120: Warren Zeiders: Collegiate Athlete to Country Music Star

In this episode, I sit down with Warren Zeiders — American country music singer/songwriter and a Hershey, PA native — to talk about the real work behind his rise from lacrosse player to chart-topping country artist. Warren shares how a viral video sparked his career, the battles he fought to stay true to himself, and the role family played in keeping him grounded. This is a conversation that focuses in on holding the line when the pressure to change is at its highest. CHAPTERS: 05:20 The Highs and Lows of Performing 12:07 Balancing Success and Personal Life 22:29 Fitness and Health Journey 29:58 Diet and Nutrition on Tour 36:42 Hometown Roots and Musical Beginnings 47:12 Discovering and Developing Musical Talent 53:55 Navigating Early Success and Record Deals 01:06:24 First Headlining Show and Early Performances 01:12:10 Viral Success and Original Music 01:30:31 Conclusion and Final Thoughts FOLLOW: Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 20% off FOR LIFE https://bpn.team/member IG: instagram.com/nickbarefitness/ http://instagram.com/nickbarefitness/ YT: youtube.com/@nickbarefitness http://youtube.com/@nickbarefitness

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Nick Bare?

  In today's episode of the podcast, I sit down with country artist Warren Zeiders. Now Warren is currently on tour for his new album. And he was playing a show in New Braunfels, Texas, which is right down the road from the Austin area. And funny enough, Warren and I grew up in neighboring towns. We didn't know each other or know of each other as you're growing up. I'm a little bit older than Warren. But as I was listening to some country music a couple of years ago, I came across Warren's music and I saw it on one of the albums. It was titled 717 Tapes.

• 0:45Nick Bare?

  Now, the reason that 717 is applicable is because that was my area code growing up. So to see those numbers together, it grabbed my attention. I did some research, found out that Warren Ziders was from Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is right next to Palmyra, Pennsylvania, where I grew up. So I reached out to Warren, we connected, we've talked back and forth a little bit over the years. I've enjoyed his music. I love a lot of his music. And as he was passing through Central Texas, I was like, you gotta stop by VPN HQ, let's record a podcast, let's sit down, let's connect, let's talk. So that's what we did.

• 1:28Nick Bare?

  So I welcome Warren Ziders onto the show.

• 1:38Nick Bare?

  Okay, today on the podcast, we have Warren Zeiders, another 717 boy. What's up, brother? I'm good, man, I'm good, 717 in the house. So you're on tour right now. For the Relapse, Lies and Betrayal album. You were at a Whitewater Amphitheater last night in New Braunfels. I want to talk about that because that is one of my favorite venues to go to. I was there my first time ever a few years ago to see Aaron Watson. Okay, yeah. Texas country boy. I loved that venue. And then there's this restaurant right around the corner, which I doubt you have the time to go to.

• 2:20Nick Bare?

  But there's like one restaurant that after shows, they sell these massive turkey legs. Okay. And like that for me is Texas in a nutshell. I mean, right now it's April, but you go to a concert there, July, August, you don't stop sweating the entire time. They got Lone Stars on tap, turkey legs afterwards. How's Texas been treating you on this tour?

• 2:46Speaker 01

  Texas has been good. We had two shows this past weekend here in Texas. Last night was my first time playing at that amphitheater. Great turnout of crowd. Every show's different. But I will say this much, last night, the way the venue's set up, you can't have a video wall, which is something new that we've added to my show and everything. So that was definitely something I missed for specifically the Ride the Lightning moment with all the lightning and stuff behind me. But nonetheless, it was a great show. It was honestly a great reset for me and my team. We've been, we've been burning the wick at both ends and yesterday was just a beautiful day out. We had been in New York for two days. We were in Minnesota past weekend. So it's been a

• 3:29Speaker 01

  lot of cold weather, doom and gloom, cloudy. So having the sun out yesterday was awesome. So we spent some time in the, in the water, in the cowboy pool at the venue. Yeah, it was, it was just kind of nice. We got a nice workout outside and hung out, played some cornhole, did the thing. So it was just, it was really good for team bonding and just to kind of reset, I think, just kind of regroup. So it was good.

• 3:56Nick Bare?

  Of all these shows you've done the past couple of years, what's been like your favorite geographic location to play? I mean, I've, I've seen you play, I saw you play at the Ryman, actually, in Nashville when me and Steph were, were living there. And that was a great show. Like I, we loved watching you perform there. But like for you, do you like the big, the big shows? Do you like the smaller venues? Like what brings a lot of life to you?

• 4:25Speaker 01

  Oh, man. I think for me is I love a big crowd. I do. And it's all about how the room's set up as well. And a lot of people like to play outside and like I like festival season. But for me, I love an arena because the way I describe it is, is that when you're playing outside and the fans are cheering and everything, the sound's going everywhere. There's nothing to capture that sound. So when you're playing in an arena, I describe it as the sound is trapped inside in the giant arena. So you can just, it's a vibe thing and I can feel the energy within the room. It's not going anywhere.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  It's hovering around you that entire show. So we just played, like I said, past weekend in Minnesota, which was my largest headlining show to date on one of my tours of 6,500 plus people. And it was absolutely insane. Ginormous G A floor. And it just felt like people were on top of me. So that was an awesome experience. And then just a few weeks ago, played the Houston rodeo in front of 65,000 people and you're in, call it in the round, where you're in the middle of the stadium on a stage that's spinning around and playing my hit song, Pretty Little Poison,

• 5:44Speaker 01

  in front of 65,000 people and hear them saying that. It's, it's very intoxicating. It's, it's hard to describe that energy. But if I had to say anything, put me in an arena, any day of the week, where I can just feel that energy, I'll pick an arena.

• 6:01Nick Bare?

  I can only imagine the energy of like, what that feels like. A few weeks back, we were at the University of Texas and we were just touring the athletic training facilities. And after the tour, they took us onto the football field. And I've been to UT football games before in the stands, watching the game. And that's like one way to experience it. But when they took me onto the field, walking out there and looking at the stands, which felt like miles away, I was just thinking, I can only imagine what this place feels like when it's

• 6:40Nick Bare?

  full and it's rocking and what that does to the energy. I can't imagine the high and what measures to that high anywhere else.

• 6:52Speaker 01

  It's a lot, man. My manager described this best to me when it's a drug you can't buy.

• 6:58Nick Bare?

  I believe that.

• 6:59Speaker 01

  And there's a reason why, you know, you look at the, the days of back in rock and roll, with people getting, you know, people having drug and alcohol issues is because you're trying to go, hence why we're here talking about working out and everything. It's like you find healthy things to go ahead and put the energy into. Because it can be, it can be very difficult to have that switch off and on. Because I'll say this much, I don't get nervous a lot going on stage, but when I played the Houston rodeo, I was in an SUV, they're about to drive me out to stage. And you're in this SUV and it was me and my tour manager and my content guy, my creative director. And I was like shaking, because you can hear the screams and the fireworks and the

• 7:42Nick Bare?

  You can feel it too.

• 7:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, you can just, it's like going through the tunnel at UT, going under that tunnel and fans screaming for you to come out and play. And I could just hear it all. And it was just like, I'm about to go play the largest show of my career to date and haven't even been touring for three years yet. I'm gonna go play in front of 65,000 people. And I gotta go out there and I gotta go make a statement and I gotta go show them why I don't deserve to be here, I earned this. You know, there's nothing in my opinion that's deserved in this life. We go out and earn it, we work for it. So, and I just needed that sense of normalcy. So I went ahead and said to my, my, my boy up front, my tour manager's like, put Nickel back on, put Nickel, I just, I need something that's comforting. Put it on.

• 8:24Speaker 01

  10 seconds later, I'm being driven out, I'm hopping on a stage and it's go time. But having that sense of normalcy and a comfort song coming on, just to get me hyped up for that moment was awesome. But yeah, it's a, it is a drug you cannot buy anywhere. It is.

• 8:41Nick Bare?

  What's it feel like coming down from that high post-show?

• 8:44Speaker 01

  It's, it's, it's gonna be different for everybody, you know? And for me, man, you know, I can come off and I can be on cloud nine and I can be like, that was a great show. But the thing that people don't see about me is, is that that athletic background and that killer instinct inside of me is never turned off. So. I haven't shared this yet, but I played the Houston rodeo and I came off because, and I came off the stage and I was so hell bent on myself about like, what did I do wrong? Or this moment was weird, or this threw me off. And it's like coming off the field and playing

• 9:26Speaker 01

  a game and you're like, I dropped that pass, or I should have had this, or I should have had that. But that's what's gonna make you better. And that's what's gonna, and it's that, it's that balance where it's like, hey, that was an awesome experience and that was incredible. And sometimes we're our worst critics, but I beat myself up so many nights because I'm just like, this could have been better, or I messed up this, or I missed this note, or I did this because I am chasing my own form of perfection. And, you know, I want to go out there and I want to impress the fans and I want to impress myself. I want to be proud of myself at the end of the day. So it was an awesome experience to go out there and do that. But coming off that stage, I was like, you know what? Um, there's things we need to

• 10:09Speaker 01

  work on, there's things we need to fix. And the crowd would have never noticed, but it's things that I noticed. And it's like, next time I come back, it'll be even better. So, it all depends on the given night, because there's just so many unseen things that fans will never pick up on, but we as people on the stage notice. And it's just that athletic background that I have, that I've very tough on myself.

• 10:34Nick Bare?

  I guess that's like one of the things that separates just a musician and a performer.

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 10:42Nick Bare?

  Like performer is at the root, performance.

• 10:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:46Nick Bare?

  And I've obviously never been on stage and played music, but if I compare it to a race or competition I've done, you know, you show up and toe the line and the energy is just out of this world. Like you are so hyper focused on this one thing. And during that one to three hour effort,

• 11:06Nick Bare?

  All other distractions in your life disappear. Your focus on this one thing in three hours could feel like 30 minutes.

• 11:13Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 11:14Nick Bare?

  And then when you're done and that high starts to fade a little bit, you then start to reflect back on every little thing you could approve upon.

• 11:22Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 11:23Nick Bare?

  And I'm sure like that hyper focus and that critical component of yourself can actually lead to some dangerous thoughts.

• 11:33Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 11:34Nick Bare?

  If you get stuck in that.

• 11:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:36Nick Bare?

  Do you ever experience that?

