Jessi and Jared Fredeen are the powerhouse duo behind Champagne Sunday, a Tacoma-based band that’s been making music—and memories—together for two decades.

Their journey began with a chance on-stage moment in a California restaurant and slowly evolved into a musical and personal partnership. Today, they’ve released ten albums, performed thousands of shows, and built a life rooted in creativity, connection, and community.

Their music, described as “glam folk,” blends the emotional weight of singer-songwriter storytelling with an exuberant stage presence. Whether playing for three people or a packed room, Jessi and Jared focus on one thing above all else—reaching people.

In this conversation, they talk about:

• The unexpected way they met and formed Champagne Sunday

• Building a band and a relationship at the same time

• What it means to truly connect with an audience

• The joys and challenges of being independent musicians

• Why their tenth album feels like their most personal yet

You’ll also hear about two upcoming events that are close to their hearts:

• A one-of-a-kind album listening party on April 16 at The Grand Cinema

• A full-band album release show on May 31 at the Airport Tavern in Tacoma

This episode is a reminder that the creative path is rarely linear—but it’s worth walking when it’s built on heart, hustle, and a little Champagne.

Champagne Sunday Jessi and Jared Fredeen Episode Transcript

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowan, and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington State. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest.

I’m sitting down today with Jessi and Jared Fredeen of Champagne Sunday.

And I’m laughing because, well, you know, intros are always hard for me, folks.

Scott Cowan [00:00:36]:

You all know that. Anyway This is

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:00:37]:

my interest. Thank you

Scott Cowan [00:00:38]:

both for sitting down with me. Mhmm. So we gotta get the housekeeping out of the way right away. Yep. We all know the same person. Yep. And I want you one of the two of you have to be the first person to say something nice about Raymond Hayden.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:00:53]:

Oh, it’s it’s gonna be hard. Something nice? You wanna do it? I mean

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:00:57]:

I don’t know if I I can.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:00:58]:

Honey, we we’re trying to just not lie. We’re trying to be really honest on this show.

Scott Cowan [00:01:02]:

Alright. Well, that was a failure. So welcome to the show.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:05]:

He wears nice shoes. Ah, Ray Hayden

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:08]:

is and you know what? And he’d give him to you if you asked him for it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:11]:

Yeah. Ray’s Ray’s a great guy.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:12]:

He’s probably one of the most genuine

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:14]:

It’s harder to find something bad to say about it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:17]:

Yeah. But it’s fun to pretend.

Scott Cowan [00:01:18]:

But we can make it up. I mean, that’s how we’re fun of it because we don’t know if he’s gonna listen. I mean, you know

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:22]:

Sure. He does have that butt beard he always has to have trimmed.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:25]:

Right.

Scott Cowan [00:01:27]:

Okay. So on that

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:31]:

Don’t have me on the show.

Scott Cowan [00:01:33]:

What? So The two of you moved here from California.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:42]:

You’re you’re Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:01:42]:

Nobody ever moves to Washington from California. So this is very unusual to talk to people. But, no, in all seriousness, you guys moved here from California. But where did the where did you meet?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:01:51]:

We met down in California at a restaurant. I was booked at a place, and, her boyfriend at the time was the manager. He booked me.

Scott Cowan [00:02:02]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:02:02]:

he called her up and said, you gotta come hear this guy. She She was like, I’m in my jammies. I don’t wanna come listen to some dude. And he kept telling me, like, you gotta hear my girlfriend play. She’s awesome, and she’s she’s got this great voice.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:02:14]:

That’s kind of the thing that musicians maybe hate, like, a lot. It’s like, oh, you should play with so and so, or you gotta hear my my best friend or my cousin or my girlfriend. It’s always just like, because you know they really suck, but they’re But we we wound

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:02:30]:

we wound up on stage together.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:02:32]:

That night.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:02:32]:

She came down that night. We sang a song that was kinda like, you know this one?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:02:36]:

Yeah. You know this one? It’s like a kind of a b side Counting Crows tune from August and Everything After. Yeah. Okay. And we sang it together, and there were, like, some really sparkly sort of beautiful moments in there. And we didn’t neither

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:02:49]:

one was sparkly. Like each other.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:02:50]:

We didn’t like each other. We didn’t we didn’t want to admit that we enjoyed it. We didn’t want to admit that we felt like there was like some musical chemistry. So we didn’t and it took like another year.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:03:02]:

I was in a I was in a band that was kinda struggling. She was in a band that was struggling. Yeah. And both bands were sort of falling apart slowly at the same time.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:03:10]:

And his drummer wanted to play with me, and I already had a bass player. And I was like, oh, I don’t feel safe, like, doing that feels like almost worse than cheating on your spouse if you, like, take another bandmate from, like, a band. I don’t know. To me, that just felt bad. So I called Jared and was like, hey. So you guys aren’t doing much, and Byron wants to come and play drums with my project. I how do you feel about that? And it was, like, really quiet and just sort of weird on the other line. And, you know, after, like, a lot, he’s like, you know what? My band is just not doing anything, so fuck it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:03:49]:

I’m in. And I was like because I said to him, like, you could join too, you know? And it was such a great transaction because I got She got

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:03:58]:

a drummer.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:03:58]:

Drummer. I got Jared who could do everything, and be like a musical writing partner. And Jared brought in his bassist, but we already had a bassist. So that bassist became our lead guitar player, and he was so good on lead guitar.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:04:13]:

He was shredding. Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:04:14]:

At the time, Jared was sort of utility guy. I did, like, keys, second rhythm because I played rhythm not well, but I played rhythm. And so Jared did like, you know, tambourine, harmonica, just kind of a whole bunch of and at one point he was like, why am I even in this band? I don’t even know what I’m doing here. Like and we fought a lot in those early days. Yeah. About music. Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:04:36]:

And we worked together. She, she ended up marrying the guy that introduced us. Yeah. And I actually sang her down the aisle at the wedding.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:04:45]:

Yeah. It was like

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:04:46]:

I became friends with him before I became friends with her. And I would just go over to hang out with him and she would be there. And Gross. So we’d be drinking and hanging out all night long. And we just got to

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:04:58]:

Just became friends. Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:04:59]:

Just got to know each other.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:05:00]:

So 02/2005, it kinda went like this. I got married in March to my ex. In May 2005, we started Champagne Sunday. By, August, my ex and I had split, on his recommendation that I probably should be with Jared instead. And I was like, I’m sorry. What? What? Like, I didn’t I hadn’t seen I you know, other than, like, if we were drunk or something and I was like, boo, hey. It wasn’t really like that. I didn’t have that kind of vibe with Jared.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:05:33]:

We he I was his wingman. I would, like, help him get, you know, like, dates and stuff. I didn’t I liked I didn’t care. We were just buddies. And that’s why I think my ex saw that and was just like, oh, shit. There’s no room for me in this. And we we and he was much older than I was, and I think he just had a little bit more he just seen life a little bit more than I had and could really see the signs. We’re still really good friends, actually.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:06:00]:

Yeah. But, yeah, he and so and then by so by February, Jared and I were dating. And, like, literally so this year, we are celebrating twenty years of Champagne Sunday, twenty years of Jared and Jessi. We just we never looked back.

Scott Cowan [00:06:18]:

Champagne Sunday. Yeah. Why not just mimosa?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:06:22]:

Because mimosa insinuates the thing.

Scott Cowan [00:06:26]:

Right.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:06:26]:

But Champagne Sunday could be all kinds of things. And we

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:06:29]:

Champagne’s classy. Champagne’s always for celebration.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:06:32]:

But it’s bubbly. It’s exuberant. Sundays are for family, football, kicking back. If you choose to to go to church, fine. It’s also a time of, like, just kind of re centering yourself for the rest of the week. It’s a day off. People like to go Sunday driving. I mean, it’s just a really good feeling, the idea.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:06:54]:

And my ex actually picked the band name as well.

Scott Cowan [00:06:57]:

So also the thing about Sunday is is there’s this group of people that like to get together and get depressed by watching the Buffalo Bills.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:04]:

Yeah. Yeah. We’re we’re Sorry.

Scott Cowan [00:07:07]:

That was that was a cheap shot.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:09]:

It’s alright. It was earned. We, it’s okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:12]:

Yeah. We’re called the Bills Mafia. And,

Scott Cowan [00:07:14]:

So the thing about to just to hijack this, the thing about the Bills fans is when you see pictures of the stadium and you see them wading to their seats in the snow. Yeah. You gotta like

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:26]:

There’s there’s true misery in that.

Scott Cowan [00:07:28]:

You’ve gotta tip your cap to them though too at the same time. It’s like Uh-huh. That’s dead.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:33]:

They’re there. They’re there.

Scott Cowan [00:07:35]:

If I go to a Seahawks game and I’m gonna get my Nordstrom Timberland boots wet, I’m not gonna go. I mean, I’m not gonna

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:45]:

Right. Tell them the tell them the game you played it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:47]:

So the I I was in the marching band for the game that Bills played against the Oilers that was the greatest comeback in NFL history.

