The Kitchen Of The Mind & The Bank Of Dad With Steven Gizzi!

Brock Goldberg:   0:06
from the land of mystery with dreams become reality Always listening to stories from the past, the present and the future. This is back. So enough with white. There we go. Fucking like the white cloth. Right, baby? How're we doing? Doing well, man? Fucking awesome, man. Ah, a little stressed out. I have to say, trying to set up the camera for the first time. And it's been a problem. Yeah, definitely. I I do appreciate you being so cool. Process?

Steven Gizzi :   0:58
Yeah. I love the setup here. It's very professional, actually.

Brock Goldberg:   1:01
Thank you. Thank you. It's, um It makes me happy, man. It's like, this is my little, uh my my my safe space. Yeah. I feel like every day when I walk into it, it just feels awesome. Um, so yeah, man, huh? For anyone that is listening right now, why don't you come a little brief introduction about yourself.

Steven Gizzi :   1:21
Happy too, right? So my name's Steven Gizzi and, uh, just moved up to Santa Clarita and met this fine fellow here. That was the highlight for sir. Yes. Um, I'm a musician. I work mostly as a composer. I write a lot for film and television, so I'm a composer. I am a recording artist. I also teach music lessons, private lessons, piano guitar, music, production. Anything goes sort of And, you know, just all around entrepreneur in the music industry, you know, kind of down for anything that comes my way.

Brock Goldberg:   1:56
There we go. That's that's what I like to hear your You're a man of, ah, many skills growing up. I was music, Always a thing for you. Did you just hop on a guitar keyboard one day and it just felt right. How'd that work out?

Steven Gizzi :   2:11
It's interesting, actually. My my dad loves today. This is one of those dad's story that he said it so many times throughout the course of my life that I know it verbatim. And of course, it's fresh for each new person that you're sure. But I've heard it a bit. Yeah, neither of my parents are musical. Okay, um, and no one in the immediate family's musical. So it wasn't necessarily a family influence, Of course. I grew up listening to, you know, all of my parents favorite records. So a very rich sort of musical history just as a listener. Nice. But one day, you know there were no music instruments in the house or anything in one day, my dad just decided to buy a keyboard, and it was a cheap little thing, you know, Not a full keyboard, full keyboard, 88 keys. And so this was probably not even 60 okay? And just really cheap. It was one of those ones that has all those dinky

Brock Goldberg:   3:02
sound I remember. Yeah, Yeah, I had one, too.

Steven Gizzi :   3:06
And so he had in the back of his mind. He was in the store one day and he saw this keyboard, and he worked for Circuit City at the time. And one day, when he was at the office, there was just this seminar and this guy came in. I think the guy worked for Disney or something nice. And this guy came in and he just gave a talk about what he called the kitchen of the mind.

Brock Goldberg:   3:27
The kitchen of the mind. I like that.

Steven Gizzi :   3:30
And basically it was the idea that not it wasn't specifically on. Lee focused on parenting, but this was an application for it. You know, if you are parents and you're raising a kid and you want to kind of figure out what is best for them. What's their interests? You construct in your house somewhere? Sort of a kitchen of the mind.

Brock Goldberg:   3:49
Beautiful. I love it. And it's just sort

Steven Gizzi :   3:51
of this room where you have sort of a cornucopia of different things. Like a microscope, maybe like a musical keyboard, you know, some various kind of educational toys or whatever. Just a whole bunch of things. And rather than forcing your kid to do that, you just kind of set these things up in the house and you let the kid sort of discover it on their own and and see if it takes with them.

Brock Goldberg:   4:13
I love that frickin love. That's awesome.

Steven Gizzi :   4:15
Yeah. And So So? So that was his philosophy that motivated him to buy this keyboard. He just set it up in my room. And I don't think I touched it for maybe two years. You know what? Just sat there for sure. Collecting dust? Yeah, Yeah, but it was there, and it was always I saw it every day. So it was always on my mind and, uh, one day I think he said, Stephen, have you ever considered taking lessons? Would you like music lessons. And I said, No, no, no, Dad, I already know exactly how to play this.

