Zac Brown Doesn’t Regret His Past + New 'Love & Fear' Album W/ Dolly Parton & Snoop Dogg | Bussin'

Summary

Bussin' With The Boys: Zac Brown Doesn’t Regret His Past + New 'Love & Fear' Album w/ Dolly Parton & Snoop Dogg

Episode Date: September 30, 2025
Hosts: Will Compton & Taylor Lewan
Guest: Zac Brown (Zac Brown Band)
Theme: Exploring Zac Brown's adventurous lifestyle, music career, new album 'Love & Fear', and collaborations with Dolly Parton & Snoop Dogg, plus discussions on artistic independence, risk-taking, and personal growth.

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Episode Overview

This episode spotlights Grammy-winning country star Zac Brown, best known as frontman and creative force of the Zac Brown Band. The Boys dive deep into Zac’s unique personal passions (spearfishing, blacksmithing), his philosophy on artistic independence, lessons from a hard-earned career in music, and the inside scoop on collaborations with icons like Dolly Parton, Snoop Dogg, and others on the new album “Love & Fear.” Listeners are also treated to candid discussions about balancing success, family, adventure, and staying true to one’s values.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Zac’s Hobbies & Adventurous Lifestyle

• Spearfishing & Free Diving
  • Zac is an avid spearfisher and free diver; holds his breath for up to 4 minutes, 37 seconds (49:41).
  • Explains his favorite places (Bahamas, Alaska), brushes with danger (sharks, currents, gear failures), and philosophy of mental and physical toughness underwater.
  • “Spearfishing is the most fun anything I've ever done...You sleep like a baby after you dive for a whole day.” – Zac Brown (52:52)
  • He offers to take the boys to the Bahamas for a spearfishing trip (61:01).
• Blacksmithing & Knife Making
  • Discusses making his own knives and gear and the challenges of marketing in a social media environment increasingly wary of “weapons” (103:32).

Philosophy & Approach to Life

• Outdoor Spirituality, Hunting & Conservation
  • Talks at length about his experience with hunting, its spirituality, and the paradox of conservation-through-hunting (65:01–69:44).
  • Advocates not discussing politics or polarizing topics publicly, so music brings people together instead of dividing (69:14).
• Balance: Family, Creativity, & Independence
  • As a father of five, he emphasizes being present with kids and compartmentalizing creativity, family, adventure (71:07).
  • Shares the importance of building and leading his own team, keeping control of his masters, and being business-savvy.

Zac’s Path in the Music Industry

• The “Hustle” and Early Days
  • Started music professionally at 14, played 4–6 hours a night, six nights a week for six years (75:15–83:13).
  • Built his fanbase independently, hustling shows in sports bars, refusing to let labels or managers define his image.
  • “One thing that I've always had…is hustle. I was slinging candy out of my backpack when I was in elementary school.” – Zac Brown (80:59)
• Owning His Masters & Going Independent
  • Hard-won journey to own his own music and build his own business ecosystem. Only after significant leverage did he reclaim his masters.
  • Draws parallels with Taylor Swift’s public fight for her masters (85:04).
• Collaborations & Creative Freedom
  • Details working with legends like Dolly Parton (“Butterfly”), Snoop Dogg, Dave Grohl, and dreams of collaborating with Adele (85:44–88:17).
  • “Dolly is such an incredible...there’ll never be another Dolly...She’s a ninja, dude.” – Zac Brown (86:52)

New Album “Love & Fear”: Behind the Scenes

• Meaning and Themes
  • Album conceived during a reflective pandemic break. Explores trust, loyalty, resilience, and reckoning with pain and joy (The Sum, Butterfly, Snoop Dogg feature) (118:34–124:07).
  • “Being a good person is doing the right thing, even if someone doesn't deserve it...You’re the sum of all the hard shit you've learned.” – Zac Brown (122:15)
• Sphere Las Vegas Residency
  • Discusses the upcoming spectacle at The Sphere in Las Vegas—his “biggest project ever” (109:03–109:48).

Life Lessons & Advice

• For Young Artists:
  • Don’t put energy into a Plan B; success comes from grit and never giving up (96:08–98:03).
  • "If I'm putting energy into plan B, I'm not putting it into plan A. The people that succeed are the ones that never give up.” – Zac Brown (96:08)
• Personal Growth & Regret
  • Would be less quick to make public judgments on others; more focused now, less spread thin (100:49–105:45).
  • Quit drinking for health and to be more present for family; advocates therapy, coaching, self-improvement (92:58–93:43).
  • "Nobody's life gets worse because they quit." – Zac Brown (93:43)
• Giving Back
  • Deep passion for camp initiatives for kids and veterans. Encourages young people to attach their purpose to service (125:31).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On facing ocean dangers:
  “I hit him low. I'm 65 ft down. He takes off one way…I'm trying to swim up... ten feet from the surface...He snatched me back down 20 ft. As soon as I get a breath, he pulls me back down again…that one was wild.” – Zac Brown (56:25)
• On the modern music biz:
  _"You don't get a number one song because you have a good song. You get one because you serviced every major company out there ...and then you have a good song too." – Zac Brown (105:45)
• On creative risk-taking:
  “There's nobody telling me I can’t do that or I can’t record this or I can’t do that. We make the music we want to make.” – Zac Brown (99:41)
• On “Butterfly” and collaborating with Dolly:
  “Having Dolly...absolutely murder it...you wouldn’t know she was 25 or 80...She’s about to be 80 years old and she’s hot, and she’s still as talented as any human on earth.” – Zac Brown (127:07)
• On favorite holiday:
  “I love Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday... That whole Día de los Muertos...Halloween world is my jam.” – Zac Brown (132:30–132:46)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Zac’s Outdoor Passions & Spearfishing Tips – 48:15–62:00
• Philosophy on Conservation, Hunting, and Artistic Unity – 65:01–69:44
• Career Hustle, Early Days, & Rejecting Labels – 75:06–83:13
• Owning Masters, Collaborating with Legends – 83:13–88:17
• Living the Grind: Lessons from the Road & Sobriety – 89:18–93:43
• Advice to Young Artists & Purposeful Living – 96:08–99:20
• Regrets, Focus, and Saying No – 100:49–105:45
• New Album & Sphere Las Vegas Preview – 109:03–110:16
• Writing Songs That Matter (“The Sum”, “Butterfly”) – 120:16–124:07
• Halloween, traditions, and the joy of spooky season – 132:20–133:38

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Closing Thoughts

This episode is a masterclass in creative resilience and self-direction. Zac is candid about industry pitfalls, the trade-offs of fame, and why he pours himself into adventure, family, and giving back. The new album “Love & Fear” emerges not just as a set of songs but as the next legacy chapter for an artist unafraid to evolve and inspire.

Essential Listening For: Fans of country, music industry hopefuls, outdoor lovers, and anyone interested in the cross-section of art, adventure, and authenticity.

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Subscribe:

• [Bussin' With The Boys on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts]
• Follow Zac Brown Band & check out “Love & Fear” out October 17th.

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Big hugs, tiny kisses. (43:16)

Transcript

[Zach Brown]

All right, we're good.

[Taylor Lawan]

Be like busing with the boys, hanging with the fellas.

[Zach Brown]

Betting on a game no woman's gonna tell us what to.

[Taylor Lawan]

Do and I bet we'.

[Zach Brown]

Just drinking.

[Taylor Lawan]

Beer and making that noise baby. I'm hanging with the fellas.

[Zach Brown]

Busting with the boys bro.

[Will Compton]

Welcome to another another episode of Bus with the Boys. This is episode 348. Spooktober is close. Spooktober Eve. Spooktober Eve. Right now as you're listening to this.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

[Will Compton]

We are brought to you by the number one sportsbook in America, the FanDuel Sportsbook. Boys and girls, Another week of NFL football means Another shot at FanDuel's Thursday touchdown jackpot. You all know the drill. FanDuel's Thursday touchdown jackspot gives you a chance at a share of $2 million in bonus bets every single Thursday of the NFL season. It's three easy steps to take your shot. Just place an anytime touchdown score, bet on the Niners Rams game, watch the game and see if your player scores the first or last touchdown. If they do score first or last, you you'll win your bet and a share of the $2 million jackpot. And a secret. STEP 4 Tap into our live streams every Thursday and watch along with the boys. Just hit fanduel.com bussin for more info. Gentlemen, we are here. Huge episode. Huge interview with Zach Brown Band coming up. Spooktober is upon us. If you are tuned in watching us right now, listening to us, make sure you are following us and subscribe please on all channels at BE at Bus and WTB on all social platforms.

[Zach Brown]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Zach Brown]

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[Will Compton]

How we doing, brother? Hey, come on now.

[Zach Brown]

Come on.

[Will Compton]

It's time.

[Taylor Lawan]

It's ready.

[Will Compton]

It's here.

[Taylor Lawan]

It's. It is here. And I'm wearing the merch to show it off right now. Wednesday, 10am this merch drops right here. Got a hat. Got this fun shirt, buddy. Something about getting all your decorations ready.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

By middle of September. Yeah. And looking at it and being like, I don't really want to look just yet because it's not time. But I'm happy it's done.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Because there's so much that goes on in the Lawan household about getting ready for the holiday season.

[Will Compton]

It's a marathon, not a spring.

[Taylor Lawan]

This is the Olympics. This is the torch being taken from one part of a country to another part of a country and the torches being passed and passed. This is the opening ceremony of the holiday season. Because if you look, even if the, even if you look at the weather in Nashville, 80, 82, 83, Spooktober, and now all of a sudden, 70s, couple days where the lows are in the 50s. I heard there's a talk about some fog hitting up a little bit.

[Will Compton]

The pumpkin themed lattes and drinks coming out. Don't have to love them.

[Taylor Lawan]

Don't have to love them. Get one because it's festive and that's what you want to do. So for me, if I'm walking around, I'm feeling myself a little bit and I see the leaves are starting to drop and it's going to be a headache for the guys that have to rake those up in my Y. Like, buddy, we're here at, from, from this point 24 hours from now. If you're, if it's Tuesday and you're sitting there being. I'm so fired up for Spooktober. We are too. Wednesday, from Wednesday to January 1st. Nothing but excitement. Nothing but a hope and opportunity. Your team loses. Guess what? Pumpkin spice latte. Your team wins. Guess what? Pumpkin spice latte. Get two of them. And then listen, the 31st hits. Ghouls, goblets and specter go down. They're now under six feet below. We'll see it next year. Type situation. Gobble gobble, got some turkeys coming up. All right, so from November 1st to that third weekend in November, that third Thursday in November, what are you doing? Getting some lights up. Trying to be a little bit more respectful to Thanksgiving. Knowing it's there, but you're putting some lights up here and excited. And then you have friends, families, loved ones, acquaintances coming over to your house for what?

[Zach Brown]

Football.

[Taylor Lawan]

And gaining weight. After that you spend the whole weekend doing what? Eating leftovers. Because guess what? Sleeping diet doesn't count on holidays. That's amazing. You hit that Monday running. Guess who's Holly and jolly Everybody around. Doesn't matter what religion you are because you got a gun in the North Pole. Working his ass off with about a billion elves up there and eight reindeers getting ready to get the after it on on December 24th. So boys, there's so much excitement and it starts on Wednesday. It gets you going on Wednesday and that's what's exciting. And if you want more exciting news, we got a watch party to watch the 04 Titans take on the 2 and 2 Cardinals this weekend. Round of applause.

[Will Compton]

Yes. The Brooklyn Bowl.

[Taylor Lawan]

Brooklyn Bowl. And we're just getting more excited. Yeah. Guess what? They suck. We're not good. We're not good. Okay, got that out of the way. Let's rip the band aid off. Titans are bad. Cardinals probably not a whole lot better. They got a lot of injuries going on as well. They just lost Thursday Night Football versus the Seahawks. But we get to get together. Bring a pumpkin spice lot.

[Will Compton]

What do you lean on when dress up.

[Taylor Lawan]

Why not?

[Will Compton]

Yeah, why not? What do you lean on when the times are bad? Tell me, vibes.

[Taylor Lawan]

What can you do?

[Will Compton]

You can come to the Brooklyn bowl and bring some vibes, right? Bring some of that pissing vinegar that you're feeling inside and get it out at the Brooklyn bowl this Sunday with the boys.

[Taylor Lawan]

Oh, you live in. You live in Nashville and you're pissed off. There's traffic on Saturdays, cuz Vanderbilt's good now. But on Sunday there's no traffic to be had cuz your Titans suck. Oh, come get vibes.

[Will Compton]

Come get some vibes.

[Taylor Lawan]

Brooklyn Bowl. Yeah, be in it. And guess what? Bring me a pumpkin spice latte because I'll be exhausted. Because Friday morning after a Thursday night stream in ESPN, I'll be flying back from Vegas Friday morning, 7:30am Flight, we're out of there to the west. Why? Because daddy can't help it. I got it. It's been two months. I gotta get the cards a Little bit. Got a little, got a little power slap going. Little UFC 5am flight Sunday morning for what? To get back to the Brooklyn Bowl. Get back to the watch party. The watch party. And I know last time I went with Jared and everyone's like, is this now Jared's job and not Jack? I'm taking them both. I'm taking them both.

[Will Compton]

Vibes will be high.

[Taylor Lawan]

Doesn't make sense. No, it doesn't. But I'm taking them both. We're gonna have a great time. Great time. And it all starts because of Spooktober.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Yeah. Dude. I'm excited for the weekend, finally having like a, a little moment to breathe a little bit. Wifey and I, we're going to hit a little staycation. Gonna be getting a nap in. Gonna be getting some mountain sessions in. Oh, yeah. Got somebody watching the kiddo. So she's gonna be me and the wifey.

[Taylor Lawan]

So.

[Zach Brown]

Mountain or mountain?

[Taylor Lawan]

Mountain.

[Will Compton]

We're doing some. Maybe both.

[Taylor Lawan]

Mountain. Get the saddle out, honey. Get the saddle and the bridle out, because it's going down.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Mountain.

[Will Compton]

Oh, it's gonna be nice. I got a little spa day lined up.

[Zach Brown]

Need that.

[Will Compton]

Needed.

[Taylor Lawan]

Gotta have needed. Especially with the back, the way it's at right now.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

What's the game plan with the back? I am worried legitimately about the back.

[Will Compton]

I don't know, man.

[Taylor Lawan]

Pray when you have nothing, what do you have? Prayer.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Vibes in prayer.

[Will Compton]

It's just moments that just. I, I, I don't know. I don't know. I truly don't.

[Taylor Lawan]

I just had a flashback to him screaming before the Dan Lanning. I'm like, oh, he's about to drop a hammer on us. So what's about to happen? It just pauses. Sorry, my back. It's okay, man. You got a bad back.

[Will Compton]

Fight through some spasms this week. I hope it. Just gotta hope they just calm down, bro.

[Taylor Lawan]

You know why Will's got a bad back? Because he's got the whole state of Missouri on his back and he's got all of Nebraska cornhole skirts, fan base on his back. And he carries that torch weekend and week out, month in and month out, year in, year out. Eventually your back's going to give out a little bit.

[Will Compton]

You say I as you're, as we're saying that Sherm's typing up. Get a masseuse in the office. I do have somebody coming through this week. Just got to find the pocket of time that it's going to happen for some stretching and some, some work for.

[Zach Brown]

You or for the boys?

[Will Compton]

For myself.

[Taylor Lawan]

What. What about a masseuse or a chiropractor? During the filming of the locker room.

[Will Compton]

I could have, I could hit up Dr. Foot, see if he wants to come through, I guess. Adjust the boys.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, that'd be nice. I could always use a little adjustment.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, everybody can use some adjusting in their life, man. Everybody needs some deep tish. Some deep tish going on. Just like Lamar Jackson needs some deep tish on that hamstring.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, because he's got some soft tish right now.

[Will Compton]

There could be a lot of new viewers tuned in right now wondering what are the rules of Spooktober? Yeah, I know. We'll be leaning heavy into Spooktober. This bus will be decked out with the theme. We're not quite there yet, chomping at the bit.

[Taylor Lawan]

There's hundreds of supplies outside of this bus right now waiting to flood in. But we got to give September it's due. Knowing that we don't want to jump the gun a little bit. But if you want to dive into Spooktober, if you love Spooky, love the idea of the holiday season, everything we just painted for you. Here's a good way to start your 31 days of fright. Right. October thing of the past. It's now referred to as Spooktober. Yes, that's number one. Now this next one is going to be a bit of a deal, but if you time it out correctly, you have a good routine, you're going to be able to figure it out every day. Just put something on a little spooky. Okay. And it doesn't have to be a lot. You can go on YouTube and you can find yourself some fall night sounds as you go to sleep and there's literally crackling a fire, couple of coyotes or wolves in the background. Do something like that if you want to go full into it. Conjuring's got a new movie out. Weapons. That's a nice one. You can watch any type of spook you want, whether it's, you know, the, the B rated movies that Delaney Walker likes. If it's radar, PG13, the ring or. Go ahead. This is like Nickelodeon's some Disney Channel original movie hocus pocuses type of thing. As long as you are embracing 31 days of fright and Spooktober every single day, then you're gonna get everything you need out of it. Third, and this is for you. It's not for me, this is for you. Make sure you take a little time each week to do something festive because it's gonna fly by. We're gonna get to January, February and March where it's like depression season. Everyone's a little sad, the weather break. There's not a whole lot to look forward to. So make. Go to a pumpkin patch, get yourself that pumpkin spice latte. Hit a haunted house on Friday. My wife and I every Friday in the fall when the opportunity presents itself, she might be coming to Vegas with me as well. We might hit ourselves a nice little haunted house in Vegas. Who knows?