• 11:39Speaker 01

  Yes and no. I think it's important to have good people around you. And obviously you want people to be supportive of you and everything. And, you know, you don't want yes men around you. You want people to shoot you straight and, you know, I am definitely one of those straight shooters on my team. And it's like, I've had my guys on stage be like, that was a great show. And I go up to them like, yeah, it was good. Could have been better. I was like, there was this and there was this. And I didn't like this about this. And they're like, but it's, I'm playing with guys on stage that didn't play sports. And that's the weird thing about what I do too, is that love my dudes on stage and they're amazing musicians, but I'm the only one on stage. It comes from a sports background. So it's hard for them to kind of grasp the concept of

• 12:24Speaker 01

  getting absolutely reamed out by your coach because you dropped a pass or because they're trying to make you better. You know, they're in their head of like, that was so cool. Like we played an awesome show and I'm like, no, we did play an awesome show, but this needs to be worked on and this wasn't cool. And this is this and um, so it can be sometimes hard to find that communication barrier with them and whatnot. And, you know, some of these guys have been with me for three years and sometimes they still have a hard time processing who I am as a person.

• 12:54Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 12:54Speaker 01

  And my character. But yeah, it can be hard. Sometimes because I do, man, I do beat myself up. And it's because I do care so much about what I do. And there's people out there that go out and do the thing and don't think twice about it. And that's their game and that's what they do. But. I am, I'm up there night after night giving it my all and I'm not going out and drinking. I'm not going out and partying. I'm getting on the bus, I'm showering up, having a snack, watching a movie, going over content, figuring out what we're doing for the night, uh, what are we doing tomorrow? Um, so yeah, very disciplined, I guess is a good way of putting it.

• 13:39Nick Bare?

  I think it's a really important thing that you identified there is not having just yes men in your corner, especially at the, the level of exposure and access that you're experiencing right now. You know, if I look back at my life to compare these last couple of years, this last decade, in the beginning of this journey, everyone was willing to tell me what I was doing wrong and, and criticize and provide feedback. But then as you, as you climb and you improve and get better, less and less people are willing to tell you what you're

• 14:23Nick Bare?

  doing wrong. So like right now, I have a few people that I can count on one hand, who I know are going to pull me aside very tact, tactfully and, and tell me what I'm doing wrong and how to improve and call me out my crap. They won't do it in, in large groups or, or out loud, but in private, they will provide me constructive criticism.

• 14:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:47Nick Bare?

  Who in your life are those people right now?

• 14:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:50Nick Bare?

  That aren't the yes men, but are those who, who will tell you what you need to know, not what you want to know in here?

• 14:57Speaker 01

  Yeah. I think the first one that comes to my mind is, is my dad, uh, who you just met. Um, my best friend, um, both my parents gave up their careers to come work for me full time over a year ago. And now they live in Nashville and my parents are the most qualified people for the positions I put them in. Uh, come from a family of entrepreneurs and business backgrounds and everything. So there's no more people than, there's no two more people I trust than those two right there who want nothing from me at the end of the day. They just want to, they just want me to be successful and want the best for me. So my parents right out the gate are the two people that I would go to and are not afraid to share their opinion and tell me. Hey, you know, you could probably cut back on some of the language onstage some nights

• 15:40Speaker 01

  because you do have younger kids there and you want to be a good example. And, you know, some nights you're onstage and you're up there for an hour and a half and it's a blur. You get off and you're like, you snap out of it, but it's just like, oh, I didn't even realize I said that, or I didn't even realize I said that that many times. So it's, I would say my parents, I think I have a good management team around me. I just had a conversation with my head booking agent, who was at one of my shows, and shared his opinion. And before he could even finish his sentence, I was like, I already know what you're going to say, and I'm completely in agreeance with you of knowing what you're about to say to me. So it's, like you said, you can count them on your hand. And I think that that's important, to have that small-knit group that's going to come to you and shoot you straight and kind of give you, not necessarily what you want to

• 16:25Speaker 01

  hear, but you need to hear it.

• 16:27Nick Bare?

  I'm really curious, and I want to get more into this topic a little bit later in this conversation, but you have grown really fast over these last couple of years, and you're still pretty young. You're 25 years old right now?

• 16:46Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 16:47Nick Bare?

  What are some of the things you've done to, I guess, to say, manage the ego as you've grown at this rate? Because the rate at which you've grown is remarkable.

• 17:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:04Nick Bare?

  You know, I think it was just a few years ago that you weren't even playing music.

• 17:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:07Nick Bare?

  And now you're on tour.

• 17:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:09Nick Bare?

  Your whole family's on tour.

• 17:10Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:11Nick Bare?

  Outside of having people like your parents keeping you straight, how have you kept a level head? Because for a lot of people, when you gain that much success that fast,

• 17:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:23Nick Bare?

  it guides the trajectory of your values, your legacy,

• 17:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:30Nick Bare?

  how you're showing up, the longevity of success that you want to maintain and accomplish.

• 17:35Speaker 01

  Yeah. I think, I mean, I know I just talked about them, but it is my parents and you know, I still have my one best friend from high school, actually from fifth, sixth grade, who I just saw recently.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  Who I don't get to see a lot because we're both, you know, I'm traveling everywhere, but I try to see him as much as I can, when I can. And him and I've stayed in contact and he's been my homie since fifth, sixth grade. And just kind of having that normalcy when I see him and just going down memory lane and just knowing that he's been with me since day one and wants nothing from me. And it's just a dude that knows me as the guy that he went to school with and became friends playing lacrosse and stuff. So, but it really is my parents, man, you know, my parents. You know, I didn't come from a family with money, you know, being from Hershey, you know, people that know that area. They think of, you know, doctors, lawyers and all that kind of stuff.

• 18:28Speaker 01

  Like my parents worked tooth and nail for everything and then there was, and there was times where I was old enough to realize that like there were not, there were some not so easy times in the house, but I was old enough to understand that. So for me, it's like my parents raised me in a Christian household. My parents raised me around my grandparents, who I'm also very close with, Christians. Very supportive of what I do. Hey, my grandparents have a hard time comprehending sometimes what I do because it is a tough thing to understand. But I think for me, the best decision I made to keep ego in check or, you know, making sure that success doesn't go to my head. It has been the family dynamic that I do have because I trust my parents with my finances.

• 19:13Speaker 01

  My parents have been my ride or dies, never missed a lacrosse game, were there for all my travel games with me all year round. 365 days a year for, you know, summer tournaments, showcases, trying out for college, you know, all that kind of stuff. They were always with me and it only made sense that they would come on this journey with me. And the thing about my parents was is they didn't force themselves onto it, onto me. It was, it was my decision to do that because. The music industry, man, is a scary place, man, because you don't really know who you can trust.

• 19:45Nick Bare?

  Yeah, I believe that.

• 19:47Speaker 01

  It is a very scary place and I feel bad for, you know, other younger artists. They don't have good people in their corners or at the end of the day, you don't know where your money's going. You don't know how it's being spent and you're gonna wake up one day and realize you might not have enough. You might realize you just toured for a whole year and might not have a lot to show for it. But that was the right thing to do. That's what the industry does. That's what we should do because everybody else does it. And that is one of the biggest amounts of BS you're gonna hear. And what we do is that this is how it's done. This is how we need to do it, which is a whole load of BS. You do not have to do that way. I brought my family in and we stirred the pot in Nashville. And we're like, yeah, we're not gonna do it that way.

• 20:32Speaker 01

  We're gonna do it our way. This is a business. Like, we're gonna go out and do it how we see fit. And I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna go do me, whether you love it or hate it. And either you're gonna get on board, you wanna be part of the team, you're gonna wanna, you know, buy into it, or you're not. So, and honestly, my parents did a really good job in my household my entire life of balancing love and tough love. And, you know, my dad was one of the first ones every morning to say, "I love you." And shoot me a text in the morning saying, "I love you." He was one of my, he's honestly still my first texts probably I get every day. Just checking in on me and making sure I'm good.

• 21:13Speaker 01

  And I think that he instilled a lot of confidence in me at a young age. And it was good confidence in the fact that it wasn't just like, "Oh, you can do anything you want." It's like, no, you can do what you want, but you gotta go work for it.

• 21:28Nick Bare?

  Mm-hmm.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  So, yeah, they definitely have done a good job of keeping the ego in check. But I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm not confident. You gotta be confident if you're gonna go step on a stage in front of thousands of people night after night.

• 21:38Nick Bare?

  Oh, for sure. I don't doubt that. I don't doubt you in that at all either. When you decided to bring your parents on your team, was there anyone in the industry that pulled you aside and said, "Hey, I don't think this is a good idea"?

• 21:54Speaker 01

  Oh, 100%. Oh, my goodness, there's another artist in town that...

• 22:00Speaker 01

  His mother was his business manager and all you would hear through town was, "Oh yeah, we don't like her. We don't like her." And I could never figure out why. And it was like, "Why is everyone saying they don't like her?" And the reason why they don't like her is because she's the one with the money and she's the one that's going ahead and saying, "Yeah, it's not going to work for me." Or she's the one that's going ahead and saying, "No, I'm not going to give you money for this because this makes no sense. Why are we spending money on this when the money should be going here or we're already spending money on..." Like, they didn't like her because she was the one that was keeping the money under wraps, saying, "Yeah, you're not just going to take my son's money and go spend it however you feel

• 22:41Speaker 01

  like it." Because that's what the music industry does. It's, "Oh, this is what this costs and this is what it's going to cost." There's like, it's like, where's in the negotiations?

• 22:51Nick Bare?

  Don't ask, don't ask questions. This is just how it's done.

• 22:54Speaker 01

  Yes, and it drives me nuts. So now having my mom work for me these last two years,

• 23:02Speaker 01

  I see why now. I see why now she wasn't liked because she's going to stand you up and she's going to be like, "Yeah, no, no, we're going to talk about this and we're going to figure out where the money's going and why it needs to go there. Not just, "Here's money. Here's 10 grand. Here's 20 grand. Here's 30 grand." Like, that's, that's what the town does. You reach out, "This is what we need. This is what it costs. Oh, easy peasy. Here's the money." And the artist is none the wiser until they get their checks and balances at the end of the year and they're like, "Why did you spend this much money on this shit?"

• 23:36Nick Bare?

  The P and L is upside down.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 23:38Nick Bare?

  Yeah. I mean, people, people won't like the yes man or yes woman when they are pushing back against what is expected or...

• 23:50Nick Bare?

  Resisting the norm.

• 23:51Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 23:52Nick Bare?

  And asking questions, asking questions typically is offensive to a lot of people who have experience in a certain space or industry.

• 24:00Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 24:01Nick Bare?

