What's up guys? This is the second episode of the explicit material podcast and it was pretty damn awesome I guess today is the guitar player of new politics and happens to be one of my very good friends who also happens to be an Excellent songwriter guitar player vocalist piano player can play basically anything It's kind of infuriating because just to see how talented of a musician he is and he's always driven and constantly being inspired to write new material It's just man. It's just really just cool to have a friend like him I've had the pleasure of kind of sitting in and listening to what what they've come up with for their new record and it is It's fucking good. It's so good.
I can't wait for the rest of the world to hear it because it's just a really good rock record It's definitely gonna be it's definitely their top their their best record that they've come out with yet so Sorene and I met when we toured together years ago And I found out that he is actually an avid gamer just like myself and we kind of Like bonded over, you know Just talking about like role-playing games and like Skyrim and fallout and stuff like that on the road And it was just really cool to meet another nerd like myself who's also a musician So that was pretty cool. He's a big fan of role-playing games and specifically sci-fi type games season to that So for this episode He was kind enough to let me set up in his studio here in Nashville because he moved here from New York And I've been trying to get him to do that for years and now we live 15 minutes away from each other and it's been awesome For this podcast we actually started talking about you know Mass Effect because we both we both are big fans of the series and We started we talked about Mass Effect and Diablo 3 life in America Just life in general we went on a couple little tangents about just life and not video games but video games are in there I promise Yeah, it was just a really really awesome talk and it's just really fun to talk with him I'm glad that I got to do this with him and hopefully you'll get it to do it again in the future with him because He's just an awesome dude to talk to okay enough of that without further ado here is Sorene Hanson Sorene Honsen, that's me How's your tour going? It's good. How's the show?
Yeah, sorry the tour yet, but how's the show is promoting the new album? We're gonna get the plug out of the way first and then we'll start talking about nerdy shit Okay, cool. It's good It's good We released a song about a month ago and we just been doing some radio stuff and then we're preparing for the two month tour with 3-month fucking 11. Yep, that's so cool.
I'm gonna watch them a lot. I mean they're like legends Have you met them at all before? No, but first time you yeah, it's gonna be the first time But I think we're playing a show with them before that but I heard that they're the nicest people actually one of our Crew guys is out with their guitar tech right now I think that or drum tech but everybody's saying that they're just as nice as people in the world So that's fucking awesome. Yeah, I'm really excited Are you gonna buy a switch?
You can take along with you that's a new question Are you just gonna be in your own dungeon and the bus making music like you always do so I think I'm gonna I think my Well, David had just he just had a baby two days ago. So wait, she had the baby already. Yeah, I didn't know that no congrats David Yeah, congrats. That's fucking awesome congrats Big daddy now I know so he's probably gonna fly home a lot to see his family and I thought about just bringing out a studio on the road and then finishing Pretty much writing a bunch of songs and just try to be inspired by you know all the time we have and stuff So I'm really excited actually.
It's gonna be good. I don't think I'm gonna get a switch But probably when I see Zelda, I'm gonna freak out Like first week I'm gonna try not to actually actually I'm feeling really really inspired these days I've been very inspired lately. So I think I'm gonna try and take advantage of that situation Yeah, it's interesting for us musicians like because musicians play video games, too A lot actually a lot more than people know me actually people like me. I actually get inspired by video game music.
So Yeah, that's awesome when people ask when people ask me like what's your favorite music? I feel like I feel like kind of weird by it's like well, you know, I really am inspired by no boo-oh, Matsu. Yeah, and they'll look at me like I'm who? Like I know it's just the best composer to any video game.
You know, I would drummer Lewis that you also know he We be we be we be he loves video game music just as my man almost as much as you like some of his some of his favorite Who was it was a set that did all these remixes with Zelda? He did so that yes Yeah, yeah, that was the first that was the first song that someone showed me yeah of said yeah And that's before he became all big and yeah, I was like this is the most awesome remix ever made I know it's incredible It's incredible. He's one of those guys that is just good at everything like there was like a small like commercial I think was like Apple music or something or guitar center or some sort of commercial where he was just showcasing all the instrument he plays like he's playing piano which he's obviously fucking sorry And then he went and played the drums and he was just like killing it on the drums I didn't know that you said that's amazing. I'm good.
That's crazy. I didn't know that actually yeah He's fucking just he's one of those guys who could display anything. That's awesome. Nice.
Yeah, he's he's definitely I Remember hearing that and funny enough you got you drummers. You're just you love his love video game music I Did actually I didn't know that about Lou no, he's like obsessed with with a lot of 80s music and I think because he's dead Was listening to a lot but also video game music is I get it. It's like lullabies the simple melodies But sometimes not simple at all. Yeah, a lot of it's really complicated But it's like it but it's played in such a way where you think it's simplistic Yeah, and it's super catchy and and those maybe also because if you play games you hear that song a lot Like people like people give me shit like my friends give me shit because I have a cell that's who in my back and When people ask me like what's the last other game we played like I haven't played all this all doesn't correctly I haven't beat as all that since linked to the past I beat I sort of beat occurring at a time with my friend cuz we passed it back and forth I really count that because he was the one that actually played most of the game Yeah, he had a n64 I did not have an n64 so I'd go to his house and when we we'd play it and we try to beat it The most embarrassing thing is I've never played a Zelda game and I'm obsessed with every kind of game that is modeled after Well, this is where this was my point is that so it's like so you have a zella tattoo And you've never you haven't beat any of them You should be the stellar master if you have a tattoo in your back I was like well hold on for a second the reason why I got the tattoo is because When I was really young and I had my Nintendo entertainment system When I put in Zelda that fucking gold box which I thought was the coolest thing in the world amazing a little golden little cartridge I put it in and that song that came on It's like so epic and as a little kid you're like yes, I must save the princess Zelda God damn it.