Scott Cowan [00:07:55]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:56]:

I was in the marching band

Scott Cowan [00:07:58]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:07:58]:

That played the halftime show for that game.

Scott Cowan [00:08:00]:

So it was I don’t remember anything about that game. Was there any bad weather there that day? Or

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:08:05]:

No. But it was because of my husband trombone section that they they that the Bills actually came back.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:08:10]:

Oh, yeah. It was they were down by, like, three or four touchdowns at the half. Okay. And they came back and ended up winning. It was unreal.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:08:19]:

Good job, honey.

Scott Cowan [00:08:20]:

Blind squirrels find nuts once in a while too. I mean, it’s just I mean, come on. I mean, you know, no

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:08:25]:

But not the greatest nut ever in history.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:08:27]:

That’s so Yeah. So

Scott Cowan [00:08:30]:

you I like I like the naming the logic behind the name, actually. So alright. So you you you met. You had kind of this meandering way to the to the relationship. K. Now we’ve got twenty years of history combined.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:08:44]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:08:44]:

And now you’re in Tacoma. Yep. That opens up a lot of questions. But you did you’re in Tacoma. Yeah. And you’re releasing is it your tenth album?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:08:56]:

Yeah. Yeah. So I

Scott Cowan [00:09:00]:

am not a musician. I used to say I could play a good stereo. Now it’s I got a good playlist on my phone. What little I know and I have a lot of friends that are independent musicians. Okay. A couple of my friends won a Grammy. You know, they’ve they’ve done well for themselves, kind of. You know? They they but when I think of musicians and I’ve no no shade here, even though I’ve been kind of teasing you the whole time.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:09:30]:

Sorry.

Scott Cowan [00:09:30]:

It seems like you’re you’re taking a vow of poverty. You know, it seems like the industry isn’t they don’t value artists? No. It seems like I don’t wanna say the deck is stacked against you, but it certainly seems that way.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:09:50]:

Yeah. I I don’t think well, the industry certainly doesn’t value its artists, but the people do.

Scott Cowan [00:09:54]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:09:55]:

And that’s where we put our attention. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:09:57]:

So let’s so so many many artists struggle. And Totally. For for many independent artists, you know, it’s a hobby. It’s they get on stage on a Friday night. They they, you know the Airport Tower in Tacoma, maybe they they get a midweek show or something. Dawson’s, they go play with the band.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:10:16]:

Jam. These are all

Scott Cowan [00:10:17]:

Tacoma venues, folks, if you’re not familiar. Yeah. Right. And, you know, and they have the dream of being a, quote, unquote, rock star or, you know, famous musician. Yeah. But you guys, twenty years of doing this, 10 albums, and you just kinda gave the secret away, I think, is that you focus on your audience.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:10:39]:

Yeah. Yeah. Which

Scott Cowan [00:10:40]:

seems really, really obvious.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:10:42]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:10:43]:

But I don’t see a lot of other musicians doing it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:10:46]:

It’s a hard thing to do.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:10:48]:

It’s hard.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:10:49]:

It’s it’s a

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:10:52]:

because sometimes there’s only three or four of them that come up to a show, and you have to say, well, what do you guys want tonight? Right. And you just

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:10:59]:

You’ve gotta be able to give it to them. And sometimes what they want is not what they really want and or what they what they need. Yeah. That’s real. So it’s like you have to be able to relate to them and to entertain them in a way that they’re ready to accept.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:11:16]:

And also that they can’t find at home, that they can’t get on tv or on spotify. There’s an actual heart like heart to heart connection you know there’s something and I think coming out of covid, lots lots of things shifted in the real live entertainment industry. It it became so much more about the communion between like people and artists, the relationships.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:11:46]:

Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:11:47]:

It’s not easy. I’m not like it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:11:49]:

And I I think as an original artist too.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:11:51]:

Yeah. That’s where I was gonna go.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:11:55]:

The trick is to be inspired by something. And a lot of times, the easiest thing to be inspired by is the poverty that you’re living in or the misery of whatever’s happening around you. And But they

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:12:07]:

don’t write that way.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:12:07]:

That can be a hard thing for an audience to relate to. Right. But sometimes, I like to say that if you climb deep enough inside your own head, you come out somebody else’s. So you’ve gotta get in touch with some of those core things that are inside you that suddenly you find a commonality with everybody else. Yeah. And that it’s all it’s a hard place to go, and it’s a hard place to be every night when we’re singing. A lot of times, we’ll hit on stuff that is just really emotional for us, and it’s hard to get through the songs. But I think that’s a good place to be.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:12:40]:

People wanna see that. People wanna experience that

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:12:43]:

connection. Real.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:12:44]:

It’s like, oh my god. I feel that way too.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:12:46]:

But also you you it’s not just like, oh, we’re writing about all these emotions. Like Jared and I see the world a little just a little bit brighter. And I don’t I’m not trying to be like, oh my god. Sunshine rainbows. But there is I remember being about 22, and I was doing all these open mics, and I I wanted to be so, like, broody, and I would, like, wear my hoodie up over my head. And my mom came to a show one time and just said, how is it that the most joyful human being I’ve ever known in my life doesn’t channel any of that in her writing? And I was like, because it’s so hard to write positive things and joyful stuff. And I really, I took that as such a challenge. And if you listen through our catalog, you can’t help but be like, wait a minute.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:13:40]:

There’s something there’s such a light at the end of the tunnel with these guys. Like, we don’t we’re not sitting there trying to pretend that life isn’t what it is. But we also aren’t giving it that power over us. It’s like, yeah, okay, these things that we’re all in this together. But that is a big part of what draws our core audiences to us because they’re like, I needed to feel I needed to feel something real and joyful tonight. Not phony, not goofy. I didn’t need to go to like a a comedy.

Scott Cowan [00:14:16]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:14:17]:

But they get that sometimes with us too. But no. But they it’s just A lightness. Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:14:24]:

The sad old earth must borrow its mirth but has trouble enough of its own. And I think sometimes we need to be that mirth that they can borrow.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:14:32]:

You would be amazed. This is the other thing about live entertainment and how incredible this is that we get to hear from people right then and there in real time. Like taking our hands and they’ll say you guys you have no idea how much I needed this tonight. You have no I’ll have people come up to me and say some of the most heartbreaking things you can imagine. Case in point very quick story, a woman came up to me, well I I was passing her on the way to the bathroom at a set break and I said God you’re just so beautiful.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:15:08]:

And she she had looked like something was wrong.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:15:10]:

I said you’re so beautiful. You look so sad, though. I’m so sorry. Whatever’s going on. I’m sorry. Can I give you a hug? Then I put my arms around her. And for the next forty five minutes, this woman wept onto my shoulder and told me she had just buried her stillborn child in her backyard after this horrendous birthday thing. Almost full term.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:15:36]:

Almost full term. She tells me this story and says your music helped me today. I’m like right? So I’ve taken all this home with me every night. People talking about because people come to our shows and they they find that, like, release.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:15:52]:

They can let go of stuff.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:15:53]:

Yes. Unfortunately, they like to give it all back to me. And as sort of like an empath, I’m as I’ve gotten older, really having to deal with this is not mine. This isn’t my pain. This isn’t I’m just, a vessel right now. And I can

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:16:11]:

You’re doing it for some I’m

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:16:12]:

holding it and I can I can leave it here? I can let it go. But it’s taken me years to be able to understand that. But I think our job, coming all the way back to the poverty of musicians and whatever, it’s so big, it’s so much bigger, so much bigger than just, oh, we play music and we, yeah, we’re broke right now. It’s, it’s just not any of that. It’s like we’re going out and we’re, it’s, it’s like a mission. I it’s not in a religious way.

Scott Cowan [00:16:43]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:16:44]:

But in a connecting human spirit because that is going away as we speak right now. It’s just that connection, that human connection is being replaced with so many other things. So it is absolutely imperative that we do what we do.

Scott Cowan [00:17:04]:

I I I was kidding when I said the vow of poverty. But We know. But but but something through through what you guys both just shared kinda strikes me. And that is I mean, I know nothing about your finances. I don’t need to know anything about your finances. Like, who cares?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:17:17]:

Right.

Scott Cowan [00:17:17]:

And you could be, you know, actually folks, I can see they’re sitting on stacks of a hundred dollar bills. I’m just kidding. They don’t see them, but okay. No, but in all seriousness, you seem like you’re genuinely enjoying what you’re doing. Yeah. Many people go to work nine to five and they hate what they’re doing and they can’t wait for Friday night and they hate Sunday evening. Mhmm. And they might be making money, but they’re miserable.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:17:43]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:17:43]:

So I think I applaud you both for taking a path that works for you. It it won’t work for everybody. No. But it works for you. And that’s all that matters is that it’s it’s the the the right path for for you, the two of you, and your and your son to

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:17:59]:

We’ve been also really, really fortunate to have an incredible amount of outside help. Just an abundance.

Scott Cowan [00:18:07]:

But see, I’m in my opinion, when when people are locked into the right thing

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:12]:

Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:18:14]:

It’s easier to help

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:16]:

them. Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:18:17]:

Yeah. It it’s easier it’s easier to to find help, and and it’s easier for help to find you. And so I that’s kind of how I feel about it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:26]:

I agree.