Brock Goldberg:   4:44
You said that?

Steven Gizzi :   4:45
Yeah, I was apparently a very cocky. Okay, Very nice. So I was like, No, I know exactly how to play this. And I start as if I'm trying to, like, prove my point, a zit. I'm possibly gonna be able to convince. Yes, right. I start playing it. Of course. It's terrible. And he's like, Stephen, sometimes we don't know what we don't know. I like that. Yeah. So why don't we just try out some piano lessons, see how it goes? You can see if you like it. And so that was I was eight years old at the time, so I started piano when I was eight and that I've been doing it ever since there was appeared when I hit middle school, You know you have puberty. Yeah. You're tryingto be sexy. You're trying T o. Um, I didn't think the piano was the cool instrument anymore. I switched to guitar. Well, I I kept doing piano, I could say, but I picked up guitar, started taking guitar lessons, you know, because you see those guys play at the town

Brock Goldberg:   5:34
of the sixth grade talent show. That's what I want to be. I get it, I get it.

Steven Gizzi :   5:39
So, you know, looking back, that was That was great because, you know, now I'm able to play guitar, but so temporarily focus more on guitar. But it's always been the piano from Day one.

Brock Goldberg:   5:49
Wow! Wow, that's Ah, that's incredible. That the kitchen of the mind, Uh, 33 years of age. I have never heard of that before,

Steven Gizzi :   5:58
and I've never heard it in any other context either.

Brock Goldberg:   6:00
But you really have to think like if you want to introduce new things to your kid, Uh, instead of forcing them. You know, for me growing up, there was this forceful approach. It was it was just kind of shoved in my face. You had to do this was my way or the highway. And as a kid, um, when you get things shoved in your face instead of taking a head on what you do, you run the opposite direction. Yeah, this this happens a lot, and by having a kitchen of the mind to really allow ah kid to be able to figure it out on their own to see what they like and what they don't like. That's something that for me I'm never gonna forget. So when I have a kid, I don't want to take that forceful approach. I want to create a kitchen of the mind. Yeah, so it's It's it's it's really brilliant. Yeah, it's

Steven Gizzi :   6:55
it's It's something that I would love to do with my kids, too. And you know something that I got to give a lot of credit to my parents for that her that sort of philosophy. And another thing that they tell me, um, you know every so often is, you know, Stephen, like, I hope you are. You know, I know you wanna have kids to today or excuse me someday And, um, you know, I know that there are probably some good things in some bad things on the way that we parented you, you know? And, you know, I hope that you're always just sort of watching and listening. And, you know, I hope that you take whatever valuable lessons you think that we gave you and also kind of any, you know, learned from any mistakes that you think that we've made you know and kind of. And I it's just so profound. Yes, absolutely. Like like, you know, because it frees you up to sort of have that vulnerability with this, you know? And it's not may in dated like Now you know, there are no sort of mandated expectations like

Brock Goldberg:   7:49
That's absolutely it's very impressive that your your parents have this type of philosophy because in life, um, we can take anything out of any situation and to be so open that ah, knowing that you know, every choice and decision that they made wasn't 100% And to be able to recognize that, it's it's it is it's very profound. Um, so your parents on pretty awesome And it just goes to show, you know, for the brief amount of time that I've known you and the type of person that that I, you know, think that you are, um, it definitely shows, you know, we are a product of our environment. We're product of how how we were brought up and, uh, for for you, it's been it sounds like it's been a really cool journey. It's been, um, you know something for me from the moment I met you, that ah kind of connected us. Because when Alex introduced us, you know, it was, you know, for the thought of one introducing us, but also to bring you on this podcast. Um, where where did you grow up? I mean, cause you're in Santa Clarita now, but, uh, you're relatively new.

