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Benny Blanco and Selena Gomez are kicking off prom season early, with the couple attending their own version of the traditional American high school event in a video posted by the producer on Thursday (April 24). In text typed over the Instagram clip, Blanco explains that — since his fiancée never got the chance to […]
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UFC heads “City of Fountains” for their latest fight night. Two top-tier welterweights are set to match in the octagon as the main event for UFC Fight Night. Ian “The Future” Machado Garry (15-1-0) faces off against Carlos “The Nightmare” Prates (21-6-0) in a match on Saturday (April 26).
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UFC Fight Night: Machado Garry vs. Prates takes place at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, with a start time of 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. The main card is expected to begin at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
If you want to watch UFC Fight Night: Machado Garry vs. Prates (also known as UFC on ESPN 66) online, the MMA event livestreams on ESPN+ for subscribers only.
ESPN+ is the home to Ultimate Fighting Championship. The streaming service also features other MMA live events from Professional Fighters League and Bellator MMA, so if you’re a fan of mixed-martial arts, then ESPN+ has you covered for the best hand-to-hand action. Meanwhile, ESPN+ has live access to other sports leagues, including NBA, NHL, NFL, F1, NWSL, LaLiga, Bundesliga and much more. Learn more about ESPN+ sports coverage and original programming here.
Not a subscriber? A monthly subscription to ESPN+ goes for $11.99 per month. However, you can go with an ESPN+ annual subscription for $119.99. This saves you 15% compared to the month-to-month subscription price.
While subscribers to ESPN+ can livestream the entire UFC Fight Night: Machado Garry vs. Prates for free, the main card airs on ESPN2, so it’s streamable on Sling TV and Fubo. The cable network is also available with Hulu + Live TV, which comes with Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+.
Check out the complete UFC Fight Night: Machado Garry vs. Prates fight card below:
Main Card, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT — ESPN+, ESPN2
Ian Machado Garry vs. Carlos Prates (Welterweight) — Main Event
Anthony Smith vs. Zhang Mingyang (Light Heavyweight)
Giga Chikadze vs. David Onama (Featherweight)
Michel Pereira vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov (Middleweight)
Randy Brown vs. Nicolas Dalby (Welterweight)
Ikram Aliskerov vs. André Muniz (Middleweight)
Prelims Card, 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT — ESPN+
Matt Schnell vs. Jimmy Flick (Flyweight)
Evan Elder vs. Gauge Young (Lightweight)
Chris Gutiérrez vs. John Castañeda (Featherweight)
Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Alateng Heili (Bantamweight)
Malcolm Wellmaker vs. Cameron Saaiman (Bantamweight)
Jaqueline Amorim vs. Polyana Viana (Women’s Strawweight)
Timothy Cuamba vs. Roberto Romero (Featherweight)
Chelsea Chandler vs. Joselyne Edwards (Women’s Bantamweight)
In addition, you can get the Disney Trio — which comes with ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+ — starting at just $16.99 per month for both services in one package.
What Is Machado Garry vs. Prates Walkout Music for UFC Fight Night?
While UFC has yet to announce each fighter’s walkout music for the main event of UFC Fight Night, the fighters usually go out to the octagon to the same songs during their matches. Ian Machado Garry typically walks out to “Layla” by Eric Clapton, while Carlos Prates prefers to walk out to “Purple Lamborghini” by Rick Ross and Skrillex. So these songs will likely make an appearance during the MMA event.
UFC Fight Night: Machado Garry vs. Prates is streaming on ESPN+ on Saturday (April 26), starting at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. The main card begins around at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on ESPN+.
Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.
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In the heart of Palm Springs, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival came and went with a bang, from Lady Gaga‘s extravagant “Mayhem In the Desert” set, to Charli XCX‘s electrifying Brat performance with surprise guests. But this year marks a significant shift for concert culture as the music festival brings in Loop Earplugs as its first official earplug partner.
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The collaboration also delivers a limited-edition Loop x Coachella Experience 2 Earplugs that quickly became a go-to accessory for many in attendance.
