Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: This is outside the round with Matt Burrill, a Rage Rowdy podcast.
Well, my boy David J, I've been looking forward to getting you on a podcast.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: I've been looking forward to do this.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Podcast because you and I have something in common in that we are what folks call damn Yankees. We're not just Yankees and that we're from Northeast, particularly New York, but we're damn Yankees because we haven't gone home yet. Like, we have made this place home. So it's good to have you today, dude. And when this podcast drops, it is the release day of your big record, bro, which is fucking fantastic.
Tell us a little bit about what went into all of that. Because you're 20 years old, most 20 year old kids are not making records.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: No, I mean, I was producing my own records from my bedroom in New York since I was like 15, so I always loved making music. But specifically these songs, we wrote them all over the country. Like obviously Nashville, we had some. I wrote one of them with my best friend in New York, which was special in the first studio that I ever recorded.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: My first. Oh, shit.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Yeah. So that was a special one that was called Lie to me. And then obviously I wrote a bunch of them in Los Angeles with a couple of my good buddies out there. So all over, all different kinds of stuff, dude.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Shout out to Rotterdam, New York. That's a suburb of Albany, right?
[00:01:40] Speaker B: The motto is a nice place to live. Not great, not bad.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: A nice place. That reminds me, like, because I'm from Rockland county, so I grew up down by like Tapanzee Bridge, Palisades Mall.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: So closer like that Jersey border. A little bit closer, like the tri state. And there was a town there called Pearl river and the motto was a town of friendly people. And that was just what they went with.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: It's such bullshit in New York, dude.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: It really is. I mean, that town's like a 95% irish catholic town. They've had the cardinal come to the catholic church, comes to their St. Patrick's Day every year.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Off the boat it's like they have like a little strip. The New York small towns thing. I'm sure over the years you've gotten shit like being from New York. What do you know about country music, man? You're from New York, you're from the city, but you're not from the city, you're from the country, you're from upstate, bro.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Listen, I've got my four wheeler stuck in mud just as many times as these dudes from Georgia had. And I guarantee I'll catch more fish than any of these dudes down here.
[00:02:38] Speaker A: That's what I'm saying. You know all about being up there in the finger lakes, bro, in the Adirondacks and the cat skills up in the shit.
The music history of upstate New York from. With even places a little bit, like, in between us, like, Bethel woods, where Woodstock happened. It gets hippie up there. It gets country up there. You got people with, like, elk farms. You got all kinds of people. Don't know how much green is in the state of New York.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: I love going back there now. It feels just like a Tennessee in the summer. You wouldn't know where.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Yeah, you have your small town. Everybody knows your name. It's not this big city that everybody moves to. There's such a difference in the different sections of New York. And growing up, you got to have Albany. It's the capital of the state. And you've also got some good colleges up there, too. Like, you've got some places to party. And I know we talk about visit when I go.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Sienna, bro.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Sienna. And, dude, I grew up. It was funny. I remember watching, like, you're a little younger than I am, but Sienna in the basketball tournament, the Saints have had some good years, and it's like, I went to Ryder, so I went to a school that's in the Mac, the metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, for those that don't know. Basically, it's all the catholic schools and then, like, three schools that aren't religiously affiliated, like Ryder and Quinnipiac and Monmouth. But Sienna would always. I would always hate playing, like, because I worked for the athletic department, and I've always hated, because you guys just had big white dudes that would hit threes. There was just a streak of Sienna. Sienna would ball out. And then I always heard good things about the party in Sienna, like, it's a good time.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: I never went to college, so I never got.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Clearly, your college is music.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: When I go back home, I'll go back home for weekends during college, and I'll go with my little 18 year old friends that are still in college there. And I pull up, dude, I swear to God, we went there one time. I was like, I might have to go to college for a year, but if I went to college, though, it would not be good. So I was like, we're going to go here for one night, and then we're never going to come back again.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. Was college ever an option, or was music?
Because when COVID hits, that's coming up on literally like four years from right now.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: I was in 11th grade when COVID hit. And COVID is when I started doing the TikTok and really going hard on it. Yeah.
Before music and before I had anything going, I wanted to go to college for sports because I was really good at wrestling, baseball and football.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: That's a New Yorker right there. Sound out wrestling. The southern folk don't know about high school wrestling. They don't know about the math.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: It's the thing if you lost, I was like the wrestler, wrestler kid. Since I was four years old, my dad had me in the private lessons. If I lose a tournament, you're fucking walking home. Wrestling. New York wrestling, bro. It's hardcore thing. Yeah, all these pussies.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: You can say whatever, you're good.
Shout out to Cecilia from.
We brought the PR team out with us, so you're good. You're good.
Because where I was. What section were you guys?
[00:05:46] Speaker B: Two.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: You were section two.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: So we were section red singlets.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: So we were section one where I was. So we had schools like North Rockland and all the Westchester schools, like Maerneck and Scarsdale and all those guys. And then you had all these pricks from Long island that would come up too.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Yeah, there's always be like that one really fucking good kid from Long island that had no life, that would just come and wipe the whole fucking tournament every time.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And then like, the kids from Blair Academy just over the border in Jersey.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: And the Vermont kids sucked.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Never. See, I never had anything with Vermont, dude.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: There's this one school in Vermont and they had like, just mountain men, dude. I used to get fucked by them in tournaments, dude.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: It's crazy because there is such like a culture. And I never wrestled, but I worked with the MSG varsity network coming up with that, so I got to help out with actually host. I went to Clarkstown south and we hosted the state battle between New York and New Jersey. That's the show.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: That's a big one.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: We hosted it one time. And just the camaraderie that comes with wrestling and the family aspect of like, they turn the heat up in those wrestling rooms. They turn the heat up. And I remember guys wearing three or four layers, dude, I drop a pound and they're spitting to a bottle. They're not even dipping, they're just spitting into a bottle.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: I was maybe ten to twelve years old and we were doing this tournament in Syracuse and it was called like Gene Mills or something. And I hated cutting wings. I was a little chubby, fat kid. I'd love to eat. So my dad, I didn't make weight for a tournament. We drove like 3 hours away. He had me running around, I was crying. I was running around a gym at 06:00 a.m.. Spitting. I had Minson spitting in a cup while I'm running with three trash bags on sweatpants. And we had the heat on like 100.
My dad used me do crazy shit to lose weight. Yeah. I would never trade it again because it made me tough.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: It makes getting in a studio and recording songs seem so much.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: This is so easy. It's very competitive too. I definitely. See, I'm really competitive in sports, but in music too, which is really bad sometimes because it shouldn't be. But I'm always pedaled down, like, fuck that, let's go.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Yeah, it's funny you talk about pedal down and your boys that you. Yeah, you have such a fun crew.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: We got a good guys, dude.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: I think of guys like Eddie Everly.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: Eddie in the getaway.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: I think of Graham, I think of Bo, or as Graham calls him, spanky, which I don't know if that's little rascal shit or where that comes from. Some Louisiana shit. I don't know.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: I didn't get that.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: But you've got like a good crew of homies, guys and girls that are in this town. What's it been like coming from Rotterdam, New York, to a city like Nashville?
