0:46A: Yeah, yeah.
0:48B: My name is Jacob Mitchell. I play guitar in Grass Frog. Um, I guess I’ve been playing music for like 6 or 7 years now, which is kind of wild. Um, it’s the first band I’ve been in. Chance to play with my brother, pretty cool. These guys aren’t too bad either.
1:04A: Yeah, yeah. I’m, I’m Jacob’s brother Sam. I play guitar and I sing for Grassrug. I’ve been playing guitar for a while, but I joined a band my senior year of college a couple years ago and really got into jam band stuff and kind of just hanging out with my buddies and having fun playing music. And then when I moved down to Portland, I knew Peter and we kind of Just started playing together, and we found Donnie, and we found our friend Jack, who’s not here.
1:41E: Where’s Jack?
1:43C: We don’t talk about it.
1:44D: Jack’s having a rough morning.
1:45A: Jack’s having a long night. Yeah. Love you, Jack. Shout out Jack. He’ll drive here after he’s had some water and something to eat.
1:55D: Maybe a couple Gatorades.
1:56A: A couple of Gatorades.
1:58D: So yeah, Sam and I -- it’s actually kind of funny. We met each other our freshman year of college. We were in the same dorm together, but we never really hung out through college until after. So then now, like, once we graduated, then we kind of started hanging out more, playing music, and it’s been awesome. I don’t know why we didn’t hang out before.
2:17E: Yeah, I know. I don’t know.
2:19A: Yeah, just like different paths. But yeah, it’s been great. Um, me and Peter actually were in this, uh, fraternity talent show early on in college, and we both played guitar and sang.
2:32C: Yep.
2:33A: And, uh, yeah, I mean, we, we were in the, we were in the, uh, rehearsal room and we were playing guitar together and there was like 20 of us there and everybody was singing along. And that was a real like special bonding moment for us, uh, which kind of kicked off the music.
2:50D: Yeah, I think that’s definitely one of my like peak like music moments. That was awesome.
2:53B: Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
2:54A: Yeah, um, but finding, you know, finding Donnie on the bass holding it down, that was incredible.
3:00D: Donnie is there.
3:01A: And playing with my brother obviously is pretty awesome.
3:05D: Yeah, I think being in a small band from Maine, you gotta have a Donnie.
3:12C: I appreciate that.
3:13A: A Donnie bassist. We have to have a Donnie.
3:16D: Donnie is a staple.
3:18E: What does that mean?
3:19A: What does that mean?
3:20D: It’s just a Donnie, you know, like Donnie.
3:23A: That name for a bassist is right. Yeah, it’s right.
3:26C: You need a weird bass player to stand in the corner and make everyone feel awkward and that kind of stuff.
3:31A: Yeah, yeah, it’s perfect. Just hanging out. Yeah, it’s great.
3:39C: Yeah, yeah, one day I’ll actually learn how to play this like a bass player. I’m a guitar player at heart, but like that guy who’s doing sound check, it’s And slap bass and everything. How did I do that?
3:49A: We don’t let Donnie play guitar because he’ll have to replace me if people find out how good he is.
3:58E: Uh, and so what do you guys want people to know about you?
4:05C: Uh, I feel like all our music is kind of like pretty unique every time we play it. Like, we don’t really -- like, we play music a lot, we don’t do like rehearsals, we kind of just Go in the basement and jam and see what happens. And like, every show is kind of different, you know, you never really know what you’re gonna -- what you’re gonna hear. Yeah, us included too.
4:21D: Every time we play our songs, it’s a little different every time. It kind of makes it unique. Like, everywhere we play, it’s -- you’re getting something unique. Um, I guess if I were to say something about what I want people to know is that we’re looking for gigs.
4:37A: We’re looking for gigs. Absolutely. Yeah, that is what we want people to Cool know. to know. Uh, no, just, uh, why are you looking for gigs? We just want to play music for people and have fun and, uh, you know, have people enjoy it. And thank you. Cool. Um, and, uh, yeah, I think like it’s a really unique experience at our shows because we’re all just kind of trying to have fun and very relaxed and, and, uh, just glad people are there. And, uh, yeah, I think we bring a A good vibe around.
