Star Monster

[Music] [Music] This is power. [Music] How's it going everybody and welcome to Ready VIP. And on this episode, we are going to cross through the mirror dimension. We're going to pass over different phases of reality and we're going to land in the Crunchyverse today because this is episode 10. We went big. This is our anniversary and we have our first star on Ready VIP. Allow me to introduce Phil aka Star Monster. How's it going, Phil? It is so good. Can I tell you what just happened when while you're doing that intro? A red cardinal flew in here and landed on this little uh beam above me. The most beautiful cardinal in the world. So, this is a garage and the the garage is open here and this thing just flew in. great song. Sang me a song and then and then left. So anyways, things are going wonderful. How are you? The Crunchyverse seems amazing. You got uh Cardinals flying in singing you songs and I'm doing great. So I'm a huge Star Monster fan. I'm freaking out a little bit right now. This is uh going to be such a great episode. I'm really excited to talk to you about some of your music. We're going to get into a um a little bit about the cartoon work you have coming up and feature some of that in the bridge. Um and I'd love to tell everybody a little bit about how this segment came about because in and of itself, it's kind of its own little miracle. So, it's like every good story. It starts with friendship. Um Jeremy aka Wook, our our resident Wookie savior, our crunchiest of crunchies. Um he our love language is sending each other songs. He always sends me the best music. He has exquisite taste. Somebody that spends that much time at festivals knows good music, right? And so he sent me a song and he was like, "Bro, you need to like find a place and listen to this song." And when he gives me that kind of recommendation, he's like, "This is going to be good." So, I get in my car and I I crank it up and I like I pre-list to another song to make sure like the volume is right and everything. So, I'm like settled in and I play it and it is the mirror dimension and I go nuts. I'm just in love with this song. It is everything I could have asked for in a dub sub song. Like, I haven't heard a song this good in a minute. And so, we just start flicking each other star monster songs. Oh my god, check this out. You're going to love it. And so I share some of that on my Instagram and Star Monster being the cool guy he is is like, "This is awesome." So I shoot my shot and I'm like, "Dude, it would mean the world if you came on Ready VIP. I love your music so much. Could I talk to you?" And being the dopest of dope guys, he was like, "Hell yeah, let's do it." And so here he is, Star himself. And you have a great story. You have like such an incredible journey. I would love to hear about your journey, Star. Oh yeah, I do. Well, thank you so much for everything you just said. That's that means the world to me. Um uh so yeah, the story and and how Star Monsters started. Um it's kind of crazy. So I I had a live band for Ever and Ever called the Dirt Bros. We were a two piece and I I played guitar and sang. Then I had a guy on drums that played a 1920s like huge big bass drum on its side with a mallet and this like little tambourine from I don't know where was from Afghanistan or something strapped to the top of it and and this dude would just beat this drum. Um and at the time, you know, we weren't into marketing ourselves whatsoever. Uh the music was super early blues. We made woodcut posters for our shows and we traveled, you know, in up in Vermont where he lived. We'd hit the east coast. We'd go down to New Orleans and play shows and we just did it for the love and the the fun of it. Um, that band ended up becoming kind of this cult legendary kind of thing. I think there's a cover band of uh for us, but like we never got that far with it. We didn't care about marketing. We ended up getting the the uh Black Keys management team interested. we started to work with them right at that time. Uh I went to Burning Man and uh at that time I hadn't really heard dubstep or anything and uh all of a sudden you know first day in it's it was all dubstep at that time. Now it's pretty much house. Uh but at at that time it was like full dubstep everywhere you went. Here comes the Cardinal again. It's a it's a pair of them. Oh my god. So beautiful. Anyways, um and uh I the first night I went to bed, I absolutely hated it. I I was like, "God, this [ __ ] these sounds won't go away." My head is just like playing all of the dubstep sounds that I had heard that night at once. And I finally got to sleep and I woke up the next day. Okay, let's get out into the day. And somehow that night my brain reprogrammed itself and completely understood dubstep. And and I went out just it absolutely riveted me. Like I blew my mind. I I danced for probably 14 hours that night like non-stop. Just complete free throwing myself around throwing dirt in the air and like and like I I was so deep into it. I understood the complexity of like all of that little all the little samples, all the little information and it revolutionized me and I I I didn't hear rock the same way after that. I it like it that seemed so I hate to say it boring to me after really understanding what was going on with all of the little hooks and parts of dubstep music. And so I went home and I and I immediately started incorporating that into my music. At first, I was bringing my guitar and singing into it and it kind of sounded a little bit like hippie sabotage a little bit. Um, I wrote about 30 to 40 songs and they're pretty [ __ ] cool to be honest with you, but I didn't quite feel like I had the electronic element down enough. And I was in love with it. Like I was just in love with the bass sounds and the electronic sounds I was hearing in dubstep. And I was I went down the rabbit hole. I was like, I want to make pure electronic music. Amazing. And that brings us to now. Uh, here I am doing that, man. So, like the idea of making new neuropathways while you sleep listening to music. That is so deep. That is like the psychology meets biology and chemistry that happens in our brain. You literally listen