E205 A(nother) Conversation with Keith Wallen of Breaking Benjamin

>> KC: You're listening to The Itch. My name is KC.

>> Dan: My name is Dan.

>> Aaron: My name is Aaron, and I did not think about what itch we were scratching, so I'm going to make it up right now, in the moment. We're scratching the itch to run it back. That's what we're doing this time, running it back. Yeah, we've got a repeat guest, a guy coming on for the second time. And that is one Keith Wallen, who you may know from Breaking Benjamin or you may know from his solo stuff, which we've now had two opportunities to speak with him about.

>> Dan: Yeah, we're definitely excited about this one, obviously, as much as the last one, but this one… almost with every album, every artist, they kind of mature and they find their sound, they kind of find their lane. And I do feel like he's definitely finding his lane as a solo artist.

>> KC: With our last interview, it was kind of funny because we were talking about his solo stuff, but it had been almost a year since he'd released it. This one, however, we got to hear super early, and it still won't come out until May. So…

>> Aaron: That's right. We saw Keith on the boat, on Shiprocked, and spoke with him, like, the week after we got back. A few days after we got back. The album, as KC mentioned, it's called Infinity Now, and it comes out May 3 on Rise Records. We were going to hold on to this episode and put it out at album release time, but it just felt weird to hang on to an episode from February all the way to May. So we're putting it out now, and we want to get a little shine, in advance of… you know. If you follow us on the socials, you will see Keith Wallen content again. When this album comes out, we will be sharing and hyping that release up.

>> Dan: I'm really glad that we're pushing this episode out because we ran across him a lot when we were on Shiprocked, and he is the nicest guy. He will always make time to talk to you and take pictures and stuff. So, I was really glad that we got a chance to talk to him right after Shiprocked. So a lot of this conversation is kind of about that experience.

>> Aaron: He's very much a person who displays gratitude, which I think is a super valuable trait for a healthy human being. At the beginning of our interview, and I remember he did the same thing the first time, multiple times. He would just say, “Thank you,” basically, “for caring about my music and what I do and enough to invite me on here.” And I appreciate when artists do that, and we thank them as well for what they do for us.

>> Dan: That's always surprising to me because it's like, “You're welcome! Thank YOU, honestly, for taking the time out of your day.”

>> Aaron: Right. That's exactly how I feel. And we talked about it before. Even when you're part of a big rock band branching out on your own and doing solo stuff, it's still hard to gain traction. And so every bit of word spreading that you can get is still going to help.

>> Dan: Not everybody is Maynard that has, like a side project, like A Perfect Circle that just has instant hits, right off the bat.

>> KC: Well, and Keith has said in both interviews that we've done that he wants to create as much music as he can, while he can for as long as he can, and he's succeeding.

>> Dan: One of my favorite things, too, about this interview is I love hearing how artists come up with the stories and the inspiration behind their songs. And, man, he has some very interesting stories.

>> Aaron: I'm going to leave it at that. But that definitely was, I will say, the most interesting part of the conversation.

>> Dan: I loved hearing about that. It was awesome. So hope you guys get to enjoy that, too.

>> Aaron: Though the album doesn't come out until May, Keith did release a new single called “The Wolf.” It is out now that you can check out, and we highly recommend doing that. And he will also be out and about traversing the US. He'll be supporting Through Fire, basically up until album release time. And then after that, he's going to stay busy. He'll be around throughout the summer. So wherever you're at, check keithwallin.com, you can probably find a place near you that he's coming, if that's your thing.

>> KC: Yeah, so he's already released three singles off this album. He released “Strings,” and then he released “Headspace Holiday” while we were on the ship. And who knows, he'll probably release one or two more before the album comes out.

>> Aaron: And I will note, he mentioned in this conversation that some of the new songs stretched him and were more of a challenge vocally than things he'd done before. I will note from having seen him on Shiprocked and performing some of these new tracks that they hit really well. The new songs hit, in my opinion. They were the standouts of his live set, which bodes well, you know, for future live sets.

>> KC: I agree.

>> Dan: Yeah, I agree.

>> KC: Well, we were excited to chat with Keith again. And hopefully we'll get to chat with him again because he's just such an awesome guy to talk with. So, without any further ado, here's our conversation with Keith Wallen.

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>> Aaron: All right, we're here with multi-time Shiprocked survivor, Breaking Benjamin guitarist, all-around nice guy, and a man who now has two Itch interviews and two solo albums to his name. And that is one Keith Wallen. So, Keith, hey, man. Welcome back to the show. It's great to have you back.