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As the growing awareness of hearing health continues to rise, this partnership encourages users to tear up the dance floor without tearing up their eardrums in the process. With 17 decibels(SNR) of filtered noise reduction, the earplugs, which were sold at both Coachella weekends, ensures clear sound while protecting ears.
Adventuring to the Sahara, Yuma, and Sonora stages, which typically offer lineups of electronic dance music, the Loop earplugs shine when blocking out pounding subwoofers, so you can enjoy the music without sacrificing sound quality or risking hearing damage. Conversations may be muffled with them on, but when a Chase & Status set is happening, who’s is trying to talk?
“The Loop experience is actually made to reduce noise, but not distort it, so that you’re protected and also you’re still in the music, in the festival, in the atmosphere,” Loop co-founder Maarten Bodewes tells Billboard. “Loop started as a way for us to keep enjoying live music experiences without the negative side effects. It’s incredibly rewarding to have Coachella join us on that journey, making hearing protection a more natural, welcome and intrinsic part of live music culture.”
Limited-edition
Loop x Coachella Experience 2 Earplugs
The days of carrot stick-esque foam earplugs that fall out in seconds are over. The limited-edition Loop x Coachella Experience 2 Earplugs provide as much design aesthetic as they do functionally. Inspired by the festivals desert location, the earplugs feature a modern gradient design mixing sky blue and sunset orange for a dusk till dawn aesthetic. They come with multiple sized tips so they stay snug in your ear during any activity the day brings, as well as a matching Loop x Coachella Carry Case and an optional Link connector cord. There is a bit of a learning curve to get them to sit properly in your ear, but after some minor adjustments they fell pretty comfortable for long-term uses.
“From a design perspective, we looked at like what is typical about Coachella,” says Bodewes. “It’s in the desert. It goes from dusk till dawn, and if you look at the color of dusk, it’s more the bluish hue, and dusk is more of a orange hue. So we tried to make it from dusk till dawn.”
limited-edition
Loop x Coachella Link
As Coachella kicks off the 2025 festival season, Loop is leading the charge in this new era of specially designed hearing protection and quickly becoming a go-to essential for concert goers. Its sleek design, resembling daith piercings, sets it apart from typical earplugs on the market, and adds a element of stylish fun for vibrant festival looks. With an affordable price point, the Loop x Coachella Experience 2 earplugs are a game-changer for live music.
The Loop x Coachella Experience 2 earplugs ($39.95 USD), as well as the duo’s link connector ($29.95 USD), are now available on Loop’s site here.
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” is No. 1 on Billboard’s Top TV Songs chart, powered by Tunefind (a Songtradr company), for March 2025, topping the tally following a synch in NCIS: Origins.
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Rankings for the Top TV Songs chart are based on song and show data provided by Tunefind and ranked using a formula blending that data with sales and streaming information tracked by Luminate during the corresponding period of March 2025.
“Free Bird” appears in the 15th episode of NCIS: Origins’ inaugural season, premiering on March 31 on CBS. The new series is a spinoff of CBS’ long-running NCIS franchise and was renewed for a second season earlier this year.
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In March 2025, “Free Bird” earned 12.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams and 2,000 downloads, according to Luminate. One of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s signature tracks, the song peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975.
Billie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over” follows at No. 2 on Top TV Songs, a byproduct of its feature in the latest season of Invincible. Heard in the seventh episode of the third season (March 6), the song is one of a pair of entries on the latest chart from the Amazon Prime Video animated series, ahead of Nine Inch Nails’ “Every Day Is Exactly the Same” at No. 8 (episode eight, March 13).
“When the Party’s Over” notched 16.1 million streams and 1,000 downloads in March 2025, while “Every Day Is Exactly the Same” earned 2 million streams and 1,000 downloads. The former peaked at No. 29 on the Hot 100 in 2019, one of Eilish’s breakthrough tracks, while the latter reached No. 56 on the chart in 2006 and led the Alternative Airplay tally for four weeks that year.
