why the whole album is tuned to 432

12:32 The one song he left at 440

16:06 What makes this album different from the other fifteen

18:11 Finishing the songs before going into the studio

20:37 Why he wrote "Many Mourn For Bob" 45 years later

24:54 Umbrella or shadow: being a Marley

26:39 The funeral, and the drive to Nine Miles

30:54 NMPA + Splice

33:15 Breaking the four-bar on "Racism"

36:03 "It sounds light, but it's heavy underneath"

38:37 What "Beach in Hawaii" is actually about

43:37 How he found out "Tomorrow People" was a hit

46:14 The Melody Makers, and the line you don't cross

49:15 "Create your own space"

53:45 Advice to the next Marleys

55:27 "You can't just ChatGPT life experience"

59:12 "When the fridge was empty, I was happy"

1:00:26 "I know my value"

1:03:07 "It's always new. Still a kid."

Credits:

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .

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Today's guest is an artist and songwriter whose career has taken him from teenage YouTube covers to working with Beyoncé, Tyler, The Creator, Brockhampton, Miley Cyrus and Jack Antonoff.

But this conversation is really about something bigger: How to build a career in music without losing yourself along the way.

Ryan talks about learning to trust his own taste, being grateful he never had a hit record, protecting what makes an artist special, and refusing to let success, algorithms or other people's expectations define him.

We also get into Boy in Jeans, Brockhampton, Tyler the Creator's unexpected DM, writing four songs on Cowboy Carter, the making of "Bruises Off the Peach," and his new album Sweet Fortune.

And The Writer Is... Ryan Beatty!

Subscribe for more conversations with the artists, songwriters and producers shaping music.

Follow us: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors:

NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association

Splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

1:36 The Greek, Hollywood Bowl & Pokémon evolutions

3:08 Being made fun of for singing

4:09 “I refuse to continue just being one thing”

8:32 Why being hard to define is freedom

9:52 How Ryan approaches a songwriting session

11:52 Teach people how to treat you

13:43 “I’m grateful I’ve never had a hit record”

14:12 What success feels like vs. what it looks like

20:08 “I didn’t feel smart enough to be a songwriter”

20:55 Boy in Jeans — finding his voice as a songwriter

26:42 Jack Antonoff and an unexpected Broadway placement

27:30 NMPA + Splice

29:19 His advice for artists going viral

31:55 The moment he decided to do it his way

34:06 Brockhampton, Kevin Abstract & finding confidence

37:05 Why Ryan never pitches songs

40:43 Tyler, The Creator’s unexpected DM

42:35 Dreaming of David, touring & burnout

44:52 Making “Bruises Off the Peach”

48:17 Finding his actual singing voice

50:30 Cowboy Carter — four songs, told nobody

54:30 Making Sweet Fortune & chasing timelessness

57:32 How he wants listeners to see themselves in his songs

59:36 Amy Allen, Clairo & making the studio a place of joy

1:04:25 “Doing this is scary for me”

Credits

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Edited by Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is the drummer who took punk out of the garage, put it on your radio, then on MTV, then on your body. But his real story isn't the discography. It's what he did with everything that was supposed to end him.

From a four-piece kit in Fontana to the center of the album cover, Travis carries three things simultaneously that most musicians never figure out how to hold at once: the craft of writing a drum part as a hook — singing it in his head before his hands ever get there; the conviction that no genre gets to own him, and no one else gets to write his ending; and the contrarian edge to ban Auto-Tune, editing, and drum samples from his own studio at the exact moment the rest of the industry is sprinting toward machine-clean.

And The Writer Is... Travis Barker!

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris

We're giving away 4 pieces of premium recording gear on zoom on August 25th! Join Patreon for details.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible. Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us. And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

1:51 Why the documentary sat for nine years

3:18 The producers pitch an ending: "Can you just walk onto a plane?"

4:51 Survivor's guilt: "They wouldn't want me to sit here and not fly again"

6:33 "The doc was dead to me" — and living your life like it's a movie

9:41 "I don't make beats." "Now you do. I need it in two days."