>> Keith Wallen: Howdy. Howdy. Oh, man. So stoked to be here. So stoked to have survived yet another Shiprocked. Yeah, man. What an intro, by the way. I sound like such a seasoned pro.

>> Aaron: That's the idea. We didn't even get into all of the other... We talked about this in the first interview. I recommend people checking that out. We didn't even mention all the other songwriting credits and people you've worked with, probably many more since the last time we spoke. I think “seasoned” is a fair word.

>> Keith Wallen: Yeah. Or we could just say “old.” Why beat around the bush, man? Come on.

>> Aaron: I was going to go with “busy.” A man who uses his time well.

>> Dan: I figured we'd get to the hard pressing question right off the bat. So, which is more of an achievement: two Itch interviews or two solo albums?

>> Keith Wallen: I think they are neck and neck.

>> Aaron: That's what I want to hear. Well, I also gotta ask, so how many times have you survived Shiprocked? Is this just two, or am I missing more?

>> Keith Wallen: So, I did it once with Breaking Benjamin. I think we were there on 2017, and we did another cruise called Axes and Anchors the year before that. So, yeah, three Shiprocks, four cruises total, and a partridge and a pear tree.

>> Aaron: Nice.

>> Keith Wallen: Hopefully there'll be some more voyages in the future, because, I mean, I love it, man. it's such a cool thing. Shiprocked, especially. I feel like they have it so dialed every year. And the company that puts that on, Ask4, all the people that work there. for those guys. And Shiprocked, I mean, just world class. World class. I can't recommend it enough to anybody that's on the fence and thinking about doing a cruise, especially just like a rock cruise, like Shiprocked. It is a blast. And, I mean, I'm sure you guys can attest there's nothing like it.

>> Dan: Kind of curious, knowing that you have been on other rock other because I've actually talked about looking into them and seeing. But like you said, the Shiprocked with the lineup, the personnel, nothing seems to top it. So in your opinion, how does Shiprocked compare to the other previous cruise, that you guys did?

>> Keith Wallen: Yeah, I only have one other one to compare it to and it was great. Not to knock the other one at all. I mean, that was my first cruise experience, period. it's kind of a similar kind of format, right? You got bands on a boat, they're scheduled to play. There's little excursions, you stop off places. So for the first time doing that, I was just kind of in awe. I was like, “This is my first cruise. This is amazing. This is so cool.” So they did a great job too, but the more… the last few times that I've done the cruise has been Shiprocked. And, the more and more just, I appreciate just working with those guys, being invited to come and play as an artist and really just being taken care of. It's great. And more so, this as well. This is another kind of a differentiating factor there with the cruises is the community, the Shiprocked... It's a family, really. I mean, it is. those guys on the boat, all of them, I hear from them all the time throughout the year. They're so supportive of my music. They'll be at other festivals like Inkarceration, all kinds of different things. And they're all kind of like getting together and taking pictures. The Shiprocked crew. It's just a cool thing and, we need more of that kind of thing in the world. And in music in general, I feel like. It's just great. It's just a great thing.

>> KC: And I agree with what you said about a lot of people should try and do it, but it's kind of funny. You can kind of tell the people that don't really like the vibe of the boat or the vibe of the people always surrounding you. but you're definitely an outgoing person that thrives in that environment. So kudos to you to do it.

>> Keith Wallen: I appreciate it. It's funny, I don't think of myself as outgoing. I don't know, maybe in my advanced years, maybe I've become outgoing, but, yeah, I don't know, it's just cool. I definitely know what you're talking about. I feel like maybe some artists are... Maybe they feel like there's nowhere to go and they can't really escape. But I think that really, sets Shiprocked apart where you're on a boat with all these fans and all these people. Everybody there is all on the same kind of mind frame. Is that like, “Hey, we're all here to enjoy music and to enjoy this experience.” And everyone is very just polite. I feel like they don't ever overstep any bounds or cross any lines or anything. I feel like they're very cognizant of the fact that, hey, we're on this boat with different artists, and they're very respectful. So, I think that, to me, that's what really has made it just amazing, is just how great the people are. And you got to be kind of down for that, too. You got to know kind of what to expect. You could be in the middle of a bite, like, “Hey, Keith, can I… ?” Like, sure! I saw many of people at the soft serve stand over and over again all day. Yeah, I miss that, too. [Laughs]

>> KC: The soft serve and the pizza stand.