Mondo Cozmo’s “Shine” ranks at No. 3 on Top TV Songs, buoyed by a synch in the eighth episode of season three of Reacher (March 27), scoring 320,000 streams and 3,000 downloads. The latter metric drove the song onto the Rock Digital Song Sales chart for the first time, entering at No. 8 on the April 5 survey and rising to No. 2 on the April 12 list. The song was a one-week No. 1 for the band on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart in 2017.
And Severance, which wrapped up its second season in March, boasts four entries on the latest Top TV Songs, led by The Alan Parsons Project’s “Sirius” at No. 4 (1.2 million streams, 1,000 downloads).
See the full top 10, also featuring music from Daredevil: Born Again and School Spirits, below.
Rank, Song, Artist, Show (Network)1. “Free Bird,” Lynyrd Skynyrd, NCIS: Origins (CBS)2. “When the Party’s Over,” Billie Eilish, Invincible (Amazon Prime Video)3. “Shine,” Mondo Cozmo, Reacher (Amazon Prime Video)4. “Sirius,” The Alan Parsons Project, Severance (Apple TV+)5. “Fire Woman,” The Cult, Severance (Apple TV+)6. “Staring at the Sun,” TV on the Radio, Daredevil: Born Again (Disney+)7. “I’ll Be Seeing You,” Billie Holiday, Severance (Apple TV+)8. “Every Day Is Exactly the Same,” Nine Inch Nails, Invincible (Amazon Prime Video)9. “Look Alive,” Hana Vu, School Spirits (Paramount+)10. “The Windmills of Your Mind,” Mel Torme, Severance (Apple TV+)
Drag Race season four star Jiggly Caliente won’t be returning to her position as a judge on Drag Race Philippines after the drag performer had most of her right leg amputated following an infection. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In a post to Caliente’s social media, […]
Vybz Kartel has returned to the U.S. for the first time after 20 years in prison to perform two sold-out shows in Brooklyn, N.Y. We go behind the scenes with the King of Dancehall to see how he feels about being back on tour, his show essentials and more!
Did you see Vybz Kartel live? Let us know in the comments below!
Vybz Kartel:Hi, my name is blank. Wagwan. My name is Vybz Kartel, and I’m here in Brooklyn with Billboard. Where are you?
Interviewer:All right, World Boss, how does it feel to be back in New York?
It feels blessed, you know, because, remember, it’s been 20 years, so for me to be here now, it’s just a feeling of jubilation. It’s a triumphant feeling.
Team Member:This is for you. Congratulations, two sold-out shows, where you need to be love, where the people are.
I’m here with my family, not just my family, family. I’m here with CJ, the promoter, she’s family as well. TJ, Scatter, the whole crew. It feels amazing, and I feel blessed.
What do you remember about the last time you performed in New York?
Sir, I do not remember anything. But in my defense, it’s been 20 years. But if you’re talking about, like, being in the streets mingling with the people from Bronx to Brooklyn to Queens, Flatbush, I’m in White Plains, so it’s giving nostalgia.
What are your dressing room essentials?
My dressing room essentials are beautiful women, expensive clothes and God around us.
What does your preshow routine look like?
Drinking with beautiful women, expensive clothes and God around us.
What song are you most excited to perform?
Oh, “Brooklyn Anthem.” Come on, this is BK.
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Houston, we have liftoff. Just 10 days after making headlines for her trip to space, Katy Perry kicked off her highly anticipated Lifetimes Tour with a celestial show in Mexico City Wednesday (April 23) — featuring a setlist that the pop star first revealed while hurtling through the Earth’s atmosphere on Blue Origin’s first all-woman […]

Vobile, which provides AI-powered digital content protection and transaction services for entertainment companies, sports leagues, record labels and publishers, completed its acquisition of audio content identification platform Pex for an undisclosed amount. The team at Pex joined Vobile as part of the deal.
Live Nation Entertainment has expanded in Japan by acquiring Hayashi International Promotions (HIP), a leading live music promoter for both domestic and international artists in the country. Through the deal, the companies hope to elevate J-pop artists on the global stage while allowing international artists to gain more traction in the country. “HIP has been at the heart of Japan’s live music scene for over 40 years, and our focus has always been on delivering incredible concerts for fans,” said Kaori Hayashi, CEO at Hayashi International Promotions, in a statement. “Partnering with Live Nation allows us to keep doing this with greater scale, giving Japanese artists the opportunity to perform to new audiences and strengthening Japan’s position as a must-visit destination for major acts.”