5:08E: What’s the vibe you aspire to bring? Like, who’s the inspiration? What’s the room you want to create?
5:13A: Oh, I mean, like, I don’t know, like --
5:16C: Very like Grateful Dead inspired.
5:18A: Yeah, kind of. Yeah, Dead and -- yeah, Grateful Dead and Alice in Chains. Awesome combination. Um, yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I think Grateful Dead and like Billy Strings. I’m wearing the hat right now. Um, you know, we just want people to come and love music and dance and, and, uh, and hang out with us, really. It’s -- and, uh, enjoy themselves.
5:41E: For people who are outside the US and don’t know anything about the Grateful Dead or Billy Strings, like, who’s that?
5:46A: Um, well, I mean, I think it’s just, uh, I, I think it’s, you know, I’ve been to a Dedico concert and Jacob’s been to them, and it’s just like a very relaxed vibe where everybody’s just happy to be together and enjoying the moment. And I think that’s kind of the vibe. We want to cultivate with people that come to our shows that they, you know, want to have a good time and hang out and make friends, you know.
6:10E: Okay. What’s like, where’d the jam band vibe come from?
6:14A: You know, actually, I, for me personally, I know I always listened to jam bands and Grateful Dead and whatnot. And my senior year of college, I, you know, I was just like hanging out with my buddies all the time and, you know, getting stoned. playing music for very long periods of time. Um, and so I love doing that and, uh, kind of roped these guys in with me. Yeah, well, and our guitarist Jack, I wish he was here to talk about it because he loves jam bands way more than any of us. So he’s a huge part of those.
6:55D: I think in my, like, music experience, my first band in high school was, uh, it was just a cover band. Uh, we played a lot of like classic rock, Beatles, Billy Joel, Pink Floyd. Um, we played a lot of that stuff. And then towards college, I played some kind of more like party music, I guess you would say, like, like some of The Killers, Backstreet Lovers. Um, and it was just kind of straight covers. And then once I joined this band in Grasswug, I kind of found that it was more just fun. It wasn’t straight to the point. You didn’t have to rehearse.
7:26C: Mm-hmm.
7:27D: Exactly note for note, more just playing what feels right in the moment. And I think it kind of makes a unique story within the music itself. Yeah, something different every time. It’s like writing a new book.
7:41A: You got a way with words, dude.
7:42B: That’s way better than I was gonna do. That was great.
7:44C: I think we all, we all like are pretty locked in, like pretty easily too. Like, yeah, just like, so we can find a rhythm, I find a groove pretty easily, like without having to like Talk about it. Yeah, it’s cool to just like play music with other like talented musicians.
7:58A: It’s been great to grow together too as musicians because we make each other better.
8:04E: And yeah, what’s that like? What’s that process like? What’s that look like in practice? Like, are you, as you know, people sharpening each other’s steel, you might say?
8:10A: I think, yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, you see somebody, you see the other guy do something cool and you’re like, you know, I wanna, I wanna give that a go. Um, and, uh, you just feel like you always want to be better and make it sound better and And you know what you want to hear, and it’s, you know, all a matter of, okay, now how do I get there? And, you know, I’ve learned a bunch from Jack and watching him play, which has been really cool. And there’s also, you know, like, there’s a fun competitive nature to it too, where, like, you know, you want to play the best, which is fun.
8:46A: And I really enjoy that. And But it’s just nice to look at another guy and they play something cool. You’re like, wow, that was freaking awesome. So yeah, it’s really great. And you don’t want to let them down because you’re hearing something so awesome and you’re like, I need to add something just as good to this.
9:08E: How does that work out for you?
9:11A: I hope it works out. I don’t know. That’s up for other people to decide.
9:15D: I would say if you play someone something and someone makes a face like, like that, that’s generally speaking a pretty good thing. I would say, I mean, that’s pretty awesome. Someone’s like, damn, like, that’s awesome.
9:30E: Yeah, I like that.
9:31A: Yeah. When you’re playing, I’ll be looking for reactions on camera too.
9:34D: Oh yeah, you’ll see it. You’ll see it. Yeah.
9:36A: When you’re playing and you get a, like a woo, you know, that’s when you’re like, okay, we’re killing it right now. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome.
