00:00Excited to have backstage here at Lollapalooza, 10-time Grammy Award winner Phineas. Welcome.
00:06Thanks for having me, man.
00:07Man.
00:07If you were to actually choose your own intro and it had nothing to do with music, like, how would we introduce you?
00:12Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. I mean...
00:14I think once you have the 10 Grammys, you have to mention that, right?
00:17Yeah, that's how I introduce myself at parties.
00:19Yeah.
00:19Hi.
00:20No, I mean, that would be a crazy way to introduce myself.
00:23Yeah, but, you know, I mean, I think the reason that I laughed is just any time I hear that, I'm like, that's crazy.
00:28You did that.
00:29You did that.
00:29Well, I mean, they voted for that. I just made records, so, yeah.
00:34You know what, though? I feel like when you earn a title, you get to use it.
00:37Like, my wife, she earned her doctorate, so I have to call her Dr. Wife.
00:42Dr. Wife. Yeah, nice, man.
00:43Hey, so tell us about The Favors.
00:45So, Ash, my good friend, and my confidant, and I, over the last two years, in secret, made a whole album together.
00:53Wow.
00:53We knew that we wanted it to be sort of delineated from, like, her solo music and my solo music, so we came up with this band name.
00:58We called it The Favors.
01:00I made it with a good friend of mine named Marinelli and another friend named Ricky as well.
01:04And we have this whole album coming out on September 19th, and we're super proud of it.
01:09And we're going to play a couple of release shows around the album.
01:13We've got a show in Colorado at Red Rocks on the 26th of September, a show in New York City on October 1st, and a show in L.A. on September 18th.
01:21I feel like your music is always so, like, whimsical, magical.
01:25Like, I feel like watching that at the Red Rocks is going to be incredible.
01:28I'm really excited about it.
01:29That venue is so beautiful.
01:30You could just watch the sunset there and, you know, have a great time.
01:33So I'm very excited to play that show.
01:35And why did you guys come up with the name The Favors?
01:37I feel like bands go through so many names.
01:39Our show is Mogan Carla Mornings.
01:41Zero originality.
01:43It felt like a name that had existed for decades.
01:47It felt like the kind of thing that was like, oh, you don't know The Favors?
01:49They were a big band in the 70s.
01:51Like, it felt like this band that existed before.
01:55And so I thought that was kind of romantic.
01:56And I don't know.
01:57It's like Wonders.
01:58That's exactly right.
02:00So when you guys are creating music, I feel like people always have so many different opinions.
02:05And you have so many people telling you, like, I think this sounds good.
02:08This sounds good.
02:08How do you stand 10 toes down behind your, like, your idea?
02:12It's like, is there something that you really believe in?
02:1410 Grammys.
02:15I don't believe in my ideas as much as I believe in people.
02:19I really choose based off of, like, a person that I believe in.
02:23And I believe in them based off of, like, oh, they're just a talented person.
02:27They're hardworking.
02:29They make people feel good.
02:30You know, they walk into a room and they have a warmth to them.
02:33Like, I bet on those things.
02:34It's because betting on, like, individual songs or ideas, like, there can be things that are, like, not the right moment for culture or for just, like, what's going on in the year.
02:44But those songs will still exist.
02:45And a year and a half later, they might have a great moment.
02:47I really just, like, I really stand behind people.
02:50So you stand behind Ash.
02:51I stand behind Ash.
02:53I've stood behind, you know, Billy for many years.
02:55And then, yeah, I just feel like every, you know, eight months, I just hear some new person, like, maybe a person like Ray, the artist, where I just think, like, man, she's just an unbelievable talent.
03:07That's an easy person to stand behind and understand that, like, you know, whatever, whenever that moment comes, like, she's just ready for it.
03:15I love that.
03:15So can we go back to your, like, early producer days?
03:17I'm so curious because you got your start so young.
03:20Do you ever go back and listen to, like, the earliest, earliest stuff that you did?
03:25And do you love it?
03:27Sometimes I critique it and sometimes I appreciate it.
03:30I do it, like, I don't never do it, but I feel like I'm always, like, working on new music.
03:35So I'll save it for, like, a flight or something.
03:38But the other day I was listening to Billy's second album, Happier Than Ever.
03:41Yeah.
03:41And I feel like when we made her third album, we kind of had to, like, critique a lot of our old work and try to, you know, make the best thing we'd ever made.
03:50And I listened to Happier Than Ever the other day and I was like, oh, I'm really proud of this album and Billy sings great on it.
03:55And I sent her these texts about it.
03:56I was like, oh, this is awesome.
03:57And then I realized I'd sent them to the wrong person.
04:00It was, like, the day after my birthday.
04:01And so I had, like, a hundred texts.
04:03And I just had replied to somebody's, like, happy birthday.
04:06And I'd written, like, I'm still really proud of this album.
04:08And then I was like, man, I'm sorry.
04:11I meant to send that to my sister.
04:12And they were like, that album.
04:13And Ray was like, oh, cool, thanks.
04:14It wasn't Ray.
04:15But they were like, that album still slaps.
04:17And I was like, oh, thanks.
04:20When you are, like, you know, deciding on music for you versus Billy, how do you make that distinction of who's going to get that idea?
04:27Because now you want to put out the best for you, too.
04:30It used to be that I would write her songs and she'd like some of them and not like some of them.
04:36At this point, she's such a strong writer that everything that is going to be on her record, we'd sit and write together.
04:42So that's a really easy, if I write a song alone, I'll put it out.
04:46And if she's writing a song with me or if she's writing a song on her own, then that's a Billy song.
04:51Very nice.
04:52Well, of course, Lollapalooza this weekend, next weekend, Outside Lands.
04:56You got your stuff with the Favors.
04:57You got a lot going on.
04:58We appreciate you taking a few minutes to talk to us.
05:00Good to talk to you guys.
05:00Yeah.
05:01Nice to meet you.
05:01Thank you so much.
05:02Have a good one, you guys.
05:03You too.
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