[Will Compton]

Halloween activity.

[Taylor Lawan]

Halloween activity. And what's the last one Will buy.

[Will Compton]

The spooktober [e-mail] that's right.

[Taylor Lawan]

That's per chat GPT. Yeah, I asked it. Hey, what are the rules of Spooktober? I love that. Popped right up. Chat GPT. Man. It's official. It's a new age.

[Will Compton]

That is official. That's legit.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. I didn't even know they did that, but bwtb.com I'm wearing a hat right now. Spooktober. I'm wearing a shirt right now. It's Spooktober. We got a bunch of shirts over there that I did on the. On the football recap for Monday and picked up. I'm not going to pick it up this time because it's a little far. Yeah, it's a little far from me right now.

[Will Compton]

We got some fun merch.

[Taylor Lawan]

We got some fun merch if you're a. For the dad's guy. If you're a PT6 individual. We got some cute. Some cute ass Booktober stuff.

[Will Compton]

Yes.

[Taylor Lawan]

Big pup. Little pup.

[Will Compton]

We. We embraced it. We embrace it on our episode coming out as you listen to this tomorrow morning. We embrace it a little bit. We talked about the rules. I popped on the old Bane mask.

[Taylor Lawan]

Oh, did you?

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Read it. A couple. Couple Bane lines in there.

[Taylor Lawan]

While we're here, let's check in on Will Compton's hairline. It's growing back fast. A lot faster than I was hoping.

[Will Compton]

It's like a yard in the summer, boys.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yep. Some patches of brown. Other than that. Yeah. Pretty green on the edges.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, it's not bad coming back.

[Taylor Lawan]

Strong beards coming back.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

You're starting to look normal again.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Might have to chop it back down.

[Taylor Lawan]

What's that?

[Will Compton]

Could be the new normal. Let's see how the hustle.

[Taylor Lawan]

Nebraska. No. Yeah. Nebraska beats Michigan State. Is it atno Michigan State?

[Will Compton]

No, it's at Nebraska.

[Taylor Lawan]

Oh, you get that dub? You might have to bick it again.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, might. Everything's on the table.

[Taylor Lawan]

Everything's on the table. Let's get into some tear talk. You guys have questions, comments, concerns. Use hashtag tear talk. We put it out every single week. Let's take a look at Shelby Rice. At Shelby S. Rice. If you could live in any TV or movie environment permanently, what would you choose? That's a fantastic question. I wish I knew that question before we started the show, because I want to take that.

[Will Compton]

You can think about it.

[Taylor Lawan]

Live in any TV or movie environment permanently, what would you choose?

[Will Compton]

Permanently?

[Taylor Lawan]

Permanently. You're. You're stuck there. Harry Potter jumps out at me for Taylor. I'm just saying it's a great one. My kids are so about Harry Potter right now. We are being Harry Potter for Halloween this year for whatever reason.

[Zach Brown]

And I don't know why this popped in my head.

[Taylor Lawan]

I'll finish my sentence later.

[Zach Brown]

I feel like being in Sky High would be kind of sick.

[Taylor Lawan]

Sky High. What is Sky High? Disney Channel original movie. Sky High.

[Zach Brown]

Just a high schooler. Like, it's like a superhero. All the high schoolers have okay, superpowers.

[Taylor Lawan]

All right.

[Will Compton]

It's a fun question.

[Taylor Lawan]

It's a fun question.

[Will Compton]

Jurassic park comes to mind.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. Nothing like running from prehistoric animals, but permanently.

[Will Compton]

Permanently.

[Taylor Lawan]

Meaning we're doing that. Dying 28 days later sounds pretty good to me, too. You know, constantly fearing for your life. How about the dying? Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Free Willy, Lion King. Do I get to be a lion?

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. Water. That's a problem.

[Zach Brown]

I mean, you're just saying these. These movies, and, like, they're real animals. Like, you do live in that world, right?

[Taylor Lawan]

You live in the world. So if we're doing Will's thing, give me the quiet place. Let me go sit there in silence rest of my life. I'll learn sign language. My kids.

[Will Compton]

See, quiet place doesn't sound fun to me, but Jurassic Park, Jurassic park sounds fun to me.

[Taylor Lawan]

On an island. And you're sitting there and you, like, you're in the environment. You're in the movie now, and you just know. Everyone's like, look how amazing this is. All prehistoric. Oh, they're all gone. But now we have them back, and you're thinking yourself, there's gonna be a problem. It was like, oh, Will, you're an idiot. There's no way you're gonna be able to do this. And then all of a sudden, a T. Rex kills your best friend. Me. I'm there with you.

[Will Compton]

We're in there permanently. Meaning we're not gonna die.

[Zach Brown]

I don't think it Works like that.

[Will Compton]

You said permanently. You're living in this world forever.

[Zach Brown]

That is your new world.

[Taylor Lawan]

Your new world. It's your new world.

[Zach Brown]

You can die at any moment. Like in this world.

[Taylor Lawan]

Fingers crossed.

[Zach Brown]

But I mean, like, knock on wood. Knock on wood.

[Taylor Lawan]

Let me.

[Will Compton]

It is spooked over.

[Taylor Lawan]

What's a good. What's a good vibe to live in? A good vibe.

[Zach Brown]

Any Adam Sandler world.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, I was actually just thinking about Hubie Halloween.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

QB Halloween be a great one, especially.

[Will Compton]

For spooky TV show.

[Zach Brown]

What about Stranger Things?

[Taylor Lawan]

Entourage would be great.

[Will Compton]

Stranger Things would be a vibe that'd be creepy.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, I love how we're keeping it spooky in this situation too. Let me do Wednesday show. Tim Burton's Wednesday shows.

[Zach Brown]

Good.

[Taylor Lawan]

Whoa. Wednesday from the Adams family.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Have y' all been watching that? No.

[Will Compton]

No.

[Taylor Lawan]

Y' all would love that. Really? October Will always. Yeah, Will's always on Haunting and Hill House, those types of shows.

[Will Compton]

No, I wouldn't live in that one permanently.

[Taylor Lawan]

Oh, live in that one.

[Zach Brown]

But that's a great show.

[Will Compton]

Great show.

[Zach Brown]

Scary.

[Taylor Lawan]

You know what? I've always kind of wanted to live through a zombie apocalypse. Kind of wanted. Like, I've always wanted to know, like, how would I fare. And hopefully they're like the walking, not like the running kind of zombies.

[Will Compton]

Not the I am legend zombies.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, them boys are way too intense for me, but kind of going through the process of like, Walking Dead. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Living in that world.

[Zach Brown]

What about like the zombies from Last of Us? Those are scary.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, those are scary. Those are psychos.

[Taylor Lawan]

How about Zombieland? Got that cast of characters. Let me get Woody Harrelson live at the White House for a little bit. Hang out, smoke some Cheech with him. Huh?

[Will Compton]

Live in the Anchorman world forever.

[Taylor Lawan]

That'd be fun.

[Will Compton]

Be a fun. Be a fun movie to live in permanently.

[Zach Brown]

Taylor, I feel like it's kind of surprising you haven't said, like, Wedding Crashers.

[Taylor Lawan]

Or I love that movie and 25 year old Tara loves it. But like, I'm also living whatever. Whatever movie or TV show. I'm going. I'm bringing my wife and kids.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, but like, you're best friends with.

[Taylor Lawan]

I'm with you. Okay. Internship, Internship. Internship.

[Zach Brown]

Would be fun working at Google.

[Taylor Lawan]

Working at Google for a little bit. Literally. If you want to know Will and I's life in an alternate universe, it would probably be the internship and it'd be me as Vince Vaughn and Will Zone Wilson, who will kind of like figures it out faster than me. I kind of let the Team down a little bit, and I gotta study overnight to get it done, but I don't click the button. But then eventually, hey, we need Taylor for sales, and I handle business. And you, you have a nice little Harry Potter reference with the Quidditch match. Yeah. In the internship, I think at the end of the day, we could. We. If I could be a wizard, my kids would have so much more respect for me.

[Zach Brown]

I feel like that's the only answers.

[Taylor Lawan]

That might be the only answer.

[Will Compton]

Living in a world forever. Maybe. How to train your dragon.

[Zach Brown]

Can't die.

[Will Compton]

Can't die.

[Taylor Lawan]

Can't die.

[Will Compton]

Got a dragon you're riding on.

[Taylor Lawan]

Well, have you seen all the movies?

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

So you don't have a dragon forever?

[Will Compton]

Well, not forever, but eventually.

[Taylor Lawan]

Eventually, you're just a Viking.

[Will Compton]

You're still in the world.

[Taylor Lawan]

True.

[Zach Brown]

That possibility is a thing.

[Will Compton]

Game of Thrones maybe. Trying to take over the Seven Kingdoms.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, but you got the White Walkers.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, but maybe I'm a White Walker.

[Zach Brown]

That doesn't sound fun. Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Have you started Game of Thrones yet? I've seen two episodes. There's too many storylines. My brain couldn't handle it. Okay. Okay. Couldn't handle it. Let's go to Mr. James at the Mr. James 8.

[Will Compton]

Friday Night Lights.

[Taylor Lawan]

Not a football take, but what is better? Southern hospitality or Midwest politeness? It's a great question.

[Will Compton]

That is a good question.

[Taylor Lawan]

Great question. I saw my wife about this the other day, and I told her straight up. I was like, the older I get, I think the more I realize the greatest place to raise a family might be the Midwest. It might be the Midwest. Something about just, you know, construction and winter are your seasons. Keeping it simple. Kiss method. Always homegrown. Blue collar. Something beautiful about that.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Something I don't need to add to it. Grew up in Midwest, boy.

[Taylor Lawan]

Midwest, boy.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

I grew up out West. Didn't know. Didn't know.

[Will Compton]

Good people in the Midwest.

[Taylor Lawan]

Good people out there.

[Zach Brown]

Where's the last place you would want to raise your family?

[Taylor Lawan]

Last place I want to raise my family. La.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Sacramento. I was born in Sacramento. Sacramento is a great spot.

[Will Compton]

New Mexico. New Mexico.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. New Mexico. Wouldn't be cool. If you're gonna be in New Mexico, you might as well go to Arizona. So much better.

[Zach Brown]

I meant more so, like, regionally, to.

[Taylor Lawan]

Raise my kids.

[Zach Brown]

I would venture to, say, the Northeast.

[Taylor Lawan]

I'd eventually say the Northwest. You know what I'm saying?

[Will Compton]

No, I don't know what I'm saying.

[Zach Brown]

Northeast. I feel like you're just. Especially in Jersey. Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. But I also think, like, think about Rhode island, think about Vermont, think about Delaware. Like, those little kind of, like, small town, kind of fun little, like, beach towns you have. You have harsh winters, but, like, your summers are beautiful. Nantucket kind of area. It's like, yeah, a lot of money here, but it's really cool. Have a good time.

[Zach Brown]

But I'm saying, like, you think Jersey, New York, and, like, I have a bunch of friends from Jersey, New York, so I'm not talking about these guys, but, like, majority kind of.

[Taylor Lawan]

And just dudes.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

I'd rather be northwest than northeast.

[Taylor Lawan]

I also think there's a piece of me that's extremely curious about living in a major city like New York. I. I, obviously, I'm at the point where I never will, but every time we fly to New York, I always walk around like, man, how do they do it? Like, this is so everyone's on top of each other. I'm sure you get into a little routine, but I'm sure it could be fun, too, you know, ripping around, kind of stay in your little pocket the whole time. Venturing out every once in a while, see something like, oh, that's real cool that your pocket just got a little bit bigger. Everyone lives like, yeah, but all those people, man. I'm with you.

[Will Compton]

Talk with Jared Demon when y' all.

[Taylor Lawan]

Go to Vegas about. He has a really good take, interesting take on New York City. He lived and worked there for. Jack lived in New York as well. McPherson. Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

Two different people.

[Taylor Lawan]

Two different people.

[Zach Brown]

Jared hates it.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

He takes me. Somebody who'd hate it. I think I'd align more with Jared, too.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

I think it'd be. I think it would be really fun for like, a quarter of the year.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Like, go three months. Like, hey, you're gonna be here for three months. I think that's enough of a sample size to have fun and realize there's something at the end. Because I know. I know a few people that live in New York that swear by it. This is the best. I love it. I would. I'll never leave. It's like, good on you. Good on you, man. I was there for three weeks working on a movie set, and the just.

[Will Compton]

The laundry situation was enough that I was like, I would never live here.

[Taylor Lawan]

I'd have to carry a duffel bag almost two blocks just to do my laundry.

[Will Compton]

And people are, like, carrying their groceries home and. Oh, yeah. Oh, man, not for me.

[Taylor Lawan]

It was rough carrying your groceries home.

[Will Compton]

Give me a yard, some space.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. But never one Spot I would want to raise my kids probably la.

[Zach Brown]

Would not.

[Taylor Lawan]

Would not. Out on la. Sit now San Diego. You can sell me on San Diego.

[Zach Brown]

Do you even need selling?

[Taylor Lawan]

Taxes. Taxes and cost of living. That's the only thing really holding me back. But life body can't beat it. Encinitas Acadia. So nice. Oh, not my real name. Here to see Will again.

[Will Compton]

Not my real name. Hashtag tear talk. Will Compton calling you a loser on a live stream. Good. Your idols becoming rivals.

[Zach Brown]

Good.

[Will Compton]

Still buying merchandise to show them you can't be faced.

[Taylor Lawan]

Good.

[Will Compton]

Love the show, guys. How demoralizing was the news to Nebraska fans that Blake Corm is expecting a child. Congratulations to Blake joining Papa Team 6. Friend of the show just accomplished Bud's training.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, dude, Shut up. Blake, man. Good kid, Good guy. Seems like he's having himself a nice little. He's starting to figure himself out. The Rams a little bit. Have a good time splitting carries but still having success. Love to see it. Yeah, love to see it. Josh Dorsey at J underscore Dorsey 3. Have you guys thought about taking your show on the road and doing a live show with live audience? Man, what a thought, Josh. Hey, Will. For the bus and bowl, where were we?

[Will Compton]

We don't got to pat him on the head.

[Taylor Lawan]

Where were we, Will?

[Will Compton]

We were in Lincoln, Nebraska doing a live show theater.

[Taylor Lawan]

How many people were there?

[Will Compton]

Hundreds.

[Taylor Lawan]

Thousand, seven hundred people. So, yeah, we thought about it, Josh.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah. Our spring tour two years ago, that's what we did at every stop.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, every stop.

[Zach Brown]

Great time.

[Taylor Lawan]

A lot of life.

[Will Compton]

Thank you for dropping a hashtag Tear talk, Josh.

[Taylor Lawan]

KT @K. Kyle Tay Aylor says what happens or is talked about in a players only meeting. Hashtag tear talk. Let me break this down for you real quick, buddy. Unless. Will, you got anything?

[Will Compton]

Kind of. They're kind of weird. Yeah, Players only meetings are kind of weird. I kind of. It kind of depends on the situation.

[Taylor Lawan]

Honestly, to me it's one guy gets up and talks, he's a captain. And then there's five other captains who come up and say the same thing the first captain said in their own words. Not a whole lot is thought out other than we got to get our right. There's never a players only meeting when you're undefeated or doing well. And it's like if you're going to have those looking back on it, like, guys, let's kind of think about what we're going to say before we say it. That's all I have.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, yeah. No, I second that. It is how it feels a lot of the time unless you get them players only meetings that happens and somebody's just getting violent with the way that they're delivering the words. That's when it's kind of like a wake me up call. Like London Fletcher. One time we had a like a players only meeting and he was just getting after everybody and it was kind of like felt like a real a real players only me ones that you would think about or speculate. Oh man, they had a players only meeting. I want. I wonder what went down there.

[Taylor Lawan]

I can't remember which one of y' all said this, but it was such a fantastic quote. Of every players meeting, there's always that one guy that stands up to start talking and there's almost just an audible. Oh my God, what is he doing Just before he even starts.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, you look around. Oh, buckling.

[Taylor Lawan]

It can be tough.

[Will Compton]

Hashtag tear talk From Peyton_pw13_ could will and Taylor do a dog of the week segment where each of them picks a favorite picks a college football player from their own position from any team. Would love to see Will juicing up some linebackers we've never heard of. That would be fun. But you got to pay a lot of money to get the rights to like footage, whether it be college or the NFL. We got a couple quotes they are high. They are expensive.