>> Aaron: All day, every day. I want to make sure we do have plenty of time to get to your new album is about to come out called Infinity Now. But I want to stick on this topic a little bit, because obviously, we were just on this boat together last week, and Shiprocked has been a major point of conversation for us. This is actually a follow up to our episode recapping it. So to continue that thread a little bit, I want to get into a couple of the kind of questions we were curious about, as goers to an artist, about their experience. One, the famous story of this particular cruise was the crazy day in Jamaica. And I know that one of the big deals was a lot of shows got canceled or rescheduled because bands were split between being on the boat and being stranded on the island for a number of hours. I'm curious of what your experience with that was, because I know you had at least one band member who was on shore.

>> Keith Wallen: I did, yeah. obviously, look, there's no, accounting for acts of God. And so I think from the very first day, it was a little rainy, there was a little bit of weather to deal with. Obviously, when we got to Jamaica, there were high winds. The boat is such a huge surface area to be caught by. It's just a giant solid sail, you know, I think that was a difficult thing, and there was some issues there, and people were on the island. Some people were kind of still on the boat. I was one of the ones that was still on the boat. and it was a little rocky, you definitely feel the motion of the ocean, let's say.

>> Dan: You were with me at the pool. We watched it slosh back and forth.

>> Keith Wallen: Yeah, it was wild. But I can't give enough credit to both Carnival and Ask4, the Shiprocked people for kind of handling that. Granted, I was on the boat. I think there was some stuff that kind of happened on the island that was kind of maybe a little dodgy and not, as satisfactory as people might expect.

>> Aaron: Less pleasant, yeah.

>> Keith Wallen: Yeah. But, hey, it's a different country. There's different things. There's all kinds of different scenarios there.

>> KC: Different KFC.

>> Keith Wallen: Yeah, I heard about that, too. But as far as the scheduling, that had to be such a nightmare to try and reschedule bands that whatever had to be canceled. Like I said, with the weather, just to start off, like with the rain, there'd be bands playing on the deck and it would just start pouring on them and they'd have to just pull them. So it's like, you don't want to just be like, “Well, hey, hell yeah. I saw so and so. They played four great songs. That's the band that I came to the cruise to see.” So I think they did a great job trying their best to reschedule and move things around, because that had to be such a nightmare. I mean, it's hard enough keeping my own schedule or your own schedule, like, “Oh, I'm going to go see this band,” and then that changes and you're like, “Good Lord.” So, on the band side of things, it was hard, too. And obviously I was doing the Stowaways, too, and there was rehearsals scheduled. So then the rehearsals were moving around, and then it was like, “Oh, we have to show.” And then I had my own shows. So they did a good job of making sure that everybody had their set time and their replacement time and really had a chance to perform because once that stuff kind of happened on the boat, I was like, “Am I even going to play?” I didn't know what to expect. So really, major kudos and props to them just trying to keep everybody safe and get the schedule going. Once we got through that, it was like, “Boom, we're back to normal, baby!” The weather cleared up, bands all played, and it was awesome.

>> KC: Yeah. Real quickly, we wanted to, commend you on your Stowaways performances, and, also we were thrilled because, we are really well connected to Eva. And so when you did a song with her, that made us really happy to see that.

>> Keith Wallen: I appreciate it. Yeah, that was a fun one, “Don't Fear the Reaper.” Lots of cowbells.

>> Aaron: Oh, you were wilding out on those cowbells!

>> Keith Wallen: I mean, finally I was like, “Give me that thing!”

>> Aaron: Yeah, that was fun.

>> Keith Wallen: It was a good time, for sure.

>> Aaron: For those who aren't aware, just a little extra context here. Keith is in a unique position on this cruise. What you usually have is performers as well as Stowaways, where performers usually being the whole act and a Stowaway being usually like a member of a band. Keith was actually both, had his own solo sets as well as performing with the Stowaway set. So that's kind of a... You got to double dip a lot. It's pretty cool.

>> Keith Wallen: Yeah, it was fun. And back to what you were saying. Eva Under Fire. Those guys are awesome. And she is amazing. It's funny, when you're on the boat, you kind of run into the same people, and then other times, you just don't even see another person that you might think that… you know they're on the boat, but you never see them. it was like that with me and them. I would see them all the time, and me and Amanda, if we'd just be like, “Oh, my gosh, here we are! Cool. Have a seat. Let’s eat.” It gave us a chance to kind of talk over how we were going to sing the song, too, so it worked out great.