Scott Cowan [00:18:28]:

Jared, I wanna ask you a question. Yep. You guys been together as a band twenty years?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:32]:

Twenty years.

Scott Cowan [00:18:34]:

About how many shows have you performed?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:38]:

We average around a hundred or so a year at least.

Scott Cowan [00:18:43]:

A couple thousand shows.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:44]:

Probably. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:18:46]:

We’ll we’ll knock off the couple COVID years. They’ll they’ll bring your average down.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:50]:

Sure.

Scott Cowan [00:18:50]:

So a couple thousand shows.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:52]:

Yeah. Just as champagne sundae.

Scott Cowan [00:18:55]:

Just as Champagne Sunday.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:18:57]:

Right.

Scott Cowan [00:18:59]:

So it’s not I mean, when you think about it, if you think about going back to the terms of nine to five, Monday through Friday. Right? Mhmm. That’s not that many hours of work. I don’t think being on stage is the work part of the business. So but Yeah. So and approximately how long is a a typical show for you guys?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:19:19]:

Two to three hours.

Scott Cowan [00:19:20]:

Okay. So

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:19:21]:

Between two and three.

Scott Cowan [00:19:22]:

So you you’ve let’s just say five thousand five thousand hours on the stage.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:19:27]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:19:29]:

How many hours do you think you spent promoting the band over the last twenty years? Not not not practicing, not writing, the marketing of the band.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:19:39]:

The marketing has been gross. Yeah. Because we’re so difficult to market. Like

Scott Cowan [00:19:46]:

Yeah. You you you get stuck on my podcast. I mean

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:19:50]:

It was it was a giant it was a giant, hill for us to conquer even just defining what the hell we were. Mhmm. And we finally had to land on Pretty makeup genre. We call ourselves glam folk.

Scott Cowan [00:20:03]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:04]:

That seems to make sense in what we do. And

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:07]:

because we’re folk artists. I mean, we sing these songs about just life and love.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:11]:

But we would get kicked out of folk festivals.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:13]:

Yeah. Well, it’s not kick not kicked out. We

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:15]:

just wouldn’t be invited anymore. Traditional folk festivals.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:17]:

Yeah. Things are so different now because there’s so many spliced genres that you it’s hard to even Yeah. We aren’t traditional folk, but we aren’t punk. We aren’t rock.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:27]:

But I I to get back to your point, I’d say probably two or three times that amount Yeah. Just in promotion. And, you know, I I do a lot of the graphic work and web design and

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:39]:

Everyone should have a share in in their beyonds.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:20:42]:

Yeah. I’m I’m the behind the scenes guy doing all that, but, that takes up a lot of time. Yeah. And luckily, we have the time to do it. And because we don’t have the resources to really outsource it anywhere. So, yeah, it’s it’s a big part of it.

Scott Cowan [00:21:01]:

So you’re playing on average a couple of nights a week? Yeah. If a hundred shows a year is a couple, a couple of nights a week on, on average.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:21:08]:

Right. You know, I’m gonna

Scott Cowan [00:21:09]:

do it for three or four this week. Maybe take a week off. You know, he deserves some time off that thing. Yeah. Since COVID. Yeah. Because I, I think the music business is pre COVID. We can’t even talk about it anymore.

Scott Cowan [00:21:20]:

I just I just think it doesn’t it’s not relevant from what I’ve been told and from what I’ve observed. So post COVID, as an independent artist, what’s gotten better post COVID?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:21:34]:

The appreciation, I think.

Scott Cowan [00:21:36]:

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:21:37]:

The appreciation for a live experience.

Scott Cowan [00:21:40]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:21:41]:

Especially right after COVID, people were just salivating for a human connection of any kind in a like, sharing oxygen with someone. Mhmm. That was that was huge at that time. And so many of the artists, I think, kind of, I don’t want to say atrophied during the COVID times, but something similar to that. So I know everyone was playing, everyone was doing stuff, but we just were we really worked on, I don’t wanna say rebranding, but polishing up the show and trying new stuff. And so we came out just swinging for

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:22:21]:

because we also made a record during that time.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:22:23]:

Like, honestly, we And that record was very transformative.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:22:27]:

We made a record, and it was huge, for us. So we just sunk into our work.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:22:34]:

We we So right so right after COVID, I think we we we came out of the gates just guns blazing. Yeah. Since then, I think, the world has returns to some unfortunate habits.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:22:53]:

It this last year was probably our hardest year, honestly.

Scott Cowan [00:22:56]:

Just 2024?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:22:58]:

Yeah. Yeah. And it’s not it doesn’t feel like it’s getting better.

Scott Cowan [00:23:02]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:23:03]:

I’m not certain about all there’s a billion different factors that we could all point to that are leading to those things, and that’s why we feel like it’s it’s more important, mostly more critical now than ever to stay the course, to keep going and keep putting out stuff and and keep performing, but it’s hard because the people aren’t buying, CDs at almost at all.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:23:29]:

Yeah. Because physical music is hard to sell.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:23:31]:

So we we we printed this new album on vinyl. K. And we’re really excited about it, but that also comes with a whole new set of challenges. Like, we’re listening to it. We’re kinda like, there’s a lot of work put into this record, and we’re not barely hearing it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:23:46]:

Granted, we have an absolute shit for Just an ass. Like the worst record player ever

Scott Cowan [00:23:52]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:23:53]:

Ever. Might as well put it on our toilet and been like, why can’t we hear it? So that’s a thing. But, anyway, all that aside, it’s just important that we keep putting out art and keep going. And, in the post COVID world, I do I think, like Jared said, the first year right out of it, it was like a first year.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:24:14]:

Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:24:14]:

Yeah. First year, year and a half. And then it would then I don’t know. But like I told you earlier on, we play a gig at SeaTac Airport, once a week, sometimes twice a week. We’ve been a part of this music program there for almost eleven years.

Scott Cowan [00:24:29]:

So that’s with Ed Beeson?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:24:31]:

Yeah. Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s an amazing sort of petri dish of, what our like, a little sampling of our whole world is in an airport. And we get to see that weekly and kind of touch on so many things. Last week, I went by myself to play a gig, which I’m gonna tell you.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:25:01]:

20, I have been playing music with this incredible man right here. Two times have I performed by myself. Last week was one of those times, and I felt like I was trying to swim across a lake with one arm. It was daunting, at best, but I did it, because we need the money and because I felt like it was still important I go and and show up.

Scott Cowan [00:25:25]:

Sure.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:25:27]:

During this show of mine where I was feeling incredibly vulnerable and just thinking, oh my god. I’m just playing these songs and they sound really naked and really simple and really, like,

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:25:38]:

Stripped down.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:25:38]:

Just sophomoric. I was feeling like, oh, they aren’t as amazing as when he adds all his, like, beautiful stuff. And I had several people come up to me during the day, tears streaming down their faces. Like, I needed that. Like, this man just grabbed my hand and he couldn’t even look me in the face because he just couldn’t look at me. He was crying. He was like, I have you have no idea. I don’t need I didn’t even know I needed that.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:26:01]:

I have to go but thank you. So you you’re seeing like again coming back to that human connection, you’re seeing in real time that your art is changing people and you you’re never gonna you can’t just go out and be like I’m gonna change the world. But you can go out and think I’m gonna maybe change one person’s day. I’m gonna maybe change a mind today about the way we see things, about the way we relate to one another, whatever that might be. And so and even though things are dropping off as far as, like, the way people contribute to their artists, we actually have really great merchandise, which we’ll get to later. That’s a way we make a lot of actually have really great merchandise, which we’ll get to later. That’s a way we make

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:26:43]:

a lot of money.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:26:44]:

The buy my shirt tour. Because I, like, tapped into what people like

Scott Cowan [00:26:48]:

to buy.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:26:48]:

Mhmm. And I we will just order order all this great stuff. We have, like, 17 different shirt options for people. I’m not kidding you. And I just ordered some joggers. So wow. But it’s crazy because people will buy all kinds of stuff because they wanna support an artist, but they almost will never buy the music because you can get it for free. Right? So we’re like, great.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:27:09]:

Let’s put our money into all these, like, clothing items and swag. But going all the way back, it’s important that connection is on it’s like there’s no I to me, like, there’s no other reason to do this. It’s like completely literally. I might as well be a studio musician if we don’t wanna connect with other human beings.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:27:26]:

Right.

Scott Cowan [00:27:27]:

K. Interesting. The, gigs for you at SeaTac. I’ve yet that’s not true. One time, I traveled through and there was somebody playing. I’ve never only one time. And I think it’s kinda on the surface, I think it’s kinda weird. Like, who’s gonna pay attention to my to the artist as we’re walking we’re we’re running our flights late or our flights early or TSA just groped me or I just paid $12 for a small cup of coffee and it’s terrible.

Scott Cowan [00:27:56]:

Or Yep. The airport experience is

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:27:59]:

Horrible.

