KROQ-FM / KROQ
  • 2 months ago
Bishop Briggs talks with KROQ's Megan Holiday.
Transcript
00:00What is going on? It's Megan Holliday right here at the world-famous K-Rock
00:04And I'm here with one of my favorite humans on the planet the one and only Bishop Briggs. Hello. Hello, darling
00:10Oh my gosh, I'm so happy to see you. I know always so good to see you got to see you perform recently
00:15Which was awesome in an airplane in an airplane
00:19That was one of the most mind-blowing
00:22Experiences. How was that as a performer? Oh my gosh. Well, I got to go out on the wing
00:27Yes, which I you know, of course like the me that isn't performing
00:33Looks at that and is like, huh?
00:35like I won't do that and then the me on stage is like
00:38Crawling down and like pointing at people like I don't know what happens when I get on there, but but it was it was great
00:45It was so epic
00:46I know I went out on the wing too, and I thought it was gonna be scarier than it was
00:51But I felt I felt very good. Yeah, we should try it during a flight or something
00:57Feeling a little risky. Yeah, so I want to congratulate you on your new album
01:03Tell my therapist I'm fine. Thank you. Yes
01:07Five years since your last album crazy crazy. I feel like this one is your most I don't know vulnerable raw
01:16personal album Oh
01:18Yeah, does that is that accurate? What do you say? I I'm glad that that's your takeaway. I mean
01:24The whole origin of the album really began with this session with Travis Barker of all
01:31crazy, oh my god, and this was right before a lockdown and
01:36It's probably like my last session before lockdown just to give an idea of how long this album has taken
01:41and I remember leaving that session being like
01:44Wow, that was so liberating to sing in that way to write in that way
01:49But like this must be for a different artist and I actually got the chance to play that song for my sister
01:56She had just started treatment
01:58And I got to like see her reaction to it and I think consciously or subconsciously
02:04I found myself kind of chasing that feeling throughout the making of the album, you know, yeah
02:10Yeah
02:10So how did it come about working with Travis and what would you say?
02:15Your main takeaways were from working with him. Okay, first of all, I have no idea second of all I was
02:23Working with MD DN at the time
02:26And so that would be Benji Madden. Okay, and
02:30Which just like so cool. I mean me and my sister just like freaked out over that
02:35so Benji Madden from Good Charlotte and
02:39With that
02:42There was something about that that made Travis think I'm saying I believe and so then I got invited to a session and
02:49I was just in disbelief the whole time. I think my biggest takeaway from it. I maintained my
02:56Cool for a little bit and then when he played it was like, oh, okay
03:02It's done like a tear came down and I was just like you're so good at what you do
03:07He's just so incredible so respectful like I felt so safe working with him
03:12Which as you know as a woman is like so weirdly rare
03:17and I think my biggest takeaway was just
03:21Whatever you are most passionate about become an expert at that, you know
03:26I loved writing with him
03:27But seeing him play was like a whole other version of songwriting like the things that he came up with on drums
03:33I would have never thought of I really I
03:36Couldn't come up with any of that
03:38So it was remarkable. Yeah
03:40Yeah, because drums are really the backbone of the song and it can just be the most slight
03:46You know drum fill or whatever that can really, you know, take a song to the next level
03:51He's so down-to-earth to like there was something that we were gonna add at the end of the song
03:57and again, somehow thought I was saying so I
04:01Had his number through a mutual friend of ours and I just wrote to him and said hey, you know, no pressure at all
04:07But we'd really love to redo this end part
04:10we're thinking of building it up or whatever it was at the time I truly blacked out and
04:16And he wrote back like I'll get this to you in an hour
04:20Dude, I mean, yeah. Yeah, and then said it was incredible. Yeah, I love it. And that one's called isolated love. Yeah, right
04:27Yeah, so beautiful. Dude. It's so well done. This whole album is
04:32Just so amazing because it it's like genre lists and there's really beautiful kind of dreamy pop moments
04:40and then one of my favorites is
04:43Shut it off. Oh because it feels super punk rock and especially when you perform it live
04:49That's when it really kind of, you know packs that punch. Yes, you know rush that one is so much fun to sing
04:55I mean even now talking about it, you know, I'm still on the journey of like owning those words that I'm saying in it
05:03but basically
05:04I'm just trying to like call out the men in the music industry that I worked with and just basically like writing from like
05:1022 year old me like writing for her
05:15That was really fun to do
05:16Yeah, being able to say the things now that you would have wanted to say then. Yes. Yeah, so funny
05:23I didn't know that and that song really connected for me. So yeah, it's interesting
05:29Yeah, so you get it and when you were on stage in the airplane
05:33you were you were talking about how a lot of this album and when you were writing like you kind of said earlier was
05:40Inspired by these bands that yeah, you you know would listen to you know with your sister
05:46So what is it sort of about?