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[Zach Brown]

So your AI agents, they make the team that uses them more productive, right? But if they aren't connected to other agents or your data or your existing workflows, how Productive. Can they really make your teams? Any business can add AI agents. IBM connects your agents across your company to change how you do business. Let's create Smile to business. IBM.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. We can do our new set of downs segment first. First set of downs which is very similar to what he just described. Right. It's basically fresh set of downs, a spotlighting somebody who's transferred, been in the transfer portal, wasn't playing well or wasn't getting enough work. They're buried in their depth chart a little bit. They end up getting a quote, fresh set of downs, going to a new team and have a lot of success. I think we're going to do this for the next few weeks. I actually love the idea. And our guy that we're going to highlight this week is Michigan's own Justice Hayes. Two years at Bama, he played 25 games. He had 104 carries for 616 yards and nine TDs. Decides, hey, that's not enough. He's splitting carries. Last year, Calen Debore's first year comes to Michigan. I'm very excited about it. We get to learn about him and the way he operates, how he attacks every single week. He's about sleep, he's about biohacking, he's about what he puts in his body. And it's shown quite a bit because in four games in Michigan he's had 66 carries, 337 yards, 537 yards, six touchdowns. He's got over 100 yards in every game and a TD this year so far. So thank you Alabama. We'll have another right.

[Will Compton]

Look at warm out there.

[Taylor Lawan]

You got a couple of studs. Yeah, I was watching Alabama, Georgia kind of whispering over to G for them. I'll take that guy. I'll take that guy. Like Buddy, you, you never have a shortage of talent with the Alabama Crimson Tide. I'm just lucky this guy's an amazing blue right now. He is incredible. And like I know this guy Marshall, we've at Jordan Marshall. We have, we've had him. You know, he's homegrown Michigan boy. But we got ourselves a nice little double headed monster over there at the University of Michigan right now in the running game and they are coming along. Office line is getting a whole lot better, which is awesome to see. So shout out Justice Hayes. Fresh set of downs. Love it for the young man. Man, that's awesome. We should do a different segment as well, a shout out.

[Will Compton]

No free shout out. Shout out. No free shout out to Chad Powers.

[Taylor Lawan]

Chad Powers. And I'M gonna take a quick. I'm gonna clap. I'm gonna clap again. We're gonna come back in our clothes. Oh, wow, look at that. We've changed clothes already. If you're listening on audio, we are wearing Chad Powers 200T shirts. Will you look fantastic in that, buddy?

[Will Compton]

You look good as well.

[Taylor Lawan]

You look sharp. Hey, sharp.

[Will Compton]

Chad Powers is funny.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. So shout out, Hulu. Shout out Disney. They were. They have allowed us to see these episodes a little bit early. We've watched episodes one and two so far. And if you don't know anything about Chad Powers, here's basically the backstory on Chad Powers. Eli Manning had a segment called Eli's Places. He ended up going undercover. Bunch of makeup on, mole on the face, wig, walks into a trial. Right. Was it Penn State? My thing about Penn State goes into a Penn State trial. Obviously the coaching staff and everybody on the back end knew about it. He goes in and ends up dicing up or these other players who are a part of the. Who the is this guy.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Turns out to be Eli Manning. And in. In true Manning fashion, like, they see the opportunity, they end up making a show about it. Where Glenn Powell, he is. He is the. The star of this show. And I love this segment. Eli Manning. And going into it, full transparency. Going into watching these episodes, I'm thinking to myself, how the. Are they going to be able to go from. This guy's a stud. He's undercover now. How's it all working? Seamless transition. Seamless. And I can't clump. You can tell me. I can't give away any spoilers. Correct.

[Will Compton]

We can give away spoilers.

[Taylor Lawan]

Episodes one and two are streaming now. Okay. We are. We are going to give spoilers away. So if you don't want spoilers. Yeah, if you don't want spoilers, don't listen. The first episode, man, starts with a bang. Right. This Chad Powers. What's his name in the show?

[Will Compton]

Just to.

[Taylor Lawan]

His name is Holiday.

[Will Compton]

Just. It is a good show. I share the same sentiment. It's kind of like, are they really just gonna try and, like, beat a dead horse or force fetus? A Chad Powers show. But it is funny. Yeah, it is funny.

[Taylor Lawan]

And it's got, like. It's got very much like. I don't know if it's Blue Mountain State I'm trying to look for right now, but there's a certain level of, like, adult humor that goes into it.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

That, like, Glenn Powell does a great job of, like, transitioning. Because here's what Happens first episode shows this guy, Russ Holliday, you know, arrogant Oregon Ducks quarterback, he's in the national championship, he runs on fourth and whatever puts those the ball down before the goal line. Something we've seen all the time in the NFL now. And so it was a score, but then it wasn't a score. They call it back and they end up losing the national championship game. He ends up swinging on a cat and knocks over a kid with cancer. And then it fast forwards to eight years later. It's so funny. It is. It is hilarious. And.

[Will Compton]

You'Re still my favorite player.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

His dad's like, hey, can you just take a picture with my kid?

[Taylor Lawan]

Because I don't give a. About the kid. And it's like, it, dude, it's a show.

[Will Compton]

And then he hits him and dad falls into the kid and they go.

[Taylor Lawan]

And like eight years later, he's like, in la, his dad is this like, like makeup artist. Makeup artist. Like this world renowned makeup artist, which really helped sell the point of him like transitioning into, you know, this like fake guy that he ends up going to a different school or whatever, but he has his XFL contract. Then all of a sudden there's the eight year reunion of the callback of the him punching a guy that falls into a kid with cancer. XFL pulls his contract and so he gets a wild hair up his ass and ends up.

[Will Compton]

The kid passes. Oh, they announced, like, he's like, he's getting this deal with the xfl. He's fired up, they're listening. Like all this stuff. Like the entertainment is pretty funny. And they're in this club and then it's like he's going to the bathroom and he just sees this tweet put up. Like, kid that, you know what's his Russ Holiday is known for, kid passed away. Kid dies from cancer and his agent drops him. And so he's trying to figure out what to do. He's. He's at the lowest of lows. He's like all of us sitting there when the, the game's just over. If you like lose a state title or national champ, he's like sitting in his room drinking, doing all these things and he gets this wild hair. He sees this open tryout for Southern Georgia.

[Taylor Lawan]

Southern Georgia. Southern Georgia Catfish.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. And he just gets his wild hair to like, I'm gonna go rejuvenate my career through like, you know, going and walking on at this spot, like wearing makeup, using his dad's like tools. Since he's a makeup artist for all these big Hollywood movies and he starts, like, working out. And he gets. Another funny part is when he's on this phone with his dad, he's like, dad, he's like, I got something kind of big that's coming. Think he'll be really proud of me. And his dad's like, did you just quote Armageddon to me?

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Compton]

But he says, I worked on that movie Jackass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And dude, it's. I encourage you all to watch it. It's a good watch. It's funny. It's well done. Like getting Fowler and Herb street in for calling the game when they, like. You're always like, anybody who, like, loves ball. You, like, weirdly, with a critical eye. Watching how they put together, like, plays that's happening. Like, moments. That's happening. They do a real good job. Like, you're watching it on tv, but it's a good watch. It's is funny. Him trying to, like, find his voice, right?

[Taylor Lawan]

Him trying to find his voice. Him trying to tell the story of where he's from. Ends up being from West Virginia. Like, hey, we couldn't find a whole lot of filming. It was like. Yeah, it was wolf mating season and.

[Will Compton]

People were working a crowd. Oh, it depends. Depends on what? He's like, wolves.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

They come and get your babes.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, yeah. People just would show up or not based on wolves. Just hilarious. And him going in and out of being Russ Holiday and Chad Powers is just fucking hilarious also. The thing I love, too, is this head coach for the Georgia State Catfish. He is. You can see a great story arc coming with him.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

The daughter of the head coach. There's a great story. Like, I'm assuming it's going to be a love interest with Russ Holiday eventually.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

But it's just like, the show's good and, you know, like, we both said it. No idea what to think, but it is hilarious.

[Will Compton]

And again, say it's Russ.

[Taylor Lawan]

What?

[Will Compton]

Russ Holiday. Russell, he's like this douchebag. Got this arrogance to him. You'll see it. And he, like, comes across this. This mascot. Mascot ends up spraying in with mace because he thinks he's like a school shooter dressing his get up.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Will Compton]

They meet and this mascot is trying to, like. He's kind of his, like, mentor in this hero's journey of trying to get him. Like, hey, leave the Russ Holiday douchebaggery aside. You have to create this new character if really going to sell yourself and be a leader of this team. So Chad Powers is really Trying to battle with being a douchebag, being this arrogant because he. He's not, like, the starting quarterback, which is, like, a reality check for him. And, dude, it's. It's good, man. The backup quarterback is, like, my favorite. He's my favorite character right now.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, he's funny, man.

[Will Compton]

He's like, what? I got here an hour or two before he gets some sprints in, get some punishment.

[Taylor Lawan]

He did. I love how the scene where he's walking with Chad Powers and he's like, hey, give us a minute. He's like, yes, sir, and just turns around, sprints the other way. And then the coach is like, walk off the field, and the quarterback starts running. And I was like, oh, what the fuck? It's all scared of him, dude. It's. It is funny.

[Will Compton]

And with the makeup and the mask and the rubber and everything else, there's, like, moments with him, like, doctoring up towards, like, you know, there's the fly on the inside. He's like, you got a fly in your face, and it's, like, crawling around, but also brewing. It's brewing. Yeah. But since he's like, you know, since he's trying to immerse himself, like, as a teammate, you can't get the mask and anything and everything wet. So, like, post practice, when they're all showering and he's kind of sitting there and coaches ask him why he's not getting the showers, he's like, oh, my. You know, my pee hole's too big. He's just, like, making up stories. Then they have this cookout, you know, with the team at the head coach's house, and they're doing, like, this water. Water balloon fight. They're all in the pool. He never gets in the pool, so they think he's weird for not getting in the pool. Then he does this water balloon fight, and he's trying to get this water out of his mask because the head coach wants to go see him. Then when the mask kind of breaks, he's like, are you crying? It's the mask kind of pops out.

[Taylor Lawan]

Of his, like, cheeks.

[Zach Brown]

He just runs.

[Will Compton]

He just takes off running out in the woods. He's like, I think he's just a man of the woods.

[Taylor Lawan]

He's talking to his daughter. He's like, hey, he just ran in the woods. You're right. She's like, I think he just. He just loves the woods.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, I think he loves the woods because he show. He shows up.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, he's funny as hell.

[Will Compton]

He shows up to the party, like, you know, parking his Tesla like in the woods and then coming out of the woods, she's like, you just come out of the woods?

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. If you think about it, we all came from the woods.

[Will Compton]

And then when he's talking to the like the big booster, the gal in the kitchen, and he's like, I have to leave. I can't be within 100ft of a, of a female or something like that.

[Taylor Lawan]

It hurts my purity. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

She's like, what the.

[Taylor Lawan]

It is funny, man. Glenn Powell does a great job these first two episodes. Like, I'm excited to watch that third and fourth episode because it is quality, man.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, we feel good.

[Will Compton]

It's a good laugh. I'm, I'm, I'm watching it alone and I'm laughing out loud at some of the one liners he comes up with with. Or he's like, what do you say? He's like, just where? He's like, just flesh. They're like asking him if he's like a, a male or female or something like that. He has this line like, it's just, just.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. When he's checking flesh, what does he say? I don't know.

[Will Compton]

I got to write these one liners down. It's good, but.

[Taylor Lawan]

Hulu's Chad Powers will premiere Tuesday, September 30th with a two episode launch. New episodes stream weekly on Tuesdays. So if you're watching this show now at 6am Just know it's out there right now. Hopefully we wouldn't spoil too much for you since we just told you the whole entire first two episodes. Yeah. How.

[Will Compton]

How old are you? How old is anybody?

[Taylor Lawan]

Covet. You know?

[Will Compton]

You know, I'm old enough, but not. And still young enough. You know, I was code the covered years.

[Taylor Lawan]

Who knows when the coat. When he said, yeah, what are you sitting with the coach like you have.

[Will Compton]

Covet and no, no, no.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. When he's sitting with the coach at the dock with before the coach tells him he's gonna be the backup quarterback and he's like, you know what's really hurt? I had a bunch of heart issues. You know what the problem was? He goes, the vaccine. He goes, no. Well, maybe dude. And it's so funny too, because this Russ Holiday guys, big conspiracy theorists, like big douche. Like, it's so funny, man. It is. It is hilarious. When does it drop? This Wednesday? Yeah, it's out Tuesday. Tuesday, it's out tomorrow.

[Will Compton]

Oh, well, technically, as people are listening, it's out right now.

[Taylor Lawan]

So. Yeah. Oh, I'm watching that, buddy. You Will. You will love it. Yeah, you will love it. It's. Yeah, it's Blue Mountain State. It's Shoresy. It's like kind of got all this, like.

[Will Compton]

You have to watch because you'll remember all these. These one liars and quotes that we're talking about.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, you will appreciate it.

[Will Compton]

Hey, the. The backup cue actually gives me a Sherm vibe. Is that the guy that ran away?

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, he runs.

[Will Compton]

He's just happy. Go lucky.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

When they're sitting there. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

That's the number one wide receiver. Yeah. We have a really good relationship. And then the wide receivers, like, giving him the sign. He's like, that. He's calling you a. He's like. No, I think he. He thinks. I get a lot of. They talk about him swimming. He just does like a back dive into the water.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. Yeah. What does he say? Like he's like. That's true. Like there's like a back flop. Just. Ultimate optimist guy. Nothing phases him when he steals the balloon and starts dicing up everybody in the water. Balloon fight. Then he goes suck my clipboard on top of the quarterback. It's good, man. It's good. That is. You know what? Let's go back to regular outfits. We're back. A couple more tear talks, we'll be on our way to Zach Bright. Let's do one or two more. This is D3. Walk on at ZT37 5, 8. Hashtag tear talk. Is getting that first loss early in the season benefit a program. Look at Alabama since Florida State. Yeah, I mean, Josh Pate brought this up on the locker room this past week, which comes out Every Wednesday at 6pm the College Football edition. And he says when you get. When you get early loss, it gives you a chance to. Course correct.

[Will Compton]

Taste your own blood.

[Taylor Lawan]

Taste your own blood. Understand, you're not invincible. So when you get later in the season, you have these big games, you know what it's like to hurt. So he keeps you moving forward. So I think that was a big dub for Alabama earlier in the season to catch that L early. So you can keep moving forward now because they seem like the team to beat in the SEC and watch just.

[Will Compton]

Slowly but surely watch Notre Dame start to climb the polls one week at a time.

[Taylor Lawan]

2 losses started.02 still in the AP top 25. What is Sherm saying here? Helps with the.

[Will Compton]

Just chime in, Sherm. You have something to say. You can. Sometimes you can just chime in, right?

[Taylor Lawan]

Especially on Tuesdays. It helps with the CFP rankings.

[Will Compton]

I feel like the CFP commission, the.

[Taylor Lawan]

Voters, they usually they kind of tend to forget about those Week one, week.

[Will Compton]

Two, week three losses, thousand percent.

[Taylor Lawan]

Absolutely. Seems like they forget to watch a lot of football games too.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. Want to do one more? That was it. That was it.

[Will Compton]

There we go.

[Taylor Lawan]

That's all we needed. Yeah. Awesome, guys. Once again, Titans watch party this weekend at Brooklyn Bowl. That'll be taking place while the oh and four Titans take on the two and two Arizona Cardinals. I'm going to Vegas with Jack and Jared. That vlog will be out the following week. Spooktober. It's here Wednesday. Get excited and burn it up. Dude. I want by by spooktober31st. I want us to be so burnt out on Spooktober. So excited for the next holiday. Merch is out Wednesday 10am Central Time bwtb.com this is my favorite one right here. It's my favorite one right there.

[Will Compton]

Big hugs, tiny kisses.

[Taylor Lawan]

All right, ladies and gentlemen, before we get to this Zach Brown episode, I want to talk to you about a couple things. One thing I want to talk to you about is neutral vodka seltzers. We are brought to you by neutral vodka seltzers. Have you tried neutral? If not, you're missing out. Neutral is so much better than any other seltzer I've tried. It's made with real vodka and real juice and that's what makes it delicious. They come in a variety of flavors. Give you my top two right now. Pineapple and lime. It's perfect for social occasions. It's a crowd pleaser, especially during college football season. It's the perfect time of year to grab a 12 pack of neutral for a game or grab a bucket deal in your favorite bar as you root on your team. Neutral. Keep it tasty.

[Will Compton]

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[Taylor Lawan]

He does.

[Will Compton]

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[Taylor Lawan]

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[Will Compton]

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[Taylor Lawan]

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[Zach Brown]

So your AI agents, they make the team that uses them more productive, right? But if they aren't connected to other agents or your data or your existing workflows, how productive can they really make your teams? Any business can add AI agents. IBM connects your agents across your company to change how you do business. Let's create Smile to business IBM.

[Taylor Lawan]

Ladies and gentlemen, Bud Light is always rude with four simple ingredients for a clean, crisp taste. Bud Light is the official beer sponsor of the NFL the NFL Draft Tight end you Bud Light partner with George Kittle the UFC Shane Gillis 2025 Tour Bud Light partners include Peyton Manning George Kittle, Baker Mayfield, Taylor Lawan, Emmett Smith, Will Compton, Shane Gillis, Post Malone, Dustin Poirier. Stock up on Bud light. Head to www.budlight.com forward/locator to find a store near you. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Our guest today, three time Grammy award winner, co founder, lead singer of Zach Brown Band. His first album, the foundation is certified five times. I'm going to repeat that five times platinum.

[Will Compton]

Can you say that again?