I have to do this This is all I have to do and like from then on it cemented my love for video game Is it because it game and not just music just video games in general because it it just like it was a way of escaping? Life and to this day I still use it as a meditative thing in my life Like that's my meditation I'm sitting down and just be like cut out the rest of the world like I don't want to deal with fucking house shit or Or you know, I got a little on tomorrow or I have this thing I have to do or you know I have to learn this I have to learn 13 songs and yeah three days like I'll get to it. I just need to chill out first That's awesome. Yeah, that's a great story I love when there is when there is something behind it to you know where there is where there is memories and a story because in the end to choose of the most personal things because it's Something that's gonna be with you forever, but there's also it's very relative.
What's meaningful to you and what will be meaningful to anyone else So I love that about to to so yeah, yeah Yeah, I mean what do you have any tattoos? I don't yeah, I've never noticed that I mean I have obviously no tattoos Is that purpose no really just never happened I think I grew up in Denmark in Denmark where I grew up because it wasn't It wasn't in Copenhagen. That was no Copenhagen is a little little bit cooler than where I grew up in the country Nobody had tattoos. It was kind of unless they had a tribal tattoo and I never was it kind of look down upon out there Like really just wasn't just no I'm old like we're cool enough.
We don't need fucking chat to yeah I think it's more in I see in Copenhagen house. You see a lot of people with tattoos and in general I think that's it's actually very American what happened to the tattoo culture. It didn't it didn't really hit Denmark until later now I see a lot of people with with tattoos, but even when I lived there Which was only like seven years ago something since I moved to America Nobody really had to choose which was kind of It was kind of it was then you can to American people had sleeves and all this stuff and you'll see them You know music videos I never thought of it. It was weird.
I always thought it looked cool But it wasn't like I never wanted to do yeah, it never never really registered with me I think I was too much of a nerd and I was too much into the whole writing and stuff that I never really cared about Fashion those kind of things like not that much actually never really Never really hit me. I guess that makes sense. Yeah, I know I know I talked about it a little bit on the last podcast But I'm still playing Mass Effect right now. All right Have you gotten how far have you gotten in Mass Effect?
So I'm the kind of guy that when I play a video game I play all the side missions I heard people say first of all people hate on the game Yeah, and I think it's actually really good, but I'm also a huge fan of Mass Effect Like I played all three of them and completed all of them which is pretty crazy to think about because I Never complete games. I just always do the hard to complete games in our lives Like be especially being a musician. Yeah, all constantly on the road. It's really hard because there's so many distractions Yeah, it's you know, especially if you're on the bus and there's only one television.
Yeah Yeah, and like you gotta share your time. You can't just be on the bus playing Mass Effect But you know what I did I actually got a one of those suitcases with a screening and a tissue really yeah So that I could sit and play and I got that because of a game because of fallout for oh so when fallout came out I got that box this because of that because I didn't want to share I'm so Right now I actually talked about it with my friend on the last podcast we talked about like Getting those getting those things of suitcase things and bringing on the plane. It's great. It's great It's great in the overhead compartment stuff.
So how do you plug it up? You just you know if you're on a plane you just take that cord and you plug it up in like a laboratory or something Okay, bye for three hours. Excuse me like stop. I'm about to be the boss But I played all the all the the three previous Mass Effect and then I started on the new one and I Love sci-fi I would say I probably love sci-fi more than fantasy and the RPG games has always been my thing I completed fallout never well I started on three I could complete a fallout three and I completed a fall out for and I Completed I didn't complete Skyrim Like little 56 That's the thing with master with the new Mass Effect to that that I remember the first one that I was so upset I literally went to every single planet and did everything like located every little tiny thing of something I could find cuz I was upset that the game was over got all the DLC and all that and the new Mass Effect I think I'm on the third the ice planet And I did the two other planets completely and I mean I think I'm level 20 something already and I haven't I haven't gone to but I think it's I think pretty fast in this game I'm already level 42.
Oh wow. So you're trying at this point. I'm just decimating people I'm totally fine with that. Yeah, I'm totally like challenge upsets me.
What's that what's like your go-to kind of type character? Machine gun in your face yourself. No, not stealth I just go in there and guns and blazin fucking tear people out die hard style. Yeah Cuz I know it's like over the top shooter.
So I'm like well. Yeah, I mean, but it's cool like what they did with the combat like You of course you have the omniblay But I didn't like I didn't find out until later that you can get in a sorry sword And you just have like it's kind of like a lightsaber and it's not really like if you press if you press the melee button at the right time You just go in this kind of animation and automatically lock on your target You just go you see you like you can pass through like objects. You kind of like teleport wait really tack. Yeah, I didn't even know that Yeah, get the sorry sword man research it.
Okay. That's pretty fun So there's stuff like that I like how you can jump up and slam down. Yeah, like that's really cool That's really fun. So I play as a soldier nice and I like and then but it's cool It's like you can kind of you can kind of cross class a little bit Yeah, you can learn like more and more biotic.
Yeah, there's like no because you know the previous Mass Effect It's like if you're a biotic you only do biotics if you can't do soldiers up in this game You can do anything you want even if you choose to be a soldier there's cross classes I love that yeah also because you unlock other classes and then pretty much just switch over yeah So I like that that's cool see there's stuff there's stuff that math the new Mass Effect does it's really cool that It's just it's overshadowed by everyone's hatred for the game I think it so it's very similar in a way to Dragon Age to the last Dragon Age and it's the same guys that make it that makes it But I feel like that's a good thing because that was one of the things I was missing a lot Especially in Mass Effect 2 was that it wasn't as open world as The open world is the way to go. Are you talking about Dragon Age Inquisition or that one is pretty open world? Yeah, but the one before that was the furthest Dragon Age one was amazing dragon age two sock and then and then dragon age three the new one I think it's great and it's very similar to Mass Effect which is which makes me Which makes me wonder why people hate so much and I heard it There's a lot of glitches and little weird things and apparently the voice acting could be better. I don't I think it's fine Yeah, I think it's the game in the world.