  So, right now, you're in, you're in great shape. I mean, you reached out to me a few months ago.

• 24:06Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 24:07Nick Bare?

  And you've lost 15 pounds.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:10Nick Bare?

  Since then, I actually heard you on a podcast say that when you first went on tour, you gained like 35 pounds.

• 24:16Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 24:17Nick Bare?

  What, what, what did you weigh at your peak?

• 24:20Speaker 01

  So, let's think about this. I was in really good shape prior to like signing a record deal. And then, when I signed the record deal and through that, going through that process of meeting with all these record labels and publishing companies and bookings, you're eating, you're eating, you're out late, you're drinking, you're this, you're off your regimen. It's a whole shit show. So, I probably was about 215, 220 at my heaviest.

• 24:47Nick Bare?

  Oh, wow.

• 24:48Speaker 01

  I was a big boy. I was, man. And I was drinking beer left and right. I was, oh, man. I was, yeah. I was never out of control whatsoever. I've never been a seriously heavy drinker, but it was just like, I just.

• 25:02Nick Bare?

  It adds up.

• 25:03Speaker 01

  It does. It does. And then, I was dating someone at the time that didn't mind me being a little bit bigger because, you know, the women, you know, they looked past it, you know, now that, now that you can.

• 25:18Nick Bare?

  My, my wife loves it when I'm heavier. She wants me to pack on the pounds. If I'm getting too lean or skinny.

• 25:24Speaker 01

  You're more cuddly, yeah.

• 25:24Nick Bare?

  Yeah, she's like, put on some weight. Come on, Steph.

• 25:29Speaker 01

  Come on, you guys are just pushing me forward.

• 25:31Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 25:31Speaker 01

  Um, so, yeah, I was a, I was a big boy and it's been a process, um, back and forth, you know, losing weight and stuff like that. And what's funny is, is like, looking back, I was talking to my content guy, um, before coming on here this past, uh, this past weekend. I was like, dude, what's so funny is that you and I thought I looked so good when I was weighing 185 and you're like, you're in that moment, you're like, man, I look good. And now, I'm like, looking at these new photos and like, what I look like now, I'm like. I'm like, this is night and day.

• 26:06Nick Bare?

  You're like 170 pounds right now?

• 26:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm like, this is night and day. And I was like, and there's even like a there's always one step further. You know what I mean? And that's what makes working out and eating and all that kind of stuff fun and the bulking and the cutting and all of it. And that's why I love it because it's one more thing for me to, you know, add into my regimen and I love, I love doing it. I do. So I'm thankful for you. Sending me that and I've been, I've stayed, I've stayed actually pretty much regiment on similar to that diet. So it's worked.

• 26:38Nick Bare?

  So you're like 50 pounds lighter than you were at your heaviest?

• 26:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:41Nick Bare?

  That's crazy.

• 26:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:43Nick Bare?

  What a lot of people don't realize is, you know, you see, you go to dinner and I have some friends who own restaurants and are executive chefs at restaurants. And the goal of those restaurants is to make those meals taste absolutely amazing.

• 26:58Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 26:59Nick Bare?

  And I have this one friend who's an executive chef. And I was asking him like what they do to make the meals healthier. And he's explaining to me like, we don't make these meals to be something you're supposed to eat every night. We make these meals for an experience.

• 27:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:16Nick Bare?

  It should be a special occasion. So when you're going out and having these big steak dinners that come with the like loaded mashed potatoes and you get the appetizers and the drinks.

• 27:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:27Nick Bare?

  That's like, when you order a steak, it's not just a piece of meat. It's a piece of meat that's loaded with salt that's cooked in oil and butter.

• 27:34Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:35Nick Bare?

  And before it comes out, there's butter added on top of it. So, you know, your typical ribeye that might have 50 grams of fat now has 110 grams of fat. And you think you're just eating a steak, but you're eating a steak with a stick of butter on it. And you do that multiple times a week. Adds up really fast.

• 27:52Speaker 01

  It does.

• 27:53Nick Bare?

  50 pounds fast.

• 27:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, the before photos are absolutely, I mean, I remember saying to my family, I'm like, "Why did no one tell me I was fat?" I was like, "Why did no one tell me?" And they're like, "We tried it." I'm like, "No, you didn't." I'm like, "No, you didn't."

• 28:10Nick Bare?

  Gracefully.

• 28:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. I'm like, "Next time, just hit me over the head and say, 'Get your shit together.'" So it was after that breakup that I kind of was like, "Yeah, this has got to, this has got to change." So it's been an ongoing process and whatnot, but I think that what really kind of kicked it into the gear was a photo shoot I had coming. And I was just like, "You know what, man? It's time to, you know, really kick it up a notch and I want to see how far I can push myself." And honestly, even when I played lacrosse and stuff and was in college, I was in great shape, but I never, never looked like this, like, was never this diced.

• 28:46Nick Bare?

  You're diced right now.

• 28:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, pretty, pretty diced. I think, I think that if I got down to like, if I hit 165 for like a photo shoot, I think that I would be super, super diced.

• 28:59Nick Bare?

  165 and then carb up?

• 29:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:01Nick Bare?

  Fill back out?

• 29:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:02Nick Bare?

  And look really good?

• 29:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:04Nick Bare?

  So what are you doing now? Obviously, like, life is crazy on the road.

• 29:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:09Nick Bare?

  Before we started recording, you guys were telling me about your current schedule.

• 29:13Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 29:14Nick Bare?

  You're playing these night shows, you wrap up, it's 1, 1:30, 2 AM.

• 29:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:19Nick Bare?

  You sleep on the bus, you're waking up, preparing for travel and another show. How are you maintaining diet and training right now while being in a different city?

• 29:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:29Nick Bare?

  Every single night?

• 29:30Speaker 01

  It's, uh, it's tough. It's tough. It's, it's actually prioritizing. One thing that I've realized too on this, um, recent like, cut and recent just kind of like, diet change and workout regimen, is I've actually prioritized the rest days. I was working out six days a week.

• 29:53Speaker 01

  And I've realized that like actually having a rest day and allowing my body to like truly rest and recover and focusing on compound lifts and you know overload and all that stuff like it's actually helped me maintain and it's worked out in my favor. I was like, I was like, I can't remember the last time I've taken two days off in the gym and I was just like taking two days off and it was just like, okay, now when I got back to the gym, I was like, I feel rested. I feel ready to go and whether there's two days incorporated with light cardio or a walk or um, you know, a sauna or an ice bath. It's like still something semi-physical, but um, for me, it is tough. It's, it's kind of sticking.

• 30:38Speaker 01

  It's tracking your calories and trying to stay within that ballpark and trying to space your meals out the best you can and everything. Depending on a given day or what time you're waking up, what time you're going to bed. Um, so I've stayed pretty regimented with that diet you gave me and that updated one you had given me. Um, and it's just been trying to, the nice thing is, is even if I don't get a workout in, I'm working out for an hour and a half on stage, running around and moving and shaking and sweating and running on stage. So.

• 31:09Nick Bare?

  Do you track your steps?

• 31:10Speaker 01

  I want to.

• 31:11Nick Bare?

  I was so curious.

• 31:12Speaker 01

  I would be so curious too. Everyone keeps telling me I need to get like something so I, cause I don't keep my phone on me on stage. But just get some sort of a tracker just to see like how many calories burned from a show performance. I, I would love to know that to be like, oh wow, I'm burning a lot more than I thought.

• 31:28Nick Bare?

  That'd be super interesting.

• 31:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:31Nick Bare?

  I want to talk about diet because I, I recently saw this video on Instagram of Jelly Roll. Obviously Jelly Roll's um, on this weight loss transformation. And you were, you toured with Jelly Roll recently and I, I saw this video pop up where he has a chef on tour with him.

• 31:50Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 31:51Nick Bare?

  And then his chef makes all of his meals for him. And he has like two meals a day right now on tour plus a snack.

• 31:57Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 31:58Nick Bare?

  And he looks like he's, he's losing weight and, and stayed on track and working out. Do you have someone with you that's making meals, sourcing meals? Or are you just like trying to find whatever's convenient and available?

• 32:11Speaker 01

  Normally sourcing meals, so normally we're having catering at these venues and stuff like that for my team and everything. So my tour manager will advance to the venue like, hey, have the chef make him a steak, or have the chef make him a sweet potato, baked sweet potato, or diced up sweet potatoes. So like normally in the morning, I'm normally doing what you're saying, I'll eat about four eggs. So the venue will make those for me. I'll do my egg whites, I'll do my blueberries, I'll do my half a bagel, and then my coffee, and then lunch is normally about two eight ounce patties, or, and then there's not much cheese on, and then I'll normally

• 32:54Speaker 01

  scrape the cheese off and just put honey over them, and sweet potatoes. And then dinner is normally either another burger or a steak. I cut off all the fat, eat the steak, another baked sweet potato, and then post-show, I'll eat like nonfat Greek yogurt with some honey and some blueberries, and have a little sweet treat at the end of the night. But what I've found is, honestly for me, is I have found eating the right meals and eating, like I'm eating almost like four meals, and that's not even including like the banana and dates that I eat with sea salt and honey before I go work out and whatnot. But it's like,

• 33:35Speaker 01

  I've found that eating more meals, but the right stuff, has actually helped me maintain and like kept me on track. Like everyone thinks like, oh, if I just eat a smoothie in the morning and I fast, and then I, I'm like, no, I need the fuel. I'm like, if I'm gonna be working out and going on stage at night and performing, I'm like, I need the calories, I'm burning them off. Like, I need the, I need to hit my protein intake. And people are always afraid of carbs too, but if it's the right carbs, like the right carbs ratio for building muscle and the maintenance and everything, so.

• 34:10Speaker 01

  I've taken your diet. I've added a few more things, but it's it's worked for me. I've maintained this level of weight where I wake up in the morning sometimes and I weigh 167 pounds in the morning on an empty stomach and that's when I look the most diced.

• 34:25Nick Bare?

  I'm sure going into like the summer too.

• 34:27Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 34:28Nick Bare?

  Being on stage for 90 minutes.

• 34:30Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 34:31Nick Bare?

  You're probably burning well over 1500.

• 34:35Speaker 01

  Oh, my goodness.

• 34:35Nick Bare?

  Calories.

• 34:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. And that's another thing too. Plenty of water. Plenty of water, hydration, electrolytes, all that stuff. Yeah. Especially like you said, sweating my ass off on stage in the summer, just absolutely drenched. So, yeah, plenty of calories being burned, especially summer festivals.