Scott Cowan [00:27:59]:

For me.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:28:01]:

For bus

Scott Cowan [00:28:01]:

But you are not the only musician that I’ve had on that’s talked about the interaction with the public. So I’m obviously wrong. And it is obviously working at a level because I think people need, I hate flying. I that’s not true. I hate

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:28:23]:

The process of it?

Scott Cowan [00:28:24]:

I hate the process of the airport. Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. I’m not crazy about being on the airplane, but the airport is is miserable for me. And Mhmm. Maybe I need to slow down and pay more attention to the environment around me. And so I’m I’m glad that that this I mean, how many musicians are are doing this? I mean, there’s a lot of you doing this.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:28:46]:

There are.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:28:47]:

A rock to ask, maybe 60 plus. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:28:54]:

So very early on, you mentioned having to perform for a very small audience, three or four people. Yeah. And I’d really like to ask you as as as artists, from what I’ve been told, a lot of the energy that you get on stage is what you pick up from the audience. Yeah. There’s not a lot of energy, you know, from three or four bodies in a in a in a venue. And especially if it’s a big venue, then it’s really, you know, kind of almost well, frankly, it’s depressing Yeah. For me. But how do you and I think you kind of alluded to the answer, but I’m just gonna redirect the question.

Scott Cowan [00:29:32]:

How do you find the inspiration to deliver a great performance regardless of the audience size?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:29:44]:

It’s well, size size doesn’t really matter. Careful. Well, the size of the crowd the size of the crowd can be can be small, but if they’re engaged, which if they’re there, then there’s a real good chance that they’re they’re in it. Right. That is worth more than a roomful of people that could give two shits whether you’re there or not. We played we’ve played in Nashville to a place where There

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:30:12]:

were, like, 200 plus people there.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:30:14]:

And but they were all watching the TV or bent over their phones or doing whatever. They weren’t paying attention to music. Fuck that.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:30:20]:

I had to get off the stage and literally walk up to a man and grab his hand and look at him and go, hey. I love you. And he just was like Woah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:30:29]:

Yeah. But then after that, once once she got that engagement going, then we had people paying attention. And when they’re paying attention, then they’re much easier to connect with.

Scott Cowan [00:30:40]:

Alright. So I’m gonna go out of order from what I normally do because Yeah. I think this is a great segue. I always ask musical guests this question. It’s a two part question. Washington state answers only, please. K? Where’s where’s the best venue that you’ve played at as far as being a musician? Like, they take good care of you, the green room’s nice, the stage is good or whatever. Where’s the where’s the best and I know if you say place x, you’ve just insulted the rest of the alphabet.

Scott Cowan [00:31:14]:

But but where’s a room you like to play?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:31:19]:

Well, there’s a venue that’s not around anymore, and it’s a this like, the saddest thing. The whole community was so excited about it. And we did an album release there. We did, like, a rerelease of an old record there.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:31:31]:

Oh, yeah. Alma.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:31:32]:

It was an amazing space. Alma. And they were really doing a lot for their artists, and the whole whole artist community was able to be, like, this is a space we can all use. And

Scott Cowan [00:31:42]:

So that was Alma. Yeah. Yeah. And Alma was in Tacoma. Yep.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:31:46]:

And just corporate malfeasance came in. I think

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:31:51]:

I think the airport tavern, we’ve only played one show there so far.

Scott Cowan [00:31:54]:

Are you talking the new airport? The new airport tavern.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:31:56]:

The new one. It’s like this huge expansion of the tiny little we also played in that tiny little space, though, when, Dano first opened it. But now it’s just be it’s beautiful. And it it’s so, versatile.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:32:11]:

We’ve only played the one show and it was kind of a one off

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:32:13]:

Yeah. It was like a Christmas thing. There was a parade going on outside. So it was like people kind of coming in and out and whatnot. But the just a tiny amount of video footage and pictures we got from it, like, the stage looks really beautiful, but the sound is great. Dano, is a musician himself in town. So he has put so much care and effort into creating a space that the artists are really gonna be like, yes. And the green rooms are gorgeous and the staff is wonderful.

Scott Cowan [00:32:38]:

Alright.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:32:38]:

So we’re looking forward to that. But

Scott Cowan [00:32:40]:

And we’ll come back to the airport because there’s there’s there’s things about the airport. Yeah. So the flip side of my question is Yeah. Where do you like to go see music performed at? Anywhere. We don’t get out to see music

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:32:48]:

performed at. Anywhere. We don’t get out to see music

Scott Cowan [00:32:52]:

that often. In the audience, where where’s a great venue that you think when you’re when you do get to go see music performed? Mhmm. Where is a venue that because I I what I’m finding when I talk to people is it’s not always the same place. Like, musicians like playing, let’s just say, the airport Mhmm. But they might like to go see music at Alma.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:13]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:33:14]:

And so I’m just curious. Where where have you seen music that you’ve liked being in the audience? It’s it’s a good it presents things well to the audience.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:24]:

The Spanish ballroom can

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:26]:

That’s what I was thinking.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:28]:

It’s a hit or miss. It depends on the act that’s in there and who is running the sound. Okay. It’s, but it’s beautiful. It’s lush. We performed there. We had our our last album released there, and it was really beautiful. Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:43]:

It’s a it’s a little tough sometimes with the sound Yeah. Because the way the room is set up.

Scott Cowan [00:33:48]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:48]:

I just went and saw a friend of ours play at the armory. His name’s Walker Sherman.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:54]:

Up in Seattle?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:54]:

No. Up here at Tacoma.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:33:55]:

Oh, it’s in Tacoma. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:33:56]:

The armory in Tacoma’s doing music now? Interesting. Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:00]:

And it was the way it was it’s like a a room of the armory.

Scott Cowan [00:34:03]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:04]:

And it was the way it was set up was real in intimate, and it was just him on stage with a guitar. He brought a dude up to play harmonica with him at one point, but it was a a fantastic show. It was a great setting. I I really enjoyed it, but maybe it’s because I just don’t get get out that much to see other bands and stuff.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:21]:

Well, I would like to play there for sure.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:22]:

Yeah. I would love to play it.

Scott Cowan [00:34:23]:

Alright. You give me the transition then. Where’s a place in Washington that if you could play anywhere, where would you wanna play?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:32]:

Climate Pledge Arena?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:34]:

No. I’d like to play them more.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:37]:

More would be great?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:40]:

I would like to play with

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:42]:

What’s the one the Rialto in?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:34:45]:

We just do really well in, like, theater spaces Okay. As opposed to, like our our fans we’re we’re we’re a very storytelling kind of act. So it’s not like you just stand up and you get sweaty and you dance and you cry and whatever. And plus our fans are they wanna sit, they wanna buy drinks, and they wanna just really immerse themselves in the show. Okay. It’s a show. It’s not a it’s not a as much of a listen as it is a show. I don’t know how to explain it.

Scott Cowan [00:35:13]:

Well okay. So, like, the Neptune in Seattle would be an interesting Yeah. Neptune’s Neptune’s nice. Yeah. I can see the Spanish ballroom, obviously, but you’ve played there already. That wasn’t the question. Have you ever thought about playing the triple door?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:26]:

Oh, we’ve Thought about it, and we’ve we’ve

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:28]:

We don’t have a huge Seattle following in that.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:31]:

It’s a

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:31]:

really big struggle.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:32]:

We need to have the draw out there. We just

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:34]:

because they’re always will ask, like, well, what can you bring? And you know how it is. This is what we ran into in LA as well because we were we actually lived in Ventura. And when we would get booked in LA, it’s like we played the Whiskey, and

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:47]:

Played Roxy.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:47]:

Roxy. Those kind we played those places, but getting people to come out and they’re like, I have to pay what? And I have to buy a ticket and I have to buy a drink and like

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:55]:

You gotta fight for parking

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:35:56]:

and traffic. For free or for $5 or $10 here in Ventura and not have to ever worry. So that’s a big struggle.

Scott Cowan [00:36:04]:

Okay. That’s reasonable. I mean, unfortunately, but I see that as being reasonable. Okay. Yeah. Alright. So that got that sort of me off my my my natural cadence that normally comes later in the in the We questioning?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:16]:

We, our best friends that live here now, they used to own an art gallery in Wenatchee. That was one of our favorite places to play. It was called Collapse Art Gallery. Now it is, oh, I’m sorry. A radar station before that. It was radar station.

Scott Cowan [00:36:30]:

Oh, radar station. Okay. I I know of I know of radar station. Okay. K. Oh, who is this person?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:35]:

The people that own the place were, Bonnie and Phil Yenny and their Chad their son, Chad Yenny, was the guy who,

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:42]:

He ran collapsed.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:43]:

He ran collapsed, but he also had, like, a recording studio.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:46]:

But then Ron ran

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:47]:

But Ron Evans, kind of

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:49]:

He did Radar Station.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:51]:

Yeah. But we walked in there one day and said, do you guys have live music? And they’re like, well, we don’t yet. But we said, well, we see a piano in the back and looks like it’s kind of a cool bar back there.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:36:59]:

The stage and all this stuff.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:37:00]:

They’re like, yeah. We’re kinda trying to make a speak easy. So we’re like, well, let’s, we’ll just we’ll tell you what. We won’t we’ll play a free show here and see how it goes. And ended up building a really cool fan base in Wenatchee and met the owners of the art gallery. They ended up becoming, like, our super best friends, and then they moved out here because they’ve always wanted to, they lived in Wenatchee for, like, forty five years. So they wanted to get by the water and both of their kids ended up oh, well, one of them already lived here and the other one moved. Anyway, long story, but Wenatchee and Leavenworth are also pretty fun places that we like to Have

Scott Cowan [00:37:33]:

you ever played in Ellensburg?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:37:35]:

No. No.