[Taylor Lawan]

Five times platinum. By the Recording Industry association of America. 16 singles on Billboard's hot country songs. Please give a round of applause. Zach Brown. Gotta feel it, man. Hey, listen, you came in bearing gifts. I found out you're a blacksmith. Yes, sir. What is like? We can get into music, we'll talk about all that. But I want to talk about your hobbies right now.

[Zach Brown]

Okay.

[Taylor Lawan]

Came in with this cool case. Floats, plays music, keeps your phone nice.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

But then you started putting out this little blade on me right now. What is this device?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, so this is a dimmer box. So the guy, James Deemer, worked on the set of the show Survivor and he had to carry pelican cases to keep all this stuff dry because it's humid and wet and all that. And then he installed speakers in it. So then he started making some of these and putting them on Amazon. Well, I, I got a hold of it and I was like, dude, this is such a problem solver for me because I, I do some pretty high adventure, you know, I, I spearfishing is my favorite thing in the world to do. I free dive spearfish, I bow hunt. A lot of the adventures that I go on and do I need something to keep all my gear safe. Even going to the beach, like riding. So this is a 40 hour Bluetooth speaker. It's loud, it's like a bass cabinet. And then when you open it, it's a legit pelican case. It's got a purge valve so it doesn't lock down if you fly with it and get air trapped in it. It's got a phone charger on the inside. You take this plug and put it in the lid. And now it's fully waterproof. And you could float it down the river with you and play your tunes or you can use as a predator call box. Like if you're up in a stand, you can put this 100ft away in the woods and have a rabbit call or coyote call or something.

[Taylor Lawan]

So much more of a man than us.

[Will Compton]

We know about some rabbit calls.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. Have you so big spear fishman Favorite. That is unbelievable.

[Zach Brown]

Favorite thing in the world to do.

[Will Compton]

A question I have with that. How long can you hold your breath?

[Taylor Lawan]

That was going to be the question.

[Zach Brown]

I was going to go to.437 is the best static just sitting still, you know, Prove it. But I could show you in 10 minutes how you can double your breath hold. Really? Show you 10 minutes?

[Will Compton]

Is it like the hyperventilating you gotta like.

[Zach Brown]

Well, yeah.

[Will Compton]

Brian Peters was doing it that one time when we, we were doing a little pool thing at your house.

[Zach Brown]

Well, he's proven that you can control your, your, even your hormone release in your, in your body with your breath. But yeah, the average amount of oxygen people generally hold is not a lot compared to people that had to forage and run around and climb up mountains every day for survival. So it's interesting. I've been going the last 10 years with people that are some of the best spear fishermen in the world, like my boy Justin Lee and Cameron Kirkconnell. I learned how to breathe the right way and it's actually the opposite. So if you hyperventilate, your heart rate spikes. It goes crazy. So you're burning up all your oxygen. So you do the opposite of that. You do these long half breaths with long exhales, like 10 second exhales. And if you can't sleep or you're like trying to go down, you gotta wind down and get to bed or whatever. Do 10 of these breaths when you're about to go to sleep and you can feel your whole body start to like melt and relax. And while you're hunting, you want to have your heart rate as low as possible when you find something that you want to dive for. Then you do three loading breaths, which is your hyperventilation. And then you do a normal breath and then you do a super breath, which most people don't know how to breathe out of their diaphragm. Everybody breathes through. And your lungs are shaped like a triangle. Right. But the most volume is at the bottom. So the biggest volume in your lungs when you breathe in is right here. If you put your hand up, put your hand on your belly. Now pretend there's a balloon going. So don't lift your chest when you breathe in. Just fill up this bottom, which is where the most volume is. So, so when you inhale, fill up that. Just that balloon. Don't let your shoulders come up. Everybody breathes with this top part of their lungs. And that's where you got the least amount of volume. Yep. So you do that while you're cruising, your heart rate's low, you're melting in the water. Super efficient. Then you get there three loading breaths, which is just like that, and then regular breath. And then you do a triple, which is diaphragm, chest and throat. And then you go down. And then after you've done your breathe up, which is just like those half breaths chilling on top when you go down, you got twice the bottom time that you normally would have. So I did it wrong for 10 years and I started going with people that know how to do it. It's like somebody handing a golf club and being like, smack the ball. Like, unless you have mechanics and somebody to show you how to do it, you're. It's not relaxing at all to try to hit golf balls and you don't know how to hit a golf ball.

[Taylor Lawan]

How do you get into something like this?

[Zach Brown]

I went the first time in the Bahamas with a bohemian guy there and just fell in love with it. Like, I. I just love. I love. Physically, you sleep like a baby after you die for a whole day and swimming. But you're challenging the ocean. You're challenging the camouflage and the fish. You're challenging your breath. And when you get something nice, it's like you did it. And it's only shooting things you can eat. So you're getting out in the morning and you're going out and you're shooting your dinner and, you know, food for the next few days or making ceviche on the boat or whatever it is. But I love, like, I love making people feel good. I love entertaining people. But I. I recharge and my. My lady calls it. It's too people in there. And sometimes I gotta just go out and be in the wild. And when I'm spearfishing, there's nothing else in my brain. There's no chatter, except exactly what's in the moment right there. And every time I go, I see something in the ocean I've never seen before. It is another universe down there.

[Taylor Lawan]

Have you ever. Terrifying.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Have you ever been in danger?

[Zach Brown]

Me?

[Taylor Lawan]

That's you. What kind of. What is that?

[Zach Brown]

That's a dog tooth tuna.

[Taylor Lawan]

A dog tooth tuna?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

You weren't scared when you saw that?

[Zach Brown]

That was in Fiji. No, I was stoked when I saw that. That's what I was. That's what I was after.

[Taylor Lawan]

You. You saw that and you got hyped up. I see that. I'm like, jesus, dude, I'm walking on water. I'm getting out of there.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah. And this was more recently, but now.

[Will Compton]

What about sharks?

[Zach Brown]

Sharks are there, they're there all the time.

[Taylor Lawan]

Videos where guys go down there, they give themselves a fish, you can hear them be stoked and they're kind of reeling it in. And then there's this little, yeah, blackfin fellow.

[Zach Brown]

You battle them for, for the fish sometimes and it's not intuitive, but as soon as you get the fish to your body and like claim it, they'll turn. But you don't want to be holding the fish out because it'll eat your hand and the fish at the same time trying to eat the fish. When the visibility is good, sharks know the deal. And this is not spearfish. In places where they eat people our size or eat sea lions or things our size, now that's a different thing. But most of the places that we go, they're just after the fish or they're after the chum that we're throwing. Like when we're fishing for those big dog tooth tuna. That's a Spanish mackerel on the left side. Right, right there that I'm holding up. But you know, you read the shark's language, they're like a dog, right? You walk in a yard, you can read the language of a dog. If they're kind of staring at you and they're like, you can tell by looking at them. I mean we swim with them every time. This was just a month or so ago. That is a monster. Kubera. Damn. A kubera, kubera, snapper, those things. That's a monster. In the Bahamas you can't use a spear gun, you have to use a spear. So you have to use a nine foot spear that has a rubber band on the back of it it and you have to swim down and get close enough while it's loaded and swim under rocks and rustle a nine foot pole into the rocks and try to shoot things like that while you're holding your breath. While you're holding your breath. So you have a weight belt, you have a mask and a snorkel and a knife and then either have a pole spear if you're in Bahamas, or you have a spear gun which is all preloaded so all the tension is not on your hand when you swim down. So a gun, you just reach out and you can shoot. Sometimes the, the, you have a reel on your gun. If you're shooting things that are 20, 30 pounds, you know, you can get that in with, you know, by hand. If you're shooting monsters like that dog tooth tuna, your shaft is attached to A float line to a buoy. So you shoot the fish and you're not attached to it anymore. And then you have to chase it down before the sharks get it. Pull it up high enough sometimes take a second gun.

[Taylor Lawan]

Is a crazy. Yeah, that's nuts. So is it when you're shooting a fish, is it kind of like when you go deer hunting and you're like, hey, you want to aim for that little like, shoulder piece right there.

[Zach Brown]

Get behind you if you can. If you can break their spine. It's. It stones them. So that's what you want. I've had situations where I'm 65ft down the bottom of radio tower. I shoot a permit, the biggest permit I've ever seen in my life.

[Taylor Lawan]

Can we pull up a permit? Because it sounds like something you have to get from the city council.

[Zach Brown]

I can, I can show you a picture right here. This is.

[Taylor Lawan]

These are, these are big fellas.

[Zach Brown]

They're not normal. This was a 60 pounder. I've never heard anyone catching one on a line that was over like 35, 40 pounds. But just, just a monster. But, but this one, this one almost drowned me. I hit him a little low.

[Taylor Lawan]

But.

[Zach Brown]

This thing's about that wide. They're. They're kind of like a pit bull.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

Like in the wild.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. That's a big boy. Yeah, it's a thick boy right there.

[Taylor Lawan]

Thick little boy.

[Zach Brown]

I hit him low. I'm 65ft down. I shoot him. He takes off one way, ripping line off my reel. I'm trying to swim up. I need breath. I'm like at the. You have about 45 seconds after you feel uncomfortable to get air and you know you're still safe. So you just mentally have to block it out. Same thing when you're training or when you're whatever like you. You got to just like rip through, you know you're going to be okay. So I get up about 10ft from the surface and I can see it and I need air. Well, the line on my reel was gone and he snatched me back down 20ft and. And then I start snatching the reel, trying to. He's either going to break out. It's either going to rip out of him or he's going to turn. So I rip it a few times and he turns and so I get up and I get a breath. As soon as I get a breath, he pulls me back down again. And you have to clear your ears in the middle of it too, because they pull you down deep. So that one was a wild one. My buddy jumped in, he was trying to help, he was holding.

[Will Compton]

I probably just let go though.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, yeah. Why don't you just let go?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, but it is the most. If you've never been spearfishing, Bahamas is the best place to learn. It's crystal clear, 20, 30ft of water. You can shoot amazing lobsters. Snapper, grouper. It's, I'm telling you, it's another world. It's hunting and fishing and physical. That's a big lobster.

[Taylor Lawan]

It's a big ass lobster.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, that was in Bahamas.

[Taylor Lawan]

Is that so the, the story you just told us is that like the scariest experience you've had in the water?

[Zach Brown]

No, actually, the scariest ones that I've had have been using a scuba tank. I had emergency surface from 120ft, somebody else's gear on their boat. They had. I'm down there and all of a sudden I've been down like five minutes. It was an 18 minute dive. So I wasn't hawking the gauges, like looking at them every two minutes because I'd been down long. But I see this huge snapper and I'm going down. I went, I was at 100 and I went down to 120 chasing this snapper. And it was like I was breathing out of a coffee straw. The air start because you have to continually breathe in scuba, so you're constantly making bubbles, which is not great camouflage, which is why free diving is the way to do it.

[Taylor Lawan]

Why do you have to continually breathe with a scuba tank?

[Zach Brown]

Because you're breathing compressed air. And so if you change your, your atmosphere, if you go down from 15 to 25, is a different atmosphere. So when you go down, it compresses. It compresses the air down and you're breathing it compressed already. So you constantly have to flow and breathe. You never stop your breathing. That's why there's always bubbles coming out when you're scuba diving. But if somebody's in the boat up top, the guy was up at the boat up top, the guy was diving with. He had a bunch of floats on his chest and he would. If you shoot a fish, you tie the float to it, you blow it up and send the fish up to the top. And the guy in the boat like picks the fish up and he's following our bubble so you can see where we are. Well, I was down five minutes. I was out of air. I looked down and my gauge was red. So something was wrong. The gauge was wrong. The tank wasn't full. It said it was When I went.

[Will Compton]

Down, you said 100.

[Zach Brown]

I was 120ft down. I swam 20ft up to where my buddy was. He had all those floats on his vest. I'm trying to get to his octopus, his secondary air, to grab it and breathe. But when I made it to him, I was already out of air. So I tried to wrestle with it and get that off. What I should have done is taken his out of his mouth and us trade breaths, go up to 25ft, decompress there for three or four minutes, and then go. So I knew that all the air that was in my lungs was going to be expanding, expanding as I went up. So I had emergency service from 100ft, and I blew up my BC as far as I could. And the whole way up, I'm just blowing out as hard as I can. Just. The guy running the boat at the top sees me come up and breach the top of the water and was like, oh, I didn't get the bends, thank God.

[Taylor Lawan]

What's the bends?

[Zach Brown]

The bends is when you have to be put in a decompression chamber and breathe pure oxygen afterwards to decompress your body. You can really mess your brain up.

[Will Compton]

No way, right?

[Zach Brown]

So I don't. I don't scuba anymore.

[Taylor Lawan]

That was it. That's how you packed it up.

[Zach Brown]

I've had one time when I was spearfishing, I got washed out past a reef. These big roller waves came in, and the boat we came out on couldn't get to us. And so for an hour, I'm just treading water. I dumped my weight belt, just threw it off, and I'm just cruising on top of the water, which I'm comfortable doing. But the little guide that was with me was from Belize. He was a kind of a heavy guy, but he could swim. And he was out. He was screaming and waving his gun and trying to do whatever, and I was like, oh. So I dropped my weight and I just cruising on top. And an hour later, the waves settled down and the little penguin could get out through the reef to get out to where we were again. But that was one of the moments where I was like, maybe this may be, like, five, six hours that I have to just maintain and chill and wait for the tide to turn and be able to make it swim back in.

[Will Compton]

Buddy.

[Taylor Lawan]

I mean, I go. I go in my pool, and it's eight feet deep. I can't. I can't. You know, I mean, JP may be funny. I'll be trying to tread water, and I just can't. Do it. I'll just sink.

[Zach Brown]

Spearfishing is the most fun anything I've ever done. It's. I'm telling you, it's. You should go sometime. Bahamas is the best place to go. I got a boat there if you guys ever want to go. Bahamas weekend. I can take you.

[Will Compton]

Okay.

[Taylor Lawan]

I mean, yeah. I mean, we've just met and you're already inviting us out on a nice excursion.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, man, I'm telling you.

[Will Compton]

Well, his boy. His boy built my house.

[Taylor Lawan]

Matt.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Compton]

He was our builder for the house we're currently in. Oh, no, we were actually his first house that. I think it was him and his dad, but during COVID he just did a little side project since nobody was playing a whole lot.

[Zach Brown]

But.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. What does he do? Is he a guitar?

[Zach Brown]

He's my bass player.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Bass player.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

But, yeah, very detailed individual.

[Taylor Lawan]

Homie living too.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

His dad's a builder. And Matt, I've got two, like, Berkeley nerds in my band. I've got him and Clay Cook. And so they quantitize it all. They. They tell me what the math is, I create. And then they make a chart of what it is so everybody else can play it and learn it or whatever it is. But I'm not the. That'd be like your offense coordinator or defense coordinator, whoever's just like, strategy wise. Because when I create something, I don't want to think about the math. You know, you can break anything into math, but I want to make it based on the way I feel and the way it makes me feel and maybe the way it makes somebody else feel. And then they. They quantitize it. Matt can listen to a song no matter how long it is 1. Listen to the song and write a musical chart of all of the notes and the timing of the whole song while he's listening to it, no matter how complicated it is. So Matt. Matt's like a wizard.

[Will Compton]

He is thorough.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

He's like, sitting there breaking down everything. He's got his little handbook and everything else. I was like, buddy, can I just. I'll just live in the house. And then when something happens, I'll just let you know. You know, I'm kind of giving him the mouth. Mouth open as I'm. As I'm staring at him.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. And you know, he's so passionate about whatever he's telling you to.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

God.

[Will Compton]

And it was his first one, so he. He's on it, bro. Yeah, he's on it.

[Taylor Lawan]

So we're into spearfishing. What do we, Hunter?

[Zach Brown]

Time out. Time out.

[Will Compton]

Have you swim with orcas?

[Zach Brown]

I've been in the water with them. I haven't gotten to really have a great close up encounter. But in Alaska, I've got a place in Alaska and they're out in the bay all the time. So we spearfish there. And so we've seen a glimpse of them, but never gotten to just like fully see them. Swim with whale sharks to swim with pilot whales. Lots of different things. Orcas are the craziest. They're the baddest machine in the ocean, buddy.

[Taylor Lawan]

They are.

[Will Compton]

That's a bucket list.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, they are bad.

[Zach Brown]

That's where they just play with like a toy.

[Will Compton]

You know, I've said it a lot. I had the free, you know, free will. He grew up on Free Willy.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

I had the little compass, held it near and dear to my heart for the longest time.

[Taylor Lawan]

What happened to that compass?

[Will Compton]

I think we just moved and I lost it. Grew up a little bit.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

You know what I mean?

[Taylor Lawan]

Never too much though, because you break it up.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. The four times you realize the compass is just, you know, just that. Yeah. Guys, I ain't gonna find a whale with this.

[Zach Brown]

There's places you can go swim with them too.

[Taylor Lawan]

I know. You can go to Norway, right? Iceland, you can do it too.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah. They all spearfish halibut there too. In those places too. Same as, same as Alaska.

[Taylor Lawan]

I need to get out to Iceland. My wife, when we first met, she was like, whoever I marry, whoever I'm with for the rest of my life, I want to go to Iceland with them. And I was like, oh yeah, we're gonna go to Iceland. We've been married for almost 10 years.

