0:11A: Zaal. I’m sorry, Zaal. Met him a couple weeks ago. Um, came to one of my solo shows.
0:18B: Oh, he did?
0:19A: He did. Yeah, it was, uh, 2 Thursdays ago and we met up and, uh, since then we’ve been talking ever since.
0:26B: And, uh, this is our first time ever doing this event with you guys and it’s so So cool.
0:30A: Everybody’s in different states. It’s magical. It’s nice.
0:35B: It is magical. So what’s the music scene here like in Bangor and Ellsworth and Maine, from your experience? Because you guys have toured around, right?
0:44A: Right. I would say definitely, uh, Ellsworth has a better music scene than Bangor just because of the fact that there’s been a lot of clubs since COVID Um, It seems like there’s not as much events going on up there as there is here, but, um, Portland, Portland’s always been good. Um, yeah.
1:09B: Okay, and how long you been performing music?
1:11A: I’ve been performing music live since I was 14.
1:16B: Really?
1:17A: Yeah, 14, and I’m 43 now, so. Okay, yeah.
1:21B: And so what called you?
1:22A: What called me to music? I don’t -- I would say my father. My mom, my dad played the guitar. Um, he picked the guitar up out of the basement, didn’t even know he played guitar. And when I first saw him do that, and then he started -- my parents were really fortunate, they actually took us out at night and let us watch live solo artists. And once they saw my first one, that was, that was it for me. Yeah.
1:46B: Do you remember what they were playing?
1:48A: They were probably playing some soul, blues, R&B, pop. It was just so -- I was like, that’s what I want to do for a living.
1:59B: And so how has that journey been for you?
2:01A: It’s been fantastic. Um, played solo for a couple years. I was in high school, joined one band, didn’t know if it was going to suit me, did that. For about 2 and a half years. Um, after that, went to another band, and then after that, I moved to New York City by luck, and I was starting my music career there with the top producers, with Sony, etc. And I did that for 3 and a half years.
2:29B: Oh, very sick, very sick. And so what was it like being on that side of the music, music industry, per se?
2:33A: Oh, it was insane. Um, I toured with Seether and Evanescence, um, off and on for about 6 to 7 months. Um, not every day, but I would say like 3 or 4 days a week was enough. That was my real, like, drive to music at that point, because who I was around, it was like it wasn’t even real. But when you think it’s -- when you really think about it and you’re around those people, that’s when you’re thinking like, holy crap, I think I’ve -- I think I’m making a living playing music. And I never looked back.
3:05B: Oh yeah. So what would your advice be to young musicians now that maybe Feel intimidated or just not sure how to approach life?
3:12A: Be yourself. Be yourself. Absolutely be yourself. Figure out what style of music you like and go from there. Don’t listen to anybody else. Just come up with something out of your heart, your soul, and move forward with it. There’s a lot of artists that I know that give that up because of just being down all the time. That’s a good question, though.
3:35B: No, I appreciate it.
3:36A: Yep.
3:37B: And I’m curious, so you met Zaal at your show recently? Is that how you met him?
3:41A: Um, I met him, um, actually through Messenger.
3:45B: Facebook?
3:46A: Facebook, yep. We met through Facebook. Um, after that he texted me, asked me if he wanted to meet somewhere, and I said, well, I’m actually playing Thursday at Black Moon. And he got a hold of Steve and Katina, the owners here, and, um, came and saw me and went from there.
4:05B: Okay, very cool, very cool. Yeah, I met Zaal maybe about a year and a half ago.
4:10A: Yo, no kidding.
4:12B: Um, through the crypto space is how I met -- that’s how a lot of us know each other. They came here and traveled. Do you want to -- do you know anything about like crypto?
4:17A: I do. I’m actually in crypto quite a bit.
4:19B: Okay, so tell us about whatever you feel comfortable sharing about crypto with people who don’t know.
4:24A: Um, first thing I would say is a lot of people think crypto is a bunch of bull BS. Um, it’s a learning experience, definitely. I never took any tutorials on it. I was always big into the markets when I was a couple of years ago, got into that. But once I started getting into crypto and started learning how to use blockchain to so many different aspects of crypto, it changed my life actually financially. It really did. Right now, obviously, for the past year, year and a half, it’s been pretty stable. But heck, my drummer, myself, Um, we’ve done well.
