Episode Transcript
Don Mock 0:20
We’re back. Episode Nine. I thought it might be interesting today, Rob, if we talked about, in a previous podcast, we talked about the creative process. How we get going, how to generate ideas, all that good stuff, right? I thought it might be interesting today to talk about music. I mean, music is always playing in the office, we talked about office culture in an earlier episode as well. You know, what kind of music do we like to listen to or not listen to? When, generating ideas, when hammering away, when you’re in the groove, feeling those sweet, sweet, headlines.
Rob Broadfoot 0:51
Sweet ideas are flowing. Letters are making sense.
Don Mock 0:54
Yeah, well, there’s definitely a vibe when you’re like, I’m feeling it. Designs are pouring out. Logos are pouring, you know what I mean? Things are coming together. And music is such a big part of the day, right? Part of the creative process, I think? I’ve got Spotify basically going 8:30 to 5:30, every single day, if not more. So my, I don’t know what my wrapped is, but it’s a tremendous amount of minutes of music a year.
Rob Broadfoot 1:21
That’s what I was looking at up on my phone.
Don Mock 1:23
Really?
Rob Broadfoot 1:23
Trying to because mine was like, and I did the math on it, and it was like.
Don Mock 1:27
Yeah. I mean, it’s like nine hours a day of straight Spotify rollin.
Rob Broadfoot 1:27
Yeah.
Don Mock 1:32
I think when clients call, or I have to jump on a zoom, I don’t stop, I just turn the volume down. You know what I mean?
Rob Broadfoot 1:38
And I go pause.
Don Mock 1:38
Whatever is playing, is playing and then, you pause it, because you don’t want to miss the track.
Rob Broadfoot 1:43
I pause because if Spandau Ballet is, I want to hear the rest of that song.
Don Mock 1:47
Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do.
Rob Broadfoot 1:48
The Cocteau Twins.
Don Mock 1:50
So what? Everybody’s got different music. The beauty of music is that, it’s everlasting and there’s a million different genres, and it’s constantly evolving, right? So I mean, what’s your go to? I need to, I’m up against deadlines, compel focus, we got to start rockin and rollin. What are we popping on to kick in and get some energy flowing?
Rob Broadfoot 2:11
There’s not a single answer for that. I mean, for me, I’m the same way. I come into the office, I have music playing all day, I cannot work in silence. It just doesn’t, it doesn’t work for me.
Don Mock 2:21
Well, full transparency, folks. We got music going in my office, music going in your office.
Rob Broadfoot 2:25
Yeah.
Don Mock 2:25
Then, the studios got music going.
Rob Broadfoot 2:27
Right.
Don Mock 2:28
Yeah. So, everywhere we walk.
Rob Broadfoot 2:31
Sometimes, I’ll align with the studio.
Don Mock 2:36
This is true.
Rob Broadfoot 2:36
And sync up.
Don Mock 2:37
Sometimes, too, I will admit. That when I hop off a call, I’ll hear what’s happening in your office, and I’ll just keep my music off to jam to whatever’s happening, from your office, across the wire.
Rob Broadfoot 2:47
Is it a cacophony of sounds.
Don Mock 2:48
Yeah, absolutely. Cacophony. Not a great speed metal band. Very bad.
Rob Broadfoot 2:52
Oh, no.
Don Mock 2:53
Marty Friedman.
Rob Broadfoot 2:54
Not a good name for a band.
Don Mock 2:56
Well, it doesn’t make it sound like the music is good to listen to.
Rob Broadfoot 2:59
No, It just sounds technical.
Don Mock 3:00
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Alright, so back to the question.
Rob Broadfoot 3:03
Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, wow. This is a lame answer, but it totally depends on what I’m working on. It also depends on the time of day.
Don Mock 3:13
Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 3:13
So, no, generally speaking, I’m not coming in, in the morning and cranking Sepulturah.
Don Mock 3:18
Yeah. Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 3:19
Mornings, I would say are generally reserved for either some type of Acoustic Americana. A lot of that sort of Americana singer..
Don Mock 3:21
Singer songwriter, kind of stuff?
Rob Broadfoot 3:32
Singer songwriter stuff.
Don Mock 3:33
Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 3:34
Afternoons, if I need a little buzz, then I’ll throw on something heavier. But, then I’m also like, Spotify, dial me up an 80’s hair metal ballad playlist.
Don Mock 3:49
Yeah, just give me the mix, you know?
Rob Broadfoot 3:50
Yeah.
Don Mock 3:51
Don’t make me think about it, you know.
Rob Broadfoot 3:52
So, I don’t think there’s a real formula for what gets me going. But, it also kind of depends on the type of project.