to music and thought, "Hm, not for me." And the music was like, "Oh, I didn't give you a choice. I'm working on you." You're asleep and there it is in your brain, wiggling it around, figuring it out. And you wake up with a renewed sense of just I can't wait to get more. And this is the musician in you cuz you're hearing all the parts and you're pulling it apart and you're living the enthusiasm. And then you take that into your music and you're pouring it in and you're like, "Oh god, I'm so excited to like just have that same enthusiasm when I listen to it in the music that I make." And it comes through. It just it really comes through. Cool. Yeah. I feel like when you're really excited to to make something, you hear that in the artist, you know? I mean, there are some artists, quite a few actually, that are they're just so good and they've gotten so professional that I don't know if you're hearing the excitement or just how good they are at at at a certain point. But I do I do with with artists a lot of a lot of times newer artists you hear that passion you hear that excitement you know and that's an interesting um thought there about like artists crossing a threshold like not that you're they're disguising their passion or that it's not there but they're so good at it that they can convince you of that passion all the time right concert pianist style right they they might not in that moment be you know Mozart but they can convince convince you of the same passion and convince you of the music. And I think that's powerful. It is, you know, it is. You learn you learn the structures. You learn so many things about what makes a great song and you want to elevate your music at some point. You know, it starts out with the excitement of just being able to make this kind of flow and being able to make this kind of thing happen musically. And then I think you want to take it further and it the excitement is still there but it changes I think into perfection or you know trying to achieve these higher things and the listener ends up hearing is just mind blown because all of the sound you know Ellis Dream to me is a is a great example of I love Ellis Dream taking it to such a level you know and you can't say that the excitement's not there because it is but I I maybe I'm projecting but he's able to pickle his song so much and take it to the place where when you finally hear it, you're just like, "God damn, these beats are funky and these sounds are [ __ ] incredible." And you know, I think that's just a process of what happens as you once you've been working in that genre for a while. And I I don't necessarily want to bring up another artist's work, but I also love to share an artist passion. You're like, "Oh, I like LS Dream, so what's your favorite LS Dream song?" Um, put you on the spot. I mean, probably the one with my boy's Exotics on his last on his album. Shout out Exotics album. Yeah. Um, and I forget that the name is it Funkin or whatever. It's Yes. Yeah. But I think that's that's probably the one. But I mean, everything he touches hits the same level for me. It's just always mind-blowing. So, I have um in the dub dimension there is an LS Dream song right next to one of your songs. Um I play Moon Legs and then it goes from Moon Legs into what team I'm on. Oh, sick. Wow. Huge huge respect. Yeah. So, I I love any of the music with like interesting samples and like vibes that make you feel and like Moon Legs takes you down a notch. You're like I'm floating, right? And I wanted something that was going to take that and turn it into some passion. And what team I'm on gets me pumped. Like that message is I literally the first time I heard it, I was sitting right here in this chair and I was like working cuz this is also where I work and I'm in the vibe and of course Jeremy sends me the song and I'm like, "Oh yeah, new Star Monster song. I'm going to listen to it." And he's like, "Bro, this is you in a song. Like this is your mantra." And I was like, "Okay, cool." And I have my headphones in and it hit and I'm like the first part of it I just start crying a little bit. I'm like oh man like okay this guy's this is good man. Like the passion is being me by the end of it in the second verse like we're all in this together whether you like it or not and I was like ah just running. I've literally said that phrase and so it was just ah it hit me right here. Such a good song dude. Hell yeah. I am. That means the world to me. And that's Matthew Silver, you know, that he's writing. That's me finding this beautiful thing that resonated with me and contacting him and being like, "Hey, this is incredible. I would love to use this." Have you checked more into him? Have you Have you looked at what he does? No. Well, you've pulled the thread. So, I went and I had to Google and find out like where is this from? And so, I just started to pull that. But, thank you cuz now the audience can go pull that as well. Matthew Silver, incredible uh performer, street performer. Uh you just have to check check him out. And his messages are just so universal and so loving and so connecting. I love that. And and he never breaks character. Like I I haven't met him in person. We chatted a little bit through text. Just very minimally. I was super grateful that he allowed me to use his v vocal in that song. But incredible. Incredible. Love it. And um you've had some really interesting samples throughout some of your music. Do you have any favorites? Do you have any that you were like I was so happy to put that in the song? The Matthew Silver one. That's probably one of the most powerful. The Milky Way tune. Yes. That was like that was powerful how that came together. That was that came together through pushing that song. Like that that song came together in pieces. Interesting. I kne I was writing the drop and writing those those bass sounds and I knew the feeling. I knew what I was going for. This kind of embriionic kind of like you're going back into maybe your past lives. Are you going past your death into the future? You know that kind of feeling. And oh, I love that. I was like, I need something here. And I and I and and I reverse engineered it. And I was like, I