[00:08:31] Speaker B: I mean, Eddie was the first person I met here. I remember I was flying down from New York and I was staying at some girl's house down here one time, and I was like, I can't do this. So I was like, Eddie, I got to sleep at your house tonight. So that's where we started, our bunk beds. And I slept on his bunk bed for five months, rent free. We would wake up together, go to bed together, say goodnight, high five each other on the bunk bed, wake up just like fucking ready to go the next day. It was honestly the greatest five months ever. We literally did everything. And then I moved in with him. I had my own room at one point. I think at the beginning I still slept in the bunk bed, even though I had my own bed in there because we were just so used to just fucking. We shared a bathroom for those five months, which was incredibly.
[00:09:14] Speaker A: You said you didn't go to college. That's your college.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: That was my college.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: Eddie was your roommate.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: Eddie was my roommate. It was a good time. We bought matching mopeds down the road. It was a whole fucking thing, dude.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: I can imagine you two goons going around on the mopeds, too, dude, down music road.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Just.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Peace, man. Yeah.
So how many years ago did you move here now?
[00:09:37] Speaker B: So I moved here officially. Like, I've been here for two years, but when I was 16 or 716 17, right when that COVID happened and I didn't have school, I was flying down to sleep on one of my producers couches before anything with, like, Eddie's house. And I was sleeping on a fucking love seat with my feet hanging off.
I stayed there for two months on a love seat, and I didn't have really anything going on. We were just writing songs in this room. But that's when I started coming down when I was 16, really sleeping on couch, waking up an hour early to do school online because New York's an hour ahead. So I was just grinding as hard as I could.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: That's the thing to me. Some people get spoiled and don't have to couch surf when they move down here. You got to come down. Part of the journey, bro, is that grind of couch surfing your feet.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: I was a couch slut. I slept on everybody's couch, dude.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: I had buddies like my budy Joey. He's out in John Morgan's band now, but he lived on my couch for a long know, and then I would come down to visit and stay on my budy dave's couch. I had, like, a crew of Jersey guys convinced me to move down here and I'd stay at their place. And it was just degeneracy at a very high level. Like, wild shit. Yeah, dude, that's fucking, like being as young as you are. Like, the fact that all this shit's happening and you're getting to do what you're doing and have the connections that you have. What's working with fucking Ryan Tedder? Like, how does that all come to be? Because it's good to have teams around you. You've got, like, the Avengers around you, bro. Between gray area, between Sony, between, like, you have got all the tools that you need, plus who you are.
What was it like meeting him for the first time? And how did that out? Was that a DM thing?
[00:11:21] Speaker B: So now we connected through one of our other buddies or something, and he was following me on TikTok and stuff. And we've always kind of knew each other for a couple years, just following each other and then had some things go start happening. And then I was in LA and he's like, Ryan wants to meet you and stuff. And I was just like, shit in my pants. I was like, fuck. I had to play songs for him that I've written. I was like, he's going to think they suck. So I had to come. I remember shaking when I met him. Yeah, hopefully he doesn't see this. Sorry, Ryan.
But yeah, I played him songs. We met at one of his studio houses out there and ever since then he's been a great mentor, friend and, yeah, just a great collaborator.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: You remember listening to the one republic, like, growing up?
[00:12:03] Speaker B: I remember I was listening to apologize in my cousin's living room when I was like six, seven. I was like, honestly, I didn't know Ryan sang it for a long time because there was a YouTube video of Taylor Lautner doing it on the wall. Yeah, I told Ryan, I was like, bro, I thought Taylor Lautner was this song for like, twilight, shark boy, lava girl, literally.
He's been great, though. He helps with so much stuff and he's a great person to have, dude.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, just so many kids. I say kids because you are still like a kid, bro. You're getting to live out like a fucking dream at such a young age. Have you been out in the road at all?
[00:12:41] Speaker B: Yeah, we were touring, actually, when I kind of started everything at the same time. So when I was like 1615, I was playing open mic nights and they always told me I wasn't old enough to play at the bar. So then I have to go to an open mic night and show them I suck. So we'd go there and then I would. Eventually, a couple of months later, I was playing like the headline slot from seven to ten. I was opening up for 50 cent. I remember one time at a 50, I opened for 50 cent.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Where was that at?
[00:13:10] Speaker B: At a par. It's called Gaffneys in Saratoga.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: I've had some times up there, bud.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: Ain't we all?
I opened for 50 and I remember I was like 17 and I was in VIP with him, like, girls everywhere. I was like, what am I doing? I was sitting there by myself with him and he tried to offer me a bottle of his tequila he was promoting. And my dumb ass like, oh, I'm good. No thanks. I definitely should have took it from him, but I had some crazy times over in Saratoga, dude. Yeah.
[00:13:40] Speaker A: I've been to sPAc a few times for shows and I tell people that because we go out to a lot of shows on the road this summer. I used to do the touring thing and be out with guys, but now it's like going to concerts again is so much fun. And the show that my boys back in York, I'm sure. Obviously, you still have your boys in York. I still got my homies. I've got Anthony and Joe and four other matches with their gold chains.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, dude.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: Yeah. I got Anthony Navarro, Joe Griffin, Maddie Cummings. I got all my guys, and they're like, bro, you got to come to the Creed show in Saratoga.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: That's fun.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: I'm like, I might have to figure out a way to get up to SPaC to see Creed up there, because the live music, like, the venues that are in New York and the college towns that are in the state of New York, it's a market I didn't get to enjoy a lot because I moved down here at 23, and I did most of my radio stuff in Jersey, so I didn't get to.
I didn't. I didn't get to go to Cortica. I didn't get to go to Buffalo. I didn't get to go party in Plattsburg and take that spontaneous trip to Montreal or something. My step brother went to.
To. I almost went into the SUNY system.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: But I'm in the SUNY system.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: You basically are.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: I hit Sienna Albany when we go.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: That, to me, I think a college tour would crush. If there's enough.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: I want to do a college tour so bad, but I think, yeah, it would not be good, but we would do it.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: No, I think you'd learn a lot of things about yourself, and you'd really get. Have you done headlining stuff, full headlining stuff yet, or has it been a.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Lot of first tours in April.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Your first tour headline?
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: So it's happening.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: It's happening.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Where are you going? I'm about to pull up the dates right now.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: About to google that.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: You're not supposed to know. That's why you have a team.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: Oh, you're doing okay.
Website looks good, bro. I'm on the website right now. Looks good. Good job on the website over there, team. Oh, you're going. Okay. I love this, dude. You're doing the Mercury lounge, bro. I remember when Luke Combs played the fucking mercury.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Really, bro?
[00:15:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that room. That's such a cool room. And you got to go, I don't.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: Know how, there for a couple of times.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Yeah, dude, you got to go up the street a little bit. Go to cat's deli. Get you a $30 pastrami sandwich. So bad out, dude. Syracuse, like a hometown kind of at Lost Horizon, Toronto, Wayne, DC, Columbus. You're going all over the place. Oh, you're doing the intersection, bro. I love that.
