chatting with aldn as geckos

Hey, folks, this is an extra little episode this week where I chat with the rising indie pop star Alden. If you enjoyed our conversation and you want to check out more of Alden's music, I've put his links in the episode description and without further ado, let's get into it. Alden, how's it going. What's been the most persistent thought on your mind lately?

Most persistent thought? Mama, honestly, what happens when I die?

Are you serious?

Yeah?

Really? Yeah, That's what I just want to talk about on here all the time. I talk about it on here so much that people are starting to get really annoyed really with me? Yeah, are you being serious? Do you think of that?

I do think about that a lot.

Tell me how that thought was going for you?

I think about it like I really hope that I like restart, I get to restart and play the game again in the same life.

In the same light.

Yeah.

So does that mean that you are yourself again?

I'm still all there?

And are you playing out deterministically all the same exact events of life again? So you're born as you're born to the same parents and the same location, Yet.

My choices are like you know, I make a small little choice right here and changes my whole trajectory.

I like this because this is a very I got. I get lost in like deterministic philosophy, a lot of like where you are and who you're born to and everything that like influences your choices. I like this idea that you have so much free will that you would go back and you could even make different choices.

I also kind of like I like the idea of like, you know, you go through that cycle. I don't remember what religion kind of you know this like practices this or like talks about this, but you go through the cycle until you are ready to ascend to a higher level.

Yeah, yes, yeah, what do you think is necessary to ascend?

I feel like it's just like inner peace, like just being content with life.

Do you have in mind alternative choices you would make if you were reborn to be Alden again? M hmmm.

I would still I would always make music. I think in every lifetime I would make music because it's just like I was attracted to it from such a young age. My older brother got me into it and I just like stuck with it from since I was like eleven or something.

So, so what you would want to happen is that you become you relive the same life as yourself. What do you think happens?

But I would think.

Is nothing.

No, I would want it, like you know, I would want to like mess around and like take some different steps in my life, you know, like, Okay, see what happens if I moved to because like I moved to New York first, right, yeah, and then I moved to LA. But what if I moved to LA first and then New York?

Really, so that's it. You wouldn't be like I mean those you wouldn't be like, let me move to Ghana or something. You wouldn't like do do something totally out of the.

It could have been like even like you know, maybe like I like my other life is like a granola guy, like and I got like a like a van. Yeah, and you know driving around the United States just in the van. I could see myself doing that too, you know. I feel like I could see a lot of different paths. I want to farm.

You know, do you want to farm?

I do want to farm.

I feel like, what do you have on your farm?

Definitely horses and cows. I'm not a big fan of chickens, just because they're shaped at like a little strange to me. I don't like the feet of a chicken, unfortunately, but I like eggs, so maybe I'll have chickens.

Would you, uh, would you not get bored on a far? I mean, you're a you're you're you're touring right, you're rocking and rolling, you're hanging out with people, You're in Hollywood, your Hollywood life, whatever are you? You wouldn't get bored on a farm?

No? Because the thing is, I do not go out. I don't do anything really. I just like I'm in the studio every day and I'm playing Fortnite at playing video games every day.

Are you homebody?

Yeah?

Have you always been a homebody? Or did you have a time?

I had a time? Okay, I had a time. I went to Uh, I went to the school and uh Southern Virginia and Richmond Virginia VCU and uh that was like my time to like go out and be like twenty one year old.

What was the place school? What was it called?

Commonwealthy University?

Is that like known to be a party school?

Not necessarily, but it's more more so known to be like an artsy school. Okay, so there's a lot of really cool types of people, So it's really fun to go out there to like the bars and stuff. Because I was just telling you about the Guar Bar. Yeah, it's all gar themed. It's insane.

I don't know if it was that popular with college kids.

I mean, I mean it was just a cool bar. I don't think a lot of college kids knew about Guar, but they the bar itself just looked sick. They had like these like Halloween costumes everywhere. Pretty sure it's still there. If anybody's in Richmond, go to the gar Bar.

So do you remember was there a specific night out where you were like, this is gonna be the finale of my career or was it just a natural I don't really want to do this.

Anymore finalely my career of going out.

Yeah.

Mmmm, that's a good question, because I was going out a little bit when I first moved to New York. I was having fun, but it just became kind of like repetitive. And then I became a homebody in New York in a little box. Yeah, and it was like really depressing and I couldn't handle the winter anymore, Like the winter in New York.

Yeah. Yeah, but the way the winter's good because it puts markings upon your life.

That is very true. That's like something I've noticed about living in LA is like, you know, having the sun every day can kind of get exhausting. Yeah, especially coming from the East Coast. I'm used to all four seasons, so I missed the season sometimes. But right now, I mean I've been in la for yeah, a year and a half, and I'm not like sick of it.

Are you thinking you'll stay there, like long term?

I'm definitely not long term. I think I think I'm gonna I want to buy a house in Virginia.

Okay, then that's where you're from, right, Yeah, that's where I'm from. Would you buy one near your parents?

Yeah? Probably somewhere in the vicinity of my parents school.

Are you still like friends with the homies from high school? Middle school? Yeah?

They all they're all down in Richmond, like we all kind of uh. We all graduated from the same high school, all went to the same college. It was a blast. We were all on the same dorm floor.