want a death meditation. I want I want this meditation. And that's what I looked up on YouTube and I found that vocal and as soon as I heard it, I was like, "Oh my god, I have to try it." And I wrote that whole intro for it and had that voice and it was like, "Yeah, that's it. That brings you there." You know, it does. And then the intro went through many, many changes too to finally get that feeling of, you know, what that meditation feels like to zoom into that universe or whatever. And then I wrote a second tune which I've never really I was playing live for a while that is along those same same lines with a different meditation. But anyways that I think the the Milky Way one was one for me where it was pretty it was a big one cuz I had pushed the sample past what I had in the past. And you know I it's like as you're writing the song you're listening back to it and it's like okay this is really cool. The drop is cool. Blah blah blah. you know, when it doesn't for me when it doesn't like hit. Yeah. When it's not like, I want this to grab me. I I I want, you know, I've heard stuff kind of like this, blah, blah, blah. I I want this one to really take me somewhere. And you you don't know how or or what you're going to do, but you push it in some ways. You sleep on it, come back to it after a week or a month, fresh, and all a sudden a new idea pops in. So, that that one was the first one. And I think I'd taken a sample that far. So it's maybe one of my favorite ones. But and you know the a masterpiece is never finished, only abandoned, right? And sometimes they're not even abandoned. We just sit there and look at them and we're like, "One day I'm coming back to you." And genius is one of those things. It doesn't always it's not always uh controllable. It comes in spurts and uh sometimes you pull from different influences. So like those different influences meet you at different times and moments and totally you know Yeah. very Yeah. I I feel like having fresh ears, you know, like letting life kind of take you on these paths. That's why like I do like when I get into my creative flows of like, okay, I'm every day for a couple months. I've got my got my flow, my routine writing wise, but breaking that and just going on a trip or whatever, it always just refills up, man. Like it it gives you all that all the new connections to all that new stuff. And then hearing those songs back again, you're like, "Oh, of course, like I'm just hammering on this one aspect that I was inspired by, but I lost track of like the whole vibe of the song and feeling and now it feels blah blah blah." And you don't hear that unless you open things up, you know. Definitely. And it's it's when I am in the in the workflow, my my writing is so is so much better. My sound design is so much better. My you know, you fine-tune that. But at some point it gets stale and and I you need to open it up. And then it's like Hemingways was one of my favorite writers growing up and he was like he had that you know what mode of working where he took years away. He would go you know box in Miami or whatever. He would go to Africa and hunt or whatever he would do and then he would have something to write about and he'd have to rehone his tool. He'd have to rehone it because he would get kind of bad at writing and at first he would suck and it took maybe a month or two to get the swing back but then he would have stuff to write about. And that's kind of how I am. Like when you get out of that flow of writing it gets rusty and you got to get back into cracking that crust off and like how how does that flow work again? But then you have stuff to write about, you know, and it I don't know. It it works both ways probably. And for each artist, it's different. But for me, I think my best stuff comes with that freshness. Couldn't agree more. Having the right mindset, you know, is a good way to approach art. And sometimes you have the wrong mindset and that approaches art and it affects your art too. Um, speaking of mindsets and how you approach art, you mentioned very briefly uh meditation and meditation for me plays a huge part in my life. So, I know it's very personal to ask about it and I totally understand if you don't want to talk about it. Uh, cuz it's about music, but how much does meditation play into your music, into your um headsp space? Huge. I mean, I've been honing that for years and years. It's um there have been different levels for sure in my lifetime. I think there was a there was a period of time where I lived on this dirt road in the country and I would meditate for at least 4 hours a day and I would I would get in touch with like the davas of the of each object in my house like these creatures that might have lived in the ground underneath my house and in the area like sounds freaky but I felt like I was you know inward meditation is the best. Yes. Yeah. And so there was that level and now it's more of worked into my flow of of lifestyle. You know, when I go to bed, there's a meditation I'm doing. When I wake up, there's a meditation I allow for and then throughout the day, there's a couple moments I I check back in, too. But it's it's like keeping keeping this balance rather than journeying like I used to. Um, but it's it's also the seed of all my ideas, you know, like yes, reflecting on the stuff at the end of the day, waking up and like opening opening that vessel up for all the new stuff that's about to come in and not clogging it with worries or concerns. If there's a stress, hitting that right off the bat, letting that stress go and opening opening that the pathways up to begin the day in a way where I can be productive. I couldn't agree more. I'm super uh on board with both momentary meditation where you have like that moment just to collect uh a little bit of your own power and those long-term meditations where you sit down because it's tough from your dayto-day to deal with your thoughts and also touch your creative side, right? They kind of exist in different layers and you have to pour that cup out to get to the underneath. And so meditation is a great way because you spend some time on the surface layer thinking about all your worries, right? The normal