That place is dope. I did the stash. The smaller room in there in Muscadine before COVID Yeah. Dude, this is such a cool tour for you to go on. Like, to kick it off because you start out in your home neck of the woods, where your base is, where the homies and the family can come. The best way to do it, bro. 100% fucking exciting, man. I didn't know you had all the tour stuff coming. That's fucking sick. Some cool fucking towns, Wayne. Columbus, Ohio. Have you been to Columbus yet?
[00:16:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: You have been to Columbus?
[00:16:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I love Columbus.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: How many different college towns have you been doing partied at? Because you.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: A lot. We played, like, the library in Mississippi.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: Oh, the library in Oxford. Yeah, library in Oxford.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: We've had some good times.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: The library is wild.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Yeah, it was nuts.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: Oxford's nuts.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: Oxford. What do you think?
[00:17:02] Speaker A: You've probably seen it. Like, I feel like there's a huge difference between northern college towns and southern college towns.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: It's definitely a thing. You could tell where you are upstate when we go to Sienna. It's not like we're in Oxford, Mississippi.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Or tuscaloosa.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: Or Tuscaloosa. Like, yeah, way more chances somebody's going to get in a fight in the northern college.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Really?
I see that a lot because I've been through Statesboro, through Starkville, through Tuscaloosa, all over Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, even, like, Baton Rouge. All those just. And the way the kids dress.
If we're going to a college sporting event, we're not dressing up like we're going to church.
There's a whole different kind of culture. Like, the frat parties are different.
[00:17:50] Speaker B: The parties down south, they're going to have their belt buckles, their boots, like the little hat. New York, you're going to get Tims and ripped jeans.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Oh, dude, I almost wore my Timbs today. So close. I should have messaged you to wear the Tims, but, dude, so talking about this record now, commitment issues, I couldn't think of a better title for you because that's, like, when I think of you, there's guys that are hopeless. Like, romantics. You're a damn warrior out there, bro.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: You're not even fighting for my life.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: Yeah, you're not even like, a slider.
You're in the.
The. You're the guy. I know. We had some fun with you at the award.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Sweating so bad for that.
[00:18:33] Speaker A: I was so scared when I saw Graham and those guys coming up asking questions. I was like, oh, poor boys. About to get it, but talk about where the idea for the title of the record kind of came from. For those that don't know.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: I'm not very, a very committed person to things. I have really bad.
We'll start low. Like, really bad. Like ADHD, you always want to do different things. You don't want to say, oh, I don't want to go. I don't know what to wear ever. And then obviously, I've had a couple of my ex girlfriends have said, like, oh, why can't you have so bad commitment issues?
Is either like, dump me or date me. And I was like, I don't know.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: Yeah, dude, but you're also a 20 year old kid. I didn't know what the fuck I was doing at 20. See, I got sober when I was 21. So 20 year old me was wild, bro. I was up and down the Jersey shore.
[00:19:27] Speaker B: I was getting out, dude, don't start me on the Jersey shore. You would go down there, bro. Wildwood, how long was my shit?
[00:19:32] Speaker A: How long of a trip is it for you from Rotterdam to wild?
[00:19:35] Speaker B: 4 hours. We went there every summer because I was going to say Atlantic City brigantine, bro. I lived there in the summer. Yeah.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: My grandparents live in warehound now, and I have family that lived in Jackson near six Flags. How old? Near, like, point pleasant. I used to go to jenks all the time. Used to go to Martell's, used to party. Party a little bit further up in Asbury, go to Hoboken, which obviously isn't the shore, but we used to party in Hoboken all the time, dude.
Where are some of your favorite spots to?
What's partying? As a 20 year old in Nashville.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: With a crew, like, I'm not going to lie.
I don't drink. I never went to college, so I never got into going to parties or high school.
I know it seems like now it seems like I haven't done anything or I'm partying all the time, but people always think that. And I don't drink, I don't go to bars. I sit home and I work really hard when I don't post it, and people see, but since I was 15, I was always trying whatever I could. I was like, I'm not going to party. Go out with my friends in high school. I'm going to get to a point where I have enough money, career, success going on, and then I'll party. I was like, I'm just going to wait. I know if I keep my head down, I'm going to be ahead of these people that are my age, and that's hopefully what I think helped me get to where I am at this age. I never went to parties, anything. I still don't drink, so. Hanging strong?
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Yeah, dude, I give you a lot of credit for that, especially because you're kind of in an interesting position to where you're a few different genres of music. Obviously, you're a country artist, you're on a country label, you're doing the country thing, but there's elements of pop in there where it can cross over in a bunch of different directions. And then for you, you're an Internet guy.
You came up in this TikTok generation to where you're not just entertaining people with your music, you're entertaining people by being David J. By being you. What's that kind of balance?
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Like, I mean, obviously, I said during COVID is when I kind of got some things going and I couldn't meet anybody in person because I couldn't do shows, so I had to get really good at that. I'm like, this is the time where you don't have to really do anything crazy and you can blow up for some reason. So I sat in my jeep and just made videos in my little driveway in New York. I remember one time I backed into my dad's truck. I was looking for good lighting, and I fucking smashed his whole front end. He was in the car. It was a whole fucking thing. But, yeah, I remember just doing like, I always was always big on just being myself. People are either going to like me or they're going to fucking hate me. That's kind of where I live my life. And I was just like, try to make people happy. However I can. Make somebody's day online and do anything. Everybody always, if anybody ever dms me, oh, blah blah blah's birthday, send a video. I'll always do that shit. Just because I never want to be somebody, because I remember looking up to some of my people when I was in New York, and I'm like, these guys don't ever react with their fans. And I was like, I'm never going to not do that. So I do whatever I can to just make somebody's day or just talk to people that support me.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Yeah, so the comments, and I actually watched some of your Instagram live last night. Oh, yeah, I watched a little bit of that. I don't get on there too often, but. Who was that you had in that video with you?
[00:22:51] Speaker B: That's my guitar player, Sean Dunbar. Like, my built in funny story about him. When I was in New York, he used to be, like, a fan when I was first coming up.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:23:00] Speaker B: He dm'd me way back then. Like, love your stuff, bro. He was in Boston. Big Boston guy. So we get along great.
And I was like, dude, this kid's chill as fuck. And so we DM and we used to write over FaceTime, and I put a song out way back. That was not a good song. But originally we met through DM. We wrote a song together way back, and it's crazy to see us now. We're going on our first tour together and best friends living in Nashville, so it was kind of like a good circle moment for us.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: That's cool. You go from that dynamic that reminds me of back in the day. A lot of people don't know this.
People talk about the Luke Bryan Cole Swindell thing. Yeah, they met was Cole was helping Luke load out at shows when he was a student at Georgia Southern and then was like, hey, come sell merch. And now fast forward all these years later. So it's cool to find homies along the way.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: That's what I try to do. I'd rather take. You can go get anybody that any musician caliber in Nashville you want. But if I'm not having a good time with the people I'm with, I don't care how good they are. I would rather much do stuff with my friends. And it's such a more better experience.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: The hang is just as important.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: So much more talent.