>> Dan: The last thing I really wanted to touch base on with Shiprocked is that this year was a completely different experience for you. Last year, you kind of played like a solo, like, acoustic, atrium set. This year, you had your band, you were able to play the deck, you're able to play theater. And so I wanted to kind of ask you, what was that experience like, being able to, especially being able to play your new songs? Because, by the way, they sounded great. Hearing them live, I was super excited about that. So what was that experience like, being able to not only play with your band, but also to get to play the new stuff?

>> Keith Wallen: Man. and I think I said this on the microphone, it really was a dream. It was a dream come true, honestly. I mean, I think since I've been coming to Shiprocked, you look at that stage on the top of the boat and you're just like, “Man, that'd be so cool to play that.” But, yeah, last year they had me. It was an honor to be included, on Shiprocked as a solo artist. And apart from Breaking Benjamin, not only just as a Stowaway, but as my own entity, as an artist, which was super, just, important for me and really, amazing. So to go from the atrium and then to come back with my full band was something I was really super excited for. And then obviously playing the deck stage and the theater, I mean, it was a thrill. And having my band with me and just coinciding with having some of these new songs be coming out and the album coming out, it's been amazing. The new ones are really fun to play. They're hard to play. I will say that you go in the studio and you record this stuff and you're just like, “Yeah, I'm going to push the envelope here with my voice!” And then when it comes down to rehearsing it and thinking, “Oh, shit, I have to do this every night, potentially. I fucked myself. This is not good.”

>> Aaron: Would you say these new songs are harder, in that regard, than from your previous album?

>> Keith Wallen: I think there's some things that's harder to sing, for sure.

>> Aaron: Okay.

>> Keith Wallen: But then again, there were some songs on my first album where I was like, “Why did I do this?” And then I got used to singing them, so maybe I just got to get used to them. 

>> Aaron: There you go. 

>> Keith Wallen: Yeah, I think I'll learn where to breathe and all that stuff. That was a long form answer to your question. It was absolutely thrilling. That's the short version.

>> Aaron: Also, quick shout out to your bass player, who we saw him and his family constantly on the boat, and who was the winner of the final bingo game. That was a big deal.

>> Keith Wallen: I heard about that. Yeah. I was like, “Dude, that's great!” I was like, “Now I don't have to pay you! That’s great!” [Laughs]

>> Aaron: He took home his own payday on the ship!

>> Keith Wallen: Lou is an amazing musician, an absolutely great, amazing, bass player, a great producer, writer. He's got a studio down in Florida where he lives, Fish Tank Recordings. And he does a lot of work, with some different artists. An amazing vocalist, too. Just a really great musician and a great, person, to have a part of all this. So, yeah, shout out to Lou.

>> Aaron: For sure.

>> Dan: It was great hearing the new songs. One of the new songs that definitely stood out for me was “Strings” and also your single, “Headspace Holiday.” I was just really excited to hear those, live and just get them. They were great because we got a chance to listen to the album beforehand, and those definitely were the songs that stuck out. And so I was really curious how they would convert to live, and they sounded great.

>> Keith Wallen: I appreciate it.

>> Dan: So even if they're that hard to play. You still did a phenomenal job.

>> Keith Wallen: Sweet! I love hearing that, because that shit’s hard!

>> KC: I saw both sets, and both sets were great.

>> Keith Wallen: Thank you.

>> KC: And I made a point to catch up with you after the deck set because the last track on the album, which I know hasn't been released yet and probably won't until the album is released. but “Dear Father,” when we're listening through it, the first time, that one really got me because the day before it was, would have been my dad's 65th birthday, and he passed away about 18 years ago. So when I heard that track, I listened to that track, like, five, six times. So great job with that.

>> Keith Wallen: I appreciate that, man. I'm so sorry to hear that. Yeah, I lost my father. Gosh. 1999. So it's been a while, like yourself. It's been a minute. Yeah, I kind of shied away from kind of talking about it or writing anything about it. but I feel like on this album, I kind of opened myself up a little bit more and just really kind of talked about some things that I wouldn't want to talk about. And I think that, what better way to really just find therapy than through music. And also there's a story that kind of relates to this as well. So, this was maybe 2015, I had an experience with ayahuasca. Which, if you're not familiar, it's kind of a psychedelic drug, that is usually taken in the Amazon. People will go down there and they will do these kind of ceremonies with a shaman. And you take this drug and it's DMT, and it's supposed to be very therapeutic and just helps you deal with all kinds of different addiction, trauma, all kinds of benefits. Again, I'm not a doctor, so, disclaimer. Disclaimer.