Warner Music Group (WMG) partnered with Annual Acharia, an entrepreneur and talent strategist who founded the multi-platform production and distribution company Desi Hits! — which helped introduce Western artists like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears to South Asian audiences — to launch 5 Junction, a joint-venture label focused on discovering and developing U.S.-based artists of South Asian heritage while furthering the success of WMG’s existing artists from South Asia and its diaspora. The new label will collaborate closely with WMG’s India team, Los Angeles-based Warner Records and Toronto-based 91 North Records (a joint-venture label between Warner Music India and Warner Music Canada).
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EMPIRE signed a multi-year partnership with Cambodian music company Baramey Production. The deal will provide Baramey’s current and future roster — including its biggest star, VannDa — with global distribution, A&R support and industry connections. The Baramey roster also includes YuuHai, Vanthan, Zuana and North. “This deal is a game-changer,” said Laura Mam, CEO of Baramey Production, in a statement. “Now, Cambodian music is able to have a presence on the world stage, and EMPIRE will help us build careers for artists who have dreams to reach the international stage.”
Fan engagement platform Sesh announced it has raised $7 million in funding to date, led by Miura Global with participation from angel investors in the music and tech industries. Sesh will use the money to expand the capabilities of the platform, onboard more artists and enhance its technology. Announced simultaneously was the launch of Sesh’s “Member Card,” which lets fans “register and seamlessly download a digital pass to their phone’s wallet,” allowing them to receive direct push notifications from their favorite artists. Sesh allows artists full ownership of fan data, including email, location, name, date of birth and engagement insights, letting them cultivate their fan bases without going through third-party platforms. The company currently works with more than 250 artists, including Yeri Mua, Anitta, Alleh & Yorghaki, Mau y Ricky, Lasso, Timø, Nathy Peluso and Zoe Gotusso.
Dutch event management platform Stager signed a partnership with Spotify that will enable all users of the platform to list artists’ upcoming events at their venues and festivals directly on those artists’ official Spotify pages. According to Stager, more than 21,000 artists played a show at a venue, club or festival using the platform last year.
UnitedMasters partnered with EVEN, a direct-to-fan sales platform. Under the deal, UnitedMasters’ Partner artists (and, soon, its SELECT artists) will skip the waitlist and enjoy immediate access to EVEN resources, including direct music sales, daily payments, fan data ownership, marketing support and more. According to the companies, UnitedMasters artists such as Raheem DeVaughn, Casey Veggies, Stocks and Serayah have already enjoyed success on EVEN.
WieRok Entertainment Group acquired Christian music label Amplo Records, which was originally established in partnership with WieRok founders Lance and Tammie Wieland and Christian music industry executives Marcus Rixon and Jay Speight. Through the acquisition, singer/songwriter Nathan Sheridan, songwriters Phoebe Scott and Kolby Koloff, and songwriters/producers Andrew Barlow and Cole Tague will come solely under WieRok. The company, which launched its flagship WieRok Records label in January, also announced its expansion into the general market by establishing Wie3 Records, which signed “popera” vocalist David Ask.
Manifest Financial, a new financial solutions platform co-founded by Michael Cavallaro and Manny Alvarez that serves creators and artists, launched a business-banking mobile app and struck partnerships with music distributor Too Lost and hoo.be, an invite-only link-in-bio tool for brands and creators. “Creators face unique challenges that don’t fit conventional banking categories. That’s why we built Manifest Financial, to bridge this gap and provide the tailored financial services that the creator economy desperately needs,” said Cavallaro in a statement. Through the deal with Manifest, Too Lost founder/CEO Gregory Hirschhorn says Too Lost artists will enjoy “seamless access to smarter business banking solutions, faster payments, and financial tools designed for their careers.”