9:43E: Engaged.
9:44A: Yeah. And you can feel it too, you know, like you can feel those moments where Like, oh, like the music is here and we are riding in a wave of awesomeness right now. But yeah, it’s just like the best moment, you know, where you like get in that groove and you’re like, yeah, fuck yeah. Okay, we’re just --
9:59D: The band’s in flow state.
10:01A: That’s cool. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, it’s nice to, you know, just like, I mean, I don’t know for the crowd, but for me to just close my eyes and just, just like kind of take it in because I’m just like, I just love the sound of it and it’s just so cool to To add anything to that, you know, is really awesome. Yeah, I think we all enjoy that.
10:19E: Like, that’s the Jam Band vibe.
10:21B: Yeah.
10:23E: Any questions you feel like they should be asked on camera that they’re not gonna ask each other?
10:27A: I don’t think so. No, no, no. Uh, I wish Jack were here, man. Yeah, I feel like we’re so missing, uh, Jack right now because he’s like, you know, he’s our guy, but he’s, he’s battling. I love it. It’s such a lead guitar thing to do. They’ll go out and get way Way too drunk the night before, and then, then you can’t make it to soundcheck. It happens. It happens. Or a drummer. Honestly, it was, it was him or Peter, I think.
10:57D: Yeah, I feel like that’s kind of a story you see out of like, uh, like a Metallica movie or something like that.
11:04A: Yeah, yeah, it’s like Mötley Crüe.
11:05D: Yeah, that’s like a Mötley Crüe, like, like kind of --
11:09A: Mötley Crüe would have made it. Yeah, they could have rolled in on like a flaming vehicle. I don’t think Mötley Crüe did soundchecks. I think they showed up to the concert like messed up and ready to go. We’re not gonna have any flying drums or, you know, chugging any fifths of whiskey today. So yeah, no pyrotechnics, unfortunately. Yeah, I think we might be able to work that in the budget.
11:33D: It’s a family show.
11:34A: It’s a family show. If you’re looking for Mötley Crüe, sadly, that’s not really us. Uh, but yeah, we’re super excited to play, to be given the opportunity and Playing outside is always so much fun too.
11:48E: Oh yeah. So I want to jump to you guys talking about Zhao and the Zhao stock and how you guys found out about this thing. Anything you guys might want to say about your experience so far interacting with my employer today?
12:00A: Yeah, no, well, of course. I mean, Zhao has been super helpful with everything. We had actually -- we’d never met, and he knew my girlfriend. They play around a softball team together. And he was looking for acts and my girlfriend threw our name out there and he was super nice and reached out to us and made everything super easy, which was awesome. And he was super quick to respond and answer every question. And yeah, I think it’s a really, really awesome thing. I mean, we need more music festivals always, you know, more music is better. And it’s so awesome that You know, Joustalk put all this together and all.
12:43A: And yeah, we’re really thankful for it. It’s really awesome. Yeah. Anything you guys would say?
12:51C: Yeah, I just love small events like this. It’s great to kind of give back to the community and give people something to do and have some music to listen to. It gives a platform for small musicians like us to make a name for themselves. And that’s great.
13:05A: Yeah. And especially Being all being so helpful with, you know, live streaming so people can watch it from away and, you know, recording it for us and everything. And you, by the way, helping us out. And yeah, it’s a really good opportunity for exposure for us, for sure. You know, the music scene can be very saturated because it’s awesome to do. And so everybody wants to do it.
13:34B: Yeah.
13:36A: Yeah, it can be like tough to get your name out there and record and stuff, and, and this is a great opportunity for us and others like us to do that. Although those guys look very established. That’s a very nice drum set that guy has. Those guys I don’t think need this for exposure, but we do, so we’ll take it.
13:56C: We also just made our first trip to the studio, uh, some recording, so we’ll probably be dropping stuff either on like Bandcamp or Maybe Spotify in the foreseeable future.
14:05D: So keep looking out for that.
14:07A: Yeah, probably all of them.
14:08D: Right, exactly.