Don Mock 3:58
Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 3:59
If it’s something, if I’m doing conceptual work, then I’ll probably put on something a little more off the beaten.
Don Mock 4:07
Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 4:07
I may drop into like an old ministry, even.
Don Mock 4:10
Yeah, interesting.
Rob Broadfoot 4:10
Or something strange.
Don Mock 4:12
Okay. Wow.
Rob Broadfoot 4:12
I don’t know.
Don Mock 4:13
Alright, yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 4:15
But, again.
Don Mock 4:15
It’s eclectic.
Rob Broadfoot 4:18
It’s all over the place. I do lean, and I know you do, too. I do lean towards the metal.
Don Mock 4:24
Yeah, I am, i’m pretty consistent metal from morning till dawn.
Rob Broadfoot 4:29
You rock. You rock.
Don Mock 4:30
Then what will happen is, i’ll have a flip out session, and I will go Yacht rock, just full on, like a day full of Yacht rock.
Rob Broadfoot 4:31
Sure.
Don Mock 4:31
There’s definitely a place in the world for that. Then, the problem I have with some of the Spotify mixes, you like this band, and it does this generator, whatever. You’ve probably heard me say this, once or twice a week for 15 years. I will suddenly blurt out what the hell am I listening to?
Rob Broadfoot 4:59
Yeah, oh yeah.
Don Mock 4:59
You know, it starts off like, I’m making this up. I started off Oingo Boingo, and then went into some other 80’s thing and now I’ve got some best of the 80’s, and then it’s devolved into, I don’t know what the hell am I listening to?
Rob Broadfoot 5:12
How did I get to Rammstein?
Don Mock 5:14
Yeah, exactly.
Rob Broadfoot 5:15
Or Oingo Boingo.
Don Mock 5:15
Yeah. It’s like, alright, stop. Full reboot, you know? But, I’m pretty consistent. There’s not a lot of metal being played at my house, if that makes any sense, right? I mean, I’ve got..
Rob Broadfoot 5:16
Oh, there’s not?
Don Mock 5:16
No, no, that’s not on volume 11. So the metal stays at work. Then, drink a nice delicious cup of coffee, and then get rockin and rollin, and get the energy level and, throw in some Metallica. Thrown in some Pantera, Anthrax, Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden is probably my favorite band of all time. Gotta love the artwork with the Iron Maiden. That’s about as metal as it gets. I would say as metal as you get from a visual aesthetic, but not necessarily as metal as it gets from an actual music perspective. From a music perspective, I don’t know if you would agree. I’d say Maiden is probably the lightest of all metal bands, very operatic..
Rob Broadfoot 6:04
Very operatic.
Don Mock 6:04
Very theatrical.
Rob Broadfoot 6:06
Yeah, I mean, and I think also too..
Don Mock 6:10
But, they look heavy as can be. They look like they’re gonna come to your house and eat your kids. But, they don’t play that way.
Rob Broadfoot 6:16
Yeah. It’s also interesting, too, because we all have instruments in our various offices.
Don Mock 6:22
Good point.
Rob Broadfoot 6:23
And dwellings. So, that’s kind of been somewhat of a recent thing. But, we all, were wannabe musicians maybe in a past life.
Don Mock 6:32
Sure.
Rob Broadfoot 6:33
So, Donald, slappin’ a bass.
Don Mock 6:35
Yeah, that’s for sure.
Rob Broadfoot 6:36
In his office every now and again. I’ll pick up the guitars in the office and kind of noodle around a little bit, too. So, that provides a nice creative. It’s just a nice breakup.
Don Mock 6:46
Well, when I was a kid. And by a kid, I mean, a teenager. Everybody wanted to be the next Eddie Van Halen. So, I found everybody I knew play guitar.
Rob Broadfoot 7:14
Right.
Don Mock 6:53
Everybody had already been playing guitar, if that makes any sense? So, it was like, I’m gonna play bass. I’m gonna learn how to play bass, and stay on the rhythm side of life. That way I can play with all my different friends that have different musical tastes, right? And call it the cheat sheet to getting into playing a little bit easier to play, potentially. But, then some versatility there.
Rob Broadfoot 7:33
Sure.
Don Mock 7:14
With playing out. So, I think also, music is a very creative form of expression, right? So, I think it ties into drawing. It ties into photography. It ties into literally the fabric of our everyday life, you know, music. So, it has been nice to sort of throw some amps in the office and throw some guitars and basses around, and then take, call it a ten minute, five minute little creative break, and learn how to play a song. You know what I mean? Like, wow, was just rocking to this, whatever. Oh, I wonder how they play that. Figure it out and play along for a couple minutes. Then, get back to work. It’s a nice little, call it the modern day, cigarette break, if you will, right? Nice, little ten minute recharge the batteries.