things. Then you get a little deeper and you think about the deep thoughts, right? And you're like, "This is kind of like the me and where I I'm at in my life." But then just under that after you've thought about all the things that you could think about is where the creative juices really start flowing. And so if you can do this at the beginning of your day, end of your week, whatever it is, and pour that cup out, you just connect to it, uh, it's a great way to not have to deal with all those worries throughout the rest of your week. I mean, you're going to worry about stuff, but if you've had time, taken time to sit down and do it, it opens the doors for your creativity in ways that you might not have had a chance to touch yet. So, you heard it from Star Monster, you heard it from old BBop here, give yourself a chance because you're all creative geniuses. Absolutely. And I think I think the most important part that I found for myself when I'm going to create, when I'm happy and excited like a little kid, that's when it's the best. Like that's one I'm enjoying it. Things are flowing. I'm into it. Like who wants to be writing a song when you're just, you know, forcing it and you're not into it. Like that's that I'm sure there's artists out there that go through that because they have release schedules and they have to get a body of work done and it has to be good, you know, but that flow it is I I I wouldn't want that, you know. Yeah, definitely. dealing with those stresses and worries beforehand so that you can compartment mentalize and be like, "Okay, I did the best I could here. There's nothing I can do about it. [ __ ] it. It's just going to take its own course. Whatever. I am free of it now. Now my mind is free to play and have fun." You know, for for me it's I have to approach things like that. Love that. So, what um songs were inspired in that flow state? What was it that you were like, "Oh, that's my flow song. I mean, all of them, I think. Um, yes, that's the best answer, you know, like I I I I think pretty much all of them. There there's some songs that were like, "Oh, I'm just going to have fun." Like remixing a few songs is like, "Okay, I I this is a really fun song. I want to remix. I think I I can get something fun out of this for an audience." That might be a little different. It's still the flow happens. I still have to flow things out, but you start to get into the structure of the previous song and the baseline and stuff. But I think pretty much all my originals, it it has to come from that point, you know, and it's usually like the beat, you know, get getting that beat the way I want it and messing with the drum sounds and then getting right into sound design of the bass and getting something that that has a vibe and and that is complete flow state. Then I'm like reacting to it and I'm like feeling the emotion of whatever that is and like resonating to it, you know, and it's that's always coming from a real place. Absolutely. You know, art from the heart and you mentioned flipping some songs like even you're running up that hill song like that song is really good. Like you put a lot of work into that flip that wasn't just like all right I'm gonna just restructure a little bit, add a drop. Like that that song is fire, dude. Thank you so much. I I played a show with Peekaboo years ago who I really really admired and he I don't think he really knew who I was before the show or whatever. I was direct support for him but I don't think he really knew but he before he went on I played that song and he and he was like boy that running up that hill remix he said something about it and it it I felt really good. I was like cuz I respected him a lot, you know, but I I put a lot of time into a lot of my songs. Like Game Over is probably six to nine months. Six to nine months on that song. Running up that hill was probably 3 to four months hard steady work like every day. And now I'm I realize I I don't like to to do that. I don't like that kind of intensity and that amount of like time sucking into one thing. So, I've got I've changed my routine and now I've got a a faster much faster flow, which I'm really enjoying. But but yeah, the running up that hill song was like one of those ones where like I beat my head into the wall of like I really want to make a good version of this. How can I do it? Trying a million things, getting frustrated, and then just grabbing the bull by its horns and just forcing sound into a shape like that. And I honestly feel like my best songs are kind of like that. It's like I don't know how the [ __ ] to make these sounds I'm wanting that I'm hearing in my head and I'm just going to take the tools that I know and just manhandle it and bend it into shape. And like with that one, it was a arpeggiators and a pretty simple like just plain uh probably a saw wave into like a bong bong, you know, like the one of the most simple sounds you could make and then a series of of loopers or um delay and arpeggiators and doing some certain things with it where when I hit one key, it was like doing all this cool stuff, you know, and then I just I freestyled key keyboard over it and took the MIDI and just doctorred each little spot that that MIDI was in based on my fingers just going over the keys in this flow state, you know, and then like just kept working with that and rearranging it until I got that second drop where it's just like like just freaking out going everywhere. That was like, okay, that's something that to me feels innovative and rings the bell for me. But it it was it was a [ __ ] be before it got there. I totally can relate to that. Art projects sometimes, man, when you like get into it and your perfectionist takes over and you're like, I won't accept anything less than what I feel is 100% I gave it my all. And that can be a bear. Like you mentioned 6 months on Game Over. Like I love that song. That song's incredible, but that's a mountain to climb. It was over six months. It was close to nine. Yeah. Jeez. That was And that was the one I was like, I can't do this again. Like, I can't spend it. And I sent it to my manager at the time, a friend who was really helping me and bless his heart. But I was so