14:10A: Yeah, um, yeah, I need to update my phone to, to get the Spotify app so I can put it on there, but I will get around to that after we do that. You don’t have Spotify? No, no, there’s like a for creators one. I think, I think, I don’t really know how it all works, but we will throw those out there. SoundCloud, you know, whatever, YouTube. So keep an eye out for those. Follow us on Instagram @grassrockband.
14:36E: That’s a good call, actually.
14:38A: Yeah, follow us there. It’s like all we got, but we post all of our, um, gig dates and stuff on there. Um, so go ahead and check that out. Um, and, and yeah, we’ll put those, we’ll put those demos out for people to see. They’re all first take. Uh, Yeah, yeah, yeah. First take live recordings. Yeah, yeah. I think he’s probably better at guitar solos than me. I don’t know if you guys have seen that guitar solo. Is that a Lil Wayne guitar solo? No, never.
15:12E: I think he’s better at marketing.
15:15A: Maybe niche reference.
15:17E: What’s it called? So what do you guys know about crypto?
15:22A: Like, like, like cryptocurrency? Yeah, he knows a lot about probably not me though. I know a lot. I know a little bit about crypto. Yeah, uh, I mean, what’s your portfolio looking like? My portfolio? Not a lot of Bitcoin. Yeah, what’s my password? I know you get a mine forum, which I don’t understand.
15:45B: I’ve never actually -- decentralized currency, you know, seems kind of nice.
15:49E: You know, help people understand this is all happening Okay, can’t print Bitcoin, basically.
15:56B: It’s a good thing.
15:58E: You’re trying to keep the secrets to yourself in the universe?
16:02D: No, uh, I know absolutely nothing about cryptocurrency, but it brought you here, so I mean, that’s awesome.
16:09A: That’s a good thing. We all agree that’s a good thing. Um, I know that you have to mine for Bitcoin. Somehow, which I don’t know how that process works. And then you -- like, it’s like shares essentially, right? Like, did you like buy a piece of a Bitcoin or something? Yeah, yeah, buy a Bitcoin.
16:30B: And depending on how much you pay for Bitcoin, price changes. But it’s really expensive and takes a lot of energy to mine any Bitcoin, so it’s pretty difficult to make new Bitcoins. So Bitcoins are going to be able to hold value fairly well Because you can’t print Bitcoins very easily, unlike a dollar bill, which just comes funneling out of a machine.
16:51A: Inflation.
16:52B: Worth less every day.
16:53E: This guy knows inflation. Okay, so what’s inflation?
16:57A: He is so much -- my brother is so much better at, uh, this stuff than I am. Uh, inflation. Yeah, well, uh, inflation. You guys are in sync. So if we’re thinking like a, uh, If we’re thinking like, you know, your currency is -- this is like a Roman example -- like, uh, um, silver. Everything is a silver coin, and then you start making more coins because you need them, because you need to need people to have money or whatever. And then you don’t have enough silver, so those silver coins have like a little bit of nickel in them, and then they get a little -- a lot less silver, and then they’re not silver anymore.
17:36A: And essentially the same thing can happen with the dollar bill, where the Federal Reserve will print a ton of money. And when they do that every time and introduce more money into the system, it devalues the existing dollars. I think that’s right.
17:54D: Yes.
17:55A: And yeah, Bitcoin is a little bit different because you can’t just Like you said, you can’t just print it. You have to go through a whole process to get it, which is a good thing. You know, we got rid of the gold standard. I don’t even know why we’re talking about this right now. That’s how I got here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. True, true. Um, dude, I, I hope we get like -- I mean, this is gonna sound like inflated, but I hope we, uh, like get super famous and this like shows up somewhere someday. It’s like, look at Sam talking about crypto right now.
18:31D: Hopefully it’s not influencing future America.
18:36A: Yeah, I don’t think -- yeah, I’m probably not influencing anybody with anything I say. Probably no, you know, nobody listens to anything I say anyways.
18:43E: So should everyday Americans care about crypto or not?
18:46A: I mean, I mean, I guess I don’t know. It’s not something that I focus on too heavily. I’m just like worried about making enough to pay rent, you know, not worried about crypto quite yet, but I think it’s something that can be --
19:02E: You’re worried about inflation.
19:03A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I am worried about inflation. I think everybody doesn’t like that.