05:48Well, if you can name just maybe a few of those bands and what it is about that music that you were trying to
05:53Capture. Oh my gosh. Well, my chemical romance is like a huge one
05:57Paramore no doubt. I mean, I think it was interesting like growing up. I was really into Motown music
06:05yeah, there's a lot of like Otis Redding Aretha Franklin and then as I got older and like the music that my sister introduced me to
06:11I found that I was still drawn to these truth tellers, but in a totally different way, you know
06:17More of like a Janis Joplin vibe
06:20And so yeah, I mean I've I've covered those bands for years and yeah just such a huge fan good Charlotte being one of them
06:27As well. Yeah. Yeah, you've really kind of watched your your dreams come true with working with some of these people
06:33Yes, and of course blink just being oh, you know, so
06:39Yeah, yes and with this album something that I noticed is with the album cover
06:46It's these like five different versions of you and then I also couldn't help but notice you have like the really long braid
06:53Yes, and but then for your video for my serotonin you're like cutting it off
06:59Yes, so, can you give a little bit of what the theme is? Yeah
07:03I love that you're asking this
07:05well, I mean for a long time I feel like hair has really represented femininity or like our perspective on it and
07:13Weirdly I have now had the experience of like having a fully shaved head and having hair and I got treated completely different
07:21in positive and negative ways
07:24and it was also like a big tie to like when I started out like I had my hair and buns all the time and
07:32Yeah
07:34so I think
07:36going from that of having all these different versions be connected and the whole album is supposed to look like
07:43Okay, is there self-sabotage going on? Is there self-love going on like these different versions of myself and then with my serotonin?
07:50It was like release it all that was the supposed to be the energy like the braid is undone
07:55And we are cutting it all off. Those were real scissors, by the way
07:59and
08:00Again, as I told you like once I'm in it, like once I'm performing I'm so in it
08:07So originally when I saw scissors, I was like, oh no
08:09And then like what that when we started all of a sudden I was cutting all my hair
08:14Everyone was very nervous. Yes. Yeah, it's very intense. You were fully committed
08:18Yes, you know, but that's such the the thing that we all love about you. Is that you?
08:25Truly are singing from the depths of your soul and it's like on this album
08:30I felt like I could really feel your pain and it was it was very relatable, you know
08:36and my serotonin is the single right now and
08:39When I was listening to it, I was like, huh?