• 34:54Nick Bare?

  Do you have a pre-show meal? And I ask that because I listen to a lot of podcasts about Michael Jordan and Kobe, but Michael Jordan had like a pre-game ritual where he would always have a steak before a game. Do you have like a pre-show ritual meal?

• 35:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, typically. But like, for example, last night, the way my schedule had worked out with the time I woke up and everything fluctuating, I ended up skipping my pre-show meal because I was like, I'm not going up there feeling bloated. I'm like, because by the time the schedule worked out, I was like, I'm not, I don't like to eat too close to showtime because I don't want all that food sitting in my stomach while I'm up there trying to sing and all that stuff. So, but for me, it's normally, it's normally a steak as well. And it's baked sweet potato. It's been the thing, honestly, for this tour. It's normally my go-to pre-show meal.

• 35:53Nick Bare?

  Do you ever eat cold potatoes?

• 35:56Speaker 01

  I have, but I mean, man, since doing this diet, like I have fallen in love with sweet potatoes.

• 36:02Nick Bare?

  Yeah, I like sweet potatoes.

• 36:03Speaker 01

  They're just so good. They're so good.

• 36:06Nick Bare?

  I love cold potatoes. Like I'll do. Uh, go red, a red potato or a yellow Yukon potato. Poke holes in it, put it in the microwave and I'll put it in the fridge and I'll eat it like an apple.

• 36:17Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 36:18Nick Bare?

  And it's like, you know, a russet is like a dried potato.

• 36:20Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 36:21Nick Bare?

  But red or sweet potato and like Yukon gold, they're like that cold is really good. And when you heat potatoes and you let them cool and you eat them cold, they're high in resistant starch, which is really good for your gut and digestive system.

• 36:37Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 36:38Nick Bare?

  So there's, there's two foods that are really high in resistant starch, cold potatoes after they're heated and cold.

• 36:43Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 36:44Nick Bare?

  And then green bananas.

• 36:46Speaker 01

  Huh.

• 36:47Nick Bare?

  Both of those high in resistant starch, really good for your digestive tract.

• 36:51Speaker 01

  Okay. So would you eat a sweet potato after warming it up and then making it like an apple? Did you say?

• 36:57Nick Bare?

  Oh yeah. Dude, like a cold sweet potato for me is like dessert.

• 37:00Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 37:00Nick Bare?

  Where I will, the way I make my sweet potatoes is I'll throw them in the microwave for like four minutes with some holes in them.

• 37:06Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 37:06Nick Bare?

  And I'll wrap them in tinfoil, finish them off in the oven.

• 37:09Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 37:09Nick Bare?

  And then I'll let them cool and I'll put them in the fridge. And then when I want a sweet potato, I'll just take it out, unwrap it, eat it like an apple. And it's like super sweet.

• 37:20Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 37:21Nick Bare?

  Maybe I'll throw some like, I'll cut it open, put some uh, fleaky sea salt, a little honey and cinnamon.

• 37:26Speaker 01

  Now we're talking.

• 37:27Nick Bare?

  Man, a sweet potato for me is literally dessert.

• 37:31Speaker 01

  Oh yeah. A hundred percent.

• 37:32Nick Bare?

  I love it.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  Yes. Okay. Now I gotta, I gotta try that now.

• 37:35Nick Bare?

  I don't know if you've tried the, the viral meal going around right now that's uh, diced up sweet potato, like cooked sweet potato.

• 37:42Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 37:43Nick Bare?

  Ground beef.

• 37:44Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 37:45Nick Bare?

  Cottage cheese, avocado, and then you cover it all in honey.

• 37:48Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 37:49Nick Bare?

  And it just works. It is so good.

• 37:52Speaker 01

  I'll have to try it out. The only thing that I, I've tried to get on board with it, man, I wish I could. I've tried the avocado.

• 37:58Nick Bare?

  You don't like avocado?

• 37:58Speaker 01

  I've tried it over and over again, man. It's just one of those things. Just one of those things that's gonna get on board.

• 38:03Nick Bare?

  Do you like guacamole?

• 38:04Speaker 01

  No, I don't.

• 38:05Nick Bare?

  What's that?

• 38:06Speaker 01

  I know, I know, but hey, people can't come at me. I've tried it. I've tried it numerous times. I've tried to get on board. I love avocado.

• 38:15Nick Bare?

  So the first time I I came across your music was probably two years ago.

• 38:19Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 38:20Nick Bare?

  And this was like before the blow up, I guess you can say.

• 38:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:26Nick Bare?

  That happened these last two years. And what grabbed my attention is I was I was listening to Spotify and listening to country music and it's just kind of like feeding me new music.

• 38:35Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 38:36Nick Bare?

  And then West Texas weather popped up.

• 38:38Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 38:39Nick Bare?

  And I was like, oh, dude, I love this song. And then I saw this 717 and like 717 tapes.

• 38:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:47Nick Bare?

  And in my head, I was like, there's no way, there's no way this dude is from central Pennsylvania. So I Google your name and then 717. It's like Warren Zeiders is from Hershey, Pennsylvania. It's like, no fricking way. I grew up in the town next to you, Palmyra, Pennsylvania.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 39:04Nick Bare?

  You grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania. What year did you graduate high school?

• 39:08Speaker 01

  I was 17 grad.

• 39:09Nick Bare?

  Seventeen. I was I was 09.

• 39:11Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 39:11Nick Bare?

  So it's a little before you.

• 39:12Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 39:14Nick Bare?

  But I cannot believe you were from Hershey, Pennsylvania.

• 39:17Speaker 01

  I know. It was funny when you DM'd me and you're like, yo, man, I'm from Palmyra and I I remember the DM still. And I remember telling my dad, being like, hey, two of us got out of that, two of us got out of that area and made a name for ourselves. Um, but yeah, it's a small world and um, it is a, it is pretty cool. I guess, wow, that's crazy. Two years ago already, man. Wow. Time flies.

• 39:43Nick Bare?

  Really does.

• 39:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:45Nick Bare?

  Really does. And you've come out with so much music since.

• 39:48Speaker 01

  Yeah, since then.

• 39:50Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 39:51Speaker 01

  Double album. Yeah, a lot of music.

• 39:54Nick Bare?

  I want to take a quick break in this episode to talk to you about one of our products at BPN. And that is our Peak Sleep gummies. Now, Peak Sleep is one of those products that everyone can benefit from. Everyone can benefit from better, higher quality sleep. And the way that we formulated this product, like I said, it's in a gummy format. You consume about four gummies, 30 to 45 minutes before winding down in the evening. And it has ingredients such as magnesium, GABA, 5-HTP, Leuvin Plus, Theanine.

• 40:35Nick Bare?

  These ingredients were put together to work synergistically and formulated to help you wind down in the evening, have better quality sleep throughout the night and wake up feeling refreshed, recharged and ready to take on the day. It is non-habit forming. We did not use ingredients such as melatonin that might leave you feeling tired and groggy and foggy and struggling to get out of bed in the morning. No, we didn't want any of that. We wanted to help you wind down, sleep better and wake up ready to perform. Peak Sleep is much more than a sleep supplement.

• 41:15Nick Bare?

  This is truly a recovery and performance amplifier. So try Peak Sleep today. They are delicious. It is a berry flavored gummy. I look forward to taking my Peak Sleep gummies every single night. I count down the minutes until I can take my Peak Sleep gummies because they taste that good. They help me wind down. They help me sleep great and they help me show up the next day, ready to perform. Now, back to the episode. So I want to get into some of the music stuff, but I want to go backwards a little bit first. Cut. Because for me, what makes, or one of the reasons you are so unique as an artist,

• 41:59Nick Bare?

  as a country music artist with a number one, is that music wasn't always part of your life. Yeah. Had a similar conversation actually with one of our athletes, Max Joliffe, a few weeks ago, where he is crushing the ultra running space. Okay. He just won Lab 240 last year, which is a 240 mile race, very notorious, very popular. Yeah. But he only started running ultras like three years ago and he only started running in 2017. Wow, okay.

• 42:33Nick Bare?

  You think back to like in any industry, any space, the people who are at the the tip of the spear, who are doing really well, must have been doing it for decades and decades and decades. And they must have been born into a family of ultra runners or born into a family of musicians. But that wasn't the case for you.

• 42:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:55Nick Bare?

  And I want to talk about that, really going back to Hershey, Pennsylvania, being an athlete.

• 43:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:02Nick Bare?

  Take me through that journey of of being an athlete, playing lacrosse before music.

• 43:07Speaker 01

  Yeah. Um, I'll say this, you know, music was always something that I absolutely loved. It was, I always say my love for music began in the church. Um, that's kind of where, you know, I found that I liked to sing, you know, singing in church and stuff like that with during praise and worship. And, um, I just recently talked about this, but my first concert I ever went to was a Jeremy Camp and Toby Mack concert with my dad. And that was a moment that I'll, in a memory I'll never forget. But, um, you know, growing up, my mom always loved musicals and stuff. So Grease, we watched Grease a million times. Um, you know, The Sound of Music, um, my sister and I, Disney Channel,

• 43:49Speaker 01

  you're watching High School Musical, good old Troy Bolton, star basketball player, got the girl in the end because he could sing and everything.

• 43:56Nick Bare?

  My daughter's obsessed with the High School Musical right now. Where were we watching that?

• 44:00Speaker 01

  Yep. So good watch. It's a good watch. Um, but yeah, I mean, I just always loved music. Um, I grew up loving, um, playing Guitar Hero and stuff. And I just loved, I was always singing something. It didn't matter. It didn't matter if it was Christian music, or if it was rock and roll, or if it was classic country, Justin Bieber, you name it. I was singing something in the car. I was singing something at practice on lacrosse field. I was singing something humming a tune during a game. Like I was just always, always, you know, had a song stuck in my head that I was singing. And, um, I picked up a guitar in, I want to say sixth grade. And I was like, you know, I want to, I want

• 44:42Speaker 01

  to take lessons. I want to learn. I want to do this thing. Um, just kind of as a, as a side hobby and. I sucked at taking the time to practice and my mom caught on. I mean, she'd come home from work and she'd be like, did you practice? I'd be like, yeah, I practiced. Meanwhile, I'm playing Xbox with my friends and whatnot. Cause or I'd just gotten back home from practice, uh, playing lacrosse. And I was like, I really don't feel like practicing. I'll, I'll practice when, when it gets closer to go actually do my practice. And, um, it would come up and then my teacher would be like, you didn't practice at gym. Like, no, don't tell my mom. So she ended up stopped doing lessons.