Yeah, it's incredible. Yeah, I think they did I think it's a pretty I said something last podcast was like You know what I wonder what would happen if this game wasn't called Mass Effect if it had nothing to do with the previous trilogy Like if it was just a game on its own some independent studio just made this game as is yeah And would people think of it differently? Yeah, you know, they don't have to think about Mass Effect in this this level that it's Yeah, it's accomplished over the years. Yeah, and it's just like a standalone game I think people would love it.
I think it's only gonna get better Oh, you know, you know what it is that I think that people also hate a little bit on that Shepherd was such a badass And this guy's more like a jokester. Yeah. Yeah, which is like I get that but at the same time I don't think it takes away from how cool the world is and if you are into sci-fi like I love sci-fi I love Star Trek and Doctor Who and Star Wars and all that Everything from Guardians of the Galaxy like any sci-fi I can get my hands on I'm so like I love sci-fi And I think because of that what's more what's more fun for a sci-fi nerd than exploring somebody's vision of a galaxy and I think it's that's the coolest thing like first of all any kind of movie like Avatar or Those kind of moves about somebody who's a nobody who becomes something that's always great the story of the underdog who becomes a hero any superhero movies all this stuff or anything comics books anything and then on top of that finding ancient technology about Civilizations that used to be because I think I'm nerdy enough to think that that actually is something that we're gonna find here in earth Dude, maybe I said the technology but definitely remnants of an ancient civilization. Yeah That I think is really cool about Mass Effect Andromeda I think that that was a great direction to put it like Discovering ancient technical because here at least here in America and I'm pretty much over the world like what's that?
That's what's that show that's on the history channel now about ancient aliens Oh, yeah, I've fucking fell in love with ancient aliens as soon as it premiered when it was on Netflix for a brief moment I just binged all of the episode. It's amazing. They're like they're among us. They've been among us the whole time So I think like attacking that vein that we just that we have this thing that we need to see like have ancient aliens been here before or Is it just an ancient civilization that humans have already done this already?
And we moved on and we've come back That's my philosophy, but you know what? This is all speculation and the best part about speculation with these kind of things is that it is Imagination and imagination thinking that that is possible I think the worst thing you can possibly do as a human being is think that something is not possible because in theory everything is possible or It could be possible and if you block yourself By thinking that that's never gonna that never happen or that's completely impossible Then then you're pretty much following the rules of what you have been taught your life and you're leaving your imagination box in and that's a very Hard thing to do, but I think that's very related to musicians to an artist in general because we are drawing our inspiration from somewhere and Usually the inspiration comes from if you go for a walk you suddenly have the thought in your head and that thought might be That thought might be something that leads to something else and if you had already if you had already, you know blocked yourself from thinking in in the unexplored and weird areas of the mind then you're and then you're pretty much setting yourself up to failure and I think that's why a lot of artists also love video games and Things that are little abstract because in the end that's all we have and that's all that's the only place we can draw inspiration to create something That's why a lot of people think that Steve Jobs was able to think so far out of the box He was you know according to sources He was quite a dick about it But at the same time, you know He has been known to take some hallucinogenic Substances substances and a lot of people think that that Him opening his mind and being inspired by just by just going through all these barriers that we constantly put our put ourselves around You know or put around ourselves rather he was able to like no we can do this mmm It's fucking possible So do it you know and he was able to push it through and force people to think how he thought it was possible Yeah, however dick is she could have been but he fucking did it I mean he said we can put thousands of songs on a little tiny little thing Yeah, he knew it that and he did it. It's amazing. I actually have to do one thing here really quick.
What's that? Make sure you're still recording. Okay It's a recording we good we get okay screen say we're scared us. Yeah, so I mean like so back to Mass Effect I think I So far when like when I first play it I was kind of on the fence I was kind of like I'm not feeling that Mass Effect vibe yet And it could have been a number of different reasons and I think it's because for me personally at first The original Mass Effect trilogy was very much a focus narrative like it's not open None of those games are open world.
Yeah, even like even if you could like in the first one You could go to these different planets. There's nothing there. There's like it's just like a house of you Yeah, there's like a base over there and that's it and then you can go over here and like get some treasure But at the end of the day, this is just a blank planet Yeah, and the second one kind of got rid of that too Kind of got rid of any sort of long maps like that and just like focus narrative Yeah But by doing that it brought us into the world because they were able to just focus on these maps really and have just like this really Intense storyline and that and then you do have some side quests here and there but all and all it was about the story Yeah, and then now with Mass Effect Andromeda It's you know, they have a pretty decent narrative going on But they now are now it's like thousands of side side quests now. It's a completely open world kind of game Yeah, so now it's not just about the narrative It's just about every other thing that's going on in all these different planets and all these different things that take you away Take your mind off of the narrative Yeah So I think that is to why people are kind of upset like about the direction it went because at the end of the day It doesn't really feel like Mass Effect of the past in some ways It does with the fact that you can go on the tempest and you know talk to your crew members and stuff like that and You can romance your characters, which I'm having so much fun with Who are you romancing by the way?
Who's got your eyes? Orin actually so far I've been more I've been I haven't really romance anyone you're just like all about the work But I'm there's so much work to be done. I don't have time for this. Yeah, I mean I would definitely yeah You know I have to save the world we have to colonize the planet Yeah, I mean you always have time for little moments But I haven't decided yet probably the Sari is that PB a little quirky one.
Yeah, I think so I like the blue I think that's exotic and special. It's so funny though when like when you're talking with like PB or Cora or Liam It's very obvious that Liam is the token Romance character for gay men. Yeah, and Cora is the straight one. Yeah, it's very obvious because there's there's like different things There's if they kind of like push it in your face.