[Zach Brown]

Oh, amazing.

[Taylor Lawan]

Still have not gone to Iceland.

[Will Compton]

It's coming though.

[Taylor Lawan]

Can I check that box? 10 year anniversary comes up in April.

[Zach Brown]

I was just in Greenland about a month ago.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

How was that? What? Yeah. I'm sure you travel all the world. What are you like your favorite places you've ever been to?

[Zach Brown]

Man. Alaska is one of them. This. Have you been to Alaska?

[Taylor Lawan]

No.

[Zach Brown]

I think the scale of Alaska is so much bigger than anything else. And just it's, it's the wild. I've got a boat there and you can go off and lower the front gate extends over and you can just walk off and go anywhere you, you want to go. But. But there's a frequency in Alaska that I've never found anywhere else. And July and August in Homer is the greatest. It's 60, 65 degrees every day. It's sunny. World class fishing. World class hunting it is. But beauty wise, the view from my porch is the greatest view I've ever seen anywhere.

[Taylor Lawan]

You spend every summer up there?

[Zach Brown]

I spend my summers working my ass off. So my goal is to get to where I can be up there more often.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, that dude, are you. You a big hunter?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, I've been hunting my whole life. My dad was taking me, you know, deal deer hunting and hunting birds and.

[Will Compton]

Squirrels and what's your favorite type of hunting?

[Zach Brown]

I love the bow hunt. This is my favorite because you're in their environment. You're playing the wind and your scent and the camo and the environment and sneaking up hunting. For me, the greatest 90% of hunting. Why I love it is not harvesting the animals. It's because it pushes you out into the wild where you would never go. And the amount of sunrises and sunsets that I've seen bow hunting, I can't imagine what my life would be like without having that in my life. It's. It's spiritual and it's primal. And you're hunting things that you can eat or that if you're in another country, sometimes the things that, that you shoot there, the villagers get to eat it. So you're feeding their families or your own. And it's. I can't. I can't really explain, but. But being connected to nature and walking places that people don't walk. Like you're not on a trail that's on your map of a guide on your phone, you know, an app on your phone. You're truly just pushing into the wilderness, into the wild. And yeah, that's, that's on my boat in Alaska.

[Will Compton]

And what's the hardest hunt that you've been on or the hardest animal to hunt when it's pushing man.

[Zach Brown]

Big bighorn. The sheep. Sheep are the hardest because, you know, they're. They're so far out there. I had a huge awakening. I was in Kyrgyzstan hunting argali, which are the big sheep that live there. Like 500 pounds.

[Taylor Lawan]

Okay. Geographically, where is it?

[Zach Brown]

Between China and Mongolia.

[Taylor Lawan]

Gotcha.

[Zach Brown]

And it's like home of the shaman, like land. It's like shaman land. But you're on a horse. You're on a horse.

[Taylor Lawan]

We could ever imagine.

[Will Compton]

It's like a scene in. In Zoolander or something. You know, I was out in our. Where were you at?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, in Kyrgyzstan.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Hunting our galley.

[Zach Brown]

But a lot of people don't. A lot of people don't understand the conservation part of hunting as well, because the hunters that pay big money to get tags for things is paying the people that are there protecting the herds of the species and managing them and making sure that they're going to be around forever. So people are like, oh, he's just a murderer. And whatever it is, it's like, like, when's the last time you gave 300 grand in a year to conserving populations of animal and helping them, like make sure they're always there? Yeah, you know, they manage quotas of them, they, they check the predator to, to prey ratio and those things. If there's too many predators, they'll put the predators, you know, on a list and sell tags, make 30 grand a pop on selling the hunts for those so that they can keep everything in balance. I know in Africa, the poachers slayed everything. There's 4% of Africa that's under conservation that have healthy herds of animals that are there. And it's because of the hunters that go there. Hunters pay for it. Like when you heard, you heard about Cecil the lion, right? Like there was a very photographed lion that a hunter shot. So they banned lion hunting in that entire area. So then there was no money coming in from the abundance of lines that were there from tags anymore. So all the farmers that live there, they tolerate the lions eating their goats and their sheep and their things like that because they were getting a cut of, of the conservation. So when they banned lion hunting, the lions just poisoned all the lions, Killed every one of them?

[Taylor Lawan]

No.

[Zach Brown]

And so people think they're solving it by one way of getting what they want, but the result is actually way more horrible than having someone manage it and make sure there's a healthy population of lions always there. But poachers come in and sell others trying to feed their families, you know, killing things. And people that I've seen do it really well, they're conservationists. They come in, they'd hire all the poachers and they run them through a two year ranger school and teach them how to protect the animals and how to look for people. Because they're the best hunters in the world. These people that come from the bush in Africa and they can hide in a bush right next to where you are. You have no idea that they're there. They'll set 20 snares to get one animal. The first animal that gets caught, they take it and sell it to somebody that's trying to buy parts off the animal or something like that. And then the other 20 animals just get snared and die. No purpose whatsoever. So It's. There's always a huge conversation. It's always polarizing and. And I haven't really talked about my hunting life just because I've got fans that are super left and super right and always wanted my music to be something that brought people together.

[Taylor Lawan]

Everybody buys Jordans, Democrats, and Republicans. So I have, like, a stance.

[Zach Brown]

Exactly. So I don't talk about my politics. I don't talk about those things. I haven't really talked about my hunting, but what it's added to my life and just for my peace of mind and being able to be out in the wild. And there's. There's lots of hunts that you go on. You don't get anything except the experience of catching every sunrise and every sunset and being in that environment and being in the wild, like, it just helps return me to just be in Alaska and the ocean and hunting. All of that makes me feel small in the best possible way.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

Like, it's the greatest.

[Taylor Lawan]

You brought up an interesting point about, like, people have different views. Like, you have a lot of different fans that both sit on the left and the right. When you were coming up through the ranks and, like, gaining all this traction, having all these singles, these Grammys and stuff like that, was there ever a time that maybe someone part of your team tried to get you to act a certain way because they wanted to make sure you were unscathed from one side or the other?

[Zach Brown]

I think that was more my initiative that was there. And. And most of the people, like, now we don't have a management company. Like, we have our managers in house. We're not with a label. We are. We're all independent. So I know when I'm dealing with people and partners and sponsors, whoever, I know how those people are treated. They're representing me. And I can say I can vouch and know how that they're going to handle people and situations and things. But I think you've got to be really careful. I never wanted to be a celebrity and get to like and try to just be a celebrity. Like, I wanted people to know me through music. So when I'm on a stage, I like attention because that's what I'm doing. I'm trying to be there to move them for that night and inspire them and help them have a great night. But otherwise, in my private life, I just try to live my life, raise my kids. I got five kids. I got four girls and a boy. My girls are 14.

[Taylor Lawan]

What number that boy come in?

[Zach Brown]

He's last.

[Taylor Lawan]

Give us hope.

[Zach Brown]

A little bit he's 11, four girls and then the boy, he's 11. But my girls are 14, 16, 17, 18.

[Will Compton]

He's in it right now.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, it's awesome, dude. I love my girls.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

And it's like anything but half of my life as opposed to a lot of people and artists that don't have kids or whatever. But I have my kids half the time and when I have them, that's my 100 focus. I'm their.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach Brown]

I'm all the games, all the things and I want to do that. I don't want to look back and miss out on those things. You know, I make a lot of sacrifices to do what I do, but that eats up half my time and then the weeks that I don't have them. I can work, I can adventure, I can refill my cup and detox from all the stuff, man. You know? Yeah. Try to be creative.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

But being the business leader and being a creative or hard hand in hand because you can be consumed by all the fires of all the stuff you have to deal with all the time.

[Will Compton]

Right. Independence, that seems like a, like a rare thing in your industry. Was it always that way or did you. Was there like.

[Zach Brown]

No, I had got to a point management early on. I had labels early on and all of that and it was necessary at the time. And then as you get your own machine going and figuring it out, it's like you, you look at it and you're also competing with other people. Like if you're with a management company, you're. They have 20 acts.

[Will Compton]

Right.

[Zach Brown]

So you're competing for attention with everything else that's going on with the other people that they have. And for a lot of people that don't really have a left brain, that aren't really business centered or whatever, like they need that. Like I need a business manager. I was terrible at paying my bills. Like not because I couldn't figure out how to make the money, just because putting a stuff. I mean back then we didn't have auto pay. We had to like put a stamp on a check and put it in the mail. And I was allergic to that. I don't know why, but I would drive to the place to pay my power bill, like drive over there and like give them a check. I don't know what my mental block, but as soon as I had somebody, as soon as I could afford to have somebody that was like paying my bills for me, that helped me a lot in my life. So I'm definitely, I'm good at what I'm good at. But there's things that I'm awful at and I got to have my team to back me up on those things.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. Isn't it funny how, like, you can do some of the hardest things that most people can't do, but when it comes to most simplistic things? Because we're the same way.

[Will Compton]

Just doing yourself, man. I am that way too. But speak for yourself.

[Taylor Lawan]

I will speak for myself. They're the basics. I can barely do. I can barely do the basics.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

So I'm with you.

[Zach Brown]

And I told Kendra when we got together, like, look, I'm good at some things. There's some things I'm like, I'm special.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

You know, like I'm special. And she's like, no, you're not. You're whatever. And now she's like, you kind of are special.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, no doubt.

[Zach Brown]

I told you I never hide it.

[Will Compton]

I'm still on my family plan from high school.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

My phone bill.

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[Taylor Lawan]

Obviously you've had a bunch of success in the beginning though. How long did it take you from the start of okay, I want to be an artist. I want to do music too. Okay. This is my big break.

[Zach Brown]

So I was 14. I know I wanted to play music professionally. I know I want to Build a camp. Those are the two things that were most important to me.

[Will Compton]

Build a camp.

[Zach Brown]

Is this the, this the hunting camp, Southern ground? No, no, we. We built a campus, like a university level campus where we serve kids and veterans.

[Will Compton]

Okay.

[Zach Brown]

And that's in Georgia, 14 years old.

[Taylor Lawan]

You said, I want to do that.

[Zach Brown]

I want to do that. I worked at camp. I was a counselor, product of camp, and then I worked at staff for three years after that, living there all summer. Kids that don't have any mentorship in their areas where they are, if you dip them in the right environment for a week and let them show them a different way, like, it's cool, because the camps that I worked out in. My camp now is. Is a diversity model. So we've got kids that are on the spectrum. Kids from underserved areas, kids from military families that might have lost their parent or parent was dismembered or taken their life. And then you have kids, mainstream kids, that might not know how to appreciate anything they have. They're just like, spoiled and have everything. But that don't have any perspective.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

But when you take everybody in that group, all of them are in the same group together, running for a week together, having to overcome things, having to learn about people that are different than them, it can change the trajectory of their life entirely in a week. So I was a product of that camp. Opened my eyes and made me want to be courageous. Like, I went to public school. So if you got up and sang something or did a skit or something in public school in front of kids, you're gonna get roasted alive. Yeah. Sixth grade is the most brutal thing in the world.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

So. So camp was the place that safe to like, be yourself and do that. And a lot of the things that I. I'm not afraid to do things like, I'm not afraid. What if someone thinks this? Well, that's not my problem. Like, people are going to hate anything you do. People. When I started first started building the camp, we had a huge public hearing because we're going to have dwellings on the property. We had people throwing vegetables at people that worked at the camp, trying to knock on the door, telling them what we were building close by and things. People were up at arms and, like, trying to figure out what nefarious reason I would be like building a camp. They're, like, afraid I was going to build subsidized housing and stuff like that. But it doesn't matter what you do in this world. It's because we hear the voices of so many Idiots. If we were in a tribe, if we live in a tribe of people, if you couldn't hear what someone was saying over earshot, you're not supposed to be able to hear what they have to say.

[Taylor Lawan]

Right.

[Zach Brown]

Nor have they earned the right or respect or any accomplishment in their life where I might even want to listen to something that they would say. But we live in a world where you're in kids. I can't imagine kids having to. To make it through and figure out who they are. Because if you don't really pay attention, the devices and the Internet will raise your children.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

If you're not there to know who they are and what they're becoming and the things they have to deal with these days compared to. I used to have to break in my parents room, break in a dresser, break in a box to get a dirty magazine.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

And now kids with an unlocked phone can.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. Hell yeah.

[Zach Brown]

Can watch bestiality with whatever they like, get a hold of. Like the innocence is. Is gone. One kid with an unlock phone, like, hey, look at this. And it's like God knows what.

[Taylor Lawan]

That's how it started.

[Will Compton]

Right?

[Taylor Lawan]

Not bestiality, but the unlock phone.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

That old Sidekick. And they flipped over. I was like, what we got here? I was like in eighth grade.

[Zach Brown]

It's a weird time.

[Will Compton]

Like find ways around everything. It's like you remember when you could like jailbreak your iPhone? Like.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

You can get away with pretty much anything.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

It's wild. And they know so much about it and they're so savvy. Like they pick it up.

[Taylor Lawan]

So they get way smarter than you. Way faster. I bet. Yeah, but so you wanted to do this, so you went to camp, you realized how much of an impact it had on you and you wanted to make sure somebody else had that as well.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

So at 14 years old, going through puberty, you're like, I want to do music and I want to give back.

[Zach Brown]

I want to do a camp.

[Taylor Lawan]

What was the process and getting that all that started?

[Zach Brown]

So I love that I had a purpose from that age because everything that I did, working toward that, the amount of time I'd spend practicing my guitar, listening to other music, learning cover songs. So by the time I was playing in bars when I was 17, I knew a thousand cover songs so I could play whatever. I would look at the people that were sitting there by what they had on by their age, try to figure out something that they might like to hear. Because the chances are when you see somebody playing in a restaurant, it's a 50. 50. It's going to be terrible or it's going to be okay.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

So you got to win them over. And so you try to. You know, I prepared myself trying to figure out how to reach people, and maybe if they listen to a few covers that they like in that vein, like, you know, you test out some Floyd on them or test out, you know, some Bill Withers or something like, see whatever makes their head tap rap, then after you kind of earn their respect, then you can slip in an original song.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

So what I did is I created a business model. So I went into sports bars that didn't have live music, and I just said, I'm gonna come here and I'm gonna play. And I did this for six years. Six years, six nights a week, I played four to six hours a night in sports bars. And I. I went to the places, talked to the owner and just said, let me come play here. Every Tuesday night or Wednesday, whatever day it was. And this was in Georgia, Alabama, in Florida. I hired a guy to drive my truck for me. I'd sleep against the window in my truck through the night, getting to the other places. And then eventually I just said, I want the door. Like, we'll charge three bucks or five bucks at the door. So on a Wednesday, Tuesday night, in different places, I was bringing in two or 300 people into a sports bar to come in to see us play. And I was making, you know, 900 bucks at the door. And I could pay a good sound guy, I could pay a band, I could pay people to come there. But if I'd have gone to Nashville and tried to get a gig, you make it 50 bucks a night playing where it's so saturated. The guys working at Waffle House are better guitar players than me. I'm serious. Yeah, like wicked crazy players. There's so much saturation, and there's not a market for it. So what I. I had. And one thing that I've always had, and I think it's the most valuable trait in success, period, is hustle. I was slinging candy out of my backpack when I was in elementary school.

[Will Compton]

Amen.

[Zach Brown]

Quarter blow pops. Three Jolly Rancher sticks.

[Taylor Lawan]

Those kids were the best.

[Will Compton]

And chocolate bars, bro, you get like a dog.

[Taylor Lawan]

25. You go to class, you know, a little Johnny over there.

[Zach Brown]

That's right.

[Taylor Lawan]

He's got everything for you.

[Zach Brown]

I was living.

[Taylor Lawan]

Open that thing up in the. During recess.

[Zach Brown]

That's it in the bathroom, whatever it is.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, I'd sell, but I was a big time Consumer too. Big time consumer.

[Taylor Lawan]

I was only a consumer.

[Zach Brown]

So that was my hustle, man. Music was my hustle, and it was my way of doing it. And I had no idea where it's going to end up or whatever, but I wasn't gonna let anybody talk me into not doing it. And about when I was probably 20, record labels started coming, sniffing around, seeing that I was bringing in and selling out theaters, selling out, you know, places with, you know, four or five thousand people in them. And they were trying to figure out what it is, but they were like, you got to figure out. I remember one of the record label heads talked to my lawyer when they were like, leaving town. He was like, he's got to decide what kind of artist he is. He just doesn't know that yet. And they would come and go, we're gonna put a cowboy hat on you and some boots and stuff, and we're gonna, you know, get you. And I'm just like, I'm just gonna be me. So it took 10 years from that point to actually feel comfortable enough to sign a record deal. So for, for the first six years as me and a drummer grinding six hours a night, six nights a week, then four years of playing with different people around Atlanta, to getting to the point to where we could afford to have a bus, where I could actually lay down flat and sleep while we're traveling. And then basically, you know, so it was 10 years after we set out, like, we're gonna make it, you know, we're gonna be big next year. It was 10 years, yeah, after that to get to the beginning. And that's when Chicken Fried came out. We made the right record with Keith Steagall and. And then it's a winding path. It's a long story about how it all went down, but we'd signed with a huge brand new record label that had like, Madonna, Jay Z, U2, and Us, and we were the developing act in the thing. Then that whole record label dissolved and I had the album I made on my own. And then I released it with them and then I released it again with Atlantic Records. But I had some leverage by then because we had a number one song on the radio and no label. So I was able to strike a deal with Atlantic Records, who was my first, you know, big record label that, that I worked with and. But I was able to leverage getting my masters back. It took eight years to get him back.