12:23 Beastie Boys, Bad Brains, Buck Owens — refusing the box

15:28 The drums are a hook, not a timekeeper

15:54 "That's not music" — the teacher who wouldn't teach him rock

17:25 How he actually writes a part: "I sing it in my head"

18:21 Learning the whole blink-182 set in an hour

21:29 Trash men in Laguna, and one store that sold their tape

22:52 The untitled album, and the day the process changed

25:57 The lyrics he wrote: "We'll have Halloween on Christmas"

27:15 "I Miss You" — the loop he had to convince them to keep

28:07 "You have to put your ego away to be a drummer who's a songwriter"

35:46 The burn center: "How am I going to play drums?"

36:25 The hand he couldn't feel, and why he told no one

43:20 "Too heavy for blink" — Boxcar Racer, and Mark

56:30 "There was no therapy for what happened"

1:10:19 What drummers should actually practice

1:19:29 AI: "I hate it" — no Auto-Tune, no editing, no samples

1:31:20 "All the Small Things" — the day Tom told him to open the valve

1:33:33 "Where's all the hits?" — the note that made Rock Show and First Date

1:35:15 "One More Time": writing about your own band breaking up

Credits:

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is an artist most people meet through the bit: the deadpan internet, the cowboy suit, the one-sided war he's been waging with Harry Styles for a year that Harry Styles knows nothing about.

So this is the other version of him. A kid in Pittsburgh with a borrowed mic and beats ripped off YouTube, broke and failing out of school, who gets a message that Mac Miller loves a song off his first EP — and uses those three days in LA to convince his parents to let him drop out.

It's also one of the more honest conversations we've had about what the industry's upgrades actually cost you. Not the version where getting signed is the happy ending — the version where the nice studio, the engineer recording your vocals, and the A&R in your ear slowly make music that isn't yours. Chuck Timely & The Hourglass is what's on the other side of that: a record about time, made by someone who spent years trying to get his own back. And the only person who ever told him not to make it was his mother.

And The Writer Is... Role Model!

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

They are also maybe the only ethical ai-integrated sample library and they pay creators for using their work in the new Variations update and beyond.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

2:00 The year-long war with Harry Styles that Harry Styles knows nothing about

2:41 Mac Miller and Odd Future on Vine are why he finally said yes to TikTok

3:33 The message about "Stolen Car" that came while he was failing out of school

15:01 "Did you scrub the internet?" — "Yes. Because I was embarrassed."

16:13 "I was trying to impress a label. I just made shitty music."

24:16 A 16-year-old in Portland, Maine, and an EP made entirely over email

25:44 The labels start calling: "I was a sitting duck"

27:01 The studio trap — how nice rooms take the music out of your hands

28:01 The two EPs he's blocked out: "I don't remember making that music"

28:54 Why he won't pitch songs to other artists

31:06 The 80s synth album they made for two months and scrapped

34:33 The two rules: no synths, no drum machines

35:06 His mom: "There's country in it? Your fans are gonna hate that."

37:39 "Sally," written in the 30 minutes a session ran short

42:09 "But who is Chuck?" — inventing Chuck Timely

47:12 Ross defines a good song: "This will piss off a lot of people"

53:10 What he'd say to Mac Miller

54:44 "Look at That Woman" started as a joke — and why the loose ones win

56:27 The permission Kansas Anymore gave other songwriters

Credits:

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest wrote "The Climb." She also wrote "I Drive Your Truck," "Mine Would Be You," "Don't Think Jesus," and "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma." But her real story isn't the hits. It's the ten years before the first one, the five years after it when the phone stopped ringing, and what she figured out in between about how to actually last in this business.

From a dropped record deal and years as what she calls a washed-up artist nobody would write with, to Song of the Year, a Grammy nomination, and a run of hits she wrote while raising three kids under three. She carries three things at once that almost no writer figures out how to hold together: a working method she can actually teach, a conviction that this is a calling and not a job, and a refusal to write the safe version of anything.

And The Writer Is... Jessi Alexander!

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

0:00 Intro

0:48 Her favorite non-songwriting songwriter trick

1:54 "How do you make unavailable country men emotional?"

5:33 The five songs on her Hall of Fame plaque

11:07 Pool halls and stick shifts: "that color is what I draw from"

12:42 The artist deal that fizzled — "I wasn't the artist type"

13:31 No man's land: "no one took me seriously, I was a washed-up artist"

14:01 The insane story behind writing The Climb: "just another damn day"

20:11 Bud Light, a guitar pull, and a British director

22:07 Being told The Climb would change her life "Sir, that doesnt happen to people like me"

28:08 Nashville still said No

30:38 Getting men to sing: long notes and the falsetto flip

31:44 "What part of their tool belt have they not used?"