They're like this is Cora's romance line Yeah, this is what you're supposed to do. This is the this is what you're supposed to do and then PB's kind of like yeah Yeah, she's quirky and fun if you want her mans are fine Yeah, and then Liam's the same way where they have like different situations that are they kind of like hey He's he's the guy he's the guy that you're supposed to be with and it's so it's weird how I don't know It's kind of it kind of feels forced the romance options really I didn't really explore it. I think that I remember was Mass Effect Was Mass Effect 3 the first game that also introduced gay romance? Yes, which is awesome And you know who voiced what was his name?
I forget Freddy Prince Jr. Oh really the gay romance option guy and I can't remember who his name was but it was a really interesting it was a really interesting I think it's awesome that they yeah, that's cool. I love people give them shit for that I was like don't force it down our throat. It's like, you know, they're you know gay people play video games, right?
Yeah, but not only that also because it's good to put focus on those kind of things because it's been such a such a big taboo for so long And it's kind of sad You know, I mean it's getting better. I think a lot of people like in today's world. It's so easy to get caught up with negativity Yeah, it's it's it's hard to Focus on the positive things that are going on. It's like I was that you know, I was thinking about this the other day And I was like, you know, it's it's at one point in our lives about man even like 20 years ago Which was what almost 2000 like 20 years ago gay people couldn't get married and it was Actually, yeah, but America.
I'm talking about in America, which of course we're always slow on the liberal shit like that It's weird like that because you have certain things that are extremely advanced and certain things that are not but I also think that you have You have a European country is very slow moving and traditional where America is very fast moving and Sometimes sometimes it can be backwards over here, too Which is I think it's also one of the it's one of the hardest things but also one of the most inspiring things because you have so many different opinions and so many So much national pride in America, too And I think that there's something really good about that and something really bad about that same time So that's that's one of the reasons why I love living in America, too because you have you have such an Variation in opinions. Yeah, and so many Especially a place like Nashville, you know where Nashville is kind of like the more like liberal slash libertarian kind of hub where you know Hipsters and you know people can kind of congregate and like just tolerate each other and it was like yeah, we're cool We're having fun, you know, I don't care if you're a good old boy I don't care if you're hipster just drinking having a good time But then you you drive, you know couple you know a couple hundred miles that away Yeah, you know towards like bum fuckville, you know like Dixon County or you know somewhere out there It's like now you're in the ship now. Yeah, like they like don't come on this property. Mm-hmm.
No, no you vote for Hillary Clinton I know you did you know, so it's kind of like it kind of gets a little scary But you know at the same time I think that's what makes this country kind of great It's kind of almost like push and pull it gets into gets us into trouble because obviously can't make any fucking decisions Because we can't like just sit down and say hey, you're a human being. I'm a human being too. We have similar interests We just focus on those I love hearing Americans talk about these kind of things because it's so easy to have opinions and I think me as a foreigner I have my opinions, but at the same time I don't necessarily always want to talk about My opinions because it's not always my right as a foreigner to talk about my opinion So I think in the way I do it is by songwriting and those kind of things because that way I can say what I want But people can take it the way that they decide to to take it Well really we have it like if anyone ever said like you have no right to say that It's like well, this is a nation of immigrants like we're all from different parts of the world Yeah, I'm from like I'm from Italy I mean that's how my parents like my grandparents got here my my great-grandmother was a mail-order bride from Italy Straight up. Yeah, she didn't speak a word of English Wow So it's like yeah, that's it's so funny with generations because you have some people like 11th generation of Americans You know some of the originals and back from you know the war and all these things and then you have some people that are I guess like me We'll see what happens, but as it is right now.
I can't see myself Not staying here for a long time. You know I created a career over here in a lot of ways and You know so in some weird way I'll be first generation unless you know whatever can happen, but I'm right That's an awesome way of looking at it You know and I still feel very you make your you make your staple and you bring you bring your home with you here And I think that's also what makes America great is you know like national pride is I guess okay But like what makes this country great is other countries bringing their their culture here and blossoming into like this hodgepodge Of different cultures and it makes it makes it like cool It makes it like wow I've never seen anything like that before I want to say that Americans are very very good at welcoming other cultures Way more than very established cultures like for example the Scandinavians we we You know we love what's going on in the world And I think we are very inspired from it But we are not as open-minded as Americans when it comes to understanding and accepting other cultures like that's a very good point And I think it's something really amazing about America actually that a lot of Americans also They wish that they were somewhere else. I meet a lot of people that Yeah, exactly and it's like one of the things where I think America It should almost be mandatory that when you're 20 years old you have to travel the world for for like the Formments you have to travel you have to travel the world to see to see what's going on because it's gonna make you come home and and Appreciate what you have and this is really you know this this is something that has to do with religion It has to do with with culture in general and also about the good things about America the bad things about America because You have so many beautiful things in America that I think people would appreciate more if they traveled more and I know has nothing to do with You know but I think that that's that's there's always something great Around the corner and there's always something great in what you already have it's sometimes It's just hard to see to see what that is because it's very very easy to get caught up in your own life and And especially the way media works today That you're always being you're always being reminded what you could have because you're watching Cardiacians or something like that as always people's lives are so different but deep down we're all human beings So we all dream of the same things, but sometimes we forget that the things we have and the people that we have in our lives They are completely Irreplaceable and that's the thing that makes you Who you are and I think that's one of the most beautiful things about being alive whether that means that you are From if it means doesn't change if you're from Denmark or if you're from America anyway back to Mass Just a little speech you did I'll put it like a put like a violin underneath it. Yeah, it's sad No, no, that's be like triumphant.