[00:24:09] Speaker A: You really need the hang, especially when you're going out in a van with the boy.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: Because I've done that. I did that for a long time where I was driving bands around in a van, being the paid babysitter, which is known as a tour manager, which you'll have, and it's your family. It's like being on the wrestling team in high school and getting on the bus.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: On the bus every morning. 06:00 a.m., yeah, dude, it's just like that.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: That, to me, is why I think so many guys and girls that come up and have played sports do so well with touring.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: They really do love it so much.
[00:24:44] Speaker A: Because it feels like game day. Show day is game day, bro.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: It's game day 100%. I remember, like, football practice.
It's so weird. I remember the feeling going, like, taking the bus away. Games for football. It feels just like I'm going to a show. The ride there, like headphones. You do the same routine. You just don't hit people. And try to fuck them up, and you just go sing. It's like two different things, but they feel the same to me.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: So what high school did you go to?
[00:25:07] Speaker B: It's called Shellmont.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: What was y'all's mascot?
[00:25:11] Speaker B: It was a saber.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: A saber? Okay. Kind of like the buffalo saber. Like the saber toothed tiger kind of thing. What colors did they have, you guys?
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Rocking? Green and white.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Green and white? Oh, yeah. That's cool. See, we had brown and yellow. We were like Wyoming.
[00:25:23] Speaker B: Damn.
[00:25:24] Speaker A: It's like brown and gold. And we were the Vikings.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: That's pretty badass.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: It was cool to be like the Vikings and stuff. Where did you play? On the football field.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: I was a quarterback.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: You were a quarterback?
[00:25:33] Speaker B: So my uncle was in the NFL.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:25:36] Speaker B: Since I was little. He was always, like, training me.
[00:25:38] Speaker A: Who's your uncle?
[00:25:39] Speaker B: He wasn't like Tom Brady, but his name was Tom Chacio. He played in the Cardinals.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: Oh, sick.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: So growing up, he always would help me throw and just taught me everything.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: He's like. He's like tommy Devito before. Tommy Devito.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Chacio, he was ahead of his time.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: Yeah, he played a real trick.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Yeah, he walked so that Devito could run.
We love seeing some italian American.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: 100% sports.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: And I'm guessing you have a lot of italian in your blood.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I can't tell with the hand.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Dude, are you 100% or are you like.
[00:26:12] Speaker B: No, I think I'm like 57, 50 or 75%. But, yeah, we do Sunday dinner, so I'm pretty fucking italian.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: Do you call it sauce or gravy?
[00:26:20] Speaker B: Sauce.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: I call it sauce as well.
[00:26:22] Speaker B: Gravy.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: People call it gravy. Like my budy Anthony, the Navarros, they call it gravy.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: Navarro is really italian?
[00:26:28] Speaker A: Oh, dude. Yeah, his dad was NYPD cop. I remember at his confirmation. At his confirmation party, there were all these dudes in suits and just coming up and handing his dad envelopes, and I was like, oh, Christ, here we go. Here we go.
The culture up there of that family style, because it is very hustle and bustle, but the element. You seem like a big family guy. I know. The way you're talking about your experiences with your dad, in particular, tell me that you guys are very close.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: Oh, dude, my dad right now, he's at my house.
They're mapping the tour out with my manager because my dad comes with us and drives.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: Oh, your dad comes on the road?
[00:27:10] Speaker B: My dad is him bro. On the road. Growing up, though, doing shows, it wasn't cool to have your dad with you? So we'd go to shows and girls would be like, who's that? So we nicknamed my dad TMD tour manager Dave. And we would never say dad. So it looked like I wasn't like twelve years old talking to these girls. So he was always TMD. And he was always a dog on the road. It was like, so fucking fun.
[00:27:31] Speaker A: That to me, just make. Dude, that is the most, like, italian.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: We bought him TMD Shirt.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: Dude, I got to get out to a show. I got to meet TMD.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Yeah, he's a legend. Everybody knows TMD.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: What did he do for work?
[00:27:44] Speaker B: So he owns a carpet store in flooring in New York. Yeah. So he kind of just comes whenever.
[00:27:51] Speaker A: Nice. That's cool, dude.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Your parents like, coming down here?
[00:27:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, yeah. My mom, brother, they all.
[00:27:58] Speaker A: My family comes down here all the time.
They. They love it. And I think that made the move down here a little bit.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: Oh, so much easier. That's why I still go to New York a lot, because they're all up there and I have to rebalance sometimes because living down here, you'll get stuck in the songwriter thing with songs. But then I go home and listen. My friends are listening to songs that were cool for us down here. Maybe a year later, they get it later. So it's always good to go back. That's why I kind of test how I write songs and stuff. I see what they're listening to in the market I want, and I'm like, it's all simple shit. They're not too heady like some of these Nashville songs are. They don't listen to any of those. I got to be just simple.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: We get put in a bubble here. Yes, we get put in such a bubble here. And it's tough, like you said, when you go home and you get that clarity, you're like, oh, this is simple shit.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: We can do this.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. And it's like, what people? It's like, you could be as big as you want in town, but if you're not selling tickets, you're not getting streams. You don't have a base in other parts outside of Nashville. You could be as midtown fucking famous as you want. But if you're not relating to folks outside of the six one five, you're not doing it right. You're not going to have a career. You play as many rounds. And trust me, we're like the writers round guy. That's what we do.
We do a lot of events in town, but if you really want to grow, like, having that relatability to the common listener.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: You almost can't think about people here when you're posting or writing songs. I know you're going to go to live Oak, and if you go play this song, it's going to be like they've heard it a thousand times, but to that college girl, that 20 year old kid in New York, they don't hear it as much as we do here, so it's a different thing to see. And it really has helped me writing songs, because I know when I get here, to stay here for too long of a time in sessions, you're trying to flip these crazy things, make fucking this work with that.
I go to New York and they're like, oh, this song's cool. And you're like, that song still. I'm like, all right, fuck, we'll just do that. Yeah, it's so easy.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
What advice would you have for someone that's trying to figure out this TikTok thing? Because your generation, we have a razor outdy account. I have an outside the round account. I don't know what. And I'm almost 30, so I'm kind of almost a generation behind you or ahead of you. So it's like, I remember vine and different things, but the TikTok thing just went, whoosh. Right over my head.
What is it like, what do you do?
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Like, yo, this is how I do it. Honestly, I would say it's all luck. It really is. Some songs that blow up on TikTok, you're like, how? But it's all algorithm. And something about your video that you might not see people all over the world, that's fucking different and stuff. But honestly, I would say post as much as you can. Make good, quality content. Don't just post a post, throw shit up. Make sure you're putting something that people think is at least value to them. And don't always be like, want go. Presave this every day, and blah, blah, blah. I'd say show who you are. Connect with people. Make them think like you're their friend. Because at the end of the day, nobody in the industry is going to give a fuck if your fans aren't the ones pushing you and driving your stuff. So make stuff for them, not for people that work in the music industry. I'd say, yeah, that'll follow when they see the people.
[00:31:23] Speaker A: Yeah. If you can spark the match, they can pour the gas on the fire. But sparking the match has to be the thing that's unique to you. If you had any moments where you're like, man, I hate doing this, or has it just become such a part of your process every other day?