5:05B: Oh yeah.
5:05A: Done well with it. Do we make a fortune? No, but we’ve bought some things that we needed and didn’t have to worry about our finances as much.
5:12B: That’s a beautiful sense of peace to have, sense of assurance to have, right?
5:16A: Absolutely. Especially if you’re smart about it. Um, a lot of people that I know that don’t like it and has been burned so many times is they put a lot of money into it when the coin is high. And they, they’re not patient. And something could happen with their health. Something could happen with their relationship. They pull it out. And next thing you know, you talk to them 7 months later and they don’t even want to talk about it anymore because it’s -- they had something and they had to do what they had to do.
5:47B: I have an aunt that pulled that. I got my godmother in Switzerland. She pulled out of XRP, I think, like 8 months before the last pump, like the end of 2024, I guess. Can you imagine?
5:57A: No.
5:57B: She like waited the whole time and then she’s like, I’m over this.
6:01A: I know 2 people the same exact way and they’re actually my friends. Um, my drummer and me, I got into, uh, XRP probably 4 years ago and it’s been great. I mean, right now, like, it’s, it’s dropped $1.50, but that ain’t nothing. It is what it is. Play your cards right.
6:23B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that. Yeah, I know I mentioned to Fellenz, he’s about to go on next, um, that, that your, uh, the drummer in your group was, was also a big advocate for XRP when she was sharing about it. So I asked him what he thinks about crypto. He said crypto. He was very excited.
6:38A: Oh yeah.
6:39B: Uh, you know, and I just appreciate, you know, I’ve been doing crypto journalism specifically for like 4 years. Um, that’s how I got my start in this whole space. I got like an NFT collector who paid me a couple grand a month pretty much to travel around and go to conferences and ask questions.
6:50A: Very cool.
6:50B: And now I want to do like citizen journalism. But a big story I want to break is people understanding inflation and crypto and how they’re connected. Because I feel like people look at crypto like that’s the casino, but don’t understand money in the first place. Like, the whole thing is a casino and you’re over here worried about crypto. Like, like, like we can’t see hyperinflation tomorrow.
7:07A: Exactly. Especially not only that, a lot of people don’t understand meme coins. So I know a lot of people that get into meme coins and It basically is the casino.
7:17B: Yeah, yeah, definitely. That is the casino, literally.
7:19A: Yeah, it’s -- but it’s like I said, it’s a learning experience, you know? I mean, I know a lot of people that the reason why they don’t get into it is because they don’t actually listen to you. Or for instance, like my parents, perfect example. I try to engage with them about it and they want nothing to do with it. They think it’s a racket. So yeah, a Ponzi. Yeah.
7:41B: No, I hear that. Somebody, uh, somebody reached out to me a couple years ago and was like, Maceo, I know a lot about crypto. What do you think about this thing? And I said, I don’t understand how it makes you money. And I said, if you don’t understand how it makes you money, it sounds like a Ponzi scheme. She said, no, no, I don’t think so. She called me a couple months later, Maceo, they took all my money. I said, what happened? She said, my intuition said I could trust them. I said, that was desperation because I told you it didn’t make sense. If it doesn’t make sense, like, you might as well give it away.
8:06A: Right.
8:07B: You know, um, but, uh, you know, all that stuff aside, I’m curious, like, what about music inspires you? Like, like coming back to music, people, music, uh, you know, I know you’re like your band, your bassist, your drummer, they were talking about your song around addiction. Um, can you share about that song and like addiction and its impact on you and your life and, you know, what that song means to you all as a group?
8:27A: Yeah, I mean, a lot of our music has to do with a lot with addiction, not for say like We had problems with addiction, but friends and family. Um, yeah, that’s where it basically stems from. And to answer your first question on that, I would say definitely 120% is just coming up with new material all the time. Um, not having the same song in the same key. We always try to make something completely different. Like, if you listen to our albums, You got 10 to 15 tracks. All 10 or 15 tracks are in different keys. So it’s not the same song, not the same music.
9:07A: But again, that’s, that’s our journey and that’s my journey. And that’s what I try to do every other week. And if it doesn’t come to you, don’t do it. Don’t force it. It’s ridiculous. It’s a hard thing to do, but just let it come to you.