34:32 The professor who told her to quit school

36:18 Her album, the mergers, and Redneck Woman

40:27 New mom: "they'll just put someone else in my spot"

45:30 Good mom or good at work — never both

46:16 2015 to 2020: "the water just turned off"

48:23 Advice for the writer whose phone stopped ringing

50:24 The song that rang every bell

57:21 Concept-first or melody-first: "I'm the director"

61:16 Songwriters own it. Screenwriters sell it.

64:16 Imposter syndrome and the Billy Strings answer

65:24 What makes Morgan Wallen great

69:46 "I don't like to not know where all the bodies are buried"

71:43 I Drive Your Truck (Crazy story)

74:37 Her granddad's truck in the driveway

75:44 "Call in the third. Call in the fourth. Call in the 10th."

76:46 No #1 party until they found him

80:36 The truck-song traffic jam they were worried sick about

85:38 "Keep your head down." Still the only answer.

Credits:

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is a songwriter four albums deep, with a song that's been picking up new listeners for nine years and Mick Fleetwood playing on her latest record. But her real story isn't any of that.

From weekend stage camps in West London to opening Wembley for Taylor Swift five months after giving birth, she spent a decade releasing roughly one song a year into near silence. What kept her going wasn't a plan — it was a pair of collaborators who got nothing back for years and got up and made something every day anyway.

This is an honest conversation about what a long stretch of nobody listening actually feels like, and what happens when the proof finally shows up on a timeline you didn't choose.

And The Writer Is... Suki Waterhouse!

Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.

Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris

A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.

Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.

And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.

They've developed a Sounds plugin that allows creators to actually get paid for derivatively generated work from their art, and they have paid out $100M+ to artists already since inception.

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

0:46 How's being a parent and doing music?

1:18 "Being a parent is only hard for good parents"

2:49 "The girl with the guitar" — how her daughter describes her job

4:30 Test-driving album demos on a toddler in her "no" phase

12:44 Somewhere Over the Rainbow — and losing to the girl who sang All Saints

14:38 The voice teacher who told her she was too skinny to sing

15:58 "I was angry. I had this huge fire in me."

16:42 The friend group that turned on her: "fuck this school, fuck these people"

26:45 "You walk through open doors" — model, actor, musician

28:56 "Brutally," 2016, and ten years of making things nobody heard

31:01 Advice to a young female artist: learn to produce, even basically

32:56 "I went hunting for my fucking tribe. And I found them."

35:54 Amy Winehouse at the pub, The Libertines, and a London scene that's gone

38:12 Backstage at a Jake Bugg show — meeting Natalie and Jules at eighteen

39:23 "They got zero back for years and years and years"

42:45 Extreme ADHD, a giant sitar, and a fight over a song

46:26 December 7th: flying to London for a song that didn't exist yet

47:16 The pact: "if we're not writing something brilliant, we're not carrying it on"

47:28 The worst audition of her life, in the dark

48:09 A Wurlitzer, a Mellotron, and the song that opens the album

1:01:39 "Good Looking" — top ten on TikTok, written nine years ago

1:05:53 Covid, Daisy Jones, and deciding to just make the record

1:06:32 Every label said no except Sub Pop

1:08:40 "It's nothing about what happens in the first week"

1:10:16 "Dangerous Woman" and a song that gains meaning over time

1:11:38 Daisy Jones: "my name wasn't on the list and I was fucking pissed"

1:16:24 "You're more envious of the check than the song"

1:26:14 What makes a good song — Beck, Elliott Smith, and roughness

1:29:26 Red Rocks with no ear monitors: "I was in insane debt"

1:32:04 Opening for Taylor Swift at Wembley

1:34:17 Hayley Williams: "this one's for Mr. Waterhouse"

1:37:02 A baby in March, a record in September

1:39:44 "When everyone goes a bit red — that's when you keep it in the song"

1:40:35 What to play driving at night, heartbroken, walking through London

Credits:

Hosted by Ross Golan

Produced by Joe London & Jad Saad

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

And The Update Is…a weekly beat on the industry .

Hosted on Acast. See https://acast.com/privacy for more information.