>> Aaron: This is an anecdote, not an endorsement so far.

>> Keith Wallen: Exactly. So this was something I was really curious about. and I had the opportunity to kind of try it. And, man, I saw all kinds of things. I mean, I saw. The very first thing I saw was a wolf face. Just like right in my face. The very first thing. I mean, literally five minutes into this thing. I closed my eyes and I was like, “Okay, I don't see any... I don't know if I'm feeling anything.” And then I closed my eyes again, and there was just a giant yellow eyeball, and it slowly panned back, and it was like a wolf's face just looking at me. So I was like, “Holy shit, this stuff’s wild!” So it was definitely a journey. but how this relates to “Dear Father”… There's some lines in that song, “a silhouette through time and space” that is a specific thing and something that I experienced when I was in that kind of cosmic trip that I was experiencing. At some point, I saw this just light, and there's like this flash in front of this light. And I know it sounds so cliche, “light at the end of the tunnel and stuff,” but I really did. I saw this. There was like a figure walking in front of a light, and then the figure just stopped and then just kind of came toward me and stood there between me and the light. And it was just like this golden silhouette. And I was like, “Wow, is this my father, maybe?” I felt like this incredible feeling of just euphoria and just being grateful that I decided to try this ayahuasca. And it was really just a moving moment for me and I remembered it and I kind of tried to tap into that feeling and that experience in a lot of these songs, a lot of these different songs. I mean, “Infinity,” definitely there's some psychedelic inspiration in that one. But, yeah, man. But no, I'm really grateful, that that song struck a chord, man. It's a tough thing dealing with the loss of loved ones. You want to believe that even though they're not here in the physical form, they're still around and they're still kind of keeping an eye on you. And that goes for me and my father, and I'm sure it goes for you and your father. You want to believe that they're kind of watching over you. And my dad never got a chance to really see… He saw me perform. He saw me, kind of learn how to play guitar and just the formative years of me being a musician, but he never saw the concerts like this or out with Breaking Benjamin or any of the stuff that I've accomplished, I guess, over the last 20 some years. So that's been tough, but I want to believe that he knows. 

>> KC: The feeling is mutual.

>> Dan: I'm glad that we're talking about this because one of the things I wanted to discuss about the album, Infinity Now, is the kind of the themes and the messages throughout it. And it's really funny because I take pride in trying to come up with original questions for these interviews. We do our research and we actually sit and kind of nail these questions out the night before usually. We've been asking some of our fans to give us assistance with questions. And one of our fans, Angie, had the same exact question as I did. So I was a little hurt that I wasn't so unique. But, the one thing I kind of wanted to say is I interpreted the first couple of songs, especially the single off the new album, that you're not really wanting to be attached. You're kind of looking for an escape. Something we can definitely all relate to. So I'm just kind of curious. And Angie is as well. What message are you hoping that people pick up on or take away from the album?

>> Keith Wallen: Yeah, I think, to me, that's an easy question to answer. I think that, with the state of the world and the state of how just things are, social media, media itself, even music, I think there's just so many agendas that are just kind of shoved down our throats, and we're expected to kind of acquiesce to just so many different things. And I feel like with my music, one of my main goals, not just with this album, but just my music in general, I just want to be a part of the escape from any kind of socioeconomic, geopolitical crap that's out there. Anything that we're kind of, like, expected to just follow along blindly to, and even “String” specifically, it's like just freedom of thought. So, yeah, that's it. I want my music to be the escape from all the expectations and all the things.

>> Aaron: You can tell you're into. You're very much, thematically, like, exploring these concepts of, I don't know, space and time and whatnot. Even just the titles of the album. This one. And your first was This World or the Next. These kind of concepts of, I don't know, where we fit into this idea of eternity and the shortness... Yeah. It's hard even to explain because it's just a wide thing to be exploring, is really what it is. It's not necessarily, “Here is the message I want you to accept from me.”

>> Keith Wallen: It is pretty wide, for sure.

>> Aaron: Right. “The vastness of time and space and the exploration of where we are in it.”