Oh, you know, it's very uplifting kind of good way of looking at the world, you know I yeah, I really think that it's sometimes it's hard. I forget that a lot, you know because I my inspiration So sometimes bigger than my then It's kind of like a processor in the computer that the processors are so fast now that they can do so many things But my skills behind a computer they haven't really developed But It's kind of similar like that that sometimes our dreams They travel a little further than then reality and then we get depressed because we don't see the changes the way that we wish that they were happening and That's just one of those things that I think that's again just to go back to the computer game That's why it's because that's why computer games are great because we we Live that world some people love watching TV and I think for non-gamer that gives you just as much Distraction from life as it does for a gamer. That's a good point. That's a good point Yeah, because if I watch a TV show, it's gotta be good otherwise my head is still thinking maybe I should move the second Chorus or maybe I should like I need to come up with a different other always always working Yeah, and that's not healthy.
It's really not you need to be able to disconnect from the world So playing a video game, it's interactive. So you if unless you literally think if I don't go over there I'm gonna get killed But if I go over there, I might find a treasure, you know, whatever you're thinking about ever Oh, I wonder what's on the other side. Oh, how do I make it's too cold for me to go over there? How do I make like to take a massive as an example?
I need to somehow start terraforming this world So so because I'm thinking all these thoughts then my mind is being distracted from From the song that you've been working on for the past. Yeah, actually my manager Alex. He's the perfect He's so great with this because I don't know if you feel this way I mean probably not anymore, but I Remember really feeling that it was it was embarrassing to tell people that I play video games. Oh, yes Oh, yeah, I still have that.
Yeah, I still I still have cuz you know, especially as you get older It's amazing because the you know back when we were kids when we were kids We know if you told people you play video games you were you were branded the nerd you get your ass kicked at school You know, it was it was bad thing nowadays. It's different. So but still that carried over to my adulthood So I'm afraid to tell people I'm into playing Skyrim and I you know, I spent six sixty plus hours playing this game You know, I'm afraid people look at me I was like what have you done with your life? Yeah, did you know that you could do something productive with your life with all those hours you put in the video games?
It's like I mean, well, I think I've done pretty well. I have my own house. I'm about to buy another one like, you know I think I've done pretty well for myself. I think I think I deserve some fucking meditation time and with a controller in my hand.
God damn it Sorry, no, but that's what it is. I completely agree with it. So Alex is always telling me. Did you play any video games?
And I'm like no no, I haven't played any video games And he's like dude, you gotta play some video game and it took me a little while to understand what he was actually saying but he was saying was that that Because I do that I am a happier guy because it gives me some sort of it gives me some sort of Break from thinking. Yeah, you know, because even if you're having a conversation sometimes your mind is still thinking What if I and you just don't do that with a video game? You literally you're literally you're just in it You're living a movie because that's what it is. You're living it You're living an interactive movie and I love that about video games So I'm actually a proud gamer I am and I don't play as much as I used to but I would lie if I said that I like if I say I don't play video games Oh, I didn't play that week I'm sure I did even if it's on my phone I'll play a game, you know, there's there's always some there's just the need for for interactive this Connection from real life and I and I think for some people it's TV for some people It's sitting at the bar for some people It's going rock climbing for some people it's hiking for some people it's driving somewhere or biking or for some people It could be anything but for kids It's playing games for for for me and for you It's video games and I think it's something to be to be proud of that realization at the same time though You have to be careful not to let that be all of your life Just like anything because I do have friends who have children who you know their child plays a little bit too much You know when it becomes it becomes a thing, you know becomes like, you know You don't do your chores you start and I had that problem as a kid too where all I wanted to do was I wanted to play Final Fantasy 8 I'm all I have to do this mom like and she would she did a good job She like noticed and she was like you do all your chores You do all your homework first and then you get to play your game And if I didn't do that she would disconnect it she would disconnect it all or dad did because she didn't know how to do it But dad did and he would take he would take my PlayStation and he would set it up in his room and be like Do all your shit first and then because that teaches you that while you you know it is fun to it's very easy Especially at a young age to get lost in that world Absolutely, especially if you know, especially if the child is troubled or whatever, you know, it's very easy to escape Yeah, and while we use it to escape from you know from like beat just being an adult Yeah, I can deal with this right now.
Let me just sit down and just relax for a second Children will use it to just escape from everything like all the hard work that is needed to be a human being in this world There's such a fine line here because So I was very very depressed at some point and I would play video games the entire time and I would find excuses to do this This is in Denmark actually not long before I moved to America with David But before before that I was very very depressed like very very depressed And I think that's I have a lot of empathy for people going through a rough time because of that because I understand I really understand and My it wasn't even an escape. It was more like the way our minds work when we're feeling a certain way Happy sad Whatever anything the way our minds work is that we will always find ways to justify staying in that situation So if we're feeling sad the natural the natural reaction to that is pity because when we grow up and we would say we're sick Right we have the glue our mom was like oh Little baby, and then we are we are It's a good feeling to know that somebody cares So a lot of times for me my reaction was that people will say oh you're feeling bad And then I started feeling self-pity and I was I started finding all these reasons for justifying constantly justifying Staying in that same world. So my escape or whatever you want to call it was video games And I would get so sucked into living in this world of on video gaming and talking to people that had no other relationship with and I would constantly stay away from the real real world But also this is my point with it is that I didn't know what my problem was I didn't understand my problem I just knew that it felt good to constantly justify myself pity and stay away from the real world I later on discovered what it was and then I started dealing with it and it hit me suddenly like I Don't want to be I don't want to be here anymore. I need to I want to move past this but because Because I didn't know what it was and I don't know if that's necessarily related to kids But because I think that also has to do with exploring that creativity and imagination right than anything because I didn't know what it was it was a Some sort of escape that made sense for me later when I look back at it This is gonna sound crazy.