[Will Compton]

That's when you re released Chicken Fried.

[Zach Brown]

I re released Chicken Fried. It was the third time that album had come out with the second record label that it came out and we'd already had a number, we had a number one.

[Taylor Lawan]

How does that process work? How do you release an album three times?

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

And then there was a huge thing cooking with this big, huge company that was trying it. It wasn't their model, but they were going to do a record label. So then we signed with them.

[Will Compton]

And when they, when you sign with them, they now have the master of chick.

[Zach Brown]

They had the masters.

[Will Compton]

So when you, when that breakup or whatever happens, you can't use chicken fried anymore.

[Zach Brown]

No, I can use it. They just make the majority of the money from it.

[Will Compton]

Got you.

[Zach Brown]

Okay, so it's broken down into three buckets. Right. If you're a songwriter, if you're an artist, recording artist and a songwriter, your songwriting is broken up into your writer share and a publisher share. And I own both of those. And then there's your masters who owns the actual master recording that makes about five times. And I know this because I'm one of the only artists that owns their masters. So I actually get the payments from all the DSPs. I get the payment from Spotify and from YouTube and all those things myself. So I have optics into how much the labels make off of that where most people don't. Every time you sign another record deal that pushes your masters, getting them back like another eight years, 10 years. So they have a way to figure it out. But I'd heard all these stories about people getting taken advantage of and I was just stubborn enough to like fight for, you know, getting the leverage to be able to get them back. And then, and then as, as time went on, I was able to hire my team of people that handled most of the day to day stuff that we needed to do. So then we just stopped using managers, we stopped using the label and you know, kind of do it on our own. And now we know what it earns and I can take some of that and keep good people around me to help manage it. But I'm not competing with other artists, I'm not competing with other releases and things like that. Yeah, it's a lot of work, but I know how people are treated. I know I'm represented at all times by everyone in my business.

[Will Compton]

Right.

[Taylor Lawan]

Everyone's associated with you. You know how they're going to treat other people.

[Will Compton]

Zach Brown band and Taylor Swift. I know that was a massive deal. When she got her master, she did.

[Taylor Lawan]

Like Taylor's version or something like that.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, she just re recorded them all, so. And asked her fans to Listen to those.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Instead of the other army out there, man. Yeah, you got to watch out for them.

[Will Compton]

It's a full blown military.

[Zach Brown]

She's a force.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, this was powerful. Military in the world actually, is what it is.

[Zach Brown]

She's a force, dude.

[Taylor Lawan]

You've collaborated with so many different people, like Alan Jackson, Jimmy Buffett and Kid Rock. Like, how does that, how do those conversations take place? Like, you've. You've done the master's thing. You're just stubborn enough to ask the right questions and get what you wanted. And then these big time stars as well. Like, how do those conversations take place? Like, hey, I like your. You like my. Let's do something together. Yeah, that's simple.

[Zach Brown]

You seek them out. It's like, this is a dream. Like, I want to have Jimmy Buffett on a song. I ended up meeting him at a campsite. Like, he's sitting there eating a pie and me and my bass player walking by and like, sit down and start talking to him. And we ended up being friends from that. And then I sent him a song. Like, hey, we got a song. We had traction. We'd already had, had, you know, five or seven number ones at that time. And so I think our success and then us being real genuine fans of him, talking him into doing it. Same way with Dolly. We just released the song with Dolly Parton, just came out a couple weeks ago, and she is the best. It's called Butterfly. She is such an incredible. There'll never be another Dolly, like the most published, most brilliant female writer ever. But that was a dream. It was a dream to have like a full orchestra, like 40 people come in, record 40 pieces of an orchestra and put it in. So we did it on the song with Dolly and she's an angel, man. But she's. What she's saying on this. I sent her the song and like, sing whatever you want. When I got back what she's saying, I was just like, she is a ninja, dude. Yeah, she's a ninja.

[Taylor Lawan]

Didn't she have like a. A song that she wrote and produced that she like, buried under? Like, was it Dolly Land, Dolly World or something like that that will not be released until she's passed away or a certain date?

[Zach Brown]

That wouldn't surprise me.

[Taylor Lawan]

I. I just heard a crazy story about her. Like, that's like, that's next level thinking True. And I'd love to know if that is if we can find out, because I saw that in passing, probably Instagram. And I'm like, oh, you see this?

[Will Compton]

You Know who's a collaboration you'd love to do in the future?

[Zach Brown]

Adele is one that I've always wanted to do. I love Adele. I love her voice. I met her, we played. She played at some country thing. She was singing something with Darius Rucker at this thing. She came up to me. I'd never seen her name before. This is when the record heard. Record 19 was out. I hadn't heard of her. And she walked up and she's like, I really love your music. And I was like, oh, thank you. And I thought it was like Adelaide or something. I didn't know. We didn't know how to say her name, really. And then it. The next year, she came out with 21. And it was like the biggest record.

[Will Compton]

Ever and she's exploding.

[Zach Brown]

And I listened to her when I ride my motorcycle. I would put that record on and listen to it like a thousand to when I could just like whenever I listen to it, I can almost feel the wind on my face.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

And I. I just. I was late getting to the. I was late getting to the scene on her because I could have talked to her and connected with her right there. But she's. She's pretty untouchable now and kind of does what she wants to do. But she's definitely my top. Top like that would dream.

[Taylor Lawan]

Is there any conversations taking place with her right now?

[Zach Brown]

Not. Not currently. She was at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame when we did. We were the band for Dolly for her Rock and Roll hall of Fame induction. So we got to back her up on all her songs, and she was there, but I didn't get to meet her.

[Will Compton]

You should just, like, shoot her a dm. Like, what's up with this collab?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, the eye emoji. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Yes.

[Taylor Lawan]

It says here, dolly bear to song in a time capsule at Dollywood that will be. Not be heard until she is 99 years old. I mean, Sherm just wrote that. So you could have just lied. Is that copied and pasted? Copied and pasted so you know it's factual.

[Will Compton]

From the Internet.

[Taylor Lawan]

From the Internet. Gotta have it.

[Will Compton]

Was there ever a moment? Because you're right, I agree with you on the hustle part. But six years, especially when you're in, like, the late teens, you know, you're a young man, like, you know, just young, wild and free. But as you're playing, you know, six nights a week, six hours a night, is there ever a moment where you're like, this is about to be it. Whether it's a breakthrough or even this might be it. Like, I'm gonna have to turn and do something else.

[Zach Brown]

I was never gonna turn and do something else because we left. We went to Panama City beach with our, with our van and our new CD that we'd had made a five song CD and my dog and like all our gear and drove to Panama City and we would set up and plug in anywhere where somebody would give us a power outlet. We plug in and set up outside and we played. We did that for a week or two. Played at this guy's daiquiri shack. He had like a trailer with daiquiri machines in it. And we placed. Sitting outside of this thing. And then that turned in to meeting some people that owned a really nice house on Robert's Drive that let us sleep in their garage. So me and the drummer sleeping in a double bed together for like a month. And then we found a house gig at this place like that let us play every week. And you know, they let us play 10 nights in a row, six hours a night for 150 bucks a night. So he's giving us 1500 bucks and we had to prove ourselves sweating outside in Panama City in the, in the summertime and. But I, I love the whole process. I loved all of it. There were moments that I thought, yeah, we're going to meet these people and things are, we're just going to be big. You know what I mean? And then when we left Panama City, we did that for a few years, then we left, then we went to New Orleans. We're like, okay, now we're going to go conquer New Orleans. We left New Orleans so fast. I think the devil lives in New Orleans.

[Taylor Lawan]

Vampires definitely live in New Orleans.

[Zach Brown]

If you were there. If you were there. When we drove in, it was like three in the morning in our busted old van that like five out of the eight cylinders worked in it. And gas is just like spraying inside the car. It's like I sold my life insurance policy my dad gave me to buy this 1200 like van from the 70s. Like a good Times van. Like bubble windows. Like.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yes.

[Zach Brown]

Orange shag carpet. So we're living out of this van. We get to New Orleans and that was. That's Oprah. That was a different one. That was led. That was much later.

[Taylor Lawan]

Well, that's a nicer version.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, that's nicer. But the Good Times van was the first vehicle we were in. But when I, I thought, we're going to make it in New Orleans, and we went there and it was all jazz and blues. Nobody Would have us. Nobody would let us go in and play. Three days we had 20 bucks left. I was living off a gas card. I was like, I could get Doritos and baloney and white bread and natural light. If you made enough money and tips, you could drink Bud Light. But yeah, you know, you're on the natural light train for a long time. So then we had to kind of come home and regroup and I started playing more around Atlanta and then only going to Panama City for some of the summertimes. But, man, it was always a grind. And I. There was the option. Giving up was never an option. It was like, what's the next thing? How can we get in front of new people, new audiences and things like that? And once Chicken Fried came out on the radio and we had a song, then we started opening for Alan Jackson and Dave Matthews Band and Kenny Chesney and opening for people and getting to play in front of people. But we've been honing our craft and our skill. I mean, having a band's a lot like having a sports team. Like, everybody's got to be good at their job. They got to show up and be solid. They can't be, you know, drunk and wasted. Like, you gotta have good life skills, discipline. And we did that. And then not long after, we stopped anybody drinking before the show because we would smash a bottle of Jaeger before the show. This was a four piece band. A bottle Jaeger during the show and a bottle or two after the show. And so like all my rock star days. And like, that was like from 20 to 23, you know, short lived. So short Runway. Yeah. But after that, it was pretty much like it was business after that. But I knew what it does. And. And I've been sober now for eight years, so I. Congratulations. Yeah, for me, I know what it does. And I just want to feel good every day. Yeah. And anything I can do to invest in me feeling good, from life coaching to therapists to plant medicine to whatever, like, I'm. I'm in on that. Because as you get older, like, you guys 40 yet?

[Taylor Lawan]

No. No. He's pretty.

[Will Compton]

I just turned 36.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, I'm good.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah. So when you turn 40, your warranty runs out, so you better start investing and feeling good. You can get away with it when you're younger, but for me, it was, you know, I've got a lot of kids to raise. I've got a lot of. Gotta stay on the path. I gotta figure out what's happening. Yeah, that was. That was our. When we were first the five piece band.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, it's fun when you're like 23, 24, and then right around 25, I, I, every time I would have like one or even two drinks like the next day, I just feel terrible forever. And then you have kids.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah. You live and your kids want to.

[Taylor Lawan]

Play the next day and you're just like, dad can't.

[Zach Brown]

Man, I should have stopped way sooner. Not because I had a problem with it, just because they were. It was taken away from things that matter.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

And it doesn't. Nobody's life gets worse because they quit.

[Taylor Lawan]

No doubt.

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[Zach Brown]

So your AI agents, they make the team that uses them more productive, right? But if they aren't connected to other agents or your data or your existing workflows, how productive can they really make your teams? Any business can add AI agents. IBM connects your agents across your company to change how you do business. Let's create smile to business IBM.

[Taylor Lawan]

This week on a very special episode of Health Discovered, we're taking a closer.

[Commercial Announcer]

Look at a condition that affects hundreds of thousands of men each year.

[Taylor Lawan]

Prostate cancer. I first found out about my cancer at the age of 45.

[Zach Brown]

Anything with cancer, you just think death sentence.

[Commercial Announcer]

In this episode, we'll explore the science behind detection along with the practical steps men can take to protect their health.

[Taylor Lawan]

Listen to health discovered on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app, search health discovered and start listening.

[Will Compton]

What would you tell like young artists who would have the big time hustle mentality and you're kind of living through those moments of, of probably discouragement like when you leave In New Orleans and everything else where you're feeling discouraged, but also you're trying to balance it with that intensity and focus to, like, stay locked in for the bigger picture, to, like, keep going.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah. I mean, if you're. People always told me, like, I had to get a degree. You have to get a degree. You have to have a plan B. I'm like, if I'm putting energy into plan B, I'm not putting it into plan A. The people that succeed are the ones that never give up, no matter what anybody says. Unless you have the grit to be able to do that. Yeah, you. You can't. You can't quit and give up. And you got to be really good to everybody along the way. That's the way you treat people is a direct result in. In your environment, that you keep your environment of your friends and. And people. If you don't keep expanders around you as your friends. If you got people, you've been boys a long time, but whatever, they love to get trashed and whatever if you slip off into that world with them. So you have to really be tight with your circle, and that. That will directly determine your success. The environment that you keep. Keep the things around your house that help you feel healthy and feel good. Like, I turned all my bars into, like, you know, tea and juice and, you know, smoothie bars and stuff like that. So I still have something I can go make that I like, but it's different context, you know, But I wish that I had learned sooner. And I tell people this. Like, try to stay out of debt, treat everybody like gold, be around people that are really good at what you want to do so you can learn from them, clean their toilets, bring them coffee, do whatever you got to do to be those people, and you got to work your ass off. Like, there's no shortcut. There's no way. People that get made super famous on YouTube overnight and stuff like that, like, you're happy for them, but the dues that I paid grinding as much as I have made me appreciate people so much. And. And that love is all the way through my crew and my people. Like, everybody's job is equally as important as mine, and they come to bat for me. And Charlie Daniels has one of my favorite quotes. He was like, my greatest accomplishment is having 37 of my friends help me for 35 years, like, play music and do that. So the team that I have, the people around me. You can't buy culture, and you can't buy momentum. You have to build those things for Yourself. And then every decision you make is a crossroads.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

And. And there's so many times just one decision could have changed things. But even when you get beat up or whatever, you got to get back up and keep going or you're not going to make it. So there are people that are like, yeah, I think I want to do music. It's like, now you better fucking know, right? You better give it everything you got. You better learn everything you can from anybody around you, you know, and only listen to people that are doing better than you, because there's all these people, and they want to tell you how to create, what to do, whatever. The people that write reviews on and slam other people's stuff have never done anything in their life to create anything. Those are the people they hide behind their screens. They never come up to my face and say this stuff, but they're the ones that are always tearing you down. And it's. You got to be resilient. And I think when you have a big light that you're trying to shine out there, there's forces that are always going to try to be distracting you from who you are and what you're doing. And you just got to not let that steer your joy and try to keep going. I'm no master of that. I deal with stuff all the time. I'm like, really? Like, again, like. But it's. I know that it's my cross to bear and as the leader. And it's really not up to the fan. Fans shouldn't have to know the struggle and all that. They just know that they come to a show and they get an amazing experience and they can come back the next time. And it's competitive in that way. If you're not doing something that's special every time you come back to a city, if you play the same show, they're not going to keep coming back. So you got to keep reinventing what you're doing and how to engage and have a great show.

[Will Compton]

On that note, matter of fact, my wife and I, when we were dating, you were. You guys were the first concert we went to together as a couple. And I. Your boy was fired up. When Inner Sandman comes into the fold, can you talk about, you know, mixing over into that genre you're. You're covering? You got Inner Sandman going to Metallica thing. You know, they're playing at your shows.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, for sure. It's, you know, I love those curveballs where you play things that people would never expect you to play. Like, we'll Pull out some rage or we'll pull out some Beastie Boys or pull out something. I love being able to just play what I want to play. There's nobody that's telling me I can't do that, or I can't record this or I can't do that. But for us, dynamically, like, there's not a lot of people that just love one little type of music. And one thing, there's some purists, but a lot of people, like, we're exposed to lots of things. Like, I love, love good hip hop. I love good edm. I love good jazz, good swing, good whatever it is that's. That's going on. And so we make the music we want to make. But in our live shows, if you haven't seen our bands, one you have to see to kind of get it and understand what it is. And it's different every time we come, but, you know, there's going to be things that we're going to play that no one would expect us to play. Like, oh, my God, what are they doing, Buddy?

[Will Compton]

When Entertainment account, I looked over my.

[Zach Brown]

Wow.

[Will Compton]

What you know about this one, sweetheart?

[Taylor Lawan]

One of the first dates. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. I love that you talked about. Every decision you make make is a crossroads when you're going through the path that you're going through. What are some decisions that you might have made in the past that you would change now.

[Zach Brown]

Man? I think maybe. Maybe opening my mouth a little bit about how I feel about certain things. Like, I definitely have strong opinions. I'm definitely, you know, as far as music goes, like, I can respect that somebody has their hustle and a lot of people love it. I might not love it it, but I think I shouldn't. Maybe looking back on some of the things, I shouldn't really talk about how I feel about other people's craft necessarily. Just because it doesn't do it for me doesn't mean that it's bad. And I try to preface it with that, but I'm a music snob in the sense that I want to hear something that moves me. Yeah, I want to be inspired by it. I want to hear somebody say something in a way that hasn't been said with the right melody, with the right harmony, with the right thing to move me. So. So I definitely think there are times when people have asked my opinion on things, and I didn't think that that was going to be shared out to the world. That did that got shared out, and it was like, that wasn't my intention to do that was to try to, you know, say something, you know, about somebody else's craft. You know, I think. I think there's a couple times where I wish I just not shared my opinion about it on things. So I try to be a little more aware of that, but that it's also the. The level of sensitivity that's required these days compared to when I grew up is, you know, it's crazy now, the level of sensitivity a lot of the world has, but hopefully it's swinging back the other way a little bit. I see some good hope and good things, and I'm a big comedy fan, so I. I grew up with. Listen to Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy and, you know, George Carlin and things, and seeing there was uber sensitivity the last few years, and now it seems to be lighting up and people can just do things for a laugh again. Like, we laugh. We need music is medicine. Laughing is medicine. And those things. So I love those things too. And I write, like, some dirty, raunchy songs. My sense of humor is dark. Like, I have a dark sense of humor.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

And I love it. That's what keeps us laughing and going down the road. But my heart is. Is solid gold. Like, I. I don't, you know, I never want to do anything at the expense of someone else.