Are they excited by your your musical career or do they just know you as like you're just alt them.

They I mean, when I'm with them, you know, it's it's it's like, you know, nothing, no time has passed. Because I don't see them very often. I miss them all the time, but when I see them, it's like no time has passed. And I just did a show in DC, which is, you know, really close to just Virginia and Southern Virginia and everything. So all of my friends came up. Oh n family, it was a beautiful time.

What were you like in high school?

I was like in so me and my friends who were like from the outside, everybody saw us as like the stoner kids. Yeah yeah, yeah, but I did not smoke weed or drink or nothing really in high school.

And you're sober now right.

I'm so well, I would say, I'm California.

So California, so real. Yeah yeah, so and you're twenty twenty four. Yeah, and okay, so you had like a little tiny window where you were doing that.

Yeah, Like what do you mean, like well.

Because if you weren't doing in high school, you're it was.

Like, oh yeah, it was. It was like a college into COVID kind of thing.

It did.

It kind of rapidly progressed in a in a way, So I mean I could go into that if you are, we can't.

Yeah, well, oh, actually I want to well I want to know this first week we can hold onto that. Well, I want to know this because you said that your friends or like that people saw you guys as like the stoner kids, but you didn't even smoke weed at the time. Yeah, which is funny because I think there's a lot And I was a little bit like that too, except why I said I was a little bit like that too, but except I actually did smoke weed, So they were right.

I mean my friends, some of them did smoke a lot of weed, yea. And sometimes they would smoke weed in the back of class too.

Oh okay, you that level of stoner do you have because you have you have like a cool Do you have like a cool demeanor? Do you have you where you liked that in high school, like you had this kind of like laid back existence that people were like, Oh, there's no possible way that you could be that cool without being.

At I guess.

So.

I mean I've always been into like fashion and stuff like uh, and I've I grew up skateboarding a lot, so I was very much a part of like the skate culture and skate fashion and stuff, which is very synonymous with stoner culture.

Important question. Yeah Tony Hawk or skate skate so much better than Tony Hawk. Yeah, no offense to the Tony Hawk games, the.

Important they were classic. Yeah, yeah, but you've seen Skate four. I'm a little upset about Skate four.

Bro It, I'm over it. I mean it's been well. I think the Skate three came out in twenty ten.

Yeah, that's all they need. I mean the skateboard is like all cartoony it is. I haven't did they release any footage of it? Yeah, they've been like rolling out like play tests and stuff, and it just doesn't feel like a classic skate game.

Do you still skateboard?

I do, yeah occasionally.

How like are you are you nice? Can you like?

Yeah, I could hit like I could probably hit a tray flip.

You can hit a tray flip? Yeah, that's so cool.

That's like my best trick though.

Did when you were skateboarding in high school? Did that? Did you make a lot of friends that way?

Mmmmm? I had like one friend that skated in high school.

No, you weren't like in like the whole was.

There wasn't much of like a skate crew at my school. My school was very like diverse, lots of different types of people, and like there was barely any skateboarders for some reason. Uh, I don't know, but we were just like the like I heard. I remember being in high school and overhearing someone saying like, oh, there goes to artsy kids or something like. Okay, so we were like the artsy kids.

I guess do you like looking back on that? Do you believe that was a earned moniker?

I like it. I like I like being called the artsy kid. Okay, I would say artsy did you have?

Were you emotional in high school?

Like?

Did you were? You were like a not like emo is in like the subculture, but like emo is in like just like in general. Were you a brooding child?

Definitely? Yeah, that's like you know, that's where I would channel to the music.

You know. Do you remember like what you were brooding over?

Uh? Well, I had a very traumatic first girlfriend that was like it was like four years but it ended up with her cheating on me with one of my friends.

No ship. How old were you guys?

We were? Uh? Juniors in high school?

Oh?

I don't remember how what age that is, but yeah, that that that that was devastating at the time for my young mind to comprehend. But looking back at it now, it's like, if that didn't happen, I wouldn't have started writing music because it was like I was just producing before that. Then that happened, and I was like I need to like vent Okay.

Yeah, you need to transmute this into song.

Yeah exactly.

And what was this? What was the song? You still have the song that you wrote at sixteen about your cheating girlfriend?

I think I do somewhere on one of my laptops. Uh. Me and my my like best friend from you know, like my closest friend in high school, uh Oxy Sleep aka Tyler. He him and I just like we're just at my house every day recording songs together about this breakup. And then like I got back together.

Wait, your homie was with few recording songs about this breakup. Yeah, that's so cool. Yeah that you had a friend, like truly like at that age to have a friend who will like like sit in this with you, Like that's a real homie.

Well he's still a real homie to this day. Yeah, still like we've gotten each other through thick and thin, for sure.

Some people have friends where it's like, don't talk to me about this girl again after you've already like, stop talking about this to me. I'm sick of hearing it. And then you have a friend who's like, I will sit with you day after day and we will make the song together. Yes, you transmute the feeling. It's a beautiful thing that it was, very It's very beautiful. We still have that relationship, you know, are you still so

That she I am? I am, and like I forget for a long time of yo, because we were I feel like we're kids. Like when you're like a junior in high school, you feel like you're grown up, and then you reach you know, twenty, and you look back at it and you're like, oh, the child. Yeah, And then you grow up and you're twenty three and you look back at twenty and you're like, oh, the child.