Scott Cowan [00:37:36]:

There’s a there’s a I could see I can see what you do going over really well in Ellensburg. Yeah. Okay. There’s venues that I think would cater.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:37:46]:

Cool. Shoot us some names. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:37:47]:

Be a good fit. I’m drawing a blank as the one I’m thinking of right now. There’s, there’s a gallery that’s got it’s a collective there, and I I’ll get it to you later. And I’m sorry. I just can’t think about it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:37:57]:

Awesome. No. That’s alright.

Scott Cowan [00:37:58]:

But, like, in Wenatchee, One of the things that’s happening is the, the wineries and the cider cideries have venues now and, like Yep. Union Hill over in East Wenatchee is a cider place that has a little amphitheater they built with a view of the Columbia.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:38:14]:

Oh, cool.

Scott Cowan [00:38:14]:

And it’s, several people that you know and that I know and, you know, Jessica Linwiddie. She she she’s performed there. She she actually, did you know Chris Jones? Yeah. Okay. So Chris

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:38:29]:

Was this when she was doing her thing with Chris?

Scott Cowan [00:38:31]:

Right. Well, this is before that. But, anyway, they they I convinced them to come over and play my my wife through a surprise birthday party that I knew about for my sixtieth birthday. And and, I got Jessica and Chris to come over and perform there. Awesome. So Chris has played there as a solo artist a handful of times. Jessica’s played the wineries just down the hill a little bit from there, when she was when she was performing. And those venues are they’re kind of fun venues, in spring and summer.

Scott Cowan [00:39:01]:

Not not not so much right now because it’s cold.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:39:03]:

But Right.

Scott Cowan [00:39:04]:

During during spring, summer, and early fall, you I believe what you guys do would be well received here in Central Washington. Yeah. So, anyway alright. Tenth album. Let’s let’s talk about

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:39:16]:

this for a second.

Scott Cowan [00:39:17]:

So I got you you mentioned because you mentioned a few things that actually so is this the first album you’ve ever done on vinyl? Yep. So this is really an album? I mean

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:39:25]:

Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:39:26]:

I mean, we throw the word album around a lot and

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:39:28]:

This is these are the the masters right here.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:39:30]:

These are the presses. Like, the test presses. We don’t

Scott Cowan [00:39:33]:

Is is the pressing out of, is that cascade?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:39:36]:

Cascade. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:39:37]:

Okay. Yeah. They they’re the

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:39:42]:

Go to?

Scott Cowan [00:39:42]:

Yeah. They’re the go to for people. I I was just involved in a a an album release for a band called The Heats. And they they rereleased a show from 1979, and double album, and we just put it together. Nice. Yeah. Cascade’s been I wasn’t involved with it, but Cascade’s name has come up more and more and more.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:40:01]:

Okay. Yeah. So for

Scott Cowan [00:40:03]:

your did you have any sometimes we make a big deal. It’s our tenth something. It’s a tenth birthday. It’s the tenth year. For your tenth album, was it was it special or was it just happened to be that it it’s the tenth album?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:40:20]:

No. It was it was special in a lot of ways. One of one of the biggest ways, the guy that produced it is the guy that I moved out from Pennsylvania to California with. He and I were in a band together, and we moved out to California because we said, at the very least, we could be doing nothing somewhere nicer than Pennsylvania. And so we moved out to the beach, and we started a band out there. That was the band that kept kind of falling apart. And he and I started this studio together. And then I that fell apart.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:40:52]:

And Jesse and I did Champagne Sundae and we moved, but he did our first album at that studio. And we just we recently reconnected like a couple of years ago. And then one day, he was she and I were talked, like, where would you wanna do this next album? And I said, you know, it’d be it’d be awesome to work with JP again. And

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:41:13]:

Kinda come full circle.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:41:15]:

Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:41:15]:

Because he started his studio right around when we started champagne sundae. So we all were celebrating, like, our twenty years together.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:41:21]:

And then, like, a week later, he called me up. He says, you know, it’d be great to get champagne sundae in here. We’re like, dude, guess what we were just talking about? And so we made it happen, and he came up here and listened to our demo work. He’s like, this is gonna be this is gonna be great. So, yeah, let’s do this.

Scott Cowan [00:41:36]:

Alright.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:41:37]:

So that was really great to be able to get to work with him in the studio that I helped helped him start and that he and I had such a history. And we did our first album. Like, there’s so so much going on. And the guy that played drums, for this album played drums on our second album for us.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:41:57]:

Just heading back to Ventura, kinda where we started our whole project and where our roots were, that was special to go back there, to record there, to use some of the players to but what made this record really what is, precious to us is the fact that for twenty years Jared and I have been seeking identity and guidance from our producers or

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:42:23]:

It’s like here’s the song we have we’re a duo so we don’t know what the hell else to do.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:42:26]:

But we haven’t always been. It’s not always been just because of the duo, but it’s just been because of everything, like our genre. Like, we’re just always

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:42:34]:

seeking Here, you make this

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:42:36]:

sound good. Mhmm. But because of our experience working with the guys we worked with last on our last record, which

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:42:42]:

were, Sean Simmons, and Javier Garrido.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:42:45]:

So Sean Simmons, produced the first two records for Head in the Heart and, he’s worked with a lot of really really talented artists up here in Washington. And working with them was really important to us because they were kinda like, we went to them saying, hey. We really need your guidance. We need your help. Whatever. And they turned the script on us and they were like, you you need to make some of these decisions and you really need to work and you really need to figure this out. And I think

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:43:17]:

they sort of taught us the language of how to do all that.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:43:20]:

Do it instead of just like either doing it for us or being like, I mean, I don’t know. So by the time we went into this album, Jared and I were the most sure of who we were, for twenty years.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:43:33]:

And what the songs were. Like, we knew we knew how we wanted them to sound. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:43:36]:

Okay. And

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:43:37]:

It just feels really, genuine. It just feels really genuine. I I don’t know how

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:43:44]:

Feels really us. People people have been people that have have heard it that have gotten little sneak previews, they say this is a very Champagne Sunday album. It’s like the essence of who you guys are.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:43:55]:

Yeah. And so that we’re calling it Champagne Sunday. It’s like the our first self titled record and I there’s just a lot that goes into it. I like, we we joke kinda stealing, like a line Keith Richards where they said to him, don’t you get tired of playing the same songs over and over again for fifty plus year or whatever? He’s like, are you kidding? I I’m just starting to learn how to do it. Like, you know I’m

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:44:21]:

starting to get them right.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:44:22]:

Starting to get them right. And I and I I think there’s something silly and wonderful, about that. When you’ve done something for so many years and you you still don’t think you’ve got it. You’re like you still work. Right. You still work at really figuring it out and really getting to the heart of it. And and so Jared and I, I that’s what made this one extra extra special. So it wasn’t just, oh, it happened to be the tenth record.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:44:50]:

It was, just this one really hits home for us.

Scott Cowan [00:44:54]:

So when does the album when is the album released?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:44:59]:

It is available on streaming May 14. It is we are and then we’re performing the actual album release concert on May 31.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:45:09]:

Yeah. But people can hear it if they wanna come to a listening party.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:45:13]:

That’s

Scott Cowan [00:45:13]:

what we wanted to talk about.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:45:15]:

Yeah. That’s coming up April 16.

Scott Cowan [00:45:17]:

Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:45:17]:

We’re gonna be we’re gonna we rented out, the Grand Cinema, and we’re gonna put it on the big screen with some visuals and the lyrics, and we’re just gonna all sit in the dark in theater and let the music hit us.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:45:30]:

Then we’ll do an interview afterwards and ask people how they felt about it, what they thought.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:45:35]:

What their Washington is.

Scott Cowan [00:45:36]:

What their Washington is. Love it. The Grand Cinemas, you know, I think it’s really cool that you can rent it out and do this. And do do they have a a decent sound system to to put this

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:45:49]:

We’ll find out.

Scott Cowan [00:45:50]:

Well, because you’re not gonna bring some little portable record player like Andy Kaufman brought to the Saturday Night Live and set it down and, you know, do the mighty music. I mean, you want sound.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:45:58]:

Yeah. Well, it’ll be through the whatever speakers they’ve got. Okay. And I guess it’ll sound good enough.

Scott Cowan [00:46:03]:

Alright.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:46:04]:

Maybe.