Honduran artist Key-Key’s indie label Latin Music Group — where he serves as partner alongside CEO/co-founder Neil Levine — announced a global distribution deal with The Orchard. As part of his strategic partnership with Latin Music Group, Key-Key will “now have access to a dedicated team and the resources to push his career even further, with global distribution ensuring his music reaches new international audiences,” according to a press release. “This isn’t just about making music; it’s about building something meaningful and lasting, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to turn my passion into a global and lasting impact,” the “Tengo Un Plan” singer said in a statement. — Griselda Flores
ASM Global struck a deal with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to assume the management and operation of special events at the school’s 7,637-seat Stuart C. Siegel Center. Under the agreement, ASM will work to attract outside events, including concerts, to the arena.
Three people were injured on Wednesday night (April 23) when a bleacher collapsed during a concert by Spanish star Quevedo at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, promoter Ocesa confirmed to Billboard Español on Thursday (April 24).
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The incident happened when some attendees in section C of the venue started jumping to the beat of the music, causing one of the bleacher planks to give way and collapse. Videos shared on social media show two people lying on the ground while others in the audience call for help.
Promoter Ocesa spoke out on Thursday in a statement, clarifying that the three people “sustained non-serious injuries.”
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“In line with our protocols, the individuals were immediately attended to by the venue’s medical and security staff, and were taken to a hospital where they received care and were discharged during the early hours of the morning accompanied by their families,” Ocesa explained in a statement to Billboard Español.
In the same statement, the Mexican promoter reaffirmed its commitment to the safety of attendees, staff, and artists.
In a post on X Thursday, Quevedo spoke about the incident that occurred during his show.
“Good morning from CDMX. Last night, a bleacher collapsed during the show, and three people had to receive medical attention,” wrote the “Quédate” singer. “We’ve learned that they’ve been discharged without serious injuries, and I wanted to send them encouragement and strength for a speedy recovery.”
The accident happened nearly three weeks after the tragedy at the AXE Ceremonia festival, where two photojournalists lost their lives when a scissor lift, used to place a decorative figure, fell on them due to strong wind gusts. The incident is currently being investigated by Mexico City’s Attorney General’s Office.
Quevedo kicked off the Latin American leg of his Buenas Noches tour on Wednesday in Mexico City, marking his first visit to the region in two years. The tour will also stop in Guadalajara and Monterrey on Friday and Sunday (April 25 and 27). With 14 dates, this is the “Gran Vía” singer’s most ambitious tour in Latin America to date.
BRONCHO’s frontman, guitarist and primary songwriter Ryan Lindsey is walking around a room in his new Tulsa, Oklahoma home with a yardstick over his shoulder while somehow conducting a Zoom interview. He explains that he is “hanging things on the wall that need hanging, along with some “light baby proofing” in the room, which he calls his “Imagination Station.” The drywall is unpainted and sealed with white spackle, and the recent father of two says he is considering keeping it that way “because whoever spackled that room did such a great job, I’d hate to cover it up.”
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Lindsey is not a fan of ornamentation, and BRONCHO’s fifth full-length album, along with its title, Natural Pleasure, makes that clear. The record, which drops April 25, marks a major departure from the Tulsa-based band’s previous albums. Unlike its previous release, 2018’s Bad Behavior, which offered up a harder-edged blues-washed sound, or its bop-tastic 2014 indie classic single, “Class Historian,” Natural Pleasure is a hazy, dreamy, organic sounding confection where the music takes center stage, and the lyrics can be harder to determine than The Kingsmen’s version of “Louie Louie.” Although BRONCHO’s muscular rhythm section — drummer Nathan Price and bassist Penny Pitchlynn — front the mix, Lindsey’s whispery falsetto and his and Ben King’s gentle guitar work set the tone for a soothing, record that’s perfect for these troubled times. Edible optional.
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As he wandered his Imagination Station, Lindsey told Billboard why five years elapsed between Bad Behavior and Natural Pleasure, how fatherhood has affected his artistic process, and recalled his trippy visit to Elvis Presley’s Graceland. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
It’s been seven years since BRONCHO’s last album. Why so long?