It keeps happening until you are dead. Yeah, you know the old Yeah, the older I get them. I realize I don't know anything about anything. I become more agnostic towards the world and myself and all things.

Yeah, yeah I feel that. Do you?

So you really think all the time about how not like all the time, but it's been a persistem thought lately about what happens after you die?

Yeah?

Did anything happen to kind of spark that?

Not necessarily? I feel like I've just always been like a like not like nihilistic person, but like really, oh no, like it's more maybe maybe it's a more more, more of a curiosity type of thing.

Do you feel like a nihilistic person at times?

But I I feel like I've been improving as I get older, Like I feel like I am starting to see more of the joys in life.

Do you are you? Do you are you happy? Do you like life? Yeah?

To an extent?

Okay?

Yeah, yeah, Like there there was a reason I got into it into drugs, you know. Okay, they were like there were times where I was just so unbearably like depressed, that the drugs were like the only outlet and they did help.

Yeah, of course they helped.

They're they're but the problem is that they're abandoned. Yeah, so it's like they they helped for you know, however long you're doing it, and then once you want to stop your fuck.

When I was thirteen, I was like upset about a girl and I drank. I went into like my parents like alcoholic. Can I drank a Mike's Hard lemonade? It's just one, But I was like, oh, I'm like a I was. I was very romantic about about drinking this Mike's Hard lemonade. Like I was like, hemmingway down in whiskey or something.

Right, the first time you drink your parents' alcohol.

Yeah, big day, But it is no, it is like, oh, in in recent years than that, I have there have been times where, yeah, I've gotten drunk and I'm like, oh, I totally get what. I don't think. I've had, you know, strong problems with alcohol in my life, but there's been a I've never had times where I got drunk to like escape of like a feeling I didn't want to feel and im and I've just been like, oh, there's a few times where I did that wrong. I totally get why people do this. Yeah, like you know.

For me is it was like I kind of jumped the gun and went straight to fentanyl. Oh really Yeah yeah, that was like my drug of choice in Virginia. It's a big problem with like these fake percosets that are just full of fenl and literally we would, man like a couple of friends would just like scrape a tiny piece off the pill snort it, and you're just.

So, what what were the feelings you were trying to fent away?

I don't know. I feel like at first it was like, you know, the whole girlfriend thing or whatever, but it eventually evolved into nothing. I was just doing it, yeah, yeah, and then it got to the point where I was doing it to feel normal.

Yeah.

It was like because my tolerance is so high. Yeah, I wasn't getting high anymore. I was just doing it to film that like baseline functional.

Yeah. Do you do you like talk about this stuff a lot, like in your music and in your.

Oh yeah yeah definitely the music and like like fans of d M me about it and stuff. I I like being able to like help people through that type of ship.

Do you respond to those dms ever? Yeah? OK, because there's a lot Sometimes there's someone you know is like uh DM, and you about that stuff or like constantly, you know.

No always, anytime it's something in that realm, I respond because I feel like that. Yeah, I feel like I've been I've been through it and out the other side, so I have the perspective on it now and I feel like I can. I want to be able to help people.

Did you have like a like the like a clag a rock bottom moment?

Yeah. Yeah. So I was in Virginia staying with my parents. I was like in between places, so I just dropped out of college. I think h because it's like COVID and everything was online and music was taking off for me. So I was just at home like all day with my girlfriend at the time, and we were just like doing the lines of fentol all day, just asleep all day. And it led to I think. I think I was I couldn't get more percocets and I was going through

They just didn't know I should know IEA. She was like, hey, what do you know?

Because they they my parents are like, you know, they they did stuff going up, but they were never into something like that. Sure, yeah, it's a like something like fandels are really crazy one to get into. But I don't know. The way I got into it was a really bad influence in my life. Who introduced it to me?

Okay, where do you do? You don't have contact with them anymore? Did they?

I do not do not them anymore.

Yeah, yeah, you can tell everyone. Mm hmmm. So what was it that was kind of like the thing that you went to rehab? Right?

I did?

What was that? Like?

Honestly, it was a blast. I had so much fun.

It sounds it sounds a little fun.

Yeah, it was like it was like summer camp. Yeah, it sounds like I went, uh August of twenty twenty three maybe, and it was just like all different types of people and it was this pretty small group too, which was nice. And we would have movie nights, we would have therapy groups. We were allowed to have our phones and laptops.

Cool.

I actually recorded like a EP in my little room and read it on SoundCloud. Yeah. Would you record like just with like your MacBook speaker literally with the MacBook microphone?

Cool?

And just like I had, I was allowed to have a guitar, recorded the guitars straight into the MacBook microphone.

Do you start to give me anyone in rehab that you're still like homies with? Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, definitely, like those people are like lifelong friends because it's like you're all kind of like going through the same thing together at the same time. And also rehab is like a it like really opened my eyes

Yeah yeah, yeah, you know, and.

That's like that like seeing that made me realize, like, what the fuck am I doing?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a I feel like that's one of the other things about getting older is like you kind of you realize all that like once, because when you're young and you grow up, you almost have you have blinders on, right, you only have access to your life experience and the life experience of the people directly around you, which it happened typically is very similar

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's like that's I don't know, that's a part of the life. You just kind of like, that's that's what that kind of circles back to the like reliving your life. I feel like you learn more and more and more every time you cycle through your life. Every time you die, you wake up as your baby again, and you you go through and you learn new lessons.

