Jordan McGraw

which is a collaboration with the Jonas Brothers. He's heading out on the road with them for a series of dates through the fall. How does he do it all? Well, there's talent, good work, ethic, and maybe a word of advice from his father, who you may know as Dr Phil. I'm so happy to welcome my guest today, Jordan McGraw. This is going to be so confusing. First time this has happened on this show. I talked to myself all the time. Same here. Well, while we're on the topic

of similar names, you have two new songs. Your new song is called your latest song, rather, it's called She, and your last single before that is Her. Everybody get that straight. Both songs are excellent. Let's start with She, which is about something that I'm guilty of. When you have a dream where you're mad at someone and you wake up and you're still kind of a rationally mad at them, and it throws your whole day. Tell me about where where did the song come from? For you?

I think we're all guilty of it. First of all, it's like you can't control it and you just wake up glaring at somebody. Okay, uh no, it's oddly enough, it is a true story. My now wife and I were quarantining together right right when it was you know, at its time where we had to stay inside, which was probably the worst setting for this to actually happen in, and she just woke up pissed and I was like what what? And uh she was like just nothing, you really did. It's just, you know, I don't want to

talk about it. I was like, I think she's still mad at me. Were months pasted it, and I think she's still mad about it. I can't get ahold of dream me. So you know, what do with the dream? Did she tell you? I have? I have no idea, I don't know, but it was bad, so if I ever get ahold of dream Jordan, I'm like kick his ask, Yeah, you gotta exchange some words. The an upshot of this is not only a great song, but an incredible video where he went to What's for me a sacred place.

You went to the set of the Wheel of Fortune. I mean, I assume that was the real said, I feel like, you can't you can't fake that. It was the real set that was. That was like kind of one of my one of my things. I was like, if we're gonna do it, we're gotta do it for real. If we're gonna fake it, like I will know too many of the details to know it's fake, right, you know, because I grew up watching I watched two shows growing

up all the time. Is that in the Simpsons. So I was just like I was starstruck walking in you know. It's just like it's everything you hope it would be. The wheel is smaller but twice as heavy as you think it is. Ah yeah, you see them like kind of grunt when they go to spin it. That's real. Okay, Oh yeah, I don't know what. I don't know what makes it so heavy, but yeah, oh man, Morgan got to be Vanna White, which I'm told is harder than

it seems, way harder. She had you gotta like really, you know, it's a screen now, so you would think it would be easier to hit the screen, but it's you gotta like really get in there. It's such a great video and you you play multiple characters. You're like Eddie Murphy in there. You're your pat say Jack, and you're the three contestants. I love the characters. I mean, the cowboy guy kind of reminds me of Burt Reynolds on the S Live Celebrity Jeopardy. That was our exact reference.

You nailed it. Yeah, Oh my god, tell me tell me about all those uh those folks. I love doing impressions and playing characters and stuff. So when we were picking the characters though, I was like, Okay, they each have to be like a little part of me or somebody that I know so that I can like really deliver the one liners and the stupid jokes. So I

grew up in Texas. That's the cowboy you know. All of my all of my my family has, you know, those weird sayings, the terrible mustaches and never take their cowboy hats. Off the nerd. I am like secretly a total nerd that that that's like me on the inside. Clarence and then the emo kid not apologetically went through quite the quite the emo phase. Oh yeah, taken back Sunday Saves the Day. That was my that was my my youth. Yeah, totally totally. I had I had a

black pink and black mohawk. I had the leopard spots in my hair for a little bit. I bleached it. I bleached out black hair dye to put more different. It was just like my hair was just like you could break it. Path. Yeah, No, I missed the I missed the the eyeshadow and skinny jeans days. I have to say I still try to get them as skinny as they'll go, but I'm not as flexible as I

once was. Well, it is an incredible video. Tell me about the track Her, which I know was a collaboration between you and your buddies and the and the Jonas brothers. How did that song come together? Yeah, kind of right when I was getting off of the Happiness Begins tour. I was kind of talking to them about where I wanted to sound to kind of head and I, you know, I started giving some details of like, you know, a little bit, I want the pop punk me to be

involved in there. I want, you know, kind of my love of eighties music to be in there, and um, you know, I kind started describing it and Nick was like, I think, I think I have a song that you might want to use, and Joe was like, oh, yes, absolutely, and so they played me to chorus and I was like, yeah, that that's that's that's pretty much it. And uh, they let me do my thing to it and then put my spin on it and make it my own and then you know, there it is. So you go way

back with the Jonah Spars. I mean, you said you opened for the tour in en Happiness begins tour, and you're you're on the road with them, I think now on a new tour, which we'll talk about in a minute. How did you first connect with them? Are our real