I wouldn't trade it for the world because It made me more determined and more constructive and stronger than I ever was and I think if I hadn't gone through that time I wouldn't be able to appreciate the good things and I wouldn't be able to Stop myself from thinking and feeling bad and stop myself from pitting myself when those situations happen again and stop myself more importantly from freaking out and Reacting to whenever I started feeling oh, so now I'm just gonna stay in and feel bad myself So in some way way the video gaming that sounded like I was wasting my life away I would have wasted my life away on something else I would have wasted my life away on on on bad Things probably if it hadn't been for that because some people are just prone to going through something We're all born with a set of With a set of culture that comes from our family from bullying from all these things from feeling left out from being the shit from all these all these things are part of who we are as people and you have to Deal with that so if you're way of dealing with it is going that direction or that direction or that direction or that direction that is Different from person to person all I know is that You are going to be fine if you are open to the fact that one day you're gonna realize oh my god I did that I did that and I did that and in the end In the end we can all we can do is hope for a good life and we can try our best to make it the way the way it is But I don't necessarily I don't miss it. I don't know this is my point I don't know I don't know what right and wrong is when it comes to doing something too much So somebody's been in a relationship for two years and they say oh it was such a waste of time It didn't work out and no it wasn't the waste of time You found out what you didn't want right and you grew up in that relationship And you found out that this person was too much or too little or whatever it was well because it comes if you know It's interesting especially when you're dealing with children because for example like I was I played pretty violent video games Like how old was I when the first resident evil came out? I can't remember how old I was but I was pretty young I was definitely younger than the ESRB rating Yeah, you know allowed you to play that game, but My mom brings us up to all of her friends all the time when they talk about like school violence or violent kids or whatever and You know the argument is if a kid watches violent movies or violent anything They're gonna be programmed to be violent study show that that's not necessarily the case And in my case I would play violent video games You know I play games like manhunt You know that fucking game where all you do is like tear off people's heads and your whole goal is to kill people In the game is to murder people and the more brutal you kill this person the more the better you get better you do in the game Wow, yeah, but like games like Resident Evil there's blood everywhere heads coming off and I've never been in a fight in my life Never been into a physical altercation except with my buddy Kyle But that's he deserved it because we were eight years old and he was a kid that would wake up like seven I was the kid that would wake up at ten on a weekend like normal human beings like normal children And he would he would like we would be sleeping we would be sleeping together on the big bed right here and he would come up He would come up. I'm just dead asleep and you come up and go And he'd like to rub his hands on me It was so annoying so you punched him.
Oh, yeah, I couldn't I couldn't handle that so funny And then finally when I just went like full gorilla on him and just like you guys you guys are like brothers I've definitely been a fight with my brother like bad fight actually I remember once when we were little my mom took us to a We were looking for curtains. I think and I got a full on face She was so mad and we must have been like ten years old I think that's different. I think that's the difference because when your brothers. I mean you just have it's not like yeah I've never been in a fight either with you know, I have a house bullied That was so much in school and there was definitely options where I chose the high ground the crying route The running away and crying instead of instead of fighting back and and again You know these are all parts of making you who you are who knows if that hadn't happened.
Maybe maybe I wouldn't be in America Maybe we wouldn't have been doing this part. Maybe we have an MMA fighter No, I think I think video game good parenting definitely helps It's also like what's real and what's not real, you know, if somebody if you spend your whole your when you're six to ten years Or you run around in a video game with a flamethrower burning people and maybe it's not that healthy well here's you know, well, you know My dad did it was so smart of him to do this because I am deathly afraid of guns because of this And what like so because my dad was born in Missouri, so he's kind of a good old boy, you know, but He you know, it kind of has that accent kind of talk like I was a little bit. He's Elvis But he noticed that I was playing with lots of way guns And you know, I started really liking guns and stuff like that and so my dad and my uncle were shooting their guns out in Joppa Missouri while we were visiting my grandmother and I was like how old was I six? I can't remember how I was young.
I was very young and My dad brought me outside. He's like I'm gonna show you something I'm gonna show you what a real gun is and I'm gonna show you that this is something to not be fucked with I don't he didn't say that to make it to my face But he's just like this is this is what happens with real guns I'm gonna show you not to mess with these if any of your friends have them you run away or you tell the nearest adult and He had me hold the gun it was a tiny gun to it's like one of those like little eight millimeters, you know It's like really shot at 22 or something like that, but still Holding that gun with my little tiny hands and shooting it The power I felt in my hand was so scary that from that point on I was like I'm never touching again I'm never doing it never touching that gun and then from that point on I realized what a toy gun was and what a real gun was Because you know a real gun has that have to do it. I've actually never even held a real gun in my hand It's scary. Yeah, it's just not just recently But the last time I had it's I'm not either but like I can understand why people would want one because you know guns exist and people Have guns and at the same time like I'm acting your family Yeah, but at the same time like I can understand you want to like protect your family and stuff like that but at this are you I feel like people have this idea like the whole idea of like if there's a shooter and you shoot not them all and You know you need like people say like I'm gonna conceal carry because just in case that happens I want to shoot the gun shooter and that's fine But what if you're with your kids and if you're with your kids You're kids gonna be holding on to you as the shooter shooting people and so now you have this distraction is like You know your kid is like holding on your leg and what you're gonna do you gonna start shooting at that point?
You know like I don't I think I think that's a whole This is how I see it. I've just figured out who I am I'm pretty happy with who I am. I'm very productive. I write music play video games and If I were to be a dad, I wouldn't know what to do yet I don't think any of us because all these things like another human being that's depending on you.