• 45:24Speaker 01

  Um, and whenever I wanted to, I'd just go pick it up and I'd watch YouTube videos and stuff. And if there was a song I liked, I would go figure out and watch a tutorial on YouTube, figure out how to play it. And that's kind of how I self taught myself, you know, how to play. All that being said, as you previously stated, was I came from a family of no musical background. My parents didn't play instruments. My parents didn't sing, none of that. No one in my family was like, you have a gift, you should pursue this. But there was always this underlying tone of music just in my life. Me and my family, it was a ritual where we'd always sit down at the end of the night and we would watch American Idol. And we'd always watch The Voice together and everything is my life.

• 46:07Speaker 01

  Looking back, like when you ask me a question like this and I have time to reflect on interviews and whatnot and think about it, it just shows to me that I always say the good Lord was just kind of pushing this towards me my entire life. And I was so hell bent and focused on lacrosse and sports my whole life. Cause that's all I knew and that's what my family background was. And my dad was a star baseball player, you know, tried out for the majors and everything. It's like, he was just a really talented, gifted baseball player. So it was just kind of without, you know, being said that athletics were pushed on to me. And, um,

• 46:48Speaker 01

  It was something that it wasn't forced, but I loved it and I committed myself to it. So, all that being said, uh, when it comes to the musical thing, um, there was a time where I was really turned off from the music because there was a video that surfaced all over social media when I was in middle school. And, um, I was trying to impress these two ladies that I had a crush on and they put it on YouTube without me knowing. And it got out to the whole school before I did puberty and everything. And to put it lightly, I went through a pretty harsh, you know, bullying, um, all through middle school.

• 47:32Speaker 01

  And then when I got to high school, uh, day one of tryouts for my freshman year of lacrosse, uh, they played the video over the intercom, the audio through the school during tryouts.

• 47:46Nick Bare?

  People are brutal.

• 47:47Speaker 01

  They are.

• 47:48Nick Bare?

  High school's tough.

• 47:49Speaker 01

  High school's tough and, you know, I don't say, I don't use the word bullying as like a woe is me and like feel bad for me. I actually reflect on it and say, you know, again, it's another thing as athletes, adversity. We're all going to face adversity at some point in our life, whether it's an athletic world or whatever it is. But athletics have you have a better understanding in how to deal with it. Honestly, man, hindsight, I wouldn't go back and change a thing. And I dealt with it for four years. I had upperclassmen trying to get under my skin. I had upperclassmen trying to get to me because I was talented. I did work for it. I was gifted and it wasn't just given to me. I worked my tail off for it.

• 48:32Speaker 01

  So whether you're insecure that I'm coming for your position, that I'm going to take your spot as a senior, you should be nervous. So lo and behold, try to get under my skin any way you can. So.

• 48:43Nick Bare?

  Did you know that you had the ability to sing then? You enjoyed singing, but did you know there was something there?

• 48:49Speaker 01

  Yes and no. I, I think that I had people. In my life saying like, I was known for the guy that would pick up the guitar around the bonfire and sing and mess around. And they're like, hey, like, oh, like Warren sings, like, he can sing and he can carry a tune. It wasn't anything like, your voice is one in a million. Like, you need to pursue this. And like, I never, like, the way I sound now, like, that was through searching and developing and refining and practicing and, you know, just like practicing, just like running, just like working out. You're going through the process. You're refining your craft. You're getting better at it. So, I went back and listened to your acoustic covers. Mm-hmm.

• 49:33Speaker 01

  Album that you released in 2021. Completely different. Your voice is completely different now. Hundred percent. I was mind blown. Yeah. And just in that short period of time? Because what you're hearing right there is the first crack at the bat, like, the first surfacing of like, okay, stuff's going so viral on social media. Now I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna go buy some SM7s and I'm gonna go ahead and buy some recording equipment and watch YouTube videos on how to record and get a free software and press record and soundproof the room and buy stuff off Amazon and do all this kind of stuff. And then I'm gonna go ahead and play the guitar and sing into a microphone. No idea how to mix, no idea how to master, none of this.

• 50:16Speaker 01

  Like, just go out and do it. And that's what you're hearing. Those are all raw, unedited, one takes of just me doing this with a guitar. That's what that was. So, to your statement of how different it is, is now taken to the fact of three years of touring, playing, god knows how many shows, 350, 400 shows, that's like going to the gym 400 times. You know what I mean? Like, that's going on 400 runs. Right. Of development of.

• 50:49Speaker 01

  Perfecting your craft, getting better at it. And I say, you know, you talked about earlier about these people that have been doing it or born into an ultra marathon running family or born into it. I went ahead and I say baptized by fire, man. I was thrown in the water and it was like, either you're gonna sink or you're gonna swim, baby. Like, figure it out. And sure enough, here we are having a conversation and I've said, I figured it out and still figuring it out. But it's just a, it's a, it's a ongoing process and you're only gonna get better.

• 51:21Nick Bare?

  Yeah, the way I like, think about it is, you set the conditions to put yourself in this position in life to have the opportunity. And then when the opportunity is finally there, you have to make the decision, do I go all in and pursue this? Or do I see what happens and just keep tinkering? And if you keep tinkering, the flame of that opportunity will eventually die.

• 51:49Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 51:49Nick Bare?

  But once like you see that opportunity and you go all in, it is foot pressing that pedal to the floor.

• 51:55Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 51:55Nick Bare?

  And you just can't let up.

• 51:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:58Nick Bare?

  Momentum is there, you gotta keep the momentum.

• 52:00Speaker 01

  Yeah. When the iron's hot, when the iron's hot, man. And I think that like, I think of like, the conversation we're having right now, and you think of like Arnold being like, there was no plan B for me. Like this was, there was plan A, and this was what I was going to do. Once I set this, the way I am is like, I describe this, how do I put this? My ADHD brain, I, you know, I did well in school, was never really known for applying myself. I did well, I did the thing. I'm the kind of person that you give me something, and if I love it, and I apply myself to it, I'm going all in. Gave me the diet, this is what I do now. I now identify with this. This is what I'm doing. I'm not drinking, I'm

• 52:42Speaker 01

  doing this, I'm cutting this, I'm eating this food. I'm texting you, what do I need to get? What am I doing? Here's my progress photos. Like, when I find something that I love, I go all in. And that's what happened with me for this, was I was having success. I was dabbling, go ahead, get some recording equipment, record, people liked it. And from that point on, when that acoustic covers.

• 53:07Speaker 01

  Some of those songs were coming out. I had been going to Nashville, met my manager for the first time. And when he said to me, you have a gift. This is something you need to pursue. When I had that one person to say, I believe in you. And it was just like, you can do this. Gave me all the confidence in the world to believe in myself. Brought him home with me, senior year of college, first job with my manager, you're telling my parents I'm dropping out of college. And he was like, okay. Because at that point, my brain flipped a switch. And I'm like, I'm committed. This is what I'm doing. I don't care what anyone else says. I love my parents. I appreciate your opinion. It's valid. Don't want to hear it. I'd already checked out at that point. So I came home. He tells him that parents

• 53:51Speaker 01

  aren't convinced. They say no. I go ahead and reach out to my advisor, say I'm dropping out. Didn't even tell them. I was like, I'm dropping out. After I'd done that, I went downstairs, I was like, Mom and Dad, I don't know how this deals with payments or whatever. I know, you know, loans or whatever, but I just want to let you know I could have dropped out. And I talked to my manager Charlie, I was like, I'm gonna go down and see him next week. So I need you guys to book me a flight. And I'm gonna go stay with him for two weeks. And that's what I was doing. I was going for about a six month period where I was going down. And I was staying with him for a week to two weeks at his place with his family. And it was, we're gonna go right here, we're gonna go right here, we're gonna go meet with these people, we're gonna go to this studio, we're gonna cut some of this stuff. And it

• 54:32Speaker 01

  was just like, I went all or nothing. And it paid dividends, obviously. And

• 54:42Speaker 01

  How old were you at this point? Were you 20? 21. 21. Yeah, I was 21. I turned 21 during COVID, so I couldn't even go out and celebrate with friends. So it was just like, it was such a weird point of life. I went from just now turning 21, being able to legally drink, and couldn't even go out and drink with your friends to celebrate your 21st, to social media success, to, I had to grow up really quick. Like, it was just like a boom. Like, and it wasn't

• 55:11Speaker 01

  Anything worth having in life is hard. But like, it just came innately natural to me, the way my family raised me and the sports background and to face all the pressures of like, was it nerve wracking? A hundred percent. You go from being in your bedroom to then now, this record label reach out, this record label reach out, now we're gonna go fly to LA, we're gonna go to New York, we're gonna go meet with these people, now we're gonna go meet with these publishers, we're gonna go do this. And my parents are just like freaking out of like, how do you go from telling us you're dropping out four months ago to now, we're going to meet with record labels? And because you have offers on the table. And I'm like, told you, I told you it's gonna

• 55:51Speaker 01

  work out. So I think, I got emotional the other day talking about this. But like I said, my dad's my best friend and, you know, the, one of the moments I remember the most was when I called my dad up for the first time and I was in Nashville and they hadn't known yet, but we'd just got a call, I was in the car with my manager for my first offer. I remember calling my dad, being like, I told you it was gonna work out, man. And I just got my first offer for my record deal. And I just remember him breaking down on the phone and just sobbing. I'm just like, you could feel like his proudness and you could feel like the relief of a father of just being like, he's gonna be okay. Like,

• 56:32Speaker 01

  he, he just did what he said he was gonna go do. But that's when the work begins. Because like you said, yeah, you can tinker in it and you can do this and you can have social media success, but I've seen people sign record deals and I've seen them go nowhere. I've seen people have social media success and it goes nowhere. It's what do you do with the continuous opportunities put in front of you? It's going ahead and playing in front of 700 people for my first sold out show three years ago, to then now fast forwarding, sitting in front of you, playing on a tour that's got 6,000, 5,000, 7,000, 8,000 people, and then going and playing in front of 65,000 people three weeks ago. So.

• 57:16Speaker 01

  At the end of the day, to wrap up the story, God is good and God has played the absolute master role in all of this. The gift was from Him, the voice, the hand on my shoulder, the guidance, the, all of those things that just, it was just innately always there, part of my life, I think. And this, the floodgates opened and the opportunities arose and I just took action. I just did it.

• 57:45Nick Bare?