[00:31:38] Speaker B: You're like, oh, you think this is the worst thing about TikTok is you get a song, you're like, this is it. I fucking love this song. You could put all your heart in it. You're like, this is the one. If I post it and it doesn't do as good as I want, I'm like, maybe, which is really kind of fucked up for people's mental health. I feel like if they post a song that they think is great, it's going to be the one and it doesn't pop off how they think. It'll definitely kind of depress you a little bit because I've had those times where I'm like, fuck, this was going to be the one. What do I do now? But it's just a dumb app. It can go away tomorrow, make good music. People will find it. Don't give a fuck what people on TikTok say or if you can't get views, because there could be the greatest artist with a hundred followers out there and it guarantees better than somebody with a million. So I wouldn't fucking worry about that shit.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: That's good. Those are good words right there. You are wise beyond your years, bro. And the latest single that you've put out, I know we're talking about the album that came out today. The latest single that you put out, bro, came out on Valentine's Day. Oh, yeah. You got steamy, bro.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: It did.
[00:32:42] Speaker A: You got fucking steamy. Better off, better off, better off. Who'd you write that one with?
[00:32:48] Speaker B: My boy Seth ally and Pete Edwards.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: Because that, that when you put out, like, a song, like.
Cause that's. That's the direct, like, I obviously love.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: To do country, and I want to be in country, but I grew up listening to. I started to learn how to sing. Listening to Chris Brown, Justin Bieber and.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: All that stuff, it reminded me of, like, neo.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: So we were writing a pitch that day. It wasn't supposed to be for me. And I posted on TikToks. I thought it was cool, and I was going to try to get it pitched to somebody and it fucking got like 13,000 UGCs in two weeks. And I was like, fuck, this is going to fuck some shit up. So I'm like, you know what? Let's just put it out. So I put it out and I think it's found its people, but I just want to do what I want. If I like something and it does, well, people like it. I don't see any problem why somebody shouldn't do it if they're not a country, if they're a country artist, I think if something goes and people like it, who gives a. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, who cares? They're going to listen to it. They're not going to say, oh, if Luke Bryan does a pop song, I'm not going to listen to it. But if it's a really good song, you're like, who cares? You like it either way, it's not a big deal. I think people get wrapped in that too much. Yeah.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: There's so many layers to the onion of each artist.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: And I think right now is the absolute best time to be doing that.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: 100% Beyonce.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: The fact that Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs are on Z 100 is nuts. The fact that they are on pop stations, that just tells you. And the Beyonce crossover stuff and this. And if there's a time for a guy like yourself to be coming up, like folks that are bending genres and just putting out music, doesn't have to be country, doesn't have to be pop, doesn't have to be rock, rap, hip hop, gospel, whatever the fuck. No, as long as it's music and it's by David J. It's your music, whatever the fuck you want it to be. And your fans, if their rider dies.
[00:34:45] Speaker B: They'Re going to resonate.
[00:34:47] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I'm saying, dude. That's what I'm saying. So this record being out, when did the process for it kind of start? Because I know I've seen some artists take like two years to put out a record where they start it in the beginning.
[00:35:02] Speaker B: Yeah, no, like I said, I have crippling, like, ADHD.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: Real quick ADHD thing. What medicine were you on growing up?
[00:35:11] Speaker B: I didn't take it.
[00:35:11] Speaker A: You didn't take it?
[00:35:12] Speaker B: I just fucking raw dogged you.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: Just raw dog. I was on concerta growing up. I was a concerta 54 milligram kid. Twelve hour slow release.
[00:35:19] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: I was on that shit. I was on that shit for a long time.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I just move so fast with things. Like something doesn't work, bang, reroute to something else. But we started the record, maybe I'd say I wrote the first song. The first song I wrote actually was after we broke up for it. It was my first time in LA writing.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: Great song, by the way. Big fucking. That's going to be one that's going to stand. That's a David J. Staple right there for eternity.
[00:35:47] Speaker B: And then actually, a lot of these songs are when me and my ex girlfriend broke up. So a lot of these songs are still from past stuff, from years two years ago. So I wrote a lot about that, which helped with those songs a lot. Yeah, I would say I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my ex girlfriend because I got my record deal off those songs.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: Shout out to the ex.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: Shout out, shorty.
[00:36:12] Speaker A: So what's your status right now? You a single dude out in these streets or what?
Because you made it through Valentine's Day, cuffing season just happened. And also, I got to ask you about DM stuff, and I know it's like part of your character, part of who you are.
I'm in the best relationship in my life.
[00:36:34] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:36:34] Speaker A: It's a woman that's older than me, dude. Let's go.
She's got a few years on me and whatever, but we met through Instagram. DMs.
[00:36:47] Speaker B: Did you slide?
[00:36:48] Speaker A: So I put up a story at the time, I'd recently broken up with an ex, and I put up a post and used my budy Trey's song single again and put that of. It was a degenerate. It pissed off the ex. It was wild.
And then within a couple of weeks, not saying that Aaron, my current girlfriend, saw that, but I just put up, like, a funny story. And all she did was laugh at it. But I didn't know she existed before. Is her reacting with a laugh a DM slide? Is that initiating conversation or is that just a reaction? Because this has been barbershop conversation. Shout out to elusive studio. My barbershop that we go to, all the girls in the studio are like, we're just reacting to it. That doesn't count as a slide. All the dudes like, bro, she's sliding.
[00:37:37] Speaker B: If there is any message where her name pops up in the top of your DM and it says she did something first, that is a slide. Okay, folks, that is a class one slide. If anything happens, I don't care if she's got a boyfriend, married, she's first. She slid.
It could be a class B slide if it was a reaction.
[00:38:01] Speaker A: Yeah, it was a laugh, and it.
[00:38:02] Speaker B: Wasn'T like a typing in a message.
That's a class A slide.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: That's a class A slide. I love how we have different classes.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: There's different classes. Class C slide. Is her just liking a story? You know, how you can see who.
[00:38:13] Speaker A: Likes just little heart that's a class C. Okay.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: Class B, a reaction, because it still goes to you. Class A is some typing in a send.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: So what's the move of getting into the DMs? Are you a class A? Just go for it.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: It depends on the situation.
[00:38:32] Speaker A: Like, if you know the girl, need.
[00:38:34] Speaker B: To weigh your ODs. If it's a risky one, you might do a class B.
[00:38:39] Speaker A: What constitutes a risky. That you know them or that you don't know them or that they might.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Know you or something.
You got to proceed with a class B. Class C slide. Class A, you're just like, fuck it. Balls to the wall. I'm going to go for it. And there's different things.
It's a hard thing.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: It's different factors. And you think it's different for girls sliding in than it is guys sliding in?
[00:39:01] Speaker B: Yes, 100%. Girl slides in. It's like, what's up? Are we going to get married? Or like. No, but they mean more. I will say girls mean more with any class of a slide. Yeah, I think any girl.
This is really fucked up. We better get a lot of views on this.