[Taylor Lawan]

Right.

[Zach Brown]

You know, and I think sometimes in the past when I've talked about certain things, that's something that maybe that I would change, but. But I would also not try to do 80 businesses at one time. I would be more singularly focused on the things that are the best use of my time. You know, you drink out of a fire hydrant. I tried to have a record label. I had a huge building with like 165,000 square feet where I was manufacturing things. Manufacturing knives and leather bags and CNC Wood shop, CNC metal shop. And all of our graphic artists, our film company, all of our accountants had an auto body shop in there. We did, like, custom vehicles and things like that and literally everything.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. And trying to be a dad.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Ain't trying to write music. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

I would have definitely simplified things a lot, but I think that's something that I had to learn on my own that, you know, you only have so much time, and if you can't do something really well, which takes a significant amount of your pie chart. If your time is a pie chart, art, those things take up time. And if you have so many things, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. You can collaborate with somebody that's already making it or doing it or doing something and, like, be creative in a way that you want. But I'm an artist, like, not just in music. That's just one of the mediums. That's the medium I've spent the longest time on. But I like to make things. I like to create things. And. And I'm always studying gear, like, people's. People's gear that they make. Like, as far as the knives go, like. Like, I would get knives and there would be one thing I hated about it. I love the knife. I hate the clip, or I love the clip, hate the knife. And so I wanted to fix that. Like, all the things that I know functionally that a knife should be, I want to make that. So we did it American made. And, you know, but it's. But it's hard. It's hard for knife makers right now, especially because, like, Instagram took all knife makers off. They don't allow it on there. You know, they. They consider it weapons. And really, so, so many great knife makers right now don't really have a market, a marketing vehicle to broadcast and sell the things that they make anymore. That's part of the sensitivity for things. But, you know, I've carried a knife in my pocket since I was five years old, and I feel naked without one.

[Taylor Lawan]

Well, five years old doesn't feel very responsible.

[Zach Brown]

I did. I went in my pocket every. I want him. I didn't take it out. I didn't brandish it. I wasn't, like, showing it off to other kids, but I had one, and I just like, like knowing. Yeah, that's our site there for ex.

[Will Compton]

Zachary, give me the knife before you go to school.

[Taylor Lawan]

Mom, come on. I love the clip. I love the knife.

[Will Compton]

Gives it to him, then grabs one in a little secret spot.

[Taylor Lawan]

He's got another one somewhere else for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Figuring out how to say no when everything's kind of going your way has got to be a very difficult thing.

[Zach Brown]

You have to say no a lot to be saying yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Everyone's want. Everybody wants something from you. You have. You believe in your head because you're younger. You're like, I can do everything. And they say yes to so many things, and all of a sudden you have so many irons and so many different fires, and it's like, what. What do you really have time for? Because everything's kind of turning out as okay, not great.

[Zach Brown]

You don't have time to take care of yourself, right? And. And you have to look every few years and redefine what success means to you currently. Because at first it was like, okay, how do we get number one songs on the radio? How do we do that? And then we built a whole team to be able to do that and did that for six years. And then it just, just. You don't get a number one song because you have a good song. You get one because you serviced every major company out there and giving them free shows and free things and shown up and done it. And then you have a good song too. That's, that's reacting but giving that much away. When I had little ones at home for so long, I just got to the point where I was like, I don't care how it affects my, you know, the amount of money that I make. I care about just being a sane human being. And I had to disconnect from it for four or five years. So I stopped doing all of those things and just focused on playing shows. Because you become a politician, you become, you know, it's all political, all of those things. If you're going to win an award show, it's because you're with a label that has a huge voting chair and the amount of votes that go to that thing and then they trade with another label that has like, they might want this label's votes for their artists that they don't not competing in and they will trade their votes and things. So you look behind the curtain on a lot of those things and. And I just rather not be someone's horse than to have to go, you know, be the monkey they let out of the cage and tell you what to do, what to create, how to create it and all those things. We're never going to win entertainer of the year or anything like that or whatever because we're not part of those. We're not one of their horses. And they do a great job glorifying their artists and the perception of, public perception of those people by doing that. But for us, I mean, we sell out stadiums and that's an award for us every night. And I try to remind my band of that because they'll, they'll invite us to come and nominate us, but we don't have a chance in hell in winning. And it's always disappointing for my band. I'm like, hey, like we're winning. We, we win because we get to do what we want to do. Be ourselves, play the music, connect to our fan base, which no one can take away from us. And it's just a different kind. It's just how you measure it, you know, how you measure your success. And, and it's, it's always a moving target and always feeling out. So this was a year where I was like, we need a spectacle. We need something that's a big reminder to cut through things. Because people can listen to a million different things that's free on their phone.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

You get on YouTube and listen to millions of different things.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. The access to music is bigger than ever.

[Zach Brown]

And so you need to have something to cut through that. What are you going to do that's big enough to make people pay attention and realize, oh, they're not just complacent and slowing down and just like, you know, riding off into the sunset. Like, we're pushing the boundaries of what we can do for our fans. And that's why we're doing Sphere. You know, this Fear show, December is the, is the biggest project we've ever taken on by tenfold. And it's important to do something that's unforgettable there to just remind people, I want to be in that same, you know, legacy era or legacy act as like the Rolling Stones or the Grateful Dead. And, and that what that requires is your community that you create around your music and your following and all those things. You have to do something to keep, to keep them engaged, to keep them going. And artistically, this is the greatest canvas that's ever been created for creativity.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

And getting to do that is a huge honor and it's a massive undertaking in the middle of everything that's. That's happening. So. So making this album, finishing it, producing.

[Taylor Lawan]

It.

[Zach Brown]

The same night of the first show. This Fear is the album release. So all the promo this entire year is leading up to that first night at the Sphere. But making great music, you know, I feel better now than I did 20 years ago. Like, I feel, I feel great creatively. I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot about producing, how to make the music translate the way that I want leading the band. And it's just, it's cool. This is a cool year. It's one of those years to bet on yourself because it's not a big money making opportunity, but it's exposure wise and prestige wise is the biggest thing that there is.

[Taylor Lawan]

Have you been able to check out a couple shows at the Sphere?

[Zach Brown]

I've been to five, buddy.

[Taylor Lawan]

We were able to go to the UFC in September.

[Zach Brown]

That's my favorite sport.

[Taylor Lawan]

And then, my God, it was, it was like a Mortal Kombat scene. Every Single time, and they would change it and there'd be a storyline that brought up both of the fighters. Like, I've never seen anything like it. And you're watching it and looking up, but then you look behind you and there's even more going on behind you that it's truly like almost a 360 degree view of all these incredible things. It was amazing.

[Zach Brown]

I love Dana that Dana did that there. UFC is my favorite sport. So I competed in judo in college, and then I learned about all of the positions and everything in MMA and watching from like King of the Cage, like super early on to watching Pride, to watching, you know, UFC when it started. But I've. I've been like a fan of it, like, religiously, if I watch. Like, I. I played football 11 years. I love football. But UFC is my. That's my jam.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

Like, religiously watch it all the time.

[Will Compton]

It's a big Gracie fan, weren't you?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, for sure.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

Well. And watching the evolution of the sport.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

From back when it was single disciplines of everybody coming in, competing with each other, and then Jiu Jitsu was just so superior early on. But now everybody trains Jiu jitsu, they all train wrestling, they all train Muay Thai, they all train boxing, they all train. And now you've seen, literally the worst guy in the UFC would have killed everybody back in those early UFC days just because of marrying. Of everyone's discipline from all over the world.

[Will Compton]

Remember that first UFC where it was like the.

[Zach Brown]

The big fat guy, Emmanuel Yarbrough.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Where he catches the kick. Where he catches the kick in the mouth. We think of the same one. You know what I'm talking about? JP.

[Zach Brown]

JP's, he's talking about Paul Varlins, maybe the guy that got leg kicked to death.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, well, he. There's this. There's this lanky guy against this fat dude and kind of catches him on all fours and just slices him right there in the mouth. Or there's like no weight classes.

[Zach Brown]

There was no way he's wearing a gi out there. Here, this right here, that's Ken Shamrock and Oyster Gracie right there.

[Taylor Lawan]

Just putting the heel in the ribs. My God.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

It's. It's a sport. Like, you play football for as long as we have to play, and you're like, man, we're really tough. And then you walk in and watch those fights go down. If you. I don't know if you've ever been to one, but if you can go check out UFC Apex, like the Smith is Smaller, like maybe like 200, 300 people in there. The intimacy of that fight is crazy. It's just like family and friends, right? And people come in, you can hear every blow. You can literally put a headset on and listen to them, the corners talk. It is crazy.

[Will Compton]

And not that the dudes aren't the hungriest at the top in the main event, but those are the. Those are the.

[Taylor Lawan]

Those are the dogs. They're all going for a knockout. Like, they're going for the kill every single time. It's a. It's so much fun, man. We've been to I don't even know how many now.

[Zach Brown]

I love going to fights when I.

[Taylor Lawan]

Can go, we're going out next week. I can't wait. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Zach Brown]

There was, back then, there was a guy, Manual Yarbrough, who was. He was like a sumo wrestler. Wrestler. He was like 600 and something pounds. And he fought this dude, Keith Hackney, which was like 220. And he was like a Kenpo karate guy. I mean, the guy was curling like four plates. The sumo wrestler guy?

[Taylor Lawan]

No, just.

[Zach Brown]

Just repping four plates like this. Just. Just unbelievably strong. But that guy, like, that's him. That's the man.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yarbrough.

[Zach Brown]

He. He got first. Keith Hackney comes in and chops him like a ridge hand on his nose, knocks him down and then breaks his hands, like smashing it on the back of his head because he couldn't get up. But you can watch the. The first part of this. First part of this fight right here.

[Taylor Lawan]

This dude just falling out to the middle.

[Zach Brown]

He's £600.

[Taylor Lawan]

You don't say.

[Will Compton]

Nuts.

[Taylor Lawan]

That is.

[Zach Brown]

There it is right there, right in the nose. And he's down. And then.

[Taylor Lawan]

Oh, no rules. How'd he get out?

[Zach Brown]

He got out and then. And then he couldn't get up and he broke his hand. Smashing. Trying to punch this guy's head was like a rhinoceros.

[Taylor Lawan]

Throws it out of the cage.

[Zach Brown]

Broke the cable ties on the cage.

[Will Compton]

Just wearing clothes.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, he gets him. He gets him down again.

[Will Compton]

Get back in.

[Zach Brown]

He ends up winning. But he couldn't compete further because this is back when it was brackets. You have to fight three times a night.

[Taylor Lawan]

No way.

[Zach Brown]

This is back when it was like Dan Severn day days and guys like that that are so.

[Taylor Lawan]

These guys get done.

[Zach Brown]

He went down again. Now look right here. This is where he broke his hand. There's no gloves. The wrists aren't taped.

[Taylor Lawan]

He's just getting.

[Will Compton]

Just straight. This is blood.

[Taylor Lawan]

Punch the Back of the head. Yeah. This is just. This is. Yeah, yeah. Whipping that thing. The ref just not calling the fight.

[Will Compton]

That's John McCarthy, too.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, they just.

[Zach Brown]

McCarthy. Dude, I love this sport so much. This is my favorite. And getting to hang with the fighters. So I was telling y', all, I think from. I've never lost a game of slaps in my life. And so you put your hands here. One guy's here, one guy's here, and you have to hit their hands, and when you miss, it's the other person's turn, and whoever gives up first loses. But I've been playing with some of the UFC fighters. Like, we'll go to the fight and hang out beforehand. Like, I played with Diego Lopez and than some of the guys. But it's a. It's. It's a super fun game, and I love watching the slap fighting, too. So fun.

[Will Compton]

You'll go against the UFC guys and beat him again?

[Zach Brown]

Oh, yeah.

[Will Compton]

And you know, too, they're sleeping on.

[Taylor Lawan]

CB video evidence of this.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, it's on. It's online.

[Taylor Lawan]

Of you beating them in slaps.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Okay. Pull it up. Sure.

[Will Compton]

He said, look in his eyes, man.

[Taylor Lawan]

And you said you competed in jiu jitsu?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah, I was on the judo team at my college.

[Taylor Lawan]

So that begs the question, of all the musicians out there there that are around your age and weight class, is there anybody you think that would give you a run for your money in the octagon?

[Zach Brown]

Oh, I'm not gonna. I'm not. I don't. I don't roll anymore because my fingers fair. So you're gonna rip your fingers on geese and stuff, too? So I. I don't roll anymore, but I love. I love to watch it. And I'll play slaps with somebody. That's. That's my game. I'll play. But you're slapping each other's hands instead of each other's faces.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, yeah, we would. In high school, we would do, like, during camp, we would do, like, all the freshmen, they get us all together and make us do, like, slap boxing. And then we'd all go in, like, somebody's room, and they'd be like, all right, you two, you have to slap box each other. I remember sitting there as a first one being like, please, God, I don't want to do this.

[Zach Brown]

Right?

[Taylor Lawan]

But then all scenes, like, you have to.

[Zach Brown]

All right, See, you're a giant, dude.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, I was tall, but I was like Mike from Monsters, Inc. Dude, I was like, kind of round in the middle, skinny little lambs I got my ass tall around a little bit, I'll be honest. But, yeah, it's about as much fighting as I can do. We want hit button.

[Zach Brown]

Me and Diego. Just pull up both of our names there.

[Will Compton]

Yeah, let's. We got to see it.

[Taylor Lawan]

So you start. Start hands on the head.

[Zach Brown]

You said hands on the head. The other person puts their hands down, and if you. If you separate your hands more than like four or five times, then the other person, it can change hands. Hands. So then you got to keep it together. If you've already given your whiffs or whatever, but you read when they're going to do it, and it's just straight. Straight down, slapping their hands, and you try to slap them as hard as you can. But there are people that are just tough and wouldn't give up. I play with one of the dudes that was an American Gladiator. Remember the guy Wolf that was like, you ever watch American Gladiator?

[Will Compton]

I remember watching American Gladiator.

[Zach Brown]

Anyway, I played with him in a bar, and he wouldn't give up, and his hand was, like, swollen that far. I busted all the blood vessels in his hand, and he just. He wouldn't give up. And I'm like. It hurt my hand from slapping him. Yeah, he's a. He's that guy.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

He wasn't as fast, but he was just tough. He's just like, I don't care if you break my hand, you know? He's not giving up. But Zach's. He was singing country music for a little while. He's got this big, like, deep voice, so he was hanging out around Nashville for a while.

[Taylor Lawan]

That's awesome.

[Will Compton]

Love and fear. What do people have to look forward to? And do you feel a sense of, like, nerves knowing the expectation of Zach Brown band coming out with the same.

[Taylor Lawan]

This new album?

[Zach Brown]

Not at all. I. I've bled over this album and these recordings and all of the press and all the content for Sphere and all the things, so I'm super proud of it. I was proud of this as any record I've ever made. Spent a lot of time writing it, a lot of time producing it and arranging it with my band, and I love it. Every three years, you get a snapshot of, like, the best songs that I've written in that amount of time, and. But having Snoop on a song, having Dolly on a song, and then I wrote with Dave Grohl on one of the tunes, it's. I love it. Those are my babies, man. The songs are like, your babies. You chase I chase songs all the time. I'm chasing them all year long. And then the best 10 or 12 or 13 or whatever, you put on an album every two or three years.

[Will Compton]

Yeah. Dude, isn't it. We were saying it before we got on, but isn't it wild that you. You've, like, owned a decade of music? Like, do you ever have those big perspective moments and it's like, yeah, I'm.

[Zach Brown]

Always focusing on Covid. Was the first time that I slowed down enough where I actually could reflect on what I've done, because I'm always moving forward. I'm always like, where are we going? Not where we've been, but I wouldn't want to have to figure it all out again. I know that.

[Taylor Lawan]

Right?

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

When you have a level of success, when you look back on it, it's like. Like, I can't believe I did all that. That's awesome. But then the thought of, like, if I had to do it again, could.

[Zach Brown]

I. Yeah, I know.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Cuz there's so many trials.

[Zach Brown]

And there's my lady, man.

[Taylor Lawan]

That is. I thought you were. I thought you were a dog.

[Zach Brown]

I am. She's going on, I got a daughter going to ut.

[Taylor Lawan]

Okay.

[Zach Brown]

I got a daughter going to ut and I got a daughter going to Georgia Tech. So now I'm.