9:19B: I like that. And how are you all thinking about doing your marketing now in 2026, going into 2027?
9:25A: Right now, most of my marketing is through my partner Marissa. Um, her name is Marissa Jokas.
9:32B: Shout out to Marissa.
9:32A: And she’s a fantastic woman. She knows a lot of people, especially New England. Um, her sister went to Berkeley, and we have friends that went to Berkeley. But outside of Berkeley, the club owners, breweries, festivals, that’s a huge deal. To answer your question, that’s a big one.
9:53B: Okay, excellent, excellent.
9:54A: Yeah.
9:55B: And, um, I don’t know, what’s, what’s your message to yourself a year from now?
9:59A: Um, hopefully touring for 3 years and stopping.
10:05B: Why? Why stopping?
10:06A: Um, I’m thinking that knowing myself, if I stay in shape, it’s a big job and you’re doing it 5 to 6 days a week, you’re on the road It gets really old really quick, so you gotta be very careful. Um, I’m not saying like quit altogether in 3 years. I would say tour for 3 straight years, give it a break for a long time, and go back into it again because it’s, it’s, it takes a lot on your body.
10:33B: I believe that.
10:34A: Yeah, your family and so forth. But that’s my goal, to be on the road hard. Actually, we’re starting to be on the road December 27th.
10:43B: And really?
10:44A: Yeah, it’s -- that’s where my -- I’m doing my solo stuff there, but it, it’s stemming to with the band as well. They’re playing the same venue with me. So the owners -- I’ve noticed that the club owners, um, want to see the solo artist first before the band, and that’s what’s occurring right now as we speak.
10:59B: Okay, congrats. Yep, I’m happy to hear that. And where can we find your music? Where can we find your band?
11:04A: Open X is on every single platform -- Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music. Again, our our biggest fan base right now is Spain, New Zealand, and Brazil right now.
11:21B: Fucking sick.
11:22A: So it’s bizarre to me. It’s like we’ll we’ll have like something live up. Someone’s recording it, and next thing you know it, my website at home tracks everything that goes through. in and out with podcasts and everything, and I actually want to do a show in Brazil. I think that’d be a really cool idea.
11:41B: You should.
11:41A: Why not? Yeah, right.
11:42B: Go where the people are waiting and ready, right?
11:45A: Exactly.
11:45B: I love that. And if you could -- speaking of, you know, your global audience -- if you could ask people around the world one question, what would you ask them?
11:52A: Ask them anything? What would I ask them, like, personally with music, or --
11:57B: Yeah, it could be music. It’s really an open-ended question. If you could ask people around the world one question, what would you ask them? Imagine I go anywhere in the world with this little camera and phone. Like, I could ask you a question, we could poll the globe or anything. What’s your poll? It could be for people to reflect, it could be for you to learn something, it could be for us to learn together.
12:14A: I would say, where are you from? Um, what have you done in the past? Um, why do you like music? Stuff like that. Like, like today, that’s exactly what we What happened today? I mean, everybody that I met today were all across the United States. So that would be the question I’d ask. And that, that’s cool.
12:37B: And so what have you done with your life?
12:39A: What’s that?
12:40B: What have you done with your life?
12:41A: So far?
12:41B: Yeah.
12:42A: Music. That’s all I’ve done in my life is music. Music’s been 110% my goal, my career. I’m a full-time musician. I don’t work anywhere else. And once you take that step, that’s when music starts. And a lot of people never will never understand that until you do it.
13:03B: Hmm.
13:04A: That’s what I would have to say. When you, when you’re stuck in an office or you do construction or you’re a fisherman, or the second that your music’s on every radio station and you’re getting money and Every other week could be a lot, could be a little, and you’re sitting there going, “What am I doing?” Once you take that initiative of quit that and do what you love, that’s when stuff happens.
13:32B: 120%. Booyah!
13:33A: Yep.
13:34B: And can you can you say ZAOstock on three two one? Three two one.
13:38A: What’s that?
13:39B: Can you say ZAOstock? Three two one.
13:41A: ZAOstock. Three two one.
13:44B: It’s more like supposed to say on the count of 3, you know, kind of. Oh, don’t worry, don’t mind me.
13:49A: 1, 2, 3, ZAOstock!
13:51B: Let’s go! Appreciate you, man.