excited because I had been telling him about this song for like six to nine months. It's all I didn't have a release for that whole amount of time, I don't think. And I was like, this is what I'm working on. I think it's really good. I feel I'm really excited about it. I think I'm going to get Seth Drake to master it for me, who was to me the top engineer. And and uh I finally said it to him and I didn't hear back from him for like a month and a half. I was like, "Bro, like I want to release this. What's going on?" And he finally got back to me and he was like, "Yeah, man. I've played this for people and everyone said it sucks and it's like, oh no, it sounds like the first song somebody would would make and dubstep and sounds like somebody's first song." and he just said all these terrible and I was like whoa what do I do like I but uh at the same time I was like no this is a good song this is a good song he doesn't he doesn't understand it fine I'm moving on I'm putting the thing out no no promo no marketing whatsoever just dropped it and that song I think is probably the one people respond to the most of all my songs maybe I don't know yeah no I I love it. I don't get to send Jeremy many songs back and say, "Hey, this is one you might have heard of." And Game Over was one I sent him and I was like, "How did you not send me this song?" Like, you normally are on this. Get on it, buddy. And he was like, "Actually, I haven't heard this song either. How did I miss this song?" Somehow, we had collectively skipped over it. So, we got to listen to it basically at the same time. And that song hit so good, man. Um, my speaking of like the dub dimension, I have it right next to an Excision song, 8bit Superhero. So it goes 8bit superhero game over. Damn, that's good company. Holy [ __ ] Your songs are all in great company, man. I I love I I love putting Star Monster songs on my playlist. So, we got to talk a little bit about your intro and your comeup. We've talked a little bit about your music and your craft. Um, but you have a great fan base. You know, I I've seen some of them on your uh Insta Messenger as they support you. Um, and so let's talk a little bit about Star Monster the show. Where are you going? Where can your fans meet you? Beforehand in the green room, you were like, "Dude, I like to hang out with my fans. I go before the show. I'll hang out with them after. Like, what are we doing? Where's the after?" That's dope. Like, that is awesome. Like, let's talk about that. Yeah. So, the Crunchy fam, um, the coolest people in the world, man. We're all of the oddballs and misfits. Like, growing up, I feel like I was kind of weird, you know? I my hair was really weird and I did really weird and I listened to weird music and I feel like I don't know if all all the crunchy fam is like that but I think we can all relate. Just be ourselves, man. And there's no other way. Like I I don't think there's any other choice for us. And it's it's people who are I feel like the fans that I've cultivated I've been so fortunate cuz they seem so unjudgmental and so open-minded and so supportive and and just freespirited and maybe all the fans in EDM are like that and but I I just feel super blessed to have this like incredible fan group. Um but yeah, I I love like I I would not just go and hide in the green room. Like I love being out before my show and connecting with people. I'm so curious who's there and like people wearing some cool ass stuff and doing cool flow stuff. I I I want to connect, you know? I I like I love making new friends after the show. I love hanging out if I can a little bit. I don't really go to after parties or anything anymore, but um I genuinely love it and I've I've met so many freaking awesome people through through the last years, you know. Um, it's just unfathomable. Like, I can't I can't even remember all the amazing folks I've met. But yeah, I and I want to make some merch. I'm right now I'm in the process of hatching like some cool merch idea just for the Crunchy Fam, not like Star Monster person. Crunchy fam merch. Yes. Oh, yeah. if you have any ideas. And I think what I want to do is just open it up to everybody in the Crunchy Fam to send me art, send me ideas. Love that. And just make a collaborative piece with everybody's ideas. I'm so in. I I'll definitely send you some ideas. That sounds like I love art collaboration. I've said it on Ready VIP I don't know how many times. All the best artists are collaborators because they're doing the one thing that humans do best, which is combining genius. Hell yeah. I love that. super cool. You know, it's not one person that made skyscrapers or jets. Uh it took a collaboration of many geniuses to come up with all of those ideas starting way way back long long before uh any of those ideas even were thought about coming together to the moment you get on a plane with your ticket and go to that festival. And so music is the same way. you know, all of the art uh that goes into it, all of the sound engineering, all of the electronic engineering to make all of the programs and everything. It is a collaborative effort from the beginning to the end. So, shout out to all of the people at whatever level you're at doing your thing cuz you guys deserve it. Absolutely. I mean, from from the production, from the laser guys to the sound guys to the lighting guys to the VJs to the people in the crowd, like the fans, they kind of steer the ship, too. like their reaction to certain things like would Excision still be doing a Shrek thing if people hadn't reacted to it? You know, like we're kind of the fans are dictating to the artist like this is what we want. Like we we want it to be like this. So, it's it is collaborative. It's a it's a collective consciousness that we're all evolving. Well, speaking of collaborative, I'm going to I'm going to lean in a little bit here. Crunchy fam, look, I need your help. Ready VIP deserves one thing from you. if it's a it just blast Star Monster episode as far and wide as you can, right? Help us put out his story and how wonderful this episode is going to be. Uh because you guys, he's right. Like the the crew makes it, the family makes it. I'm one of you. Like