You are Rick and Morty.

I I like, I like a little bit of.

Do you know like Roy you know I'm talking about Like Okay, so you know the wreckon Morny episode they go to like this like Alien Arcade and they play this game called.

Where Yeah, where he's stuck in the game for like a lifetime.

Yeah, Like it kind of reminds me of that, like that Keep your Life is Roy, We're all.

Exactly Roy exactly. Yeah, It's like that. That's how I I honestly feel like that's kind of what it is. Like. You die, you go up, but you get to see your recap, your life recap. You get to see where you fucked up, you know, you get to see where you did something right. You go back down. You don't have much memory of it, but it's intuition that stays, you know, because like where does that come from? The intuition like like a gut feeling telling you not to do something?

Uh, yeah, I got Oh that's an interesting idea. Is is intuition a lesson you learned that's very that's very that's very woo. Yeah. The idea that intuition is like a lesson you learned in the past life.

That's the way I like to think about it.

Yea, what do you do you so you're always going to be human? Would you could you be like a different m this species?

Honestly? Mm hmm. I don't know if I don't know if I could, I don't know if I want to be another species? Yeah, it would suck, yeah, just because they it's just survival for other species. We like get to do this type of thing.

It's true.

We get to dress up other species exactly.

Yeah. M hmmm. So what's your relationship like with your parents now? Are you guys cool?

Yeah? We're great.

Yeah.

My my parents are very supportive of like what I do, and they're always there for me, which is very sweet and like always. I try to go back to Virginia as much as I can, but I need to go back more definitely.

What's the most fun thing to do in Richmond, Virginia? In Richmond, this is that where you're from Richmond. I'm from Northern Virginia, Non Virginia.

Went to school in Richmond.

What's the most fun thing to do in Northern Virginia.

Most fun thing to do in Northern Virginia. Okay, this is a this is a very specific thing to me and my friends. But the what we would do for fun is we would break into our high school football stadium and we'd burn these CDs, hour long CDs of like just so like crazy frog, like just stupid dumbass songs. Yeah what accel? Yeah, yeah, just the most stupid songs, and then put it in the player, crank the volume up is like two am, right, cranked the volume up, play it and just run and.

We hear it. Oh ship, Like okay, you broke into the like the a V of the stadium. Yeah yeah, that's yeah. We like in the middle of the night, in the middle of all the way we would go.

Yeah, we would going the CD. We'd like we'd put a design on the CD for whoever finds it, like the security guard it finds it.

Don't get caught doing that.

No, And we did it like five or six times. We'd also you know, uh, like attached to the football stadium was also the snack room, and we would just ravenged the snack room.

Dude, that's so how easy? What was the what was the security flaw in the football stadium?

I don't know, we were we were kids, Like I think the flaw actually was one of the doors was just left unlocked, and so it's on them. It's on them for doing living in unlocked.

You seem like you were into Uh are you familiar with the term urbex like urban exploring? Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, I love that shit.

Yeah do you ever do you have any good finds that you remember growing up?

I mean where I grew up, there was not much like abandoned stuff, So I feel like the urbex we would do would be like like climbing on top of my school or something. Yeah, Like we had like this shopping center near my house that we would like find ways to like climb on top of it, and like there was like glass.

Off you remember you remember planking?

Yeah, of course there was.

Just there was this thing called owling where we go to a high place, go to a high place and you do a little like owl pretty much is doing that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I got kicked out of j CC's uh summer camp for owl for owling. Yeah, I get kicked out and I got like suspended for a few days.

So owling is is illegal, is what you're telling me.

I mean, it's not cool. You know. Like if I if I were I mean I was probably like twelve, and if I were like a real adult and I saw a twelve year old on the top of a building, yeah, like just fucking like true, I would be like that is so knock. I would freak the fuck out that I would scream at them.

Yeah, I would like to see like an adult man do it, though, well a.

Lot of adult a lot of adults do it. And then they jump off. They just jump off, They just jump off. Yeah, but yeah, you know, I.

Think do they who?

At least do they who?

Yeah?

I don't know. You gotta get one last. If you're gonna jump off a building, you gotta get one last.

If you're owling that hard, Yeah, you gotta get one last food like who?

And yeah, I think if you're gonna owl yourself to death.

Find words on the stone. Who is it? Whot or who?

I guess it's a whot, you know what. I think it's phonetically it's a hoot. Yeah, but the just the spell, the if you're just doing the sound. Yeah, Hey, you want to answer some questions. So uh all right, so so okay, so for some context, you posted sometimes we do phone calls on this, but today I was like, I think it's better we just do a little bit of a We just read viewer questions. I got a little bit of viewer mail. I sometimes read my viewer mail.

I love them.

All right, let's see. Do you have a name for your fans.

I don't, but they have called themselves Aldians at one point audience. Yeah, but I feel like that one fizzled out. Now they're like now they call me like father strong father strong.

Oh yeah, what a strong?

So strung out Symphony is like the name of my album. It comes out October third, but it's also more than just an album. It's like I wanted to be a brand. I want it to be everything.