Rob Broadfoot 8:00
The batteries.
Don Mock 8:01
I think music is a very important part of the creative process. It’s also really interesting, when you learn how to play an instrument, and not that I’m a master by any stretch, you listen to music differently too.
Rob Broadfoot 8:16
Oh, absolutely.
Don Mock 8:16
You isolate the different parts of the music, then create what the song is, you know what I mean? And I’m sure you had this, and probably still have this, we’re like, my Lord, that song is impossible to play, and I have the utmost appreciation.
Rob Broadfoot 8:31
Right.
Don Mock 8:31
Then you’re like, oh my God, that is the easiest song on Earth to play.
Rob Broadfoot 8:34
Right.
Don Mock 8:34
That’s what makes it so great.
Rob Broadfoot 8:36
Right.
Don Mock 8:36
You know what I mean? I wonder if there’s any analogies to visual design or advertising along those lines as well?
Rob Broadfoot 8:42
Well, there is. I’ll tell you what it is. So, a lot of times, and we’ll pick on advertising. I think this holds true, it crosses over into graphic design work as well. But, I think about advertising, headlines, ideas, whatever, but often it’s the simplest ideas that are the strongest ones. You mentioned in yesterday’s podcast about, or the other day’s podcast, about the Jordan ad, right? Drawn on a napkin and it was..
Don Mock 9:11
Jordon one, gravity zero.
Rob Broadfoot 9:13
Jordan, and gravity one, Jordan zero.
Don Mock 9:16
Yeah, or the opposite.
Rob Broadfoot 9:17
That’s what? Oh, yeah.
Don Mock 9:19
Jordon one, gravity zero.
Rob Broadfoot 9:20
Yeah, exactly.
Don Mock 9:21
You know what we’re talking about.
Rob Broadfoot 9:22
The idea was so good, I totally messed it up.
Don Mock 9:26
It was too simple.
Rob Broadfoot 9:27
The point being, it’s the simplest ideas that are often the most impactful, and have the greatest impact and resonate. I think songs are kind of the same way. I mean, you look at some artists like Tom Petty, right? Tremendously popular.
Don Mock 9:43
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 9:43
All of his stuff is very, very simple.
Don Mock 9:45
Three chords and the truth.
Rob Broadfoot 9:46
Three chords and the truth, right? And I think a lot of that, juxtapose to something like Zeppelin, which is much more complex music, but still also resonates incredibly. But, a lot of times, I think simple ideas, simple concepts are often the strongest.
Don Mock 10:03
Yeah. Agreed.
Rob Broadfoot 10:04
So, I think you do see that. I think you do see that in music.
Don Mock 10:07
Yeah, but a lot of times it’s hard to get to the simple place, right?
Rob Broadfoot 10:12
It’s the hardest part.
Don Mock 10:13
Yeah, we think about the arrow in the FedEx logo, right?
Rob Broadfoot 10:19
Yeah.
Don Mock 10:21
Man, half the world probably doesn’t even know the things there, you know what I mean? But, that’s also kind of the fun and the beauty of that logo, right?
Rob Broadfoot 10:27
Right.
Don Mock 10:28
So yeah, is the complexity to make it simple.
Rob Broadfoot 10:33
Yep.
Don Mock 10:33
Music, I think, it’s a wonderful part of everyone’s lives. Definitely a wonderful, and any agency and creative firm, whether they’re playing music in the studio, or somebody’s got their earbuds in is listening to something to jam along. Go to any advertising design school. Everybody’s rocking the tunes. I will say funny enough that we’re recording a podcast, I do find it hard to listen to podcasts, sometimes, when I’m doing creative exercises.
Rob Broadfoot 10:33
I can’t do it.
Don Mock 10:34
Because..
Rob Broadfoot 10:35
I have to concentrate.
Don Mock 10:55
That’s what I was gonna ask you, is when it’s too much spoken word, right? I want to listen to that story, and then I will find myself drifting into that, versus the creation that I’m supposed to be doing.
Rob Broadfoot 11:15
Yeah, I can’t do that.
Don Mock 11:18
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 11:19
Alright. Well, good chat. Let’s end with the final question. What was, if you had to pick one concert, your one show that you went to, that was your most memorable show, for whatever reason?
Don Mock 11:31
For whatever reason.
Rob Broadfoot 11:31
For whatever reason. Most memorable show, what would you pick?