there there aren't a whole lot of like I don't I don't like to join a bunch of the Instagram like background chat things I can't even respond to or whatever. It's not for me. But you know what? I'm part of Star Monsters Crunchy uh fam. So, we need to we need to put it out there. Help me out, guys. You're in. You're in on this one. So, back to Star Monster. Um, we have some cartoons that you have told me a little bit about that we're going to play in the in between segment before the um interview and the afters. Can you tell me a little bit about this? Hell yeah. So, Star Monster show we've been working on for a few years now. We got about 15 minutes done of of the initial clips. This is just kind of the the blocking out period. This the rough sketches of how it's going to look. It's not the finished look. Uh but the cartoons are looking pretty cool. They will go through revisions and changes in style, but uh yeah, it's the story of Jethro, this little star monster that comes from a mere galaxy to ours and a mere earth to ours. And this evil lord uh comes and hates the star monsters and invades. The star monsters just go off of happiness. They they have a mirror earth stars except the result of every one of their actions is positive. No matter if they ate something they shouldn't have, whatever they they just rejoice in everything. They're musical. They sing all the time. That planet is is wonderful. So, this evil lord invades and this one little star monster, this little baby star monster, gets kind of jettisoned away and gets sucked through a black hole and winds up on our earth. And so, he's just going through his life on our earth, but the result of all of his actions aren't always good. He eats a cop car, for example. The cops get angry, and then Sergeant Pepperoni is this cop that gets angry with him and is always trying to chase him and find him. and he has this finds a little baby stray kitten that's his friend and they they go through this whole kind of Adventure Time style uh life together on Earth. That's amazing. Oh man. So, I'm I'm a big cartoon junkie. I grew up on cartoons as a kid and I never stopped loving him as an adult there. Just the whimsy and artistry of it uh is a lot of fun. And I think there's something to be said about storytelling, right? You know, when you are a storyteller, you want to be able to convey that story and you use it through your music, you use it through your performances, and now you're having this outlet with actual art to be able to continue that same message, which is positivity and and good feedback and um but also just the fun having a good time star party that I think follows all of the good vibes. Absolutely. Yeah. I I started out being an artist. I went to art school and I'm a way better visual artist than I am musician. Like I should not I should not be doing music. Like honestly like art was what I was born to do. Visual art was what I was born because music is art too obviously. Um but I've cultivated that over a long time because I love it so so much. But visual art is is my thing. So Star Monster, a lot of the art comes from me. The visuals if you come and see a show are very involved. And I've hired, you know, guys like Droid made some packages for me that are [ __ ] mind-blowing and a number of other artists, but I try to make a lot of the as much as I have time to do and the overseeing of the cartoon and the storyboarding and the the sketching out of how it should look and all that stuff. So that's amazing. It's a component that I need to be there for part of my soul to be whole or whatever. I love that both getting involved in your own art projects to like really, you know, have it speak your um soul, right? You're having it speak from you. Uh I think it's really important for an artist and it really shows your diversity and that's the one thing that your music encapsulates too is that artistic diversity, right? Whether it's um moving from phrase to phrase or from the prejop to the drop, there is so much eclectic diversity in every song that you can tell you're not just pulling from a single influencer. You don't just have a single style. You have a garden you're just pulling all of these different flowers out of and showing them at different times. Absolutely. It's a beautiful way to describe it. Thank you. I I like to talk about music. Uh, and sometimes I get a little flowery with my language. You're awesome at it. I love it. With that, it's beautiful. So, with this, we're going to show a little bit of it in the in the bumper, and you guys are going to get to uh experience that, but I don't want to end on there. So, um, one of the things that we always do here on Ready VIP is, um, we like to give people a platform to say all the things they want to say. Um, and we also like to ask some fun, silly questions just to kind of end on a little bit of laughter and goofiness, uh, and get to know the artist a little bit better. So, I did, and normally the first nine episodes, I I normally never produce the questions to the artist. I I just I ask them on the spot so I can get that genuine response, right? The like the little bit of craziness. But this being our episode 10, I thought I would, you know, up the ante a little bit, give you some time to think about those questions. Um, so the first question we have on our silly fun questions, are are you ready, Phil? Awesome. Um, what is your favorite monster either from cartoons, movies, media, TV? What's your favorite monster? Toro. Toro. I was not expecting that. Let's go. Miyazaki, shout out. Is he a monster? Kind of seemed like I mean, he at first he was scary. you know, she wasn't sure what's going on and just she climbs on him and kind of rubs his belly or gets in the belly. But definitely love my neighbor Todoro. I I think that's great. Todoro, I I would put him in the same category as like Pokemon, right? Is it a monster? Probably cuz it's not like not a monster, but is it a scary monster? Yeah. Once you get to know them. Exactly. I love that. Super fuzzy and fluffy. Um, okay. Well, that was easy. I I I think that was one probably a lot of the audience agreed with, too. They're all like, "Well, this guy To lived in my