You know, it’s weird. When I hear that number, it sounds way larger than the amount of time in my mind that it took. I think the pandemic made time bend a little differently. That whole foggy period took up a big chunk of time. Part of it is also that my girlfriend and I had a kid in 2022. Building up to that, I was like, “OK, I’ve got to finish this record before he’s born.” I didn’t finish it. Then it took some time after him being born for me to get back in that zone. Then we found out we were having another kid, and I was like, “OK, I’m really going to finish it before he’s born.” Right before he was born, I was finished, and he just turned one.
Broncho
Courtesy Photo
How does your artistic process work in terms of the other members of BRONCHO?
The songs live in my head first. They are on a loop in my mind and in my world for a while. Then at some point, either we get together, or I start recording stuff and sending it to everybody. Then we get in our friend Chad Copelin’s studio in Norman [Oklahoma], who we’ve done every record with. It’s just a couple of hours away. We see what makes sense in that realm, and it’s a mixture of adding things, maybe trying new versions of things and then coming back to the original tuff that really felt good. Lots of times we end up using a pretty good chunk of that stuff because we can’t beat it.
The album has a dreamy vibe. Where was your head at when you were writing these songs?
I was actually writing them was before I even knew a kid was coming. Like, “You Got Me.” It’s as though I was writing about my kids, but I hadn’t even found out we were having them yet. Weird stuff like that happens in the writing process.
You wrote the line “You’ve got me and you’ve got your mom” before you knew you were having your first child?
Yeah, I had no idea where it was coming from, but it all felt so right that I figured, maybe it’s about our cats. Then Jessica tells me we’re having a kid, and I was like, well, that’s crazy. I just wrote him a song. I think something from somewhere was giving me the heads up that he was on his way.
A lot of songwriters and artists say that their work seems to flow to them from some sort of divine power.
Every time I hear someone speak that way, it makes total sense to me, because I think the process is about being open and letting something come in. I don’t know if it’s come in from my own mind or from the other side of the veil or wherever. But I’m open to it, and things stick around in my head and loop over and over. Whatever lasts the longest through that period is the stuff that ends up being used.
Your bio for this record says that the song “Original Guilt” is about inheriting Christian guilt from the part of the country where you live?
I grew up in a religious world, and so I think guilt is just something you just have. I feel guilty, and I try to have the most fun with that that I can. That song happened just like any of our other songs. When the melody feels right and is looping in my mind, or playing and singing dummy vocals over and over, certain words start to appear. For whatever reason, “original guilt” just came out, and I thought, I know this. It’s like you’re digging slowly for bones and trying to not disturb the bone that you want intact. But there’s a lot of stuff to swipe away.
That song is interesting, because when we started to get things together for this record, I found these videos on our YouTube page that I had no idea we had posted. And we were working on “Original Guilt.” That was the second record, so it’s like 2013. It blew my mind that that song had been around for a few records. That happens with a lot of stuff for us. A song will get kicked to the side and then kicked up to the next record. This one had been on that roller coaster until this record.
It feels like it belongs on the album. The songs all fit together, even though some are danceable and some are cerebral and moody.
I never could have planned that. You just have to experience it and decide in that moment whether it makes sense. It was this moment where you know that your project is late, and you know you’ve missed the extension on your project. You know, you’re in a freefall, and suddenly you realize you’ve already done the project. That’s like doing records for me in general. The last time we were in the studio, we had left with the sense that, “Okay, we’ve got a lot of work to do — we’ve got to do this and this and this” — and then I had this moment where I realized, “No, it’s already there.” It felt like I won the lottery.
You’ve chosen to stay in the Tulsa area. How does that environment influence your music?
Partially, it’s having the space and time that I might not have somewhere else. Things can be slow here if you want them to be, and I take advantage of those moments where I can get lost in something. There was a period where I had all the time in the world. Then it was, maybe I’m taking too much time, and now I have to get it done. The decisions feel the most right when I’m suddenly hit with, “I’d better do this, or it might be another couple of years.” A lot of the record didn’t change much from when the first songs were recorded.