Scott Cowan [00:46:04]:

So that’s April 16. And where can people find out where can they get tickets? I mean

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:46:10]:

The they can go to our any of our social media, Champagne Sunday Band. We’re on Facebook, Instagram, and they can they can go to our website. There’s tickets on that, champagnesunday.com. K. Or if you search on Ticket Leap.

Scott Cowan [00:46:26]:

Ticket leap. Yeah. Okay. As long as it’s not Ticketmaster. No. Mhmm. Have you ever done a an album listening party before?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:46:36]:

Yes. But it didn’t turn out to be much of a listening party. It was more of a, hey. Let’s all get together and have the album on in the background while we’re talking and drinking and

Scott Cowan [00:46:46]:

Okay. And so this is more of a multimedia presentation?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:46:51]:

Tell me. So so I went when Pearl Jam released their newest album, Dark Matter

Scott Cowan [00:46:55]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:46:56]:

They had one of these in a theater in Gig Harbor.

Scott Cowan [00:46:59]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:47:00]:

And so I went to go I got tickets to that, and it was such a cool experience. And I was like, this is the way to do it. You know, have it so that you’re you’re there with other people that are experiencing it for the first time and make it all about the music, all about what they’re experiencing.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:47:18]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:47:19]:

So once you get that focus, then I feel like it’s gonna be a better experience.

Scott Cowan [00:47:24]:

I I think it’s a great idea. I think it’s a it’s a, well, I like the idea of of experiencing the art for the first time with a group of people. I I like that. You know, I like the idea of, you know I mean, I haven’t heard your album, but could you imagine and I’m just arbitrarily picking, like, the world’s most famous album when I say this. Could you imagine being in the theater listening to Dark Side of the Moon for the first time with with 200 people? I mean, it’d be like I mean, I remember the first time I heard anything off of that album. Yeah. I I heard it’s

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:47:57]:

gonna He’s gonna cry.

Scott Cowan [00:47:59]:

Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:48:01]:

Yeah. I

Scott Cowan [00:48:03]:

heard the you know, all the clocks that go off in that album.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:48:06]:

Right? Scares the hell out of you.

Scott Cowan [00:48:07]:

Yeah. Well, I was 12, and I was this sounds really weird when I say it out loud. I was staying I was a friend of mine was a freshman at the University of Washington, and I went up there for the weekend at twelve. And we were wandering around outside somewhere out of Haggot Hall, which is one of the nine story dormitories they had there, and someone was blaring it from their speakers at 1AM. And I’m like, what’s this? And my friend goes, oh, that’s the new Pink Floyd album. You should you should check it out. And I did. And it was one of the first three CD when I bought my CD player, I bought three CDs the very first day.

Scott Cowan [00:48:48]:

I gave you one of them. Here’s the here here you go. Here’s here’s how my musical taste went when I bought my first CD player.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:48:53]:

Way up. Sorry.

Scott Cowan [00:48:56]:

Not quite. I bought Dark Side of the Moon, Prince’s Purple Rain

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:02]:

Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:49:03]:

And Donald Fagan’s The Nightfly.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:06]:

Alright. Yeah. Nice.

Scott Cowan [00:49:08]:

Hold up okay. Yeah. Purple Rain.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:10]:

Not so much with me.

Scott Cowan [00:49:11]:

Anyway, but Prince is amazing. Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:12]:

First time first time I heard Dark side, I saw it was when I saw saw it in college with, I saw it as the soundtrack to Wizard of Oz.

Scott Cowan [00:49:20]:

Backwards. Yeah. Yeah. They play it backwards.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:24]:

What? You

Scott Cowan [00:49:24]:

you gotta play it backwards and it lines up. I thought it was backwards.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:27]:

No. He just start it on the third line’s roar.

Scott Cowan [00:49:30]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:32]:

Right.

Scott Cowan [00:49:33]:

Right. It’s it’s pretty fascinating. So I love the idea that you’re doing a record listening party. Now let’s talk about the concert of show at the airport.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:44]:

Full band.

Scott Cowan [00:49:45]:

Full band.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:46]:

Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:49:46]:

How many people is your full band?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:48]:

So far, four. We might add a fifth. We’re probably gonna add a fifth.

Scott Cowan [00:49:53]:

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:49:54]:

We just need to let him know that.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:50:00]:

Surprise. You’re the man.

Scott Cowan [00:50:04]:

You weren’t here and we voted you in.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:50:06]:

Yeah, right. We were thinking of having our producer play on it as well.

Scott Cowan [00:50:12]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:50:14]:

That might not work out like we’re hoping it will. But anyway, yeah. So right now it’s it’s four of us and it’s four of no sorry. Five of us It’s Angie. So maybe six. But, yeah. The we these were the same people that did our last album release show as well.

Scott Cowan [00:50:34]:

Okay. And the airport? What time?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:50:39]:

Airport tavern, doors at seven, show at eight. K. VIP experience at six.

Scott Cowan [00:50:45]:

And what what is the VIP experience?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:50:47]:

It’s a champagne toast and a meet and greet with the band. They also get a swag bag full of goodies

Scott Cowan [00:50:53]:

that

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:50:53]:

we have been, procuring over the last couple of weeks.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:50:57]:

And we’re keeping the front two rows open for them.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:50:59]:

And then if you buy it, like, there’s a so that’s there’s two tiers of VIP. One tier where they can purchase tickets to sit in a at a high top table

Scott Cowan [00:51:09]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:51:09]:

With their drinks and whatnot. You know, just some people prefer having a table to watch a show. And then the second tier of VIP is just the first front two first two rows.

Scott Cowan [00:51:20]:

That’s really exciting.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:51:21]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:51:21]:

That’s very cool. I like the attention to detail you guys are putting in here. That’s that’s one of my takeaway here is that you you’re you’re paying attention to your audience’s experience.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:51:30]:

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You have to. I like that.

Scott Cowan [00:51:32]:

Okay. Thanks. Previously, you mentioned you had 17 different varieties of shirts.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:51:37]:

Yep. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:51:38]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:51:40]:

And other stuff.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:51:41]:

Yeah. Yeah. But

Scott Cowan [00:51:43]:

what are you guys? The Rolling Stones?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:51:46]:

Up here. Yeah. Yeah. We think we are there.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:51:49]:

You know why? It’s because I am a sucker because people will come to our shows and we’ll okay. So we have 14 different shirt options and they’re looking and they’re like, oh, I wish you had whatever, x y z. And then by the next show, I’m like, guess what we have. Because I just always want everybody to feel like there’s something there for them.

Scott Cowan [00:52:11]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:52:12]:

We are really, like, size inclusive. We’re really, like, gender fluid. People can it doesn’t like, we have all different kinds of colors and styles. And, and for people who feel like there’s there’s just nothing there to wear, we’ve got hand towels. We’ve got hats and beanies. Well, we’re almost out of beanies, but, we’ve got, obviously, stickers. We’ve got songbooks so people can buy them for one of our records, and they can learn the chords, play along. Just there’s we’ve got USB drives that have our whole collection of everything we’ve done for twenty years on them for $50, which to me, I feel like, oh, our whole career has just dwindled down to this tiny little shit stick.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:52:55]:

Mhmm. Like, come on. We worked so hard and look at it. It’s just right there.

Scott Cowan [00:52:59]:

You could you could you could go one further and just get those little micro SD cards. You know, the little the ones are the size of your little fingernail. It really shrink it down if you wanted to.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:53:07]:

Yeah. Right.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:53:08]:

Yeah. Yeah. It’s wild. But there’s so much. There’s something for everybody. Mhmm. And then there’s every single way that you can get money from someone, we have. So it’s like QR codes, this, that, what, checks.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:53:23]:

Patreon. Doesn’t matter. Patreon. We just we’re constantly, like people go, well, I don’t have cash. Do you have a credit card? Yes. Do you have a phone? Yes. Do you have a donkey and a sack of grain? You wanna trade for a hoodie? Sure. Let’s do this.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:53:37]:

Really awesome high five you can give me. I

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:53:39]:

don’t know. So Boom.

Scott Cowan [00:53:41]:

All Alright. I gotta ask this question. And this is

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:53:43]:

this okay.

Scott Cowan [00:53:45]:

This is a negative question, but it’s not meant to be mean. It’s just negative. So you guys have experimented. You’ve got beanies and hand towels and 17 types of shirts, stickers, cord books. Never heard of the band that I’ve had on the show do cord books. So that’s that’s new. Thumb drive, I’ve heard that. What was that great idea? We’re gonna do we’re gonna we’re gonna get this, and it didn’t work.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:10]:

There have been several of those.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:11]:

Oh, yeah. We have fail all the time.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:13]:

The there was a print, the the picture

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:16]:

But we sold them all?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:17]:

We did sell them all, but it took we thought they were just gonna fly off the shelves.

Scott Cowan [00:54:20]:

Right.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:20]:

Our our

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:21]:

grand The tote bags were those were tough to sell. It’s because the price points on them were really high. So people don’t really understand that in order to make any money at all, you have to double markup. Like, you can’t you know, it’s not just like, oh, this item cost $30 to make it. We’ll take 33.