backyard." Hell yeah. You know, I This is why I meditate so I can go meet my own Todoro. Exactly. Exa. So, our question number two, what song of yours means the most to you? We might have covered this a little bit, but is there a song that like I know as an artist, I have a song, it's not even my best song, but it is definitely my favorite song because of what it means to me. What is that song for you? Game over. Yeah. That work. because of that story I told you with the amount of time I spent on it, refining it, really seeing it through to a completion that as was as good as I could make it and then my manager rejecting it and me just knowing that it was it was good and believing in it and then and then having it turn out to be, you know, the song has gotten a lot of plays just because people have liked it. no marketing, no promo whatsoever. So that it gave me belief and faith. I love that. I absolutely agree. Not that it's your favorite song, but the belief in yourself, right? That when all odds are against you, when even the people who are your sounding board are like this isn't the direction you should be going, but you know in your art as a within your belief of your vision, this is right. And then the community comes through and they say, "You were right. That is the best artistic validation because you followed your heart no matter what." And this is it takes courage to do. It is not an easy thing to do. So hard. It's already It's already daunting enough trying to pursue art in life. It's such a selfish endeavor. It's such and it's confusing. Like you don't know a lot of times if you should be doing it or if the thing you made is really good. And then to have the belief through the outside forces telling you it's not good, you know, to to see that through. That's huge, man. And that like huge respect to anybody that has followed that path and and followed that their inner voice and pursued what they thought was right through all of the obstacles. Whether it's being homeless for a while, whether it's having to raise a child and having a family that it doesn't seem lucrative and and possible that you should be doing this, you know. Mhm. Um, God, so so much respect to anybody that's had to struggle with that and and and achieves through that. It's it's it's a lot. It's a lot. My heart goes out to anybody in that position cuz I definitely and you know there are some instances like I think this is the best case scenario when you believe it and you make it happen and then your fans are like hell yeah. There are plenty of instances art doesn't give you that validation and that's okay too, fam. like from an artist to an artist. Sometimes you believe it and you put it on the wall and you just do it right like that. And that's okay cuz there are a lot of times where you will hear from every influence and and negative voice even your own that's like ah this isn't this isn't good enough. And that imposttor syndrome will haunt you. And the only way to overcome it is just to take a deep breath courage a little bit to push yourself off the ledge and keep going. Yep. and learn a little bit from it if you can because your next piece when you believe in that piece too and the next piece and the next piece that belief snowballs and you start to build up not not ego but confidence that the art is with you. Yeah. Someone there there's a saying that failure is the biggest um I don't know if it's growth or you know teacher perhaps that's it but you have to put stuff out. You have to, you know, your your initial pieces aren't are probably not going to be masterpieces. Who knows? Perhaps they will be. Perhaps you're Mosart and you're a Savant at H5 or whatever and you're just going to like [ __ ] roll this stuff out. But it's probably not, you know, it's probably going to be a little but [ __ ] get behind it and enjoy it and and then be real about it. Like see how people are reacting and judge for for yourself what needs improvement. This is an ongoing thing. You know, you're not perfect right from the start. You got to you have to get that skill set and be patient with yourself, push yourself, but be patient and enjoy the process. But yeah, the way you just put that and phrased it was very eloquent, very we we have a vibe going on. It's we're on the same wavelength. Absolutely. It's there's something special when you meet with artists and they get it and you get it. You're just in a vibe. If I come back to Arizona, which hopefully happens here, hell yeah. You need to come out. Are you in Phoenix? Um, I live outside of Phoenix, but I go to all the shows within the big square. So, anywhere you come, I'll go. Cool. Where where are you? Um, Poria. Poria. I'm playing in Pura, Illinois next weekend. This weekend. Anyways, a little farther away from this one, but definitely I have good friends in Flagstaff, so I've I've like spent spent time there in the past, but I'm not sure where Pori is, but Arizona is fascinating to me. I want to see more of Arizona. Let me help you get connected. I know all the people. Love that. Hell yeah. Thank you. No problem. Um, so our third question here. Um, and this one, this is from me because I I go to a lot of sets. I watch a lot of DJs. I have a lot of DJs as friends. And DJs are some of the most interesting, quirky people you will meet sometimes because they're artists who are living their art. They're out there like putting themselves out there in front of crowds. They're turning up the knob and they're controlling all the energy and they feed off of it. And they also tend to have some of their own little quirks, right? those little things that make them them. Whether it's how they wear their headset when they're on stage or maybe it's the little dance they like to do. What is Star Monsters saying when your friends see you on stage or you see yourself in a video? Maybe it's shadowy and then you see yourself do the thing. You're like, "Ah, it's definitely me." What What's that tick? It's the swiggle. Oh, it's the swiggle. I don't know about the swiggle. Tell me about swiggle. The swiggle is is my little dance that I'm doing. and crowd interaction. Like I get down in even if it's hard to climb down through the barricades