  I have a few thoughts there. One, one of my favorite quotes is, belief comes before ability. So you have to believe that you can actually achieve before you can actually go and do. And it, it feels like from an outsider looking in, this was like a burn the boats mentality.

• 58:05Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 58:06Nick Bare?

  And what I've found with a lot of successful individuals or businesses and brands is that what makes them successful is being able to hyper-focus. And you oftentimes, at least in the early stages, you can't hyper-focus on multiple things. So it makes sense where you had this passion for music, but the focus couldn't be music because it was sports. And it was playing lacrosse at college. But then when you got the multiple concussions and you couldn't play lacrosse anymore, that was no longer an option. It couldn't be a focus. So as people who are achievers,

• 58:51Nick Bare?

  you sit back and you say, well, what's the next focus? Boom, music is this. I'm all in. It is the burn the boats mentality. I finally believe now I have to go do.

• 59:04Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 59:05Nick Bare?

  What I'm really curious about though is,

• 59:08Nick Bare?

  How did that experience in high school?

• 59:11Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 59:12Nick Bare?

  Where that tape was released of you

• 59:15Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 59:15Nick Bare?

  singing and I'm sure that was embarrassing and it kind of killed your confidence a little bit.

• 59:24Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 59:24Nick Bare?

  How did you have the confidence to then go on a larger scale?

• 59:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:29Nick Bare?

  Based off of your previous exposure to when you put yourself out there?

• 59:33Speaker 01

  I think the biggest thing for me was, you know, we're talking sixth grade when that video came out and you go through that and you do, you go through high school and everything and then you get out of high school. The biggest reflection of it all is insecurities. People at the end of the day are gonna go try to attack you for anything you can.

• 59:52Speaker 01

  Like I said, I don't, I don't lack confidence. I think that the confidence comes from a good place because it's a self-belief and you can have confidence if you're a person that's gonna go out and do it. If you're gonna go out and do the thing, no one can believe in you unless you believe in yourself first. And I think that like, there is that thing. I bet it all on myself and it's worked out. So it's like when you have, man, I've heard this before. It's like, I heard it on another podcast or in the motivational speeches, like when, well, I can look back here and I can show you the proof is in the pudding of all these things I just did. Well, of course I'm gonna be confident because now you're gonna go ahead and look at me being like, well, yeah, um, he's done all these things that he said he's gonna do.

• 1:00:37Speaker 01

  So I believe he's gonna do the next thing too. So I think for me, you know, yeah, this was a tough time in middle school and high school. But after I got out of that, man, um, I took guitar, I took a guitar with me to, to college, even when I went to go, you know, play lacrosse and

• 1:00:55Speaker 01

  the dudes even on the lacrosse team in college didn't like it when I had the guitar out because the chicks liked it, you know, oh, he's a lacrosse player. He's a good looking dude and he can sing like it was, and of course it got me a, you know, a good looking soccer player in college. So, you know, it works out. But I just think that for me, like, there's always been a, there's always been, I would say this, like, My manager said, he's like, I have never seen a guy or an artist have so much hate comments early on in his career than you have. And I think that that's just part of my story, man. I mean, there's people that show up to my shows with, you know, I joke

• 1:01:36Speaker 01

  around with the guys, like, there's guys that show up to my shows and they're fans, they're fans, like, don't get me wrong, but they're there. And there's like this sentiment of where men feel like they can't show emotion, or they feel like they can't like, show that they're enjoying themselves. And I'll bust their balls right on stage.

• 1:01:54Nick Bare?

  I've actually heard this from a lot of different artists.

• 1:01:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:57Nick Bare?

  I actually heard Thomas Rhett talking about this once before, where he was watching this guy in the audience.

• 1:02:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:05Nick Bare?

  And the guy was showing no emotion, and he stopped midway through the show, and was like, are you not enjoying this show or something?

• 1:02:10Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:02:10Nick Bare?

  And the guy was like, no, man, I'm like your biggest fan. I love this.

• 1:02:13Speaker 01

  I know.

• 1:02:13Nick Bare?

  But you couldn't read.

• 1:02:14Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:02:15Nick Bare?

  The emotion.

• 1:02:16Speaker 01

  But see, that's the thing, though, like, to them, they have a different perspective, because it's like, dude, I'm up here and I'm looking, like, I'm performing, and it's like, I need you to, I'm not saying you have to jump up and down and go all out, but you gotta give me something, man. You gotta give me a read, because it's like, when I'm up there, and I'm scanning, and I see, it's hard for us to not hyper-focus and hyper-analyze, because I see that dude, or I see that dude over here, and I'll go ahead and bust their balls, and, you know, in a flattering way, being like, yo, man, like, dog, you came to the show. Like, it's okay to have fun, man. And it normally gets into crack a smile, and then they're like, okay, like, they're relaxed then, but like, there's just like, I feel like, I don't know if it's a masculinity thing or whatever, but it's just like, maybe just somehow some people are more observant, and like, that's okay. But it's just like,

• 1:03:01Speaker 01

  for me, when I'm up there, and I'm jumping up and down, and I'm singing my ass off, and I'm giving you my all, I'm like, dog, you need to at least give me 10%. Like, I'm like, come on, man. Like, it's a transaction. Like, I'm giving you everything that I got. Like, I need you to just show me, like, just show me a little bit that you're enjoying yourself. Like, I'm not telling you to go, go get the moon and the stars for me. Just show me a little bit. So, I'm glad I'm not alone. I actually don't know, I don't know if I heard the pot, I heard that from Thomas, but that's, that's actually funny.

• 1:03:24Nick Bare?

  Yeah, I heard that a while back, and I thought that really interesting. And I also recently heard you talk about how, in Europe, the fans show emotion differently.

• 1:03:35Speaker 01

  They do.

• 1:03:35Nick Bare?

  Where it's really hard to read. Based off of like the UK then in the US where fans are super engaging and when you're performing, you're feeding off of that.

• 1:03:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:03:46Nick Bare?

  But in Europe, it was completely different.

• 1:03:48Speaker 01

  It is, man, and it's even that way in the US, too, you know, like a Thursday show is gonna be different than a Saturday because you know, those people are coming to the show Thursday and they're like, I gotta work tomorrow, it's Friday, you know what I mean? Friday and Saturday are gonna be different because people are like, oh, it's the weekend, we can drink, they get let loose, you know what I mean? So those shows are gonna be different now, depending on the market. It's also another thing, there's so many different factors. It's like, I could have a show Thursday night in my hometown in Hershey and you know, those people are gonna show up.

• 1:04:17Nick Bare?

  Have you played in Hershey?

• 1:04:19Speaker 01

  I haven't yet.

• 1:04:19Nick Bare?

  Oh, man.

• 1:04:20Speaker 01

  I'm going to the Giants Center in the fall. I just, I think that when it comes to Europe, um, Europe was a very observational crowd. They were very reserved and that's just kind of their respectful way of showing like, I'm here, I'm listening to the music and then at the end of the song, it was very much so like a golf clap, like they enjoyed it. To me, first timer, I'm like, this is weird as shit. I'm like, guys, you're gonna have to give me a little bit more than that. And you know, I'd poke fun and whatever and I'd even like address the, you know, the fact of like, hey, guys, I know you guys are more of a reserved crowd, like I know it's kinda how you guys do things over here, but like, it's okay to let loose, y'all.

• 1:05:04Speaker 01

  Like, it's okay, like this is a rock show, this is not your, your traditional country show where I'm gonna stand in front of the microphone for an hour and a half, play my guitar, thank you, guys, I'm Warren Zieters, catch you later. No, I'm gonna run around, I'm gonna sing my ass off, I'm gonna give you a performance of a lifetime and I need you guys to give me something in return, um, to help continue to fuel that fire, to get me through that hour and a half because it can't, can't just be give, give, give, give, give. It's like, you gotta give some back so that I have some fuel to keep going. So, um, yeah, it was interesting. And then you got to the UK and they're like head banging and they're losing their ever living mind, you know, they're, how do I put this in relation to sound and stuff like that?

• 1:05:47Speaker 01

  Hundred twenty decibels is where you start to have hearing loss. There's crowds over in the UK that were hit a hundred and fifteen, like just screaming, manically, singing songs, screaming in between songs, just.

• 1:05:59Speaker 01

  Is your head ringing on stage? Well, that's what the in-ears are for, but like I've taken, I've cracked ears before just to experience it and then your ear starts ringing. You gotta suction that shit right back up because it's just like, it's a lot. So what do you, what do you hear on stage? Man, it is, so we wear in-ears and what you hear on stage is you're hearing the onstage mix and then there's a front of house mix, what the crowd's hearing. On stage, we have a monitor engineer that's controlling my vocal and the guitars and the drums and everything. And we have our own mixes individualized to each of the players of what we want. So it's like what works best for me, um, is gonna be different for what works best for my bass

• 1:06:43Speaker 01

  player or my guitar player. Um, because we all have our own nuances and we all have our own individual ears on what we prefer to hear throughout the duration of a show and what's gonna give us the best performance. So, but for me, um, what I have is, we call them crowd mics. So there's microphones on stage that you put out towards the crowd that go into our mixes. So I'll have my monitor engineer, monitor engineer funnel those crowd mics in so that I can feel the show because it can be very disconnecting when you don't have those. I can imagine. Because you're just, you're suctioned off and you're playing and I have a tendency too, which is probably not good for my ear health, but for my eardrums, but I have a

• 1:07:25Speaker 01

  tendency to pull an ear throughout the show and you'll see that a lot with performers. Um, where you'll see them reach for their ears and they'll pull it out. You'll see it hanging because you wanna feel that energy. You wanna be able to hear it. You wanna be able to, you know, pull from it and use it for your performance because it can feel very lonely on that stage when you're up there and you can't feel the energy because you're so in your head. It probably feels very disconnected. It is. It's very, it's like, it drives you nuts. I can imagine. So when was your first headlining show, a show on your own?

• 1:08:02Speaker 01

  First headlining show would have been March 28th of three years ago, so we're over 25. So that would have been 2022.

• 1:08:13Nick Bare?

  Was there a fear going into that show? I'm sure there are a lot of fears, but was there a fear that no one was gonna show up?

• 1:08:19Speaker 01

  No, there was not a fear of that. There was, so the way we did this, my team and I, we talked about this and we're a firm believer in, yes, it may feel like I've skipped steps because I have, just with the trajectory and everything and the success that, you know, my fans have allowed me to have and the way they've bought in so rapidly and fast. But we went ahead and I signed the record deal. What people don't realize is I spent a whole, almost a whole year, probably about nine months of no touring, nothing. And it was, sign record deal, now we're gonna go ahead and now we're gonna go ahead and get you into these rooms.