[Taylor Lawan]

Oh, my God. That's crazy.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah. Part time yellow jacket, part time Longhorn, but always a dog. Unless, I mean, Texas is playing the dogs. I'm going dog. It's a house.

[Taylor Lawan]

Got to.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

House divided for sure.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Like that last game of the year. Got to play Georgia Tech.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah. Last year. That was a crazy match. That quarterback almost gutted it out for us there.

[Taylor Lawan]

They can get sneaky, man. Georgia Tech's solid. They're a good squad. Bud Light, question.

[Will Compton]

I. I think I'm thinking of a. There's a couple more brewing in my brain.

[Taylor Lawan]

Go ahead, brew away.

[Will Compton]

Dude, when you were. When you're writing your, like, when you're writing music, what is the, like, emotional process like, to where you're writing for healing or like writing to, like, open up an old wound? Like, what is that? What is that? I guess overall process, like, for you. Sometimes it's like, are you diving into something? You're like, I kind of want to.

[Zach Brown]

Back off of this, you know, It's a good. That's a good question. It happens all different kinds of ways. Sometimes you'll finish a song in two hours. Sometimes I'll sit on a song for 11 years until I have the right line. That's missing. It's. Sometimes it's about something personal to me, but maybe from a different perspective. Like there's a song on. On the new album that's coming out. It's called thank you for loving her. And it's a love song, basically, telling the guy that got her next, like, thank you for taking care of her, because I care about her, even though it didn't work between us. So when I find something that hasn't really been done, I've never heard anybody write it. Love song to the other guy that ends up with her. Right?

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

So it's. For me, it's always what. What do I have to say? If we have a conversation and something said and I'm like, that's something that I believe in. How do I turn that into a phrase? How do I make that a hook of a song? It. Man, it happens all different kinds of ways. Sometimes you have a melody, you have a guitar part, and you're like, you write something to sing to it. Sometimes you just come up with the melody of what you want to hear, and then you put the words into it. A song kind of finds you in a weird way. Like, it's. There's bits and pieces of things, but I like to go somewhere really beautiful, like on my spearfishing trips. That's usually when I write. Like, we'll go somewhere beautiful, spearfish all day, come back, hang around, sit the guitars and buy the ocean and write. You know, being somewhere really beautiful helps with inspiration to write. But. But, you know, some songs are just to be like, the Snoop song we have on there, that's a song about smoking herb. And it's like, if I'm have a song about that, we got to get Snoop on it. That's the. The purpose of that's not as deep. But then there are songs. There's one on this new record called the Sum, and that's like, as far as I can see, the way that you choose to live your life, no matter what other people says or does, you have to. You let me explain the lyrics of it.

[Taylor Lawan]

It.

[Zach Brown]

So it says, no good deed goes unpunished and no turn left unstoned. So I find sometimes the people that I've done the absolute most for are the ones that feel somewhat entitled, ignite some greed or ignite something where they're coming back. And then next thing you know, if things don't work out and they're gone, they're the ones trying to, like, extort you. And people ask me, like, how do you Ever trust anybody. But I think all of that is a test to see if that's going to change your fabric of who you are. If you get jaded by other people's behavior and it changes the way you handle things. I like to err on the side of generosity with people always, because I know I did everything in my power to do it. So even necessarily, if that person doesn't necessarily deserve that, I like to do it because I know I did the right thing. And this is the song about that. And it's, you know, no turn left unstoned. It's like sometimes when you're trying to do the most amount of good is when you. This falls and flies on you faster than anything. So it's. You can't let those things change you. And, and I, I, I made a reference on there. You know, if. If we try to act like Jesus and end up on the cross, remember, we can rise again no matter what we lost. It's like, I think being a good person is doing the right thing, even if someone doesn't deserve it. And, and knowing that's who you are and not letting the amount of times that people come stab you in the back change the fabric of who you are. And that's the sum of who we are. All the hard shit we've learned, the dumb shit we've done and learned not to do that anymore. Like the breaking we have of ourselves and the healing that we have, like, we're the sum of those two things. That's the sum of who we are. It's like. And you need the dark to see the stars. So all the bad things that happen help you really appreciate all the good things and the good people and the good things like that. So that one's as deep as any song I've ever written that's on. That'll be out on the 17th of this month. That one and the one I'm with Marcus King.

[Taylor Lawan]

It's coming out.

[Zach Brown]

Marcus King. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

That's awesome, man.

[Zach Brown]

Fan.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. You explain it to. Is incredible.

[Will Compton]

I was just gonna say it's really cool to have you on the bus. I'm a massive fan. I know you got a lot of massive fans. You have the vacation songs and everything else.

[Zach Brown]

You guys are crushing it.

[Taylor Lawan]

Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you.

[Will Compton]

Thank you.

[Taylor Lawan]

Thank you. It's because of guys like you that are willing to come on the show. Yeah. That's what it's all about.

[Zach Brown]

Likewise, you're helping me spread. Spread my message too. And, and you know, the show at the Sphere. And that's.

[Taylor Lawan]

We got to make it. We should go out to one for sure.

[Zach Brown]

You should.

[Will Compton]

It's the sphere or spear fishing.

[Taylor Lawan]

Little column A. Column B. Yeah. So make this into a little relationship.

[Zach Brown]

We have a rock song on the album called Animal, and I got Brock Lesnar to come out and film with me, and there's a full. No, like, Marvel movie fight between me and Brock in this scene. He's, like, part of my, like, alter ego, basically, because we fight between being an animal and a civilized man all the time, internally. Like, there's times when we just want to punch somebody.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

But we don't. Don't. Because we shouldn't and we can't, so. But there's that part of us that's doing it. So it's like me splitting into two people, and it's me and Brock, and we fight each other, and then we come back to. I did challenge Jason Aldean to a slap fight for charity. He's like, there's better ways to make money. I think that was his return.

[Taylor Lawan]

That is funny.

[Will Compton]

Brock Lesnar.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, man. The two wolves better be a warrior and a gardener and a garden than a gardener in a war. Yeah. All those phrases, man, they all play well.

[Zach Brown]

Those are songs, man. That's what. Those are things that you hear, and you're like, I can make that a story.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

I can make that apply. And you try to write something. So it applies. If it applies to me and hits me really deeply if I'm doing it right, you're gonna feel a resonance in your life of what I'm writing about. That's why great country songs is, like, the last true form of American poetry that people, like, actually listen to. I mean, there's some people, I'm sure, into poetry still, but you hear a good song, it's timeless. Like, a good song will live on and on. So that's what I'm chasing. That's. That's what I'm chasing. That's my main medium. But that's how I've been able to build a camp that. And help kids and help veterans and raise my family. So I encourage young people to take. Find something. When you find what you want to do, don't chase money. Stay out of debt so you can chase that down with everything you have, but find something to give back that you believe in and start that early on in your journey, because that's going to directly feed your success and feed a bigger cause other than something bigger than yourself. Yourself. Because serving you can be people Think they're happy when they're rich and have cars and a nice house and all this or whatever. That's not what makes people happy. What. What really makes people happy is serving other people. And until you do that and learn that and align it with your business, then you're kind of missing out on a lot of the meaning. I feel like we're here to sharpen each other. We're here to help each other, raise each other up, expand each other, help each other to be better. That's in. In my tribe, in my world, that's what I try to keep around me. But that served me really well.

[Will Compton]

Well said, man.

[Taylor Lawan]

That's awesome. That is.

[Will Compton]

You want to hit him with the Bud Light?

[Taylor Lawan]

Well, I do have one question. Okay. Of all the songs that you have that are out right now, what's the one song you're most proud of right now?

[Zach Brown]

It's the song with Dolly Parton.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah.

[Zach Brown]

It's called Butterfly. It's first song I wrote on the piano because I can play piano, but I don't really write on it. So I sat down and tried to write a song and that's what came out and song for my kids. But having Dolly the legend absolutely murder it. When you listen to what she's saying on that and how she's saying it, you wouldn't know she was 25 or. Or 80. It's. It's unbelievable that that one is one right now that I'm so crazy proud of. And I just love her and everything she stands for. She's done so much in philanthropy as well with her career. Just an incredible woman, and she's truly one of one. And she's hot.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, kind of.

[Zach Brown]

She's. She's about to be 80 years old and she's hot, and she's still as talented as any human on the earth. Worth.

[Taylor Lawan]

She's awesome, man. I do. Like, when I was with the Titans, there was those fires in Gatlinburg and they were doing like a telethon for it.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

So the Titans, the Amy Adams strong. She gave like. I don't know if it was like a fifty thousand dollar check or whatever, but we, me and Darrell Casey presented it to her.

[Zach Brown]

Oh.

[Taylor Lawan]

On stage. And she kissed me on the cheek.

[Zach Brown]

Oh, yeah.

[Will Compton]

There you go.

[Taylor Lawan]

I went home and I was like, this is one of the biggest moments of my life.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

It was unbelievable.

[Zach Brown]

It is.

[Taylor Lawan]

She is such an icon, man.

[Zach Brown]

Man, I remember those fires. I sent my food truck up there and we fed people.

[Taylor Lawan]

That's awesome.

[Zach Brown]

That's back when I used to do eat and greets. So every single show we.

[Taylor Lawan]

We eat and greet is a great idea.

[Zach Brown]

We set up, we had a feather light tractor trailer, million dollar kitchen that was in a tractor trailer. This full, self contained, full 12 foot vent, hood, tilt skillet, walk in freezer in the front of it. But we'd feed people. Every single show that we did, we'd have 150 fans and. And sponsorship people and people like that. We'd feed them. We had a local chef and a bus that had hospitality, people that ran. It was like throwing a wedding every day. We did that for six years on the road.

[Taylor Lawan]

No.

[Zach Brown]

And it got. It got. It got a little bit dangerous where there were some crazy people that were coming in. And sometimes when it literally felt dangerous, like this lady just gotten out of jail, she'd been writing letters about it. If I can't have him, no one can kind of thing. And coming in and the lady's pacing behind me while I'm talking to people. And. And the access it gave got a little sketchy after a long time, but that's what we threw every single show for six years. And they go to local farms in whatever town we're in, whatever state we're in in Ohio. Our chef, Rusty, who's this big, huge personality. That's him. Cajun chef. He's hilarious.

[Taylor Lawan]

Hell yeah.

[Zach Brown]

But he would go get local protein, local produce and come back and we would cook it up for everybody and serve them food and just to show them that we're one of the people. And it was a great connector for us and our fans. It was a lot of work, but it was great. Great.

[Taylor Lawan]

That's awesome. And that is also terrifying. Somebody getting out of prison writing letters.

[Zach Brown]

About, yeah, she's gonna kill me.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Was that. Is that the scariest interaction you've ever had?

[Zach Brown]

That one was. And she was pacing behind me saying, I can't go back to jail. I can't go back to jail. I can't go back to jail. And like, her eyes are shifty and the whole thing, dude. Like, oh. But it was. Yeah, it was sketchy a few times like that. And I was like, okay, we can't do this anymore. Like, it's just another thing that, you know.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah, man, that.

[Zach Brown]

But we sent that food truck to Gatlinburg when that happened. And we fed all the first responders and all the people during the fires, and we had people slinging food out of there for a couple weeks for them great people up there at surveyville.

[Will Compton]

Like, look at old Rusty.

[Taylor Lawan]

I know. I love the pit up girl, too. Chef Rusty Russ is a dog.

[Zach Brown]

And that's some good food we were serving too, man.

[Taylor Lawan]

All right, Bud Light question.

[Zach Brown]

All right.

[Taylor Lawan]

People would do anything for an ice cold Bud Light. Like, what is something that you, Zach Brown, would do anything for.

[Zach Brown]

Besides my, My kids?

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. I can't say family.

[Zach Brown]

Can't say my family, man. I think I would, I would, I would do anything to help people. I think that's, that's something. Like, I'm not one of those guys that's going to watch somebody get stabbed to death and stand there and film it. Like, I, I don't understand that. I. I would have to jump in. I don't have a choice. But, but I would, I would do something to help someone. If I saw someone getting hurt or whatever, I would definitely jump in to try to help. Like, I don't know if that's the most interesting answer, but it's, it's true, you know, I protect. Protect my people, my business, you know, And I don't want to make my decisions based on fear. That's the whole concept of love and fear. You're making your decisions on things. If you let fear govern what you're going to do, you're not going to. To do anything. Great. You gotta, you gotta be tough enough to suck at what you're doing long enough to be good at it, and then, yeah, keep plowing, Keep going.

[Taylor Lawan]

I love it.

[Will Compton]

I do too, bro. This has been amazing.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Will Compton]

I really appreciate you.

[Zach Brown]

My pleasure.

[Will Compton]

Massive fans.

[Zach Brown]

Let's go spearfishing.

[Taylor Lawan]

Let's go spear fishing. He do that. All the boys get down there.

[Will Compton]

He said, I want to see you again. I'm stuck in cold weather.

[Taylor Lawan]

Maybe tomorrow.

[Will Compton]

He's like, can I call you then?

[Zach Brown]

That's one of my favorites.

[Taylor Lawan]

Is it?

[Zach Brown]

I've been waiting to write a song that's the. The follow up to that. And that is the Sum.

[Taylor Lawan]

Oh, really?

[Zach Brown]

The sun is our follow up. That new song I was telling you about, that's the follow up to Colder Weather.

[Will Compton]

So there's a sequel.

[Zach Brown]

There's a sequel.

[Taylor Lawan]

Nice.

[Will Compton]

Oh, that. That's sick.

[Taylor Lawan]

It comes out the 17th. Yep. October.

[Zach Brown]

Yep.

[Will Compton]

Let's go.

[Taylor Lawan]

It's gonna be the best spook.

[Will Compton]

And what's that. What's that song called?

[Zach Brown]

The Sum.

[Will Compton]

The Sum.

[Zach Brown]

S U m. All right.

[Taylor Lawan]

Do you have any special feelings about the holiday? Halloween.

[Zach Brown]

I love Halloween.

[Taylor Lawan]

Do you?

[Zach Brown]

I love. It's my favorite holiday.

[Taylor Lawan]

Are you serious?

[Zach Brown]

Favorite?

[Taylor Lawan]

Oh, buddy, that's A. We're. We're a sputober podcast.

[Will Compton]

If you would have came. If you would have came next week, this bus would have been decked out.

[Taylor Lawan]

Cobwebs, fake blood, Crush.

[Zach Brown]

Love Halloween. Really love it.

[Taylor Lawan]

Do you still got a haunted house?

[Zach Brown]

I mean, I'm covered in Day for the Dead artwork. It's all the way. This whole arm is all. I got. Dead Bob right here. Bob Marley. That whole dealos. Muertos. Day of the Dead Halloween world is my jam.

[Taylor Lawan]

Let's go. I love it, man.

[Zach Brown]

That's the outfit that we wore, so.

[Will Compton]

Oh, that's you.

[Zach Brown]

That's me. So that whole suit was airbrushed with black light paint, so it looked like a normal blue suit playing. But then we're playing, and literally you hit to turn the lights off and the black lights on. And then we're human skeletons playing music.

[Will Compton]

That's badass.

[Zach Brown]

That's one of our gigs. The whole band was like that. I was tied into a harness. They picked four of us up off the ground, and I would, like, fly out over the crowd in the freaking skeleton suits.

[Taylor Lawan]

That is awesome.

[Zach Brown]

Fear is all the gags and stuff we've pulled on steroids because nobody's about. Nobody's about to expect what we're doing there. That's what we look like under black lights. We all had custom masks that were made.

[Taylor Lawan]

Dude, that is so awesome. Awesome.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

Yeah. The sphere. If this is anything with the sphere is gonna be like. It's gonna be 10 out of 10.

[Zach Brown]

It's gonna be sick.

[Taylor Lawan]

What any Halloween traditions you have.

[Zach Brown]

We used to do like a trunk or treat.

[Taylor Lawan]

Okay.

[Zach Brown]

At the kids and stuff. We used to just have all our friends come bring their cars and set up trick or treats and stuff like that around. But now the tradition is going over to Trilith, the neighborhood that's that my. My kid's mom lives in. And they have huge neighborhood. There's like 1500 houses that are 10ft apart from each other. So it's literally just fill up a trash bag full of. You know. But when I was a kid, I would. I would hide pods of candy all over everything. Like, nobody told me as a kid I shouldn't eat all this garbage and stuff. So I was just going nuts with it. Yeah.

[Will Compton]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

For real? Halloween? Yeah.

[Will Compton]

The next week.

[Zach Brown]

Yeah.

[Taylor Lawan]

No doubt. Let's give a round of applause. Round of applause for Zach. Man, this has been awesome.

[Zach Brown]

Thank you, guys.

[Taylor Lawan]

Appreciate you.

[Zach Brown]

Great to meet you, man. Likewise. Likewise.

[Taylor Lawan]

Make sure you subscribe. Big hugs, tiny kisses.

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[Taylor Lawan]

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[Will Compton]

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[Zach Brown]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway Cough and cold season is coming.

[Taylor Lawan]

So make sure you're prepared and stock up on your family's favorite personal wellness products.

[Zach Brown]

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[Taylor Lawan]

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[Zach Brown]

Night so you and your family are armed and ready for the season ahead. Offer ends October 7th.

[Taylor Lawan]

Restrictions apply.

[Zach Brown]

Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details. This is an iHeart podcast.