I would be very very very confused about that because I barely know myself Yeah, I mean I think that's just that's this parenting in general I mean I think that's a scary scary thing and you just gotta have that fine You just gotta have that in a realization that you're gonna fuck up You're gonna do something to cause some serious damage to your child and it's not gonna be your fault Hopefully it's just something that you did maybe out of anger or by accident or something you said and you know It's just like you're gonna you're gonna leave imprints on your child somehow Which is scary but once you have the realization that it's gonna be okay and as long as you try not to fuck up so much I think you'll be fine. I think I mean it's it's you know, but as you know as I get older it's kind of like Man having a kid right now would just be so hard on my life Mm-hmm, I mean it's because if I'm gonna if I'm gonna have a child and I have this choice to have a child I want to do nothing but be a good father that kid But right now I have all these distractions and all these like things I want to do still that I don't want to have any regrets Like it's like oh man I wonder if I didn't have this this child of mine like I wonder where my life would have gone or if I would have waited or you know Stuff like that. I don't know. It's yeah, it's very I'm warming up to the idea though You know, I love my wife and we've been together for almost a decade now.
It'll be a decade December. That's amazing So we're getting through it, but we're taking it slow We're not gonna you know, she has aspirations and dreams that she needs to realize and same with me You know, I still have a couple goals that I want to accomplish before I get into dad mode Yeah, I think in my head. It's like, you know what I love. I love I love just being alone being creative Like you know what I did this morning when I woke up and made myself some coffee I played a little bit of Diablo.
Huh? Which one the original Diablo or oh, yeah, I agree. I got a PlayStation now the PS4 version Dude, I had the Xbox 360 version actually was a lot of fun The console version is actually a lot of fun. Was that the repair of Soul version up before that before that?
Oh, it was before any Incredible. Yeah, I've heard nothing but good things So I played a little bit on night. This is how nerd I actually have a gaming PC that I need to get one I got that for because that box with the with the PlayStation system. It was a it was a nightmare I'm like setting up a TV and like cables and Yeah, it was crazy.
So I so I decided you know what I'm gonna buy myself a gaming PC So I got myself an MSI super lightweight. It kind of overheats after a while, but it's it's amazing It's 4k great graphic card It's awesome So I got this gaming PC that I would bring out on the road and then it was it was I would you mainly use it at hotel rooms? If we had a day off was set it up make coffee and nerd out on my video games And I would play the upload and I loved it Then the expansion came and it literally changed the game. It got I'm sorry not to talk about Mass Effect here because no We don't know.
We don't talk about whatever you want. It's incredible. It's hands down the best hack and slash game There is that I have ever tried it's so crazy. It's become a hack and slash game.
Yeah, it was it before No, it's a very like isometric like MMO. Yeah, it was scary and it's not scary anymore, but it's it's really well done and Unconsul. It's almost like it's the game is made for console. It's weird I never really well thought I never thought that that was gonna be the case and the worst part is that my guy in the upload on Battlenet whatever PC version Mac version is Pretty nasty He's like I think it's not it's not nasty compared to most people like paragon 450 or something like I'm just going great I have like three level 70s It's on that version and granted once you have one you have you can level up another guy in 15 minutes to a level 70 If you have one and you have the right gear you can just make oh you So you're a level one and you just put it on but you can do these greater reps and then you upgrade your gems And if you upgrade a specific gem to level 25 put it into any item It turns it into or into that cube thing it turns it into a level one item with all the stats of a level 70 So you make sure you get the ones that give experience and then you put it on a new guy in a stash shared stash Yeah, and in 15 minutes you have a little 70 or 65 or something So that's pretty fun anyway the console version they do this season things and if you start a seasonal hero you start from scratch and You once the season is over he becomes a regular hero.
So next time that's a new season It's kind of to give people so that there's oh my god I found a yellow item that's better than what I have where a lot of the people that play a lot They'll keep hunting down a piece of gear that has a little bit better stats Which is you know takes it it's fun and everything but it's not gonna make your character that much better Once you hit like that guy I have you know, it's nothing crazy But he can do like torment 10 or something like that, which is like pretty up there But in in the console version is like the game is made for console is weird the bottom It's exactly as their mount of buttons you need to To really enjoy the game to really enjoy the game and it just like the controls and the big TV makes it a little Easy and then the way you quick join and leave games and stuff like that. It's just really really really well done I'm pretty I played it for a little bit and I just kind of got bored with it after a while How about you go home and buy it? I'm gonna buy it again. Yeah, I'm gonna buy it again Well, it's just like those dungeon crawlers kind of like wear on me a little bit sometimes That's just like this game is that there's always a reason to do a little more because that's what you're gonna see That one just wait to 2.0 because you played back.
Yeah, I played it when it first came out They literally they changed everything. There's no auction house. It's just it's just a very very well done dungeon crawl Okay, well I'll get that again. I'll get that another shot.
Blizzard is kind of kicking ass dude blizzard is kicking ass I you know, it's funny. Um, they had a I was listening to podcast. I was talking with split-screen They had I'm his name is blanking on me, but he is One of the lead programmers at Bethesda We was we worked on Fallout 3 in Skyrim and a little bit of Fallout 4 and he was talking about coding and stuff like that and Oh wait, I was lost my turn. I thought what were we talking about?
Blizzard. Oh blizzard and he mentioned that blizzard's really good at just focusing on one project and just making sure it's finished And then releasing it and that's why they released so little games. You know because Like a company like EA they put out games Right and then that's the kind of the problem that they also vector and ensues because it kind of incomplete when it first came out as opposed to blizzard who said we're making this game called Overwatch and this game is gonna kick your fucking ass And it did yeah, it became the top it became the top The top game in the genre like that and Colin doodie I guess I kind of fighting call of duty is realistic and the other one is not realistic So that's why you know, they both have their place But both of them are like top of top of the pop and there's probably some other ones that I don't know about but then you have games like Mobus I've ever gotten a mobus. I was really really fun.
Really into mobus. You know how it started It's crazy actually so the same thing with tower defense games. I love how it is like Is that you have you have here's the monsters and here's your base and they gradually get stronger and stronger You have to build towers the more monsters you kill the more you can upgrade your towers and make a detour for the For the monsters, so somebody made a oh that they're so fun. They're so they could you can Say tower defense is gonna be a bunch of them.