• 1:08:58Speaker 01

  Write, write, write, write, studio, studio, studio, keep putting out good music, figuring out what's the next thing to release. And then when, through that duration, we're going through artist development, we're developing me, we're figuring out, what do I want to say in these rights, I'm perfecting on the craft, we're still posting on social media. And when it came down to it, we're like, okay, how do we want to approach this? Okay, so 717 Tapes, my first project, was primarily acoustic. So it's like, okay, how do we want to present the art? Let's go on acoustic tour, let's just keep this simple, let's go ahead and put 15 dates up and-

• 1:09:39Nick Bare?

  I love acoustic tours.

• 1:09:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, they're cool.

• 1:09:41Nick Bare?

  It's my favorite.

• 1:09:42Speaker 01

  They're intimate, it's cool, it's raw. And so we're like, okay, we're gonna put acoustic tour up and we're gonna go take you and a guitar player. We're gonna go put you in a van and we're gonna go see how this, see how these sell. We put my tour up, my first tour, 15 dates, and it damn near sold out on the on sale. And then after tickets officially went on sale, it was less than 24 hours, whole tour sold out. So my first show ever playing was in State College Pennsylvania at Champs. And it was 800 people showed up for my first ever show, my first time playing in front of people. That's awesome.

• 1:10:22Speaker 01

  Eight hundred people. So it was like, go big or go home. So, and I describing, oh man, I like reliving it. Describing that moment, no one knew if I could do it. Like, no one knew. I had three days of rehearsals with a guitar player. We went ahead and threw a rehearsal space and it was like, I had gotten, I had actually taken guitar lessons. I hadn't taken guitar lessons in years. We went ahead and hired someone and I was like, hey, can you teach me how to play some of my own songs? Cause I'm like, I'm not playing some of these songs on the records now. So we got a guitar player to come teach me lessons. I'm taking lessons. We did three days of rehearsals back to back to back and it was just like running the set, top to bottom.

• 1:11:07Speaker 01

  Let's just, uh, let's build the set out, feels like what, figure out what works. And, um, I remember it was people from our record label. It was my booking, it was my manager, it was my mom and dad. They were out of the, they were there selling my merch night one. Um, and they were like, everyone's looking at each other like, we don't even, we don't even know if he can do this. Like, can he get on a stage and perform and play in front of this many people? And my heart, man, was thumping. And what's funny is, is anything that could go wrong, went wrong. But the fans were none the wiser. So get on stage, guitar's out of tune, get on stage, feedback from the wedges, this or that, microphones not one.

• 1:11:52Speaker 01

  Like, you know what I mean? Like, all these things that you can't learn unless you go through it. Right. And this is my first show and I'm like, just flying by the seat of my pants. And then it's like, hey, you gotta go up there and perform and, um, you've never done this before, but go up there and remember all your lyrics and the chords and everything. So I get up there, we do the thing, people are going nuts. It is an absolute just riot. And I just, I'm soaking it all up. I get off a stage and it was in that moment, man, where I was like, yeah, this is what I was put on this earth to do. I was like, you were not lying. That is a drug you cannot buy and I am all in. This is something that I love to do and.

• 1:12:37Speaker 01

  It feels like from that point forward, it was like the rest was history. I was like, this is gonna be an absolute blast to go out here and do this and see fans sing your songs and just see how much they just soak it all up. And my guitar player at the time, he came up to me after the show and was like,

• 1:12:59Speaker 01

  he's like, I really think you're full of shit. Like, there is no way that that was your first time ever stepping on a stage and performing. And the way you handled all of the things that went wrong, it was like you've been doing this for 10 years. He's like, I am absolutely blown away. And again, good lord, sports background, dealing with things on the fly, and you just gotta go. You know what I mean? There's no stopping the show. There's no, you know, hold on, give me a timeout. Like, they don't know that. They bought the ticket, they're there to see this thing, and they're, this is their escape. Like, my issues are my issues. I gotta figure this out, we'll figure it out, we'll get through it. But you guys are gonna have the time of your life. So, yes, it was a, it was a crazy experience, but, yeah.

• 1:13:43Nick Bare?

  How long after was that? From when you released that first song that Chris Stapleton cover on TikTok?

• 1:13:51Speaker 01

  Okay, yeah.

• 1:13:52Nick Bare?

  During COVID?

• 1:13:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, so, oh, man, when was that video? That video was, I just gotta, I actually just got a, um, one of those memories that pop up on your phone?

• 1:14:05Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:05Speaker 01

  I just got one of those, um, it was five years ago, just a few days ago. It was like a week ago, it was like five years ago. So for me posting that video on TikTok, about a year had gone on of me posting, but it was very, um, how do I put this? Laxidasical posting. There was no schedule to it, there was no rhyme or reason, there was no, this is what I'm doing because this worked last time and I'm fully committed to it. It was just like, hey, I wanna record a video today, I'm gonna go ahead and sing. People have been digging my videos, I'm gonna put it up. It was through that year, kind of, of posting those covers and stuff,

• 1:14:48Speaker 01

  viral, post, post, post, post, post, post, post, another viral moment. It wasn't until like,

• 1:14:55Speaker 01

  Through that year, towards that end, where there was one that went like to the moon. And people were like, okay, we've had enough of your covers. Like, we love your covers. This is awesome. What's the original music sound like? And then they want original music and I'm like, I'm not claiming to be a writer. I never said that I was a writer. I never said that I was an artist, never said I wanted to be an artist. So I always actually give the credit to my fans. I say my followers turned into fans and I would say my fans pushed me in the direction to pursuing this. Because what people misunderstand is that if you actually just pay attention and listen, the answer is right in front of you. And I think that I just listened to my fans and I took their word of advice and I was like, okay, I'm gonna try out and figure out how to write.

• 1:15:41Speaker 01

  So I wrote my first song on the run, Childhood Bedroom. Recorded it, put it out, and that's about the time where my manager got in contact with me and brought me to Nashville. You don't just go to Nashville your first time and write your first hit song, Ride the Lightning. Like, that's, that, my story is so just one in a million. Because I come to Nashville, second song I wrote in my life is Ride the Lightning. And after writing it, my manager's like, yeah, it's okay, but we should probably write 100 more before we figure out what the next song to release is, because he wanted to really develop the artistry. I go home, I play the song for my, my friends and they're like, you should put this out. I'm like, right? I think so.

• 1:16:26Speaker 01

  Tease it on social media. Boom. And then my manager's like, okay, yeah, we should probably put it out. I'm like, tried to tell you, so. Did you co-write that song? Yeah, I wrote that with Eric Paslay and Rob Crosby. And Eric's a phenomenal writer and he's, you know, he's done the artist thing for years too. And I think he's kind of taken, you know, a beat on it and whatnot. I'm sure you've probably heard some of his songs. What's one song that I really love? She don't love you, she's just lonely. Okay, yeah. And he's written, his big hit song was Barefoot Blue Jean Night with Jake Owen. Yep. Yep, so, yep, it was a co-write. It was on Zoom. I was in Nashville and it was on Zoom because we were still in. Oh, no way.

• 1:17:09Speaker 01

  The COVID. So I'm in my manager's guest bedroom on a Zoom call for my first co-write and I'm nervous as shit and I'm like. I don't know how to really write. I just wrote one song and now I'm here. So I was very vulnerable with them and I told them that and they were just like, hey, man, no worries. Like, let's just, like, let's just, you're gonna learn. Like, you just gotta do it. You'll learn and perfect the craft. And it's again, it's whether it's the singing 300-plus shows, it's the writing, and it's the writing, it's the writing. They're all muscles that just need to be worked on and perfected and continue to grow and you get better at it.

• 1:17:47Nick Bare?

  It seems like you just applied that athlete mindset that you were applying for 12 years in pursuit of lacrosse and played, you know, at the college level. And then when that ended, just applying that to something else.

• 1:18:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:04Nick Bare?

  Embracing and enduring the process, searching consistent improvement, and then refining your craft. Once you understand that, that process, and you realize what works, you can apply that to anything you do. Anything.

• 1:18:23Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:18:23Nick Bare?

  You do. And it's so powerful. One thing I'm really curious about is, and I'm sure you've experienced this in the industry with other artists, there's gotta be like a we made it accomplishment or a moment. But like the dangers of accepting the we made it, check the block, or then it's all downhill from there.

• 1:18:53Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:18:53Nick Bare?

  What do you do to avoid, or is this the I made it mindset?

• 1:19:00Speaker 01

  I have a, I always quote my manager on this. We talked about this. We always say, happy, never satisfied. Because I'm a firm believer in what you're saying. The second you're satisfied, or the we made it moment, what's there else to go out there and achieve? It's like, yeah, I'm doing something that most people just played Jimmy Fallon, just played the Today Show, played Kimmel, like, played the Houston Rodeo, and not even three years of touring. Like, I've done so many things that people have not and will never touch.

• 1:19:32Speaker 01

  And that is just a harsh reality, but again, it's part of it. But it's just like for me, I've had people come up to me and ask me that exact question in VIP meeting grades and stuff like that, being like, so how do you feel like, when, like, what's your, like, when did you know you made it? And I look at them and I go, I don't really feel like I have made it. And they're like, what do you mean? I'm like, I am 100% grateful for where I'm at right now in my career. But I was like, if I was to believe that I made it, I would not be reaching for the next room size. I would not be reaching for what, what is the next album cycle gonna look like? What is the, where's, where's the content go from this?

• 1:20:15Speaker 01

  How do we grow my brand? How do we, how do we branch out from just the music and really showcasing the working out lifestyle and what I'm interested as a person? Or do I want to have my own tequila brand one day? Do I want to dabble in clothing and stuff? You know what I mean? Like, if I felt like I made it, you're putting a restrictor on yourself. It's just like, and whether you care to admit it or not, it's like, that, you know, I just, it's like, I'm trying to think. Oh, man, there's so many things, I'm blanking all my quotes right now. I just, there's so many things that I listen to and whatnot, but it's like, um, it's a, it's a part of it.

• 1:20:57Speaker 01

  And I, and I don't know that if there is a we made it moment, um, down the road, um, but for speaking right now, um, I think you can have a we made it moment when you go ahead and set a goal out and you achieve that goal, but you have to have your next we made it moment. Maybe that's a better way of putting it.