Don Mock 11:34
I want to go Clash of the Titans. Cow Palace, San Francisco. I couldn’t even tell you what year that was, maybe ’90, ’91? It was Alice In Chains. It was four metal bands. So, I’m holding true to my metal roots. Alice In Chains on the Facelift album. Then we went to Slayer on the Seasons in the Abyss. Then, we went to Anthrax on Persistence, the time, and then the headliner, Megadeth on Ruston Peace. Four absolutely incredible thrash albums that absolutely gets the blood pumping.
Rob Broadfoot 12:06
A lot of attractive women at those shows.
Don Mock 12:09
Well, the lights were off most of the time. Cow Palace being.
Rob Broadfoot 12:13
Bunch of sweaty dudes running around, boucin’ around. Moshin’.
Don Mock 12:16
It was pretty intense.
Rob Broadfoot 12:17
I’m sure.
Don Mock 12:17
That was pretty intense. That was pretty loud. But, that was an amazing show. And that’s back when I had the energy to make it through four bands. Now, my concert, my festival days are over. I still love going to shows, but I’m a one or two band kind of guy now. So that’s the first one that pops in my mind. I might have to think about it some more. But, that’s alright, flip flop right back at you.
Rob Broadfoot 12:40
I think probably my, and this is an interesting answer, because, I would say the show that sticks out the most for me, honestly, is Mark Knopfler at Chasteen park, that I saw with my dad.
Don Mock 12:54
Okay.
Rob Broadfoot 12:55
The reason being and I’m a Mark Knopfler fan. He’s a guitar player. I’m a guitar player. He’s amazing. Brothers in Arms is an amazing album. Dire Straits as a band, is fantastic.
Don Mock 13:06
Sure.
Rob Broadfoot 13:06
Not one of my favorite bands by any stretch of the imagination. Something about that show, Chastain Park is a local venue. It’s a pretty small outdoor amphitheater.
Don Mock 13:06
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 13:06
Perfect night outside, which was great. And there was something about his live ability to play.
Don Mock 13:25
Interesting.
Rob Broadfoot 13:25
For whatever reason on that particular night for me anyway. I was there with my dad, and it was just this incredible..
Don Mock 13:25
All the feels?
Rob Broadfoot 13:26
All the feels.
Don Mock 13:32
That’s cool.
Rob Broadfoot 13:36
And walking out of there going I don’t know what I just saw, but that was insane.
Don Mock 13:42
Was he a great performer?
Rob Broadfoot 13:43
Yeah, and I think part of it is, he’s kind of known for, he doesn’t play with the pick. He does everything with his fingers.
Don Mock 13:52
Okay, interesting.
Rob Broadfoot 13:53
So, if you think about the great solo in Sultans Of Swing, which is probably one of his..
Don Mock 13:58
Most well known tunes.
Rob Broadfoot 13:59
Most well known songs. That solo is absolutely amazing. Compound that with the fact that he plays it with his fingers.
Don Mock 14:04
Yeah, that’s incredible.
Rob Broadfoot 14:05
Just seeing him do that live, and that kind of goes to what you talked about. Which is, when you play an instrument, you you hear things differently, or you see them differently, or whatever the case may be. But that was big. That was probably big highlights.
Don Mock 14:16
That’s cool. Well, I think the technical ability, or the the music is actually, for me, different than the performance, right? Because, I’ve been doing, Lenny Kravitz, for me is a fantastic performer. Whether you like his music, or songs, or any of that stuff. It’s entertaining. He’s running all over the place. He’s in the crowd. He’s up. He’s down, you know? Yeah, exactly. Iron Maiden puts on a ridiculous theatrical performance, whether you love the music or not. So, that’s an interesting answer. You just get all the feels. I love that.
Rob Broadfoot 14:47
Alright, everybody. Well, as always, you know where to find us on the internet’s and interwebs at mocktheagency.com, and of course, on all the socials @mocktheagency. I said it last time, and I’ll say it again. Feel free to leave us a review if you’re so inclined.
Don Mock 15:04
Yeah.
Rob Broadfoot 15:04
Preferably positive.
Don Mock 15:05
Five stars only.
Rob Broadfoot 15:06
But, be honest with what you got, and if there’s anything you would be interested in hearing us talk about, let us know.
Don Mock 15:12
Email us some questions.
Rob Broadfoot 15:13
Yeah.
Don Mock 15:14
Or thoughts.
Rob Broadfoot 15:15
And we’ll make it happen.
Don Mock 15:16
Alright, thanks everybody.
Rob Broadfoot 15:17
Until next time.
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