I'm saying if a girl, if she's reacting like you said, hits you with the lap, I think she's interested. But I'm also the guy that I go to dinner, and the waitress asks what we want to eat. I'm like, she's hitting on me for sure.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: Oh, you're that guy in the front. I have budies back home that are like, that.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: Like, dude, she wants me.
[00:39:42] Speaker A: Or like, we're on the road, and the girl brings in the food that I ordered, and the guitar player is like, man, she just loves me. And I'm like, no, she just brought us the food that I put in.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I will say I have done that a couple of times. I'm that guy.
[00:39:55] Speaker A: Have you ever left the phone number for a server on the thing? Has it ever worked?
[00:40:00] Speaker B: So you do it as the tip usually, but be careful because it could max your credit card out. You need to make sure.
[00:40:06] Speaker A: Has that happened?
[00:40:07] Speaker B: No, but it could. I thought about it last night, so we were at Outback. Okay, funny start. We were at Outback last night.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:40:12] Speaker B: Never been to outback in my life.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: Outback's pretty dope. It's pretty good.
[00:40:16] Speaker B: It was all right.
[00:40:16] Speaker A: It's a solid chain.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: It's a solid chain. Yes. It's great.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: It ain't chili's, but it's chili's.
[00:40:23] Speaker B: So we're at Outback, and we were sitting down and stuff, and I could see there was like seven people through the kitchen just all staring, like, laughing. I was like, I think they knew who we were or something. So they came up to us. Our waitress was like, hey. They played it off really chilled out. They were like, what do you guys do for the questions your waitress doesn't ask on a normal basis? So she, me and Sean were at dinner. She goes, what do you guys just like? She's like, we all think you're a DJ. And I was like, okay. So I was like, not a DJ. I think I made a joke, like a rapper or something. She's like, oh, okay. Walks away. Two minutes later, she comes back. She goes, are you David J? And I was like, yeah. She's like, oh, our manager loves you and stuff. I was like, oh, tell her to come over. We hung out with her. She was a great lady, actually. We got fucking twelve free loaves of bread, bro.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: The outback bread hooked it. The best fuck up part of the outback.
[00:41:23] Speaker B: Twelve loaves of outbreak.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:25] Speaker B: I'll give you a slice, dude. Yes, it was a good time. That was my outback story.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: That's awesome. Is it weird to have people have people recognizing you outside of the hometown and stuff?
[00:41:35] Speaker B: Yeah, because I'm never like the person, you know, some people, you'll go out with them, they want people to like.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: You'Re a quiet dude. Because I've been out with you before. I've seen you at events and out at writers nights and things like that, and you're very chill.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: I was shy. I never grew up. I was always quiet and stuff. I wasn't loud. I don't like people really knowing. I hate talking about myself to people, too, you know, some people here, they can do it all fucking.
[00:42:00] Speaker A: That's what they do.
[00:42:01] Speaker B: That's their thing. That's their bit.
Because I was growing up with sports, I always put it back to sports. Like, growing up, my dad was like, never be cocky in sports or anything. Just show it. Always show it in what you do. And I carry that with me to this day. I'm never going to go brag to people about, I got this. I wrote this, I do this. How many followers, all this shit. I never want to be that person because I know some people, obviously in Nashville, you know how it gets.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: People like that in industries all over the place. Not just music. Not music, but there's different. There's a lot of egos in this town.
[00:42:34] Speaker B: And I just like, you don't have to do that. Nobody cares to begin with. Just be chill, be nice to everybody, and a lot more good things will happen.
[00:42:41] Speaker A: I feel like, yeah, good things come to good people. And there's something about walking with the big stick, having that, being that safety that is quiet during pregame and stuff, but then cracks down.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. Fuck you up on a fucking bullet.
[00:42:58] Speaker A: Putting hats on the ball, all of that shit. You got any siblings?
[00:43:03] Speaker B: A little brother.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: Got a little brother. What's he like?
[00:43:06] Speaker B: He's a little shithead, but he's in that 16. Like, I'm too cool for everybody. Fade.
[00:43:10] Speaker A: He's exactly where you were.
So, like me, does he do content and stuff as well?
[00:43:15] Speaker B: Sometimes we'll make TikToks. He likes it, but he's more of the sports. Hopefully he can carry on the flag of sports.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Okay, what does he play?
[00:43:22] Speaker B: He wrestles, football, everything I did. He's kind of like just a mini or more like fuck you version of.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: What's his name?
[00:43:30] Speaker B: Chase.
[00:43:30] Speaker A: Chase?
[00:43:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: He's got a name for a guy?
[00:43:33] Speaker B: He got his first girlfriend and stuff.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: Oh, how's that going? Did you give him any advice on that?
[00:43:39] Speaker B: I honestly told him to dump her because really? I loved my little brother being like, oh, he was always like, yeah, let's go get girls when you come home. I was like, I'll always take him to the mall or something.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: Oh, dude, there's something about those mall.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: When you're 16 is a fucking. I don't know what it is. Like blind dating for kids. They just will find anything at the mall?
[00:43:58] Speaker A: Some of that food court, you're up on the third floor, you look, you look down, you see somebody on the.
[00:44:03] Speaker B: Second outside, take the elevator to find.
[00:44:05] Speaker A: She just walked out of Abercrombie or Hollister. You got to get down there. But now she's over there by Wetzel's.
[00:44:10] Speaker B: It's a whole thing. But yeah, he's like in his first love phase. So you know how you sit in your room and you just talked FaceTime all night? So I was like, dude, I need my little bro back. Like, come on, dog, what are you doing? I need my guy.
[00:44:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Do you game a lot? Are you a video?
[00:44:25] Speaker B: We play Fortnite every night.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: Oh, you're on.
[00:44:27] Speaker B: That's how we stay connected all over, because every night, 10:00 we have a group chat. We all play Fortnite every night together.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: So, funny enough, I just downloaded Fortnite last night.
[00:44:38] Speaker B: Please play with us.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: I just downloaded and I got added to a group chat from some of my buddies that are in town. It's funny because Nikki t does it, too. And Nicky's in his 40s.
There's a bit of, like, a difference. But he's like, dude, I suck at this. I'm not very good, but it's just cool to hang with the boys.
[00:44:55] Speaker B: It's an excitement. I look forward to it all day long.
[00:44:57] Speaker A: Better than going out to the bars. You get to hang with the people that you want to hang out with.
[00:45:01] Speaker B: Play games and shoot people in the game. It's fucking incredible every night.
[00:45:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Nikki said he sets up as, like, the decoy. And then our buddies, like, Mitch Wallace is really good. Dobro, Chris is really good. Matt McKinney, Alex Maxwell, Trey Bonner, like, all those guys. So, yeah, I think I'm going to embark on my Fortnite journey. I think it's going to be the coolest Friday night ever. I'm going to sit in my room, I'm going to have a zinn, I'm going to make a little coffee, and I'm going to play some fucking Fortnite on a Friday night in Nashville.
[00:45:31] Speaker B: I cannot wait to play with us tonight. Join a party. I'd be down every night.
[00:45:35] Speaker A: It's a time I'd be down, bro. I'd be down, dude.