Cool. Yeah cool? What about like your audience?

What about them? No? Like, I mean like as like a name, like keeping the name of audience.

Or no like no? Oh wait, Alldians are like like, you know, like you have an audience, you have an audience audience.

Oh, that's what you're saying. Yeah, that's pretty that's pretty good.

Yeah you can, Yeah you can.

I'll take that.

You can have that, all right. So this is from Julia. She said, are you team Conrad or Team Jeremiah? What the fuck is that? Okay? I was wondering if you would know what that? I just about this?

Okay, what is it?

There's just there's this show called The Summer I turned pretty okay, and uh, it's very popular and I think it's about a girl who has to choose between this guy Conrad.

Is it reality TV?

No, it's like a it's like a scripted thing and it's like it's like the it's like the the this Generation's Team Edward Team Jacob. No way, Yeah, somebody I literally just I met someone. She introduced me to the the show and she was like, are you team Conrad or Team Jeremiah? And I and I was like, I don't know what that is? And she was like, just answer.

I feel like UNK. I feel like you know what?

No, what is? What is? I don't know any I don't know. Okay, Well, okay, this is a good exchange of ideas.

Unk is like a term that younger people are using See. No, I'm I'm making myself sound even more like an unk.

But it's a term is like a cool boomer.

It's like no, it's like yeah, it's just like the older someone older than you, like, it's like what fifteen year olds call twenty one plus year olds like, oh, okay, mid twenties, you're if you're in your twenties.

Now, are you team Conrad or team Jeremiah.

I'm gonna I'm gonna go with Jeremiah just because of the name.

Honestly, yeah, I only I watched a little bit of the show. I like Jeremiah better than Conrad. Okay, so I think you picked right. All right, thanks for asking this, Julia. Okay. Max Pilled said, do you miss New York City?

Oh that's my neighbor. That was my neighbor. Oh shit, yeah, I think I read that one.

Well, this is your neighbor.

Yeah, yeah he was. He was my neighbor when I lived in the Lower East Side. I think there was more to his question. He said something like like, and was I your favorite neighbor or why was I your favorite neighbor? Baby? But he was just this chill ass dude, and uh, I would just see him, like, you know, once a month. Chill ass guy. But I don't really miss New York, can't lie?

Do you miss him? Yeah?

Yeah, maybe I miss him. I would say I'm missing.

That's why don't you miss New York?

Just too like stressful and like fast.

I feel like, yeah, yeah, you can definitely springs spread your legs out a little bit more. In Los Angeles.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I just bought a BMW. I'm two forty.

You bought a BMW? Yeah, okay, pretty good.

I'm I love the highways there when there's no traffic.

Uh boo Zang said, can you describe a day in the life of a few of a future version of you that has everything you want?

M m man, I want I want a gold plaque, and well, I guess, okay, I guess it'll be a day in life, right.

Yeah.

So I want my house in Virginia. I wanted to be tucked away in the woods.

You know.

I wake up, I will walk to like a coffee shop, come back to my house and maybe I have like a trad wife there.

Cool.

Yeah, and she cooks me. Maybe she cooks me some food or something. And then I you know, like maybe I have a studio in the in the house, and I just like hang out in the studio and play video games and make music and what else. Maybe I'm just such a homebody that I like, I don't. I don't want to go out. I don't want to eat out, like I want to order my uber eats everything.

Do you cook or do you uber eats over?

I can't cook it.

I can't cook it. Yeah, I can't cook. I don't have I'm a word in my apartment right now. I don't have a fucking Uh. I have a stove. Yeah, it's got boxes on it on yeah, stove top.

Yeah, it's a little bit of a hazard. I would say, oh ship really nah, Well maybe I don't.

No, it's actually good you brought that.

Do you have a cat in here?

I don't have any? No, Okay, I'm the only living thing that good exists here.

Because we have a cat, me and my friend. Uh. And one time the cat jumped onto the oven and turned on Jesus cracking flame okay, and the whole house smelled like propane.

It was really fucking god.

It was left on for probably like thirty minutes.

Dude. See, this is why I don't want to have. Sometimes people will say to me, like, oh, you should get a lizard, like they'd be cute, and I'm like, I don't want anything in my house that's.

Alive, and like you got to travel too. Yeah, that's a big part, like with us having the cat, you.

Know, like you're you're running around.

We have to, Yeah, we have to, and we have to figure out someone to watch the cat. Yeah, yeah, we have.

Cats are self sufficient. The cats can just run around. Cats don't really need a person, like a dog is kind of kind of too dumb to survive on its own.

Dog needs like all the attention. Yeah, but cats, Yeah, they're very low a maintenance, which is nice. We just got an auto feeder for the cat, which is good.

Oh that's nice. Yeah, that's nice. Was he just like wave his cat pop?

I don't even know. I haven't seen it yet. I think it's like on a timer. It's like the dinner time. He probably waits by it at He probably has learned by now actually to get into the box without it dispensing. Because this cat we found on the street and he was the tiniest little baby, but somehow he was surviving and now in the house. If we leave a single snack out bag of chips, hot cheetos, anything he likes, spicy shit, he'll demolish it. He'll eat a full bag of talkies.

Yeah, a little Garfield running around.

Yeah, it's it's crazy. I've never seen a cat eat like spicy food.