19:08C: It’s kind of like a tough time for a lot of people to like invest in something that’s not quite like certain, or at least like not a lot of people know a lot about crypto yet.
19:17A: Yeah, I’m not the most educated. Yeah, so it’s kind of like a --
19:20E: you’re on the high end of the spectrum.
19:22C: It’s a hazy thing.
19:24E: Everything you articulated is like above like one.
19:28C: At least for me, like money’s tight for me right now and I don’t really have the funds to like start investing in something like that that I’m not -- especially something I don’t have a lot of knowledge about. But definitely like an up-and-coming thing that I feel like is going to become more relevant as years go by. Like I remember hearing about Bitcoin like 10 years ago, like buying a bunch of it. Yeah, they’re filthy rich.
19:47A: So there were like EFTs for a second there.
19:50C: Yeah, we were like gorilla --
19:51B: NFTs.
19:52E: NFTs.
19:53A: Hey, what’s, what’s EFT?
19:54E: The Ethereum -- no, exchange-traded fund ETF.
19:58A: Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, see, that’s why I said I don’t know anything.
20:03E: It’s okay, it’s okay. I mean, but how do you guys -- what do you guys think? What if inflation gets bad?
20:08D: I think it’s gonna decrease the value of things that you wouldn’t really consider I guess in your life, like, yeah, I’m not the best person to talk about that. Yeah, neither am I. But I mean, I think it’s just more about what do Americans think.
20:20E: I’m doing like, we’re gonna interview on inflation and crypto before like end of this month.
20:23C: So yeah, I feel like most people, at least for me, like, I don’t envision like crypto like replacing US currency. Like, I feel like the end goal should be to fix the inflation problem that our government like reprinting trillions of dollars every year. That’s my personal take on it. I mean, not to say that it’s not like a good thing to have knowledge about and like invest in for your future, but I feel like end goal should definitely be to like make good changes in the system to like help people not be struggling and be homeless on the street, that kind of thing.
20:55E: Are you optimistic about like that, that chain of events occurring?
20:58A: Um, not in the foreseeable future.
21:01E: I think that sounds nice. I like, I’m like, I’m like, you know, if it works for you, for whatever reason.
21:05B: How do you think they get in office? They promise you they’ll spend money for you.
21:08E: Yep.
21:10C: I personally don’t have any insight into the federal government, so I’m not going to speak on that. That’s what they’re hired to do. Someone’s got to know what’s going on.
21:20A: You would think so. Somebody’s got to know. Someone’s got to fix it. It’s not going to be grassroots, man. After I got out of college, I kind of realized that’s a lot of stuff in the world. It’s like pretty much everybody going, somebody must know this.
21:36B: We’re just going to jump in anyway. What do we know?
21:40A: Somebody’s, somebody’s gonna know this, right? And then nobody knows it.
21:45E: And if they do, they’re just working for somebody else. Yeah, yeah. But, um, so my last thing, we’re doing like citizen journalism. Like, that’s kind of what I’m breaking into, have a community of people who go out and do it together. And we’re doing this initiative called One Question where we go out and ask people, if you could ask people around the world one question, what would you ask them? So I’d love for each of you to share what your question might be and what your answer to your question Oh, I mean, gosh, I, I think -- You have a microphone.
22:10C: Oh, sure.
22:11A: Yeah. Um, oh God, I think if I could ask like anybody a question, um, I think I’d ask, what makes you happy? And I think, um, that, that kind of forces people to think on that and, uh, what is important to them. And I think it’s -- that’s a good exercise to And for you? To think about what you care. What makes me happy? Um, being around my family, being around these guys, uh, being with my girlfriend, um, being around people generally, and, uh, um, music, of course, always.
22:48D: Excellent tip. Yeah, I guess some kind of wisdom there. I was kind of thinking if I was to ask the world a question, it was like, are you happy? And if I was to answer that, I’d be like, I’d kind of start to think about like, what do I have going on in my life? What brings joy to me? And like Sam said, I think just being around friends, family, playing music, being with my girlfriend, I love that, you know? And that’s what makes me happy. And that’s really what I need. I don’t really need much else. Kind of simple in that, but I think it’s a good question to kind of Think to yourself as a society, are you happy?