friendship started over a love of baseball. I the first time I met Nick was actually at a Dodgery game, and uh, we had some mutual friends, so I he and I are probably the two shyest people in the world, so we just I walked up to him and I was like, hey, I know so, and so he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, and uh, you know, but then you know, to Tequilas

later and we're best friends already. So yeah, I met I met him that way and Joe Joe and I kind of met not long after that, and he wound up directing a video for me, and uh, you know. After after that, the rest is history. And now I get to go on the biggest tours in the world, which you know is definitely a perk of the friendship. Well, here's the question for you, who's most likely to win

at Fortnite? Joe and I play every day, so I can tell you with a hud certainty that Joe will win at Fortnite over all of us beat Okay, yeah, yeah, I barely make it every day, even on the road, or especially on the road, I guess maybe ask yeah, I mean, if we have WiFi on the road, we will we find a way to get in there and do it. You just kicked off what I think like a couple of days ago, your first in something like sixty dates with them. How is it getting back on

the road so far? It was crazy. I was so excited going into it because playing live is my absolute favorite part of anything music. But I underestimated how good it would feel to walk on the stage in front of a bunch of people. I I stepped foot onto that stage and immediately was ear to ear, grinning, like it's just the excite. I did realize how much I missed that excitement. It's so I'm so excited to just

keep going. We have a day off today and I'm like, no, well, lot's changed since you you went on the road last. You become a husband and a father. How is that factored into going on the road. Is it tough to kind of balance the being a gig musician with being a family man. Yeah, I mean it's it's it's not a tough challenge. It's just a different challenge. My wife

is awesome, and so she's so supportive about it. And you know, I'm gonna come home as much as possible on the West coast just so I can see Row my daughter, and then you know, once we get to the middle of the country, they'll come visit a little bit, and then once we're on the East coast will come out there and I'll be able to kind of come back and forth to New York. So we're we're figuring out a way to make it the easiest adventure possible,

but it's definitely an adventure. Nonetheless, Rose, gotta see your dad, do was think at those big headphones on? Yeah? I want to see her little peanut head with those giant headphones. She's so adorable. Congratulations. Has become a dad changed your your approach to music at all? Totally? I think I'm just I'm just I'm so happy. You know, as cheesy

as that sounds, you know, I'm so happy. I already liked making happy music, but now there's just like this element of humor and honesty that wouldn't be there normally. You know that I would maybe take my I would take myself a little more serious and and maybe kind

of dial a few of those back. But now I'm just like, you know what, I'm I'm here, and here I'm dancing around the house with a baby and and uh, you know, having phone with my wife, and so I get into the studio and it's just like I can't turn that off. I think it's just more fun. Damn. I mean, being a first time parent during lockdown. My sister's going through that right now herself. That's no joke. How is how's that experience been for you? It's far

less scary than I thought it would be. Right before she was born, I was like, oh god, I'm responsible for a human being. This is gonna be that. You can barely take care of myself. But then she's there and you see your face and you hear those first little noises and you're like, holy sh it, this is just the coolest thing I have ever done, you know. And then every day she changes so much, so it's like, you know, it just keeps you on your toes in the sweetest way possible. Oh that's the thing I did

not expect with with my niece. Like a week goes by and you're like, you're you're different. Stop stop no, yeah exactly, And then the tooth pops out and you're like, what is that. You're supposed to get those and they're not gonna start falling out, And then it's it's crazy. It's so much fun though, it really is. I sound like a broken record, but it's it's the coolest job

I've ever had. Is she into music yet? My my brother in law plays guitar for my my niece and she just squeals and kicks and stuff as row in the music. Oh, it's crazy. It's like you you put on any kind of music and she immediately kind of starts bouncing. And then I don't know how she knows to dance harder during the chorus, but like the chorus hits and she just like lights up a little more, and I'm just like, it's it's so cool to see. And I don't know how she understands it so well,

but she does. So, you know, she wants to start a band with me when I'm an old man. We can do it. It's gonna say it's innate and center center blood right. Oh man, have you been getting parenting advice from from your dad? You know he kind of minds his own business a little bit. He uh, he chimes in when I asked, But you know he's he's been more useful for just a place to event to, you know where I'm like if I do something, I'm like afraid I'm doing it wrong, or like is she

gonna am I gonna be gone too long here? Or whatever. He's he's really good about to take it easy. It's she is permanent. She's not going anywhere you need to go. Take care of yourself, have fun, and and do your thing. So he's better for that. He kind of he likes to sit back and watch us figure it out. That's cool. That's a great resource to have. I mean, he's obviously so famous for giving his advice. Is he ever a

sounding board for you with your music? Do you ever play him stuff and say, you know, what do you think of this? Hell? Anything? No? No, he is. He's He's my biggest fan. He I sometimes have to not give him music too soon because no matter how many times I tell him not to play it for people, he plays it for everybody. Oh he's proud. He's proud, I know. But I kind of have to wait till it's a little more finished to give him, to give him the new songs. But he's the reason I love music.