and stuff, I will climb down into the audience at some point and I will swiggle with you. [ __ ] yeah. If you're up on the rail, expect to get swiggled with with with Star Monster. Oh, we're going to swiggle. This is going to be We're going to get this on video. Ready fans? Get ready for the swiggle. Hell yeah. It's It is the most It is the most stupid dance. And I don't even know how it started. I I think I was trying to be stupid on a video for um the an Ali Choa song and I was like, "What can I do on camera that would crack me up and I was like [ __ ] schwiggle. I just going to get down and swiggle." Love it. But yeah, it's a thing. That's too funny, man. And it's definitely something when you have a little dance or something like it's iconic, right? It becomes part of like the um the Star Monster persona. Do the stupidest stuff, dude. I I get so mad at myself. It's like, why did I do Cuz now it is my freaking thing. And it's it's a stupid [ __ ] dance. It's called the schwiggle. It is It is so dumb. But yeah, that's that's me. That's me. Love it. You know, I could sit here and talk to you for hours and I'm probably sure that we would have enough content to fill it like for five episodes. Um, but I do want to close us out here with the opportunity um to have any closing remarks. There's anything you want to say to your listeners, um, your fans, your friends, your family, um, the Crunchy Fam, I would like to open the floor and give you that chance now. Wow, that's a that's a big one. I love you guys. I love you, Crunchy Fam, more than I can ever express. I never even thought I would have fans. So, my heart just so connected out with you wherever you are being yourself. Experience life the way you want to. Um, do the things you really want to pursue what you want to be yourself unashamedly. I love you guys. Thank you for giving me any attention you have. A well, we love you too. Thank you so much, Phil, for being on here. Um, do you want to give any shout outs on the way out? any other um fam, DJs, friends you want us to tag? Shout out to my daughter who, you know, is uh been raising up and she is really awesome with just who who she is as a person, man. She constantly teaches me every day, how you need to treat people, um what's important in life, um and helps me a little bit with my clothing choices, too. So, shout out girl dads, man. I got two myself. And before like pre festival I'm like what do you think these shoes and this hat this this jersey and then am I color there's too many colors right and they know she's like oh dad you don't people don't wear socks like that anymore you can't wear those socks get some go your eyeball socks the ones with the eyeballs go get the eyeball socks okay yes there you go yeah I I thought of myself as a peacock for a while and now looking back I thought I was I think I'm just I was out to sea bro I had no idea she's got me rained in like this with this and like this is not indicative. This is me like working this afternoon on some tunes and this is what I'm wearing. But you pre-consult your uh stylist. Not she's not gonna be happy about this. She be like, "Dad, you look like you live on the street. Like you look like you're you're homeless. Dad, you went on the interview like a hobo." Yeah, I could totally hear my daughter saying something like that. Yes. But it was awesome to do this with you. You are wonderful. I consider you a friend now. I can't wait to meet you for real in the future and hang out in Arizona. It's going to be amazing. You're welcome here anytime. Come crash on my couch. We'll we'll go hit up some shows. Sick. Um, Ready fans, Crunchy Fam, and everybody in between, thank you so much for tuning in to this segment of Ready VIP. Thank you, Phil, for being our VIP today. You have been absolutely wonderful. It has been an incredible chance to interview one of the best. And for anybody who hasn't, go spend some Star Monster. Listen to it. Put it in your sets. Put it on at work. Wherever you're at in the car, just jam out because it's not only just good music, but you know it's coming from a great person. Love you. Thank you. I always like to give our guests the chance to have the last word. Would you like to say, Actually, we're not going to say roll the music today because we have cartoons. Would you like to say roll the footage? Here's the Star Monster Show. What is this place? [Music] on my mind. Yeah. Heat. [Music] American dimension. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] You're now inside. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] It just lost my mind. It's [Music] about love. It's about you. It's about your passion to do what you want to do in the moment, in the now. This is not time. This is eternal. [Music] And yes, I'm um I'm very passionate about not being serious. I'm very passionate. I'm very very very very I want to see the world where the global heart is awakened. That is what team I'm on. [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] never because it's not too late. Because it's all about how you think. Wouldn't you want people to encourage each other instead of judge each other? Stop. You're looking at me. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] You already know what's important. Love dreams. people, relationships, friends, laughter. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Together. Everybody. Together. Together. Yes. We're in it. Together. Whether you like it or not. [Music] Hot bones. Hotter hotter fire. Hotter hot. Hotter hotter. Hotter hotter bones. Hotter hotter fire. Hotter hotter. Hotter hotter. Hotter hotter bones. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] Hotter hotter bones. Hotter hotter fire. Hot hot hot mean hot fire Miss fire [Music] down. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm down. I'm down for [Music] Romeo. Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity. Romeo and Julo every day. Heat up here. [Music] All the time [Music] here, but now they're gone. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Come on, baby. Don't feel the take my hand. Don't feel the rever. You'll be able to fly. Don't feel the rainbow, baby. I'm your [Music] La. [Music]