You say you play video games. Yeah, we were talking earlier. You saw I got the switch too. You got switch too?

Yeah, I got the switch.

You said you said you play you we were talking earlier. You said you're playing Cyberpunk on it. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm playing Cyberpunk twenty seventy seven.

Are you playing anything else on there?

I've been cycling through Cyberpunk? What else?

Uh?

Dying Light? Oh, that's on the switch, Yeah, it is on the switch.

Oh shit, it's like, what is that again?

It's like the Parker Zombie game. Okay, yeah, it's sick all right, Dying Light Mario Kart World, which that just came out for the Switch too. Yeah, I want to play I want to play the New Donkey Kong New Rocks. Yeah that because I've been like, I like cycling between like five different games. Fortnite.

Also, I've never never played Fortnite, but I Also, I cycle through games I love, I have huge fucking like it's a great it's a big ADHD thing. I like love playing five different at once.

Yeah, exactly, And I have to, like you know, I have to like space them apart evenly so that I don't forget how to play one of the games.

Can we talk about this real quick. I don't know what your feelings are, but the new Mario Kart is severely disappointing to me. I agree, you do, okay, cool, I'm not. I'm not crazy. It's a it's extremely disappointing game. Yeah I was.

I mean, like, I guess the open world is whatever, Like.

It's like a it's like a it's I mean, you know, you're playing cyberpunk right like, like it's that's an open world. It's got people in characters. The Mario Kart world is barren, it's empty.

Nobody uses the open world feature because like, what are you doing it?

And then they like Mario Kart Deluxe. It has all the cool characters. That's got the animal crossing eys, got fucking link you know.

You know what I hate the most about Mark Car World is that you can't customize the cars anymore like wheels body Glider.

Right, you know you just pick a full car.

Yeah. I hate why.

It's a step back in the series.

Why would they do that? All right, the worst decision. Honestly, Nintendo is known for doing that that type of shit.

Let's see here. Somebody asked what got you through life's difficulties? That's from Emma Walrave.

Always music, Always music. Yeah, I feel like I'm not getting like talking about my feelings like to a person, or it's not not very cathartic for me. I've like it done like therapy or whatever in the past, and it's like I feel like I just for me to like get through something, I have to do it alone.

Do you are so do you go to therapy?

No?

Actually, what is it you didn't like about therapy?

When you were going, I felt like I just couldn't get past the idea that, oh, I'm paying this person to listen to me, right, you know what I mean?

Yeah?

I like psychiatrists because they prescribe you medication. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, they're cool and they're just like straight to the point.

Yeah. But therapists like to bat you around a little bit.

Yeah. But I will say I haven't like really given therapy like a full, like full, like year long run. I feel like, yeah, I feel like it could be helpful if I've really committed to it.

That's what That's kind of where I'm at right now is I feel like I always go. I get frustrated with it after like a few sessions, and I'm like, fuck, this is stupid.

I mean, you're a therapist yourself.

Yeah, but I'm like, I don't even know why I said. Yeah, I'm not a therapist at all. I'm an insane person. But I you know, it's funny because I mean, yeah, I do do like a therapy E E E podcast, But uh.

I will say, this conversation is a little cathartic.

I like, okay, good.

Talking about just random stuff.

Yeah, this is your first You said this is your first podcast.

Yeah, like form kind of thing. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it's fun to just talk. It is in gecko suits.

It is fun.

Okay. Someone said, uh, what is your songwriting process look like?

Okay, So, since I I like to since i'd like to produce everything myself, I always start with the production and I usually will start with like either guitar or drums, and then I'll build a melody out of like a synth or something, and I'll I'll immediately start vocals over just like the bass melody and like some maybe some drums super simple, just do like little four bars and then I kind of like keep building it out in little increments like that.

You know.

I don't record like the whole song in one go, Like I don't make the beat first and then go and record the vocals all in one go. I like to make the beat as I'm recording the vocals. That way, I structure the beat around my vocals.

Okay, so you do you you do the vocals first and then do the beat.

Kind of it's a it's like a two that's at the same time.

And so it's almost like if a rapper like rapped and then it was like, Okay, now put a beat over this rap.

Kind of it kind of it's it's like it's like I'll lay down the synth line and I'll do a little vocal melody over it, and then I'll do the bass, and then I'll move to the next section. I'll do the drums there and then more vocals there.

So what's the name of the this is strung Out Symphony. That's the name of the new album. One of the songs about.

Just my life. There. Like I said earlier, it's like music is my main like way of like getting out feelings and stuff. So it's very personal. And I like my songs to be like really just like I don't know therefore myself. And if people can relate, that's beautiful m hm. And usually people do relate, which is which I love.

Someone said, uh, Andrew Dreu Drew Andrea you. Andrea says, what would you both do if you encountered clones of yourselves? I'll let you go first. What would you do to encounter a clone of yourself? Oh? Here you go, you go ahead. And I was going to bring up a thing.

You wait, you go first. I want to know what you and I.

Was gonna give my answer. I was gonna bring up a thing. A lot of people or not a lot of people. I read this article a long time ago, maybe ten years ago, that if you encounter a clone of yourself, the main two Jullie, I already know the main two things you could do with that clone is you could either fight yourself or have sex with yourself.

Yeah. The first thing that came to mind, is have sex with myself.