I grew up with music always playing in the house. He can barely play the radio, but he does love music, So you know, I grew up with all kinds of music playing throughout the house. Oh man, like, what any any songs you here to this day? And think, oh my god, I'm I'm tann and I'm in the yeah dead Man's curve, and do what did he are the two songs that I feel like, looking back, he played way too much Jane Dean songs dead Man's Curve of course, and then, uh, you know the one that I don't

mind that he played all the time. It was a whole lot of love. So that one's on there too, but I can't really make fun of him for that one. So what are some sounds that that made you want to make music? Were there? Are there any any groups are in a particular song song is that really like inspired you to say, you know what, this is what I want to do with my life. Yeah. I think

the first like aha moment for me. My second concert I ever went to was Tina Turner and uh yeah, and it's it's crazy because on this tour we're playing the venue I saw her, and so it's like the first, yeah, the first time that I was like, Okay, I want to do this. I don't know what capacity, but I want to do this was her show there, so um,

you know, it's just she's NonStop, dancing, NonStop. Everybody on stage is just competing to have more fun than the person next to them, and it's just like it was just this ball of energy just thrown right into your face, and I never sat down, and I think my job was just dropped the whole time. And I was like, I don't know what this is yet, but I'm doing that. You start off in bands originally, How does going through this adventure solo? Now? How does that compare to to

being in a band? For you? Being in a band was cool, you know, I missed parts of it sometimes, but it's also like having five girlfriends at once, you know, like everybody, everybody wants a little piece of everybody's time, and you know it's you get there's like a it's like you want to make a decision, you gotta take it to the board, and everybody's got to vote on it.

Somebody's just in a bad mood, whatever. And then I did it by myself for the first time, and I was like, Okay, this is easy, Let's stick with this. And then I realized that I kind of get best of both worlds because I don't like a rotating door of just different musicians. So the band that I have playing with me live are often the people in the studio and that I wind up hanging out with it.

You get the best of both worlds. There was a quote you gave recently, or you said that this new music she and her are the first music that's really authentically you. What do you think that is? Is that just a place that all artists drive to get to and you got there, or it does something that would lockdown and being able to be more introspective and becoming a parent or something. What was that? I think it's

a little bit of both. I think people kind of rolled their eyes when you say, like, I finally figured out what I want to sound like. But it a lot harder than you think it is to kind of take what's in your brain, what you're doing with your hands and music and all of that and and your voice and kind of combining him in a way that makes a straight line to you. You know, that's your musical journey. Like that's why you can't take for granted the steps that you take to get where you want

to be. But then, yeah, I mean being in quarantine and and being locked in the house and then locking myself in a room to really figure it out definitely expedited the process a little bit, kind of made it more of a moment. So you know, I'm in a weird way, I'm kind of grateful for that, like forced time to sit and think. Is that something that you would do every day like some people do yoga or

go jogging or something. Do you sit for a certain time? Yeah, My my attention span is is way too short for that. But I try. I try, and then I'll just like I'll just sit down to meditate, and then I'll just like start staring into a corner and the the next thing you know, I'm counting all of the the corners in the room, and I'm like, next thing you know, I don't even realize it, and I'm I'm playing a game on my phone. That's why I've never been able to meditate.

And also mostly I I love music. I loved it all my life. I can I I mess around enough phone on a number of instruments. Never been able to write a song in my entire life. I I get two or three notes in and I just said, oh, yeah, that's that song, that's that song, that's that song. I can't and I can't get past that. And I'm thirty three years old and I can't do it. Definitely feel

that vibe. I have to, like I have to sit in my studio and I have to allow myself those breaks, like I just it winds up shortening the process if I let myself daydream and and get away from it, you know. And then as far as that, this sounds like that, and this sounds like that, David Foster told me one time to never forget that amateur's borrow and professional steal. So if you're gonna do it, beyond apologetic about it and just own it. It's an influence, go

for it and rip it off. But you know, and your own thing. There's nothing that Mozart didn't do before all of those other people. So yeah, you hear that again and again. I mean Don Everley from the Everly Brothers just passed away, and you hear all these people, I mean Lennon McCartney's harmonies was was that was the Everly Brothers. I mean, you hear all the people that they influenced. I mean it's the Beatles have said that all they did was steel the Beach Boy's songs and

give them to you with a funny accent. Is there? I mean, David Foster, that must have been just a master class and in production and composition, like, like, what are some other things that you glean from from your time together. The best piece of advice I ever got musically is from him, and he said, always be the