Steven Gizzi :   9:04
Yeah, it's been a journey. I grew up in Richmond, Virginia. Okay. Was born there, and I lived there until I was 18. So my whole adolescence there, and, um uh, when I went to college, I went to the University of Miami, So I moved down to Miami, Florida Nice and spent four years there.

Brock Goldberg:   9:21
I don't know. No, that's nice. Still, it's Florida. Let's just be honest. It's blarney on.

Steven Gizzi :   9:25
And of course, everybody always has that reaction. Man. It must have been so great. Harding every

Brock Goldberg:   9:30
day, now, is it? It's a

Steven Gizzi :   9:33
great It's a great town to be a tourist.

Brock Goldberg:   9:35
Yes, exactly. We'd prefer for one week. Florida definitely has Has that vibe. I mean, as you know, I lived in Florida for four years and the no disrespect to the people, people of Florida, but it's just it should be its own country. It's It's definitely unique and different. Yeah, all right. All in its own way. But so you went to the University of Miami? Um, and no one was next.

Steven Gizzi :   9:56
So I went there for and I studied music. By the way, There make sense when I was looking at colleges, that was the main thing I was looking for. And I didn't want to. Um, you know, most universities that have a music program, they sort of have, like, a conservatory program, which is classical music. This right? And I was trained classically, by the way, I you know, So that is my foundation. But by that point, I had sort of I don't want to say moved on because I still love and play classical music a lot. But I had sort of expanded. Let's say right. And so I was very much into writing, you know, modern music writing my own, you know, as an artist, coming up with my own stuff and, um, you know, uh, sort of producing my own stuff, mixing it from the ground up, like doing the whole production, right? Beautiful. And so a lot of you know There's a lot of music schools around the country, but a large majority of them do not have. That kind of program is classical. And maybe it's jazz. Okay? And so I looked at There were a few standouts. There was the University of Miami. There was Berklee College of Music in Boston, which is a big one. There's USC out here. Yeah, right. So, you know. So I kind of had to spread the net across the nation rather than just all the local Virginia school. Yeah, so went to college for music down there in Miami. And then right when I graduated, I moved out here to L. A. I had in kind of the summer's between school years. I did come out here like the last two summers in between school years, I worked as an intern. I threw this connection with a professor of mine at the college. I was able to get this sort of assistant intern position with a composer out here, a film composer. And so I interned here a little bit. And then right when I graduated, moved out to L. A. Lived in the valley for, you know, three and 1/2 years or so. OK? And then just moved up here.

Brock Goldberg:   11:45
Wow. And you are 27 27 27 years old. That's Ah, that's that's incredible. Um, did you always know that you wanted to come to L. A Was that always the, you know, just kind of the dream of yours, if you will know,

Steven Gizzi :   11:59
it wasn't actually, um, you know, the dream to move it to L. A really came out when there was the decision to focus on writing music, specifically four movies for TV or whatever. And so, of course, Hollywood's out here. The TV movie industries out here. Absolutely. That was sort of a given once that was established. But I didn't kind of come to that decision until halfway through college. Really? You know, I knew that I wanted to be a composer, and I knew that I wanted to find some kind of career that involve me writing my own stuff a lot. It had, you know, I had steered away from sort of the classic. I wanna be a touring artist direction a few years prior. I didn't have that, um, sort of motivation initially, but so as soon as I made that decision was like, Well, I should at least try. You should at least see what l A is like for sure. That's why I went out and in turn into the whole thing. And, you know, so that experience was enough to make me feel a little better about coming up, because that's a big move.

Brock Goldberg:   12:53
It's a huge movie. It's huge, huge move. I mean, especially for you. How old were you at the time? I was fresh out of

Steven Gizzi :   12:59
college, so I was 22

Brock Goldberg:   13:01
22 years old, you know, to be ableto um, just take that leap. Take that, That risk of coming out here because ah one. You know, the music industry is everyone knows if you're in or not, it's a cut. Their industry. It's very, very hard to get past that. You know, even the initial barriers even turn it into a career and a 22 years old fresh out