Yeah, yeah, it's not gay, it's not not not that that's bad, it's well, okay.

So the incest.

No, I don't think it's interest. I don't think it's that much different from masturbation. Right, although, here's the thing about having sex with yourself, is that uh well, I remember I remember reading this article a long time ago of like making the of a guy was making a case of as to why you want to fuck his own clone, and the idea being that you know your clone would would know everything that you're into sexually. It'd be the most it would be. It would be deeply,

Yeah, I don't see the point in fighting myself. I feel like we would work together to do something, Like i'd i'd just be in two places at one time. Yeah, I like that, Yeah, like I would. I would, I would turn it into a utility. You know, we'd because like I like being at home so much that I could send my clone out to go do this thing for me, and then he could swap out. We just go back and forth. M yeah no, and like just I could take the workload off a little bit.

You know, I'm really picturing being with a clone on myself. I think it would creep me out. I probably tell him to fuck off, Yeah, go somewhere.

Okay, But what do you do when he fucks off and he like just wreaks havoc and it's you.

He probably wouldn't reak havoc though, because it would still be me, and so he would still be conscientious enough to not want to like go kill people.

And what's stop the clone from feeling like he's the main one?

If he if the clone does feel like he's the main one, then he might kill you. Oh he might kill me. Yeah, yeah, Oh I have to kill him. That's what I would do with my clone. Would kill him.

You might have to kill him first, because then something bad he could happens.

My answer, I'd have sex with him and then I'd kill him. Oh okay, yeah, okay, in that order, in that order.

It's dark.

What are your favorite moments with other artists while touring?

Oh, honestly, best moments were touring with my good friend Glave. I've been on two tours with him.

Cool.

And first tour we did was my very first tour, and we got the whole like, you know, we got a whole tour bus and everything, and it was just so much fun, like hanging out on the tour bus and fucking around the whole time and sleeping in these little like stasis chambers. You like these these little bunks in the bus and you just like go to sleep and you wake, you just teleport to the next city and you just like yet all this time in the day to walk around the city and explore.

So you're a homebody.

Yeah.

Do you like touring?

I love touring.

Yeah. How many tours have you been on?

Uh? I think four?

Cool?

Yeah?

Cool? What do you have a favorite city that you like to tour? U?

La and New York? Oh is the best?

Cool? Yeah? What have you?

So?

You did your show last night here?

Yeah?

And I had to go. I went so, well that's awesome.

Yeah. I just like I just like just do my own thing on stage. I don't care about what anybody is like paying attention to I just do I just have fun on that stage.

Yeah, you ever had a show where you were like, I don't know if I felt good about this one?

Oh dude. Literally two days ago we played Boston and we get there and we have soundcheck and they're like, oh, by the way, you have two minutes to soundcheck. And we didn't have our main m D who is the music director who sets everything up for us, all the cables and stuff, and we're over here trying to fgure out how the fuck to like plugging these cables and grout everything to the to the venue and it's like, you know, it's coming up on one minute thirty seconds.

Yeah, too minute sound checks is? Uh? Is tough?

Oh yeah, I mean that's the treatment you get when you're opening for other artists.

Have you have you the headline tour?

Yeah?

Nice? How how was how was your headline?

It was beautiful? Then you know, they bring you cookies instead. They treat you like a god at the venues, but when you're opening, they're like, they're like, just set your shut up and go just you're good to go, get off stage, and they don't care because they the priority.

Is of course, of course, of course. So what's the future looking like for mister Alden? What do you? I know? You have an album coming out on the third of October. What's it called again, The Strung Out Symphony? It is about your life?

Yeah? Yeah, exactly.

Are you gonna tour the album?

Yes, definitely, yeah, And I wanna I want to do like a europe tour. I wanna. I've not never done anything like uh, I've only been to Paris to model for Selene.

You modeled for Selene. Who wait, who's Selene?

Celene is a brand?

Oh yeah, but what was it like being It wasn't like modeling in Paris.

It was really sick at first, and then there were riots in Paris at the time. Oh so the show got canceled. I wasn't able to walk.

Oh you couldn't walk the runway. So are you do you? Like, do you do a lot of model stuff?

No, not, not that often. It's like a secondary thing that it like, it's like a cool opportunity presents itself. I'll take it. Like the Selene thing is really cool because I really like like the like Selene clothes, like Hetty Samaine stuff, But it's it's not like my favorite thing to do.

So, uh, you got the album coming out. What's anything else up in the future for your life.

After the album comes out? I want to I wanna. I want to start a band with my friend Gabe. That's one thing, and like, you know, have this whole another side project. And I want to like stay independent for a little while. I'm with the label right now, which is super cool, but I I miss being independent sometimes just purely for the like freedom of being able to drop a song on a random Wednesday.

When yeah, sure, yeah, sure, sure so sure. M hm hmm. I'm trying to think I was of of what else I was going to ask you? Hmm. Oh here, let me look at let me look at these questions real quick. I'll see if we have any more questions. Oh s, I gotta plug in my computer. This is a very important part of the podcast. You gotta you gotta plug

I have so many goals. I mean, I want, I want gold records, I want I want to play an arena. I want to do big, big shows and like just like I want to travel the world and do shows.

Where if you could do if you could do a big show anywhere on the planet.