They're really fun They're the best way to make a plane ride happen in two seconds. So that was a blizzard game That was Warcraft 3 I think somebody made a mod to it the same with a moba I think it was somebody who made a mod to a warcraft 3 map where he said well There's gonna be three rows and then both are gonna release the exact same strength Kind of minions that are gonna try and get over and to your defense and your goal is to tear down all the towers and in the Tear down the fortress and then you heroes the five heroes you can run out you gain levels I think the first mobis you did gain levels, but you also had to buy equipment. I never really played it was called Dota yeah, yeah, that was the first version of the moba and then now there's a lot of mobas out there's League of Legends and there's a Paragon for PlayStation all this up heroes of the storm blizzard. It just wins.
It is amazing I heard League of Legends. I've never played the other ones I just I think I tried and it didn't really capture me, but then is it called League of Legends? I do know that but I've never played it and I don't keep up with all that all of my was good because League of Legends all those mobas though are competitive Yeah, they're like highly competitive. I bet that one is awesome.
I've never played it, but here is a storm It's amazing and then of course the most epic epic MMO in the world is World of Warcraft that is still to this day probably has 10 million players at the peak I think it has 14 million at each pay $15 a month. I can't do it I can't I can't do the pay-to-play model where you pay monthly and obviously you know the good thing about pay-to-play is What's the good thing? It is that everybody's equal if you play a game where it's free to play But you can pay for extra extra there's always somebody with an advantage over you That's a good thing that is a very good point a lot of people hate free to play because of that because even if it's a single player It's not going free to play. It's kind of like if you spend like $60 bucks in the deluxe pack You you're definitely gonna have an advantage and you get to be a different species or whatever those kind of things There's a lot of a lot of games like that and then what's the last one there from Blizzard?
Well, then there's dungeon crawlers Diablo. I mean, I think that it's definitely the top dungeon crawler Oh for sure. I would imagine you know for sure. They're just really oh in Starcraft to Starcraft It's like you know, you're much about Starcraft anymore now like it was like huge news when it came out Starcraft to like I don't know it was like 2008 and then kind of just kind of die off actually really weird because I love sci-fi I never played it.
I think it's just it felt like I don't know It just didn't feel like something I wanted to play and I think it was half finished too when it came out actually funny enough It only came out with one half of the game. You weren't able to compete until the second half came out You have to buy that too. That's a little weird. Yeah, it was something I don't know if they just released it because they weren't done or what it was but Well, I gotta wrap this up, man.
I think this would be talked for like about two hours Yeah, I think so video games in life. Yeah video games in life We went on a couple tangents there and but but all good I don't have a format for this though I just want people to say their mind and this was a really good one. This is a lot of fun So I thank you Soren Hansen Thank you so much for doing this man, and we'll do it again because I live 15 minutes away from you. That's crazy And so do you want to tell anybody?
We're gonna see you guys next when you guys playing again You guys releasing your other other album well, we're finishing up a lot of things production mixing all that stuff is like being done right now This is exciting thing. We make I think the album is really really good and we're gonna be without promoting one of us and I love that it's it was definitely a really personal song to us and it has a really positive message and I think that's great It's doing really well, so that's awesome And then we're gonna be out with three eleven also We're doing a bunch of festivals and then the two months with three eleven is gonna be so much fun I tell you this I can't wait to steal your record and put it out on torrents Man, it's such a good fucking record all the songs you've showed me so far man And it's like this is just a really fucking good record. Thank you so every single song has its own flavor and it's One of us just it's just so catchy. Thank you and then the other songs that you show me which I won't tell anybody All right, so I'll see you next time Thanks for having me Shame Thanks guys for tuning in to the podcast.
I fucking love that dude. I'm trying to get him to move to Nashville ever since I've met him Yeah, just stop him from throwing his fucking money away on rent in New York because it's man. It's just crazy I don't see how anyone can live out there if you do live out there. That's great.
New York's awesome. I love New York still though That's I don't see how you all You know are able to make that much money Anyway, it's been it's been a treat for him to be like 15 minutes away It's I mean because he's just so he's just become one of my really really good friends And it's really awesome when you meet new people especially on the road because you don't know how they're gonna be when you meet a new band You know the two you know you're the two opening bands and you don't know how you know they could be dicks because that does happen You know that does happen when you're on the road and you get a dick band and they're just they don't like to talk to you They think they're all that and everything and you're just like okay. All right. All right cool.
This uh this door will be great It's gonna be fantastic. So welcome Sorin to Nashville But no more people no more Nashville is full. We don't need anymore people Well, except for Louis v. Lewis you you and your girl are welcome you guys can come here from New York anytime With open arms.
We will we'll get you in here, but nobody else nobody else Um be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel wise drums and my instagram wise drum official and my facebook Also wise drum everything is wise drums. Uh my twitter is the wise drums I lost my blue check because I wanted to change it from I underscore am underscore massamoon it's way too complicated of a name Uh it's just uh I'm just I'm silly. I don't know social media. I don't know how to social I don't know how to do it Um Subscribe to the podcast and please rate it if you like it because that will help me climb the mountain of amazing podcasts out there Um As far as drum covers are concerned.
I'm working on it That's where I'm working on it. I don't have a studio to play loud and I'm just I live in my house So my house doesn't have like a a Convenient place to play drums right now. Um because of noise complaining and stuff like that. So I'm working on it Um I'm actually going over to my buddy studio next week to figure some sounds out for the new electronic drum set I got the infused kit that I got that retrofit retrofits on top of your actual drum set So I'm excited to get into that and use that um yeah, so that's it.
Well, thanks for listening guys and uh say tune for more episodes And uh you guys have a fantastic day slash evening slash whatever. All right guys. See you later