Scott Cowan [00:54:38]:

Right.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:38]:

No. Like, you

Scott Cowan [00:54:39]:

would You can’t.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:40]:

It’s gonna it’s like you have to double everything. And, what has, like, given me comfort over the years is that like, and Jared has to keep pointing this out to me. Like, baby, people want to they want to invest in the band.

Scott Cowan [00:54:54]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:56]:

They it’s not just, oh, I’m buying a shirt. It’s I’m buying

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:54:59]:

a shirt to A memento.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:55:01]:

Yes. To a memento of this experience I have or the way they make me feel, or I just wanna help these guys out so bad. Mhmm. So I kind of can wrap my head around that a little bit more, but I still really go to great efforts to make sure that our clothing is up to trends. Like, we’ve got crop tops because girls were, like, fully wearing those the last few years. They fully sold out. Right. You know, like, if you really think about what are people wearing, what do I like to wear? What like, sometimes we’ll do a nice fitted men’s t shirt.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:55:31]:

I’m like, would you wear this? He’s like, not yet. Then he’ll fix the design or whatever, and then he’s like, okay. Now I would. Okay. We had a funny experience because my face is on some of the the merch, and this guy comes up and he wasn’t looking at me. And he’s like, oh, do you have that one in a large? Because those are totally the kind of girls I’m into. And then he, like, turns around and he’s like He

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:55:55]:

looks at it. He’s like, oh.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:55:56]:

Oh, that’s

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:55:57]:

That’s you.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:55:59]:

And then there’s this, like, funny moment that we share. And then he’s like, well, I mean, you’re you’re totally the kind of girl I’m into. But thanks for this shirt. Like, we just have because it’s so I mean, like, I’m with Jared. There’s no I I don’t pretend that I’m single or whatever, but it was so funny.

Scott Cowan [00:56:17]:

Oh my god.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:56:17]:

But there’s stuff for everybody. And what’s weirder to me is the stuff we don’t think is gonna sell that just goes crazy.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:56:23]:

We got this well, we got this one shirt that we didn’t like the fit of it. The design we thought was a little too big. And we thought, oh, that’s that’s just not gonna

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:56:31]:

be It’s based on a song we have called I like you. And people they love this song. It’s goofy. It’s silly. It’s a song. It’s like a duet between me and I.

Scott Cowan [00:56:38]:

Listen to it.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:56:39]:

It just yeah. It just didn’t look at all like something we thought would sell. But it flew off.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:56:43]:

We’ve had to reorder it, like, twice because people are like, oh, it’s just like a white v neck, but it’s just like, I like you. Really big blocky letters.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:56:52]:

And people love it because they’re like, oh, I like they’ll go, you know, out in public. It’s like, hey. I like you. Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:56:57]:

I like you. We’re like, oh, I like you too. It’s so weird. But we snuck Champagne Sunday. So it was like, I like and then really small letters that says champagne sundae. And then it’s like you. But we did the it was like our inside joke. People love the damn shirt.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:57:10]:

So you you sometimes are right on the money, sometimes not, but you have got to take those gambles.

Scott Cowan [00:57:15]:

Yes. Right. No. A %. You know? I I agree.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:57:19]:

Like, people have been asking for this the joggers, this, like, pants

Scott Cowan [00:57:23]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:57:23]:

For years. So finally, we just pulled the trigger. I was like, let’s get them. So they’re gonna be black. And on the left leg, it’s gonna have our champagne sundae sun. And down the leg, it’s gonna say champagne sundae. Like, I fine. I don’t care.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:57:38]:

We’ll just see. I by the way, I didn’t tell you. I only got I only got 10 of those Okay. So that we can kinda gauge if we really need to order more. Alright. Sorry. Biz a little business.

Scott Cowan [00:57:47]:

No. It’s all good. So after after the album release performance, who got the the record listening, and then we got the album, you know, your your launching party, if you will. What’s next for you guys this summer? Anything anything on the books yet, or

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:58:01]:

what are

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:58:01]:

you looking for? We got a couple of things. We’re actually taking the summer off from touring. We normally do a big summer tour.

Scott Cowan [00:58:08]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:58:08]:

But last year was really hard for us. And this year we said, let’s stay local and, you know, hit the scene out here because we always every summer we miss it.

Scott Cowan [00:58:19]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:58:20]:

So this year we’re we’re staying around here and we’re gonna try and play try and play in town. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:58:27]:

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:58:27]:

think we might have we might have missed the time for booking, it seems. But I don’t know. It’s so weird. Like It’s hard to say.

Scott Cowan [00:58:34]:

Yeah. It’s hard to say.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:58:36]:

Tacoma is always like a late bloom town anyway because they’re like, I don’t know. I don’t know. And then they’ll call you two weeks before, can you play this thing? And it’s like, yes. Thank God we had that open. But I don’t know. Spending some time at home, it may not be our most lucrative summer, but then it might actually even out because we spend so much money when we’re on the road.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:58:58]:

Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:58:59]:

Just living.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:00]:

Right. Gas and all those. Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:02]:

That So did you

Scott Cowan [00:59:02]:

have an RV that you tour around it?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:04]:

No. Just the our Honda Pilot.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:06]:

A 2015 Honda Pilot, and we we built a little, thing in the back so that our son sleeps up there. And then Jesse and I sleep underneath that.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:15]:

It’s like a piece of plywood that we

Scott Cowan [00:59:16]:

Yeah. I I have a 2015 Honda Pilot, and I’m trying to imagine that. And I’m going, no.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:21]:

Yeah. Yeah. It’s a little

Scott Cowan [00:59:22]:

bit It’s

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:23]:

all tight, but it works.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:24]:

What’s funny is that I can sleep on the little thing on the top if I if I I just can’t, like I mean, I can still stretch out if I go corner to corner because I’m only five two. And our son is about five one now.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:37]:

Yeah. He’s grown.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:38]:

So he and I kinda trade off, like, comfort levels. Sometimes I’m like, I just can’t do underneath because I can’t turn over. My hips are too my hips are too wide Right. To really turn over because that stupid board just locks you down there. It’s so weird, but you know Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:59:53]:

So you’re five two. I’m six four, and I tried to slip in the back of my Pilot. It just does not work.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [00:59:58]:

That won’t happen.

Scott Cowan [00:59:58]:

Right? I love my Honda Pilot, though. I mean, it’s it’s

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:01]:

Great. Isn’t it a great truck?

Scott Cowan [01:00:03]:

It’s just it’s been

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:05]:

You’ll never die.

Scott Cowan [01:00:06]:

I have 225,000 miles on mine, you know? Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:10]:

That’s great.

Scott Cowan [01:00:10]:

It’s great. Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:11]:

That’s awesome to hear.

Scott Cowan [01:00:11]:

Never talked Honda Pilot on the podcast before. That’s kind of interesting. Alright. So as we as we begin to land the plane or slow the car down, in this case, pilot, get both references. Alright. I’m gonna get to Tacoma around lunchtime, and I’m looking for two things. Great coffee. I’m always looking for great coffee.

Scott Cowan [01:00:30]:

I’m also looking for so you can give me I want two separate answers, and you can both answer if they’re different. I’m looking for coffee, and I’m looking for a great place for lunch.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:38]:

What do we got? Valhalla Coffee. Valhalla. And then peeks and pints for lunch.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:43]:

Absolutely. Alright.

Scott Cowan [01:00:44]:

So at Valhalla, what are you getting? What’s your what’s your go to coffee?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:48]:

I’d get a mocha.

Scott Cowan [01:00:50]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:50]:

Valkyrie blend mocha.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:52]:

You can literally just get French press and just drink it black.

Scott Cowan [01:00:55]:

I’m a I’m a dripper black, you know, cotton.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:58]:

Get the the Valkyrie blend

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:00:59]:

Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [01:01:00]:

From, Valhalla. From Valhalla.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:02]:

And then go over to Peaks and Pints. Ugh. And you can get either the roast Mary sandwich.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:08]:

It’s like a roast beef and, brie, is it? Horseshat. Horseshat. Horseshat. There’s a good thing.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:13]:

Cheap. Or the Sherpa, which is unreal. It’s like goat cheese and chicken. Turkey.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:19]:

Turkey.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:19]:

Yeah. Tomato. I don’t even know. It’s It’s

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:23]:

magic. And they’ve got great beers there too.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:25]:

Yeah. The guy that owns the plate. So we made a music video.

Scott Cowan [01:01:29]:

Who owns Peaks and Pints?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:30]:

Ron. What’s his last name? Can’t think

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:32]:

of it. I’ll just give it. Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:34]:

Oh my god. Anyway, Ron. Yep. He’s in he was in he’s in our music video. So we made this music video during COVID. And so in it, you just see all these people that wanted to be in it, but they’re all, like, wearing masks and so it’s so funny. But, yeah, he’s in it. We we have we feature him.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:50]:

And we feature Peaks and Pints in there. There’s a scene where we’re sticking a a Walkman in a beer fridge, and that’s at Peaks and Pints.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:01:57]:

Because the whole idea was we would place this Walkman in all these different random locations and then leave. And someone would pick it up and put it on and play what was on there because it just says press play, and it would be our song. And then it would be like That’s

Scott Cowan [01:02:13]:

a cool idea.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:14]:

Dancing. Yeah. You should

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:16]:

probably say Anthem Coffee as well if you wanna get good coffee because they’re great too. Blackbeard’s also good.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:21]:

I mean, there’s just there’s great it’s hello.