So you're a big sports guy. Do you identify more with the Buffalo teams or the New York teams? No, because you're in the spot where it could be. Where you could be Sabres.
[00:45:49] Speaker B: There's a lot of buffalo, a lot of bills, a lot of sabres where I live. But I was kind of more like I was Yankees.
[00:45:56] Speaker A: Fuck yeah.
[00:45:57] Speaker B: Brother was jets. I didn't really care for the Giants. They were never great.
[00:46:01] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. You're so young, you don't remember the Super Bowls. That makes me feel old.
[00:46:04] Speaker B: I was laughing like the Eli ones.
[00:46:06] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what. See, for me, that was when I was in high school, so that was middle school and high school. And my best buddy growing up, his name was Colin Mira.
Nice. Nice italian fella, but really irish as fuck. Colin Mira. And his whole family was Boston fans. So we would butt heads all the time, especially back in the day, because you got to think, I was born 95, so I was in the third or fourth grade when the Red Sox finally won, but he had that whole era of the Patriots and all that. But I remember watching the Super bowl with him. We would be the house that everybody would have the family parties at, where.
[00:46:42] Speaker B: All the families, that one house, everybody's got it.
[00:46:45] Speaker A: We had a few that we rotated through, but my house was usually the house my parents loved hosting.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: Oh, dude.
[00:46:49] Speaker A: Yeah. So I remember watching that Super bowl, watching those giants, Patriots Super Bowls with Colin and his dad. And it just being a fucking time, really. The New York Boston rivalries were just so much.
[00:47:00] Speaker B: What a time. We got to go to New York together. We do hit up Saratoga one night, dude.
[00:47:04] Speaker A: Spac would be wild. Or if you do, I just wish the one thing we were talking about, the differences in college towns. I wish that live music was more present in the northern college. Could you imagine at all, like, the bars that are in Tuscaloosa, that are in Auburn, that are in even places like Knoxville and Lexington. Imagine if Courtland had that. Imagine if Plattsburg or Oswego or Stonianta had, bro. Stonianta. Imagine if you had that. You had the mixture of the towny shit. But with music, it doesn't have to be country.
[00:47:39] Speaker B: No, anything, whatever.
[00:47:41] Speaker A: Just having cover bands. Because could you imagine doing a SUNY tour?
Imagine if there was a bar in all those towns. Could you imagine playing a show, Cortico weekend up there?
It'd be so fucking cool. And that's something that I so much wish that we had in the northeast.
[00:48:00] Speaker B: Because we can bring. It's not too. I think there will be a time. Somebody's got to start it, though. Yeah, somebody needs to start.
[00:48:05] Speaker A: We need some guy. We need some guy that needs to wash his money. Some fuck you businessman in New York needs to wash his money. Just buy these old bars and just put any kind of anything, any kind.
[00:48:16] Speaker B: Of take, and we will be there.
[00:48:18] Speaker A: We will go and we will bring the party to New York. Do you miss the food from back home?
What are your.
So what's your last name?
[00:48:27] Speaker B: Tomasic.
[00:48:28] Speaker A: Tomasic. So what are the dinner?
What's the. What are the staples there? Or does it rotate?
[00:48:35] Speaker B: We'll rotate. We'll hit a chicken parm. Me and my dad are big chicken parm guys.
[00:48:40] Speaker A: Me too.
[00:48:41] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:48:41] Speaker A: Too, bro. Me too.
[00:48:42] Speaker B: There's a couple of good ones down here. Obviously, nothing touches New York.
[00:48:46] Speaker A: No.
[00:48:46] Speaker B: Like, when I go back, I usually gain ten pounds.
[00:48:49] Speaker A: Me too.
[00:48:49] Speaker B: Week.
[00:48:50] Speaker A: Yeah, bro.
[00:48:50] Speaker B: I don't know how mom's cooking. Every night we'll hit all the italian joints. Chicken parm, lasagna. You got the fucking pasta sauce.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: Penny vodka.
[00:49:00] Speaker B: Penny vodka sauce.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: My mom makes it with Tito's.
[00:49:04] Speaker B: Wow. Cheese.
[00:49:05] Speaker A: Tito's in the penny vodka, bro.
[00:49:07] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:49:07] Speaker A: She gave me the recipe for it, and I'm like, oh, God, I was eating this once a week.
[00:49:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:11] Speaker A: Like, fuck, yeah. You just stuffed. Or you're getting the bagels in the morning, you're getting the sandwiches. I remember going where I grew up was, like, a New York City suburb, which I know all the suburbs in New York are kind of similar, even upstate to where you have a ton of pizza joints. You have a ton of.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: You can get pizza anytime, at any time.
[00:49:30] Speaker A: Yeah, you can walk into a place at fucking 203:00 in the morning and get pizza, and it's great. But I remember, like, it would be like a bagel for breakfast, and there would be like, a fat chicken cutlet sandwich with the pretzel muts on there, bro. Or an italian combo. Give me the oil, the vinegar, all the good shit. Or you go to the pizza place, and you'd get the two slices with the soda, and it'd be like $5. And then you go home, and it's whatever mom made for dinner, and it's just.
[00:49:54] Speaker B: And you're just like, wow, I did this for 20 years.
[00:49:56] Speaker A: Carbs and carbs and carbs and carbs. I lost 15 pounds when I moved tier, bro. I was like, I'm definitely going to gain weight with all the fast food because all these towns down here are fast food alley.
[00:50:05] Speaker B: That's all it is.
[00:50:06] Speaker A: And it's just grease and all that. But that helped me lose weight. It's fucking nuts. What do you miss most about?
[00:50:16] Speaker B: Like, my. All my family's there. I miss them.
But I will say, though, when you're living in New York, you're like, dude, this place. I got to get the fuck out of here. But now I wish I could just live in New York and just do music. Because obviously the people down here, they're interesting. You'll meet your people, but nothing's ever going to feel just like. 02:00 a.m. Driving around with your boys in high school, playing Drake type beats fucking freestyle, and roasting the shit out of each other. People are more soft down here. You have to be very soft spoken. You can't be too much of a dick. But in New York, we don't talk about music. It's just like, all the boys growing up will go fuck around in the woods. Four wheeler, fish.
It's a thing, you know what I'm saying? I don't know how to explain it, but it's a thing.
[00:51:02] Speaker A: We're going to be doing an event at some point. I'll let you know. I don't know exactly where it's going to be at one of the venues that we do stuff here at Nashville. I want to do this night, Nikki T's, because Nikki T's from Pittsburgh, and he had kind of pitched me. He's like, you got to host this night, and we got to call it northern aggression.
[00:51:18] Speaker B: That's incredible.
[00:51:19] Speaker A: And it's got to be all the guys and girls from the northeast. You got to get David J. You got to get big Rob Snyder. You got to get the boys from Lakeview. You got to get Aiden Canfield. You got to get even the girls, like Morgan Johnston, Lauren Weintrop, Taylor, acorn. Like, get the northeast in the house. Get the Kyle Starox, the Matt Roy, and just make it a night.
[00:51:42] Speaker B: Everybody just wears fucking tims, and I'm in for that.