23:25D: And if you’re not happy, what can you do to fix it?
23:28A: And it’s okay to not be happy too.
23:30B: It is.
23:31C: Yeah, it’s good to be figuring it out. Yeah, um, yeah, I sound like a broken record, but I feel like I’m kind of the same way. Like, I think you can learn a lot about someone just by asking them like what inspires them, what makes them happy. Like, if you could go anywhere and do anything right now, what would you do? You can learn a lot about someone. Yeah, same for me. I just like music, definitely inspires me. Like since playing with these guys, I probably like pick up a guitar or bass like every day. Fuck yeah, good work. Yeah, love to be outside. It’s like doing fun things with the people you love is like what it’s all about.
24:03C: So yeah.
24:04A: Being in nature is huge.
24:05C: Being in nature. Nature is huge.
24:08B: I guess if I had one thing I would ask somebody, if you had a week and you had to pick something to do in that one week, That’s all you had, what would you do? Who would you spend it with? And, um, can tell you a lot about people and put a lot of stuff in perspective. Um, yes, if it was me, I would spend a lot of time with my family, Samo and our parents, and, um, play some music with you guys over that week, sit on a boat. But --
24:35C: Oh yeah.
24:35B: Um, yeah, I think that’s an interesting question to ask people.
24:40E: All right. Anything for the people under the age of 7? Anything you want to say to them?
24:44A: Under the age of 7? Oh wow. Um, that feels like so much responsibility. Uh, yeah, microphone.
24:50E: We gotta address the kids now.
24:52A: Yeah, if I could say, uh, anything to somebody under 7 --
24:57B: Listen to good music.
24:58A: Listen to good music. Listen to your parents. Uh, they love you more than anybody ever will, and it’s unconditional. Uh, And, um, listen to your parents. That’s what I’m saying. They’re right, even if you don’t know it. Yeah, unless your parents are dumb, then don’t listen to them. That’s up for you to decide.
25:20E: You can always get a secondary opinion.
25:21A: Right. At least listen, right? Have a sibling. Have a sibling.
25:28D: Uh, yeah, for kids under 7, um, do stuff that makes you happy. Um, Hang out with friends, play sports, play music, pick up an instrument, don’t stop. I remember when I first started playing the drums, I had an instructor, he told me never stop playing no matter what, even if it’s 30 years down the road and you’re picking up a new instrument, don’t stop playing. And I think that sort of principle is --
25:55A: Excuse me.
25:56D: I think that sort of principle has brought a lot of joy in my life. I just never stopped playing, and now I hang out with these guys all the time. And that’s pretty fun. It makes me happy.
26:05A: Listen to the Beatles.
26:06D: Listen to the Beatles. They know. Yeah, George Harrison, he knew. He knew.
26:12C: Um, geez, I would say --
26:17E: Not about crypto. Not about crypto.
26:18C: Is this still advice for 7-year-olds?
26:21A: Yeah, I could say something. Yeah, stop buying lunch.
26:25C: Use your lunch money for crypto.
26:28A: Yeah, it’s all the avocado toast, you guys.
26:30C: Um, I would say I feel like it’s important for kids just to like keep talking to people, be social. Like right now, like it’s so easy to just be sucked into technology. And like, um, I was a high school teacher for a year and like I feel like I was a science teacher and I was trying to make sure that kids are just not like impressed by anything anymore because they just see everything on their phones. So like it’s so important to just like go, go do stuff, you know, like don’t just like watch the world Like, keep talking to people, keep making friends, and like, don’t kind of like go into your shell as you grow up.
27:07A: Yeah, get off them.
27:08C: It’s their damn phone.
27:09A: Yeah, I was gonna say, the parents were right. Yeah, yeah, touch grass. The parents were right, it’s the damn phone.
27:18B: To Donnie’s point, never be too cool to go try out something and do something new and go out of your comfort zone and, and Be willing to be embarrassed. Uh, it’s never gonna work out as bad as you think. Um, and just take risks and have fun doing it. That’s all I got.
27:37A: Oh yeah, that’s all I gotta say about that.
27:41E: You guys say hoo-yah?