Scott Cowan [01:02:25]:

There’s Tacoma Tacoma has great coffee. Yeah. It does. It does.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:29]:

Oh, I really like,

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:31]:

Olympi Olympia? Olympia.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:33]:

That’s a great new place for Tetoma.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:35]:

Yeah. So

Scott Cowan [01:02:37]:

Alright. So this is the I warned you. We were on the phone.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:41]:

Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [01:02:42]:

Jared, you might not have been warned.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:44]:

So Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:02:44]:

I’m springing this on you. No. Jesse said you guys would play along.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:02:49]:

No. K. Hit me with your best shot.

Scott Cowan [01:02:50]:

You have to answer this question. You can’t not answer it. And you have to give me a reason why. Now you both are gonna have to answer this because your answers might be the same, but it could be completely different. It’s very important. Are you are you both willing to do this? Mhmm. Yeah. Very simple question, but I need answers.

Scott Cowan [01:03:11]:

Cake or pie? Cake.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:03:16]:

Pie.

Scott Cowan [01:03:17]:

K. Jared? Why cake? Cake. Why? Oh, why cake? Why? It’s

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:03:25]:

just my mood right now.

Scott Cowan [01:03:26]:

K. What type of cake?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:03:29]:

My immediate thought was chocolate. K. But when I think about it, I’m like angel food. Okay. I really like an angel food cake.

Scott Cowan [01:03:36]:

Alright, Jesse.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:03:37]:

You said pie. Great too.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:03:38]:

I did say pie. Why? I just like really, like, rhubarb pie or, a really tart kinda berry pie with, like, warmed up with vanilla ice cream or cold from the fridge that’s it’s, like, sitting in there, and then you eat it the next morning.

Scott Cowan [01:03:57]:

Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:03:57]:

Because pie for breakfast is legit.

Scott Cowan [01:04:00]:

So follow-up question.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:04:01]:

Great crust. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [01:04:01]:

Follow-up question. Jared, growing up as a kid in the house, was it cake or was it pie?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:04:09]:

More often cake than pie.

Scott Cowan [01:04:11]:

Interesting. Jesse, same question.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:04:13]:

Pop tarts.

Scott Cowan [01:04:15]:

Well, that’s pie.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:04:17]:

It’s it’s little bitty port people pie.

Scott Cowan [01:04:19]:

Well, see, it’s it’s I I got this question. This this guest was on, and and due to technical difficulties, we never got the episode published, but I just told her I’m stealing this idea. And so I think it’s a cool question. Some people are like, you want me to cut off my left hand? Why do I keep asking this? And other people are like, it’s cake, and I’m gonna I’ll bite you to the death. But I started asking the follow-up about when you growing up. And interestingly, most people like the same thing they grew up with.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:04:50]:

I did not like pie growing up.

Scott Cowan [01:04:52]:

You did not? Okay. So it’s just it’s just an interesting Like, what interesting question to me.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:04:55]:

I liked pecan pie, I think, or but I I didn’t like fruit pie, I guess, is how I should do it. It took

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:04:59]:

me a while to get into fruit to

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:01]:

And I never ate pie crust when I was growing up, ever. It gagged me. Now it’s my favorite part.

Scott Cowan [01:05:05]:

I trust

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:06]:

I don’t I don’t know. But I am so weird. I gotta tell you. I don’t, like, I don’t drink my coffee the same way ever. Hardly. I’m like, sometimes it’s pure black. Sometimes I wanna put a whole bunch of stuff in it. Sometimes I want a half a cup.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:17]:

Sometimes I want three cups. I’m not I don’t I’m not a very consistent eater or drinker of things. Jared could probably eat the exact same meal three times a day for the rest of his life or meals like pizza. No. But, like, he’ll eat the same breakfast, and he would eat that breakfast forever. The same dinner you could eat, grilled chicken, broccoli, and rice every single night for the rest of your life. And you’d be like, oh, why? It’s fun. I’m just like, what? There are billion flavors out there.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:46]:

I wanna

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:46]:

try every

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:47]:

single one of them. Rice every now and then. What? I might substitute a baked potato for the rice every now and then.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:51]:

Oh, look out.

Scott Cowan [01:05:52]:

Oh, my God.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:52]:

I hope you’re not drying.

Scott Cowan [01:05:54]:

Calm down now.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:05:56]:

So yeah. So I’m not I’m not I don’t know.

Scott Cowan [01:05:59]:

So I’ll give you the final word. Is there something we didn’t cover that we should have?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:04]:

Oh, we do have a music video dropping on on Saturday.

Scott Cowan [01:06:08]:

On Saturday.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:09]:

And a single.

Scott Cowan [01:06:10]:

And a single.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:11]:

Yep. The single and the music video will drop on Saturday, and then we will re then we’ll release another single. We have a couple things we didn’t talk about.

Scott Cowan [01:06:20]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:21]:

Oh, Shiza. Okay. So then we’ll another single is coming out in April, but we’re also doing this really cool a couple of cool things. One, where we hide our record at high voltage records on, Sixth Ave.

Scott Cowan [01:06:39]:

Mhmm.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:39]:

We’re hiding one of our records there. And if you go there and you find it, you can have it

Scott Cowan [01:06:46]:

Wow.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:46]:

For free.

Scott Cowan [01:06:47]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:48]:

They’re also going to sell our albums there,

Scott Cowan [01:06:50]:

which

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:51]:

is very cool.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:53]:

Very cool. So, Rockin’ Rubies as well in Poulsbo.

Scott Cowan [01:06:56]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:06:56]:

Are we doing this? Yep. You talked to them?

Scott Cowan [01:06:59]:

Did I? We didn’t.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:07:01]:

Well, at least at

Scott Cowan [01:07:02]:

high voltage. So if you’re in the Tacoma area, you guys should go to high voltage and find but I guess this is the question I have. So you’re gonna hide one? Yeah. But are you gonna tell people when it’s been found? Or are you just gonna let people blindly search through high voltage for hours and hours for no no reason?

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:07:18]:

That would be the way to do it, I think. That sounds exhausting to me

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:07:21]:

and full of anxiety. So, no, we will let people I also wanna put clues out.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:07:26]:

As to where

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:07:26]:

We’re not to that point in our marketing just quite yet. But, I wanna put out clues and make it so that people don’t feel really overwhelmed. Because I mean, if you just even go through one row of, like, the jazz section, by the time you’re done with that row, you’re just like, I don’t care anymore. I’m done. It’s so it’s just overwhelming, you know? I but I’m also not one of those people who finds a lot of joy in, like, thumbing through

Scott Cowan [01:07:54]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:07:55]:

Comic books or records.

Scott Cowan [01:07:57]:

But some people do.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:07:58]:

Some people do.

Scott Cowan [01:07:59]:

Some people do. So we’re

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:07:59]:

not gonna make it so easy.

Scott Cowan [01:08:01]:

Yeah. But people like treasure hunts.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:08:03]:

Yeah. Yes. And and that is fun. And they like scavenger hunt, like clues and stuff like that. And we will let our fans know when it’s been found.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:08:10]:

Yeah.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:08:10]:

Okay. The other thing is that we’re because we’re releasing vinyl Mhmm. We have three record players that we bought. And

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:08:21]:

We’re reffling those off.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:08:23]:

With three chances to win those record players. One will be at the listening event.

Scott Cowan [01:08:27]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:08:28]:

One will be at the actual show. The night of our show, we will be selling raffle tickets and then people will draw their name before we go on. K. And then the third chance would be this, social media thing we’re gonna run to one of our tracks off the new record, and it’ll just be them showing, them doing whatever we ask them to do with our song playing.

Scott Cowan [01:08:52]:

Okay.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:08:52]:

And then whichever one we pick, they win the record player. So three chances to win record players, a hidden record at high voltage. So that those kinds of things. And and music video drops.

Scott Cowan [01:09:03]:

Excellent. Alright. Alright. Well, that’s see, I like what you guys are doing. You’re putting some thought into this. You’re you’re putting some effort into it. It’s not that not that other musicians don’t, but a lot of them don’t. I mean, if we’re being honest, but the people that

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:09:20]:

are doing what

Scott Cowan [01:09:20]:

you guys are doing, you you’ve been doing this for twenty years. You’ve been

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:09:23]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [01:09:24]:

Your tenth album. 17 shirts. I mean, I think that’s the number that I can say twenty years. I I know bands that play twenty years. Seventeen shirts? Come on. Yeah. I yeah. That’s great that you guys are doing this, and and I I wish you continued success and and future growth.

Scott Cowan [01:09:43]:

So Thank you. Thanks for sitting down with me.

Jessi & Jared Fredeen [01:09:45]:

Thanks for having us. It was so fun. Yeah.

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