• 1:21:21Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:21Speaker 01

  Because speaking things into existence and then doing the work to get there. I wish I had the napkin and I wish my, my manager would have saved it, but three years ago, you know, you talk about the self-confidence thing and whatnot, and believing in yourself and self-belief and just going out and taking that application of the athlete's mindset and applying it to all facets of your life. I spoke everything into existence when I walk into a room. Before Poison was number one, or even close to number one, I'd walk into a room and be like, "Hey, here's my first number one song." And these radio people would look at me like I'm crazy. I'm like, "No, it's my first number one song." After you listen to it, after you see the streaming numbers, after you see the live show, after you see the tour, after you see everything I'm talking about and doing

• 1:22:04Speaker 01

  out here, outside of this room, you'll be like, "Got it. Makes sense." So, comes to fruition, my largest song to date, triple platinum song, first number one. I was in a bar with my manager, and this was like shortly after I had signed and stuff like that, and I'd just recently kind of been in town. He wrote on a napkin, and I said arenas in 2026. And he's like, "You think you'll be in arenas in 2026?" I'm like, he's like, "It's 2022 right now." I'm like, "Put me down. Arenas in 2026." He's like, "That's a fast come up, man. Four years. We're going, we're playing, we're headlining the Giant Center, and we're headlining arenas

• 1:22:47Speaker 01

  in Canada in 25." Will the Giant Center be the first arena? The Giant Center will be the first hometown arena. We're playing some arenas actually in Canada on the fall tour coming up, so we're going to Canada, and we're my second. We are skipping so many room sizes. I went in Canada last spring, and we went to Canada for the first time, sold out tour, playing 1,500, 2,000, 2,500 cap rooms. Now we're going to Canada, playing 6, 7, 8, 9,000 cap rooms, which is a huge jump. Yeah. A year later. So, it's, again, it's just continuing to put the work in, and you said it best, though. It's that applicable thing that you can apply to anything in your

• 1:23:31Speaker 01

  life. It's like the golden key. It's like if you can take that and apply it to anything in your life, you're gonna find success. So. Makes me think of, to quote Kobe, someone was asking him, post-

• 1:23:48Nick Bare?

  Post championship.

• 1:23:50Speaker 01

  Please say it.

• 1:23:51Nick Bare?

  And he goes, job's not finished.

• 1:23:53Speaker 01

  Dude.

• 1:23:54Nick Bare?

  Job's not finished.

• 1:23:56Speaker 01

  That is the one I was thinking of, but I couldn't think of it. It's one of my favorite quotes of all time.

• 1:24:00Nick Bare?

  I love Kobe and Jordan's mindset.

• 1:24:04Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh, man. I literally thought of that exact quote.

• 1:24:07Nick Bare?

  Yes, my favorite.

• 1:24:08Speaker 01

  This week before, I knew because I was coming on here. I was like, the reporter says to him, he's like, you happy? He's like, what's there to be happy about? Job's not done. He's like, well, you're up 2-0. He's like, job's not finished. I don't think so. I just love, my gosh, man.

• 1:24:20Nick Bare?

  Yeah, that gives me chills.

• 1:24:23Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:24:23Nick Bare?

  Because of just how Kobe and Jordan were so confident, but they were so confident because they backed it up with all of the work.

• 1:24:33Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:24:33Nick Bare?

  And they were confident because of the preparation they put in.

• 1:24:37Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:24:37Nick Bare?

  So when they went to execute, it wasn't a guess of will I perform or not? It was, oh, I'm going to perform.

• 1:24:44Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:24:44Nick Bare?

  And I'm so confident in my ability. I'm now going to show myself and all of you what I've been working towards. And that is like, I love studying those two guys.

• 1:24:57Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:24:58Nick Bare?

  Love it.

• 1:24:59Speaker 01

  That, I'm so glad you brought that up. Yes, Kobe is 100% man. You said it best. That's the best way to put it. That you're going into it knowing, people are like, why are you so confident? And it's like, I'm doing all the things. This provides me confidence because I have results that show up time and time again, that I show up for myself and that I have things to back it up. There was another one too, man. There's so many good ones, but the, who was it? It was like just after Kobe had lost the championship or what was it? And he was on, no, no, what was it? Oh, he's on the, he's on the court and a guy shows up and he's still working out. He's in a, he's in a dead sweat and everything. The guy comes up to him and he's like,

• 1:25:44Speaker 01

  After the game and whatnot, he was like, dude, why are we working out for so long? Cause I wanted to make sure you knew that you would never outwork me. Meanwhile, he'd already been there working out for two, three hours. It's just, it's that mentality of like, and that's kind of like what I carry with me because like, I feel like no one else is so outspoken about the motivational background and then the sports background and talking about it this way. Because that's, that's how I think of it. I'm like, you will not outwork me. I will be, I work, I will do this seven days a week to make sure that everything that I've said and spoken into existence and spoken out there, that it will come to fruition. So, yeah.

• 1:26:25Nick Bare?

  I was running an ultra marathon in 2023. It was called last man standing.

• 1:26:29Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:26:30Nick Bare?

  4.2 mile loop, restarts every hour on the hour until there's one person left.

• 1:26:34Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:26:35Nick Bare?

  Everyone else is DNF. And there was this guy that I identified in the first couple of loops, who looked like a stud. And he ended up winning the last man standing race. He was the last person standing. But I ran up next to him early on, it might've been like loop two or three. And we were just keeping it light. And I look at him, I go, how far are you going, man? Like, how far are you going today? And he looks at me and goes, the whole way, brother. And in my head, I was like, he, he is calling that right now. And I can see it in his eyes. I can hear it in his voice. He's going to win this. And he went and did it. The whole way, brother.

• 1:27:17Speaker 01

  Yep. It's, it's almost like when you say it and you believe the words you're saying, there's something in your brain. If you have that inside of you and that killer inside of you and that monster that needs to wake up, like you're telling your brain you're gonna do it. There's no, there's no other if, ands or buts. Like, it's gonna happen. And it's just like, it just, it rewires your brain. And when you do that time and time again, it becomes easier and it becomes more innately a part of you. When you, when you continuously get the results because you kept telling yourself, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna check the next box. I'm gonna check the next box. So, yeah.

• 1:27:56Nick Bare?

  Chad Wright, one of my favorite things Chad Wright says, he's been on the podcast. He says, your tongue is your rudder. And if you speak it into existence, it will come to fruition for for good or bad. So if you talk down upon yourself, if you are pessimistic, if you are negative about your your disbelief in yourself and what you can do, or what we can do, that will happen. Your tongue will guide you in that direction of life. But if you speak all positivity and belief in in your mind and out loud.

• 1:28:29Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:28:30Nick Bare?

  That will guide.

• 1:28:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:28:31Nick Bare?

  Everything. Always think about that before I say something negative or or whatever it is. As soon as I say it, as soon as I think it, as soon as I put it out there, that is now guiding my actions moving forward.

• 1:28:45Speaker 01

  That's well put.

• 1:28:47Nick Bare?

  I did want to ask one question. I love your piano versions of your songs. Is that your idea?

• 1:28:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:28:55Nick Bare?

  Dude, those are my favorite versions of the songs you do. Well done on those.

• 1:29:00Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:29:02Nick Bare?

  And then, as you were talking about growing up in the church, having a foundation of faith, have you ever thought about collaborating on a worship album? Like Brandon Lake, for example, just did a song with Jelly Roll.

• 1:29:18Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:29:20Speaker 01

  I'm glad you brought that up. I think I think that that question right there is God trying to speak to me. And I mean that in the most pure way and just such a beautiful way, because I actually had, I've had numerous fans bring up to me in these past couple of days in VIPs and my mean greets about asking if I would do like a little gospel album or like a church album or, you know, a Christian music thing. And I think that that, I think I've been praying to God a lot. And I've gone going through this diet in these last couple of months have been so beneficial for me for being a, you know, young, you know, young dude, mid twenties of just kind of trying to figure out.

• 1:30:03Speaker 01

  All of this, what do I want to get out of this, you know, going through a breakup, going through some betrayal, going through some of crazy stuff on the record and whatnot. And I think that that is definitely something that I would highly entertain. And the first one that comes to mind is my favorite hymnal, How Great Thou Art. That is just a song that has always spoken so much life into me. And yeah, I definitely think it's something on my list of things to do.

• 1:30:31Nick Bare?

  That would be super cool.

• 1:30:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:30:32Nick Bare?

  Be very cool to, to record and

• 1:30:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:30:36Nick Bare?

  Listen to.

• 1:30:37Speaker 01

  Well, if you were at the Ryman, you heard How Great Thou Art at the Ryman then.

• 1:30:40Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:40Speaker 01

  Which was a spiritual awakening, in my opinion. That was such an awesome moment to share with the fans and the crowd and

• 1:30:47Nick Bare?

  That was an incredible show.

• 1:30:48Speaker 01

  It was. That was such an awesome, awesome show. But that, that right there in itself is another great example of, um, talking about speaking into existence, right? Like, the Ryman, I had never stepped foot in the Ryman. I had been invited to the Ryman so many times to tour it and visit it and go with friends and let's go check it out. And I said to him, I will not step foot in that venue until I headline it. I didn't step into it.

• 1:31:13Nick Bare?

  I think you said that actually at the show.

• 1:31:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:31:15Nick Bare?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:15Speaker 01

  And then step into it till that day to soundcheck and get ready for the show. So I've done that a couple of times with, um, a lot of venues and a lot of things. And I think that that's, it just gives you that much more confidence, man, when you keep saying those things and you keep doing that and you stick to your word. And The Grand Ole Opry was the same way for me. I didn't step a foot into the Opry until I had stepped foot into that circle for my Opry debut. So you get, you get confidence by continuously doing it and showing up for yourself and continuously showing that it's working. Like, I continuously get the results, so, yeah. Yes, I could totally see, um, some religious music, for sure, in the future.

• 1:32:00Speaker 01

  Maybe around Christmas time, we'll see.

• 1:32:02Nick Bare?

  Yeah, that'd be awesome.

• 1:32:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:32:03Nick Bare?

  Well, Warren, dude, appreciate you making the time for us.

• 1:32:06Speaker 01

  Appreciate you.

• 1:32:07Nick Bare?

  I know your life is absolutely wild right now and you're heading back to Nashville tonight.

• 1:32:12Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:32:12Nick Bare?

  So I appreciate it, man. I just want to congratulate you on, on everything you're doing. And it's cool seeing someone else from the 717 doing some stuff. And then, my friend, let's go take a scoop of pre-workout now. For sure. All right, thanks, man. Appreciate you, homie.