“Save Time” is the only song I can think of that changed. We slowed it down a bit and added a guitar part that Chad played, which tied the thing together. With some songs you just go on a little adventure until it all falls into place. If we hadn’t gotten there with it, it would be on another record down the road. There are songs that I thought were definitely going to to be on this record that didn’t end up on it. I can only imagine that they’ll be on another record when they start to really click.
You often have to listen to BRONCHO songs closely and several times to determine the lyrics — especially on this one. Is that intentional?
I wish people could understand me quicker. My mom would say, “Enunciate.” Ultimately, I’m not thinking necessarily of the vocals as communication in the language sense, but more of a communication emotionally. There are times where I’m like okay, let me try to really pronounce these words, and it never feels as good as when it’s in the moment and I forget that there are any rules I’m supposed to follow. So, I guess, apologetically, I wind up in this place where maybe I’m not understood that well, but I feel better about it. And then, my hope is that maybe someone will discover what’s being said in the process and that excursion maybe makes them closer to the song.
How has parenthood changed your artistic process?
So far, it’s been great for it. I tend to work or create as I’m on the go. If I have a ton of time and I’m by myself, things don’t always happen. It’s when I’m doing stuff that things seem to start happening in my head that excites me. And in that respect, it’s been good. But also, this record was started before I knew this was happening, so I’ll know more maybe the next record. I’m still writing songs, and I’m excited about stuff that is next. I want to be inspiring to my kids and that inspires me to keep doing what makes me happy and being myself. That’s ultimately the most powerful thing that I can give or show them.
Are you going to tour behind the album?
Yeah. We’ve carved out these times where we could knock some shows out, see some people, come home, change some diapers, be with my family and go back out. I want to be here, but I also want to play shows. It’s all an experiment.
The Flaming Lips are also Oklahoma-based. Do you ever hang out with Wayne Coyne or any of those guys?
Yeah. Wayne texts me pictures of his kids a lot, and I love having that connection with him. We’ll send each other kid pics. I’m friends with a lot of that crew. Some of my good buddies are in the band and they’re good big brothers to have here — and inspiring, because they work hard, and they keep going. Seeing somebody do that locally on such a large scale is very motivating and inspiring.
The music business has changed a lot since your last album. What has become easier, and what’s harder?
I don’t have personal social media, so my only interaction is if we make a short little clip for the band’s [socials]. I like being on that side of creating the visuals. You can visually let someone see where you’re coming from — paint a picture of where the sound is coming from. So, we’ve gotten to a place where we’ll do all the artwork ourselves and pretty much all the video stuff on this record.
Those were my questions. Anything else you’d like to talk about?
I went to Graceland in 2017 or 2018. My girlfriend and I just drove there. And I had a magical experience there. You’re walking through the house, and you can look upstairs. You can’t go up there, but you know Elvis’ room is up there. I could just feel that he was in there. It could have been the edibles, but I’m almost positive he was up there. And when we went out to his racquetball court, I had another little experience there. He’s got this indoor racquetball court, and he’s got a piano out there. They have his music cranking through these speakers in there, and that’s where he was before he went in [to his bathroom] and ultimately died. He was out there in the racquetball court, and they were like, “Elvis, we’ve got to go play Buffalo.” It was the last plane out of town — but it’s his plane, so ultimately, he can go whenever. Then he made his way into the house.
Are you a big Elvis fan?
Well, I took the tour. I am mesmerized by something that is so big. He’s so iconic it’s hard to wrap my mind around the full mystique. You go see the place, and you’re like, “It’s a house.” But you can sense the spirit there of this entity that had such an impact on the world. in a way that is very interesting to me. Here in Tulsa is The Church Studio, which was Leon Russell’s studio. It’s now a museum and studio that you can tour and book studio time. We recorded a good chunk of our first record in there. We had some buddies with the keys to the kingdom, and they let us in there. We found boxes in the basement that had tapes labeled “George Harrison,” “Brian Wilson,” “Tom Petty,” “John Lennon,” etc. that we figured were sessions Leon had done there with these guys. If you ever find yourself in Tulsa you should definitely go see it, I highly recommend it, and think it’s a magical experience.
What other musical artist falls in the Elvis category for you?
I want to go to Dollywood. That’s my next thing.