worst one in your band. Always be able to keep up, but always be the worst one in your band, because if you surround yourself with people that can outplay you, not only will it make you better, but it will make you sound better. And you will have more fun creating with with that kind of safety net behind you than you than you would feeling like you're carrying the whole thing uphill. So there was that, and then he's just a very honest person, and I think sometimes that

comes across as negative, but he's not. He's actually a very encouraging person. He just does it in a very blunt way. So if you start, if you're going to play him a song, and you start with, hey, it's not finished, you know, I still want to do this, He'll just be like, cool, don't play it for me. Then he's like, if you're going to convince me that it's not good before you play it for me, then it's not good. Don't play it for me. The message there, though,

it is be confident about your art. So I think just the tough critic that he is kind of encourages you to just be better and more, even if it's false confidence, just just be more confident. Play a number of instruments. Is there one among them that you prefer to compose on? Piano or guitar or something else, Sir. As far as writing it, I think it switches for me.

I started on guitar, so you know, at some point that became just something I fought with, So I switched to keyboard or piano, and you know, I was able to write on that for a little bit. But then my good old friend the guitar was sitting in the corner being like, hey, you wanna do this again? And so now I'm gonna in a guitar phase. I like to just kind of sit on and just figure out something that I can play and sing at the same time, and then that usually turns itself into something that I

didn't even plan on. Do you have a favorite guitar? I'm a huge guitar nerd. Yeah, well I'm I'm also a guitar nerd. I have way too many of them. I like to record on a fifty nine Jazz Master. That's that's like my that's my studio guitar. But then on stage now I'm playing. My first guitar ever was a Tom DeLong strat, just the one, the one knob and the one humbucker. I recently found two of those and I bought those and they're my That's all I

play on stage now. Oh my god. I I had a Blink base when I was in like high school and we were doing like Stay Together for the Kids and Green Day Minority and j R. And stuff like that was all we played exactly that. That's that's those are the songs I bought the guitar to learn. Totally. It's like full circle to go back and and now I'm playing a lot more guitar on stage now than I have in the past, and so it's fun to do it with my first what was my first guitar?

That's awesome. Do you have any plans to try to like get and play with Angels and their waves or Tom solo or something like that, or anything I could do with any of those dudes. I would just be like I would stutter my way into the room and be like we go, like Chris Farley talking to Paul McCartney exactly exactly. Did you have any collaborations live up any any dream with out there that you're moving towards,

for people you want to make music with totally. I mean Travis Barker, of course, just because I'm a blink nerd Mark Hoppus, I would love to. I would love to do. Wishing him the best obviously is going through it. But Tom DeLonge, any of the blank guys, obviously, I don't need to name all three of them. And then there's a Belgian artist named Strom that is right at the top of my list. I think he's one of

the most creative people on earth. Any of these guys, I mean, Billy Joe would be unreal to I always say that even if Billy Joe heard my music and said he hated it, I would still be starstruck because at least he hates my music and knows that it's there. He knows you exist totally across consciousness. Yeah, exactly. He had an emotion about me. I'm cool with that, and I hear what it is. Yeah, punch me in the face, man,

I'll take it. When you haven't been making music, getting married and caring for a new life in quarantine, I've heard. I think you I have this right that you've been learning magic. That's more of my attention span going out the window. I try, and I get so frustrated because I don't learn the basics before I try to learn the cool tricks. So I I kind of I've kind of given up a little bit, but I'll try again at some point. I just want to make something disappear.

It's it's kind of the same as it's the same reason I play music, is why I love the magic. It's just like for somebody to just pretend that reality doesn't exist for a couple of minutes. It's just the coolest thing in the World's that's the most amazing description of music I've heard in a really long time. Wow, thank you for that. That's why we go to concerts. Right as soon as you walk into the venue, you're

it's you're a different person. It's a different world. All you want as an overpriced T shirt and overpriced beer and a bunch of strangers to yell in your face. You know what I mean. It's like that's but at the same time, nothing makes you happier, and that's the colest part about it. And you're on the road through through the end of the fall, October, Yeah, into October. Yeah, what else you got coming down the pike? There an

EP on the way. You know, I have been just stacking songs up on the way up to this tour, So I'm not sure that the best way to release it all. If it were up to me, I would just dump it all out there. But you know, I've I've come to realize that as frustrating as it is to wait to put out music, you know, you have to do it to give each song it's best chance. And so whatever that roadmap is for these songs, you know,

I'm on board with. So I eventually want to put out a plastic jewel case with c D book and an old get the CD in it with you know, all the lyrics and the wordy thank you and whatnot. But uh, I don't know when that's going to happen. But in the meantime there will be a steady flow of songs for sure. Awesome. While we look forward to that, and we look forward to see when when you come around these parts, Joey McGrath, thank you so much for your music in your time today. It's been such a pleasure.

I really appreciate it. Thank you. This was so much fun. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.