>> Keith Wallen: But that's stuff that, I think about. I know it's out there. I know it is really out there. And obviously, I'm guilty of being a fan of sci-fi things. A lot of that stuff you think about, like Star Wars and Star Trek and sci-fi all that stuff, like… How amazing would it be to just be able to explore different places out in universe? Maybe that's something that could happen in the future. And you always believe, like, man, humanity can evolve that far to accomplish such an amazing thing like that. You hold out hope for that. But also, I think about my life, what it is to exist, what it is to love and what is really important in this world and what's important to have and share with each other. I think about that stuff sometimes. It’s definitely inspiring to me. And again, I know we've kind of touched on this, and it's kind of been the theme of this episode, if you will. But aging. The older you get, you think about your mortality, and more and more people that you know or knew pass away. And, you think about that, too. And it's such a hard thing to have something or someone in your life and for it to go away and for you to not have it anymore, it's very hard to deal with. And I wrestle with that constantly. But again, I try to hold out hope that there is some kind of… granted, I know I sound wild, but… you hold out hope that there is some kind of energy transference, that there is something that goes on and still is there. So, I really want to believe that.

>> KC: Yeah, agreed.

>> Dan: I have one last, really kind of off the wall question for you.

>> Keith Wallen: Hey, my answers have been off the wall, so...

>> Dan: We got just a little bit of time, so I'll try to make it quick.

>> Aaron: We got four minutes, so I don't want us to get cut off either.

>> Dan: But I was perusing the merch room on Shiprocked when I came across a shirt that looked like it was covered in Nickelodeon slime. But I realized there was actually writing on it. On further examination, I did come to conclusion it did say “Keith Wallen” on it, which I thought was hilarious to me, that, a non–metal band had the most metal shirt. So, was it your decision to go with that font?

>> Keith Wallen: Hell yeah.

>> Aaron: That's the answer I want. 

>> Keith Wallen: Just because my music isn't, per se, exactly hitting the nail on the head for metal doesn't mean I don't have metal in my heart.

>> Aaron: There you go.

>> Dan: Perfect. Nice.

>> Aaron: And now in your name.

>> Keith Wallen: Exactly. Got to do the metal logo.

>> Dan: Yeah, it took a minute to figure out that was your name. I had to sit there because even my wife was like, who is that shirt? I was like, “Keith Wallen! It's Keith Wallen. That’s it.”

>> Keith Wallen: Oh, yeah.

>> Aaron: You know, Keith, I would love to know another entire interview talking just about these ideas of mortality and all these things. This is the deep stuff that I love to talk about and I'm always sad whenever we only get to kind of touch the surface of it. But, alas, as time works, we are running out of it, and so we'll have to save that for another time. But at this particular moment in time, we're very excited for you with Infinity Now coming out, us getting to, again, hear and see some of those songs live in advance. So, we're out here. This album comes out in May, and we're going to have this published a couple of months before that. We're already going to be pushing for people to check that out. We appreciate what you do and the way that you're able to stay faithful to who you want to be, while also finding growing success overall with it.

>> Keith Wallen: Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I really appreciate you guys. It's an interesting thing doing this whole solo thing. I’ve got the Breaking Benjamin, and I'm trying to kind of still do that also, but finding my own path with what I want to say. And I can't thank you guys enough for just giving me a platform here to talk about it, and for just all the support, man, seriously.

>> Aaron: Absolutely.

>> Dan: We appreciate it.

>> Aaron: All right, we're going to wrap up here.

>> Dan: Yeah. Thank you very much for listening to The Itch podcast. My name is Dan.

>> KC: I'm KC.

>> Aaron: And I'm Aaron.

>> Keith Wallen: And I'm Keith!

>> Dan: And until next time, “Living isn't living if I can't live free. You won't tie your strings on me.”

>> Keith Wallen: Boom.

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>> Aaron: If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please subscribe and tell a friend about The Itch.

>> KC: Check out the show notes for links about the episode, as well as our new music playlist and where you can hear us every Sunday night.

>> Dan: And you can interact with us at itchrocks.com. Or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Gmail. All at itchrocks. I t c h r o c k s.

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>> Aaron: I just wrote out a fun little intro. Would one of you guys want to deliver it, or you want me to handle it?

>> KC: Go for it.

>> Keith Wallen: Also, before we begin, I just want to say, guys, thank you so much for giving me the time and having me. I appreciate it.

>> Aaron: Oh, yeah.

>> Dan: Thank you. The feeling's mutual. Trust me.

>> Aaron: Once we got the email noting that you had enough other album coming out, we're like, “Oh, we got to get Keith back on here then! The time is now.”