[00:51:45] Speaker A: That would be so I will definitely let you know, and we'll make sure we'll have that on the calendar. So this record being out now, commitment issues, what do you want people to take from it?
What's your message to the people for this?
[00:52:01] Speaker B: Just listen to it. That's all you got to do. Just fucking hit play and enjoy it. Even if you don't like it, just hit play. Give it a chance. But no, these are some of my favorite songs I've written in a long time.
I feel like there's a song for everybody on it. There's country songs that steals and fiddles and all that. But then there's songs that you could go play in a club, or there's pop songs that I feel like there's a song for everybody on it. So I just really hope everybody can connect and just see the vision where I see my music going. And, yeah, I think it's a great representation of me.
[00:52:35] Speaker A: What's something you would tell 16 year old you, who just posted his first TikTok video, 1516 year old David J. The world shuts down. You're this high school kid. You're like, music's kind of cool. I've always enjoyed listening to this, listening to that. And you put up your first kind of video thing, and where you're at now, what would you tell that little chubby kid?
[00:52:57] Speaker B: I'd be like, man, just keep doing it and just don't listen to anybody and don't let people get in your head. I feel like that's been a big thing up in New York. You don't have anybody saying, oh, this is cool. Industry people. All I had was my parents and my friends, and that's the people that are going to be the consumers of it. So if you feel like something's it and somebody tells you man, I just don't know, like, marketability, commercial, whatever. Just don't care. Always trust your gut, because I feel like those have been the best moments for me in my career. And just never listen to people. Always just keep your head down. Work hard, be nice. I have a sign over my bed. It says, work hard, be nice to people. I've had it since the day I moved to Nashville, and it sits right above my bed. It's a little crooked, but it's there. I hung it myself, and I always have lived by that because Mitchell Tempen, he told me that when I opened up for him when I was 15 in New York. The first time I ever met him, that was his only piece of advice, is work hard, be nice to people. So I saw that sign. I bought it the day I moved to Nashville, and I always just live by that. And I think a lot more people should.
[00:54:00] Speaker A: Hell, yeah, dude. Well, man, I'm very excited for people to get to hear and watch this episode because you're a guy that I've wanted to sit down and do something like, because you being you and being unapologetically yourself and a New York guy is something that I relate to, man. So the records out now. Commitment issues, and then the tour.
Do we have a name for the tour?
[00:54:24] Speaker B: Is it just tour?
[00:54:26] Speaker A: Okay. All right. Commitment issues tour kicking off April 4. And fucking Foxborough.
[00:54:31] Speaker B: What a day to start.
[00:54:32] Speaker A: Foxboro, mass. The family get out, and I want to make sure people get out there to see your dad, too. To see TMD. TMD at the merch table.
[00:54:41] Speaker B: He's all over. He'll be, merch table. He's fucking driving. He's there.
[00:54:45] Speaker A: You need anything? Hell, yeah.
[00:54:47] Speaker B: They ever want meet and greets, my dad doesn't know how to say no to anybody. The trick is just go ask my dad for whatever you want. We're so fucking chill. He'll get you whatever you need. If he's like, oh, give me a t shirt. He'll be like, oh, sure, here you go.
[00:55:00] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm excited. We're definitely going to have to get out to one of these shows that you got or anything you got going on over the summer, but obviously, people can follow you on all your platforms, all your social media. What dating app do you like best? One last question.
[00:55:16] Speaker B: Oh, fuck.
[00:55:16] Speaker A: What dating app do you like best?
I never had any success on them.
[00:55:20] Speaker B: Really?
[00:55:21] Speaker A: I never did. No, I never did. And I was in, like, the era I was in college when Tinder and Bumble and that shit came out I.
[00:55:28] Speaker B: Mean, I don't use dating apps, but, Raya, I don't even know what that is.
[00:55:33] Speaker A: See?
[00:55:33] Speaker B: I don't even know what that, like.
[00:55:36] Speaker A: Is that, like, the famous people, not.
[00:55:38] Speaker B: Yeah, but you have to get accepted to it. Like, referrals. What people will do for these referrals.
[00:55:46] Speaker A: By the way, this, like, the Soho house of dating apps.
[00:55:48] Speaker B: It's the Soho house of dating apps. And it's every person in Nashville that you would never want to get married to. But they're all on there, and I'd still give them a like.
But, yeah. What they will do for these, like, I've had money offered to me from people. I'll do anything. Just accept my referral. I'm like, guys, it's not that, but, like, it's pretty lit, though.
[00:56:10] Speaker A: Yeah, but all you got to do, like you said, is just go talk to people. It's work hard and be nice to people. That's it.
[00:56:16] Speaker B: Work hard, be nice to throw a class. DCA or slide. And you'll have some opportunities, or you.
[00:56:21] Speaker A: See somebody at the bar, just go over and spark a conversation. Don't be that guy. Yeah. Oh, you're not that guy.
[00:56:27] Speaker B: I get really nervous to talk to girls in person, so it might take me a little bit.
I'm terrible in person. I got no game in person.
[00:56:35] Speaker A: What do you say?
[00:56:37] Speaker B: I get so scared, dude.
[00:56:41] Speaker A: Even if they're coming up to you, you get scared?
[00:56:43] Speaker B: Yes. Like I said, I'm a quiet. I never really had girlfriends in high school. I wasn't the cool kid that had the hot girls in school. I'm still the weird little fucking kid sometimes that somehow got here. So I get nervous for shit like that, man.
[00:56:59] Speaker A: Well, Raya will have to.
[00:57:01] Speaker B: But Raya's.
[00:57:02] Speaker A: Rya's the one. Okay. All right. That's good to know. But, dude, commitment issues out now, the tour coming. Super fucking excited for you. Thank you for waving the flag of New York and country music coming out of New York. And it's so cool to see what you're doing. You've got a great team around you. You've got some people that really believe in you and are in your corner. And, dude, you're just getting started. I can't wait to see where the rocket goes, because it's going to go to the moon, then it's going to go past the fucking. Get into the next fucking universe, man. So super fucking grateful for having you on, budy. Thank you so much. Here's a hat for you, too. We put it out. It's a flat bill. It's that style.
We got some shirts and shit for you over there, too. One of them is like a soprano style shirt. It's our outside the round logo, but it's got, like, the gun.
We got all that for you. Well, thank you guys for watching another episode of outside the round. Be sure to check out our boy David J. Commitment issues is out now, and I know I got a lot of homies in the northeast. You're not going to want to miss one of these shows. Get on his website right now, Davidj music. And check out the commitment issues tour. It's gonna be awesome. Be sure to say hey to our boy TMD as well. Shout out, big Dave. Big D. Like I said, follow our boy David J. If you're not already. And be sure to rate subscribe. Tell your mama and them about this podcast. My boy David J. I'm Matt Brill. This has been outside the round. Peace.
[00:58:23] Speaker B: So if you know me, if you.
[00:58:26] Speaker A: Really know me, you know I'm just.
[00:58:28] Speaker B: A two trick pony maybe the drinking, spending like a money for show I'm just a two trick pony yeah, I'm a fan.