08:42Like I wonder if this one is about you know
08:45Like heartbreak or relationship or missing someone and then I read that it's actually about you missing your baby. I know. Yeah
08:52Oh my gosh, my sweet baby. Yeah, I
08:54Had this I've been really fortunate that I get to spend all my time with my baby
09:00and
09:01Randomly, there was this thing I had to do in New York and it didn't make sense for the baby to come and it was
09:07Sort of gonna be in and out, but it was basically 24 hours without the baby
09:09And I was just such a cliche walking through New York like singing that verse
09:15Into my phone and just realizing that like I fundamentally have changed and like that's a really positive thing
09:22but I wanted the song to
09:24really have this sort of uncomfortable yearning and
09:28I actually wrote that with this artist named Skylar and
09:32She came in and I just sort of had like a bunch of these voice memos from New York and the first thing she told
09:39Me was I'm a mom and like it's my favorite thing
09:42I do and you know
09:43Like it's a big part of who I am and like I've changed so much since becoming a mom like for the better
09:47And I was like, oh my god. Okay. Well then this is the person I was destined to write this way
09:52so I started playing it for her and
09:55She just was the best person to write it with. Yeah. Oh my god. It all really came together on this album
10:02Yeah, and working with John Feldman a little bit on this too, which is you know, right up there with you know
10:09All of those artists that you grew up listening to and loving like a perfect producer to come in and work with
10:15Yes, do you follow him on Instagram? Yeah, I know I actually know him. Yeah
10:19he's a wonderful human and
10:22He if you do follow him on Instagram, which I know you do if I'm just saying, okay
10:27He posts these videos where he's hiking and he just says I love my life
10:33And it's just I can't tell you how much joy these videos bring me
10:37But he also is just so supportive like I'll have like a little pop-up show and I'll be like, hey
10:43Like this is happening. Like no problem and he'll be there, you know, just
10:48Yeah, a really really special person. Yeah, I'm pretty obsessed. He has like an energy level
10:54Yeah, I would die to have you know, that's why I think I wrote my most positive song
11:00I probably ever written with him, which is here comes the flood where it's just sort of like hey
11:05Like I never knew it could be this good and you know, I wasn't in that space when I wrote it
11:10But like I I felt his energy so intensely that I was like, wow, I long for that
11:16Yeah, yeah, so me and you same feelings John Feldman. You're the man. Yes
11:22What are maybe some of the takeaways that you would want people to feel when they're listening to your album
11:29Oh, there's a song on there called growing pains. Oh, yeah, I would say that that's sort of the theme of the album
11:36I think I'm always sort of trying to think of how to explain to my baby
11:41Like that there's such horrible things that can happen in life, but such beautiful things as well
11:47And you won't be prepared for either
11:49But
11:51I'm so glad I don't want to cry, but I'm just so glad that like I like loved fully with my sister
11:57you know, I'm just I
12:00There's this I love dr. Brené Brown so yeah
12:04She talks about how she you know interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people on vulnerability
12:09there was this man she was speaking to and he'd been married for 40 years and
12:14He decided to live his life in a way where he didn't fully get sad and he didn't fully get happy so that he would
12:21never really be
12:23hurt in any way or
12:25let down so he really like lived middle of the road and
12:29Randomly really unexpectedly his wife got in a car crash and died and his first thought was man
12:36I wish I had leaned into the pain. I wish I had leaned into the joy
12:41but
12:43Yeah, but I'm just I hope that for my baby. Yeah, just to
12:48Yeah, fully lean in even even if you learn that life can be difficult
12:53I'm just so glad that like I told my sister every single day how obsessed it I was with her
12:59and yeah, so I
13:02Don't know what the summary of that is, but growing pains. Yeah, it's so beautiful and to be honest with you
13:08I really needed to hear that for me today
13:11Because it's it's life is so hard, you know, and we're you know
13:16Kind of conditioned to run away all the time from our pain and be like numb it, you know
13:21How do I get away and I'm an addict, you know, and like as you know in recovery
13:24Yes, and I have to sit in it now. Yeah, and it's really hard
13:28So I really love that
13:30You know, the whole theme of this is just like lean into the pain like sit with a hundred percent
13:35It's okay, and it's gonna pass like something. I always have to remind myself is like
13:39Everything's gonna pass. Yes, and you know this like through sobriety and I
13:44you know out of respect for my sister did the same and
13:48I
13:50It's very raw, you know, like you're not numbing it in any single way
13:55you can find other ways, of course other than drugs and alcohol like I'm not taking away from that, but
14:01Yeah, it's a completely
14:03Yeah, it's a very difficult experience. Yeah. Yeah both both have their horrible things
14:10Yeah. Well, I I'm just so happy for you
14:13It's so great to you know to see you back doing your thing
14:17And you've got a show coming up at the Terragram on March 13th
14:21And everybody has to go listen to your new album. Tell my therapist. I'm fine
14:27Bishop Briggs, thank you so much. Love you. I love you. You're the best. You're the best