Dude, probably Japan. Oh you're a benajpan No, that's like one of the first places I want to go to.

Travel band's cool. Map done a few shows in Japan.

That's sick.

They're cool. They're a fun time. Yeah.

I I uh so, I had to take a language in high school and I got to pick between Spanish, Latin, or Japanese. I chose Japanese.

You remember any Japanese?

No? Really, I will not do it. It's adversing.

You remember ka, of course? I remember how I'm trying to remember. How the fuck do I say? Fuck? Why don't I remember? What is your name?

I'm not no namaa desk another nama Desca. Yeah, I think that was right.

Yeah, I think that sounded right. Yeah Desca Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you remember you know?

What is it was? That want?

That's how are you?

Oh? Yeah, yeah, I remember that. You're bringing it back.

I lived there for like two months at the beginning of this year.

Yeah, so do you, because when I eventually go out there, I want to spend a lot of time out there.

Oh you should have. Fucking is so cool.

Yeah. Do you feel like those two months like you kind of like we're like catching onto the language better.

A little a little bit as much as you could in two months. I mean definitely not as much as you could in two months, but you know, as much as you could passively in two months.

I feel like I'd have like a slight advantage because of learning in high school. Yeah, come back to me.

It's sick though, I love I mean, yeah, Tokyo. I love like a big city, you know.

I love like futuristic looking cities.

Oh yeah, dude, Oh shabuya fucking rocks.

Yeah that's sick, you know. Yeah, that's why I like the game Cyberpunk so much.

Cyberpunk.

Where does cyberpunk take place, like like far future dystopian in America? I think it's that somewhere between California, like some Yeah, somewhere in California.

Okay, I gotta sell my copy of Mario Kart World. I'm so glad that you also hate mark Our World. I thought I was crazy because everyone is kind of dick riding it. I think IGN gave it. Did IGN give it some big crazy score?

Really?

I think? But it's just it's not good. It's not that great.

It's like, you know, I'll still play. I just I like it. I like the knockout mode.

That's the only I like the knockout mode too. It's where you do one big Yeah.

Yeah, and you really get it really gets your adrenaline going when you're like going, like catching up and you're like you have to get to like whatever, like eighth place, Yeah, yeah, ninth and overtake the guy right in front of you.

Who do you play as?

I play as shy guy?

You play as a shy guy? Yeah? Is it because you're a shy guy? Maybe?

Maybe maybe it's because I'm ah, do.

You feel like you're a shy guy?

Definitely? Yeah, that's why I like stand inside.

Well, how did you? How did you feel about this? Uh, past hour of hour?

It's been about an hour. Yeah, it went by very fast. I felt I felt unshy.

Good, I felt open good. Let's see. Okay, so we want to make sure that people know about the album. What what do you well when this comes out? If people want to let's do this. If people want to get in to the album verse, where do they start? Where should the people start with you?

With that album out?

With you? In general? If people people, if people listening to this haven't heard you before, should they start? Okay?

I would say my biggest songs called I Can't Believe, I'll let You get Away. That's kind of the tone of the album, and I feel like moving forward, that's I'm gonna keep that tone but still evolve it. I can never stick with the same sound for too long. I don't like making the same song like multiple times. So you know, I'm gonna put this album out that has like songs that are similar to that, but also a bunch of variation, and then move on to another sound after that.

M m yeah, what would the other sound be or you're doing now?

I think I feel like I would take it more and like an experimental still keep like elements of a band, like you know, live drums, live guitar, but more uh, just like more inaccessible if that's the right word, Like a little more niche Yeah, more obscure exactly?

Is there any other things that you want to plug to the people before we go?

Man, I hate self promotion.

That's why we're here, motherfucker.

I hate it. Well, I mean I like being here just to hang out. Yeah, I feel, I feel, I feel, but I don't know. I mean, well, I'm on tour right now.

Where we were are we off too? So if this, if this comes out, I believe the podcast version is going to drop September fifth. Where are you at?

Well, I don't know where I'm gonna be at. I think I might might still be on tour. Okay, so come to those shows, come see Wisp. Wisp is going to be touring longer than I am. Okay, So go see Wisp please. She's the coolest artist ever. I worked on her album that she's touring right now, and I love like I love to working with her. I love the songs that we made together and stuff. So yeah, go go see Wisp Live Beautiful.

I'll did anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go.

Oh a yeah, shout out to all the people who like my music. I'll love you forever, reyally like make everything possible. It's a it makes some emotional thinking about it, just like that I was doing this since I've been eleven, and now I'm like, and now it's my life. It's crazy.

We truly live in h in a matrix of some kind.

Right right. I feel like, you know, maybe this is like my maybe this is like my tenth life. You know I got it right, Maybe I got it right to an extent this time.

I'll say this all that I hope that in every you know, what is it in? What's that scene in uh endgame and game where Doctor Strange is like I ran through.

I was into it, Like Marvel.

There's some fucking scene in one of the Avengers movies where doctor Strange is like, I ran through nine million different simulations and there's only one where we win, or something like that. But I hope in all ten million Alden lives there is a moment where we are sitting here in Gecko suits. Hell yeah, hanging out.

Yeah, maybe it happens every time. Maybe.

Aldon, thank you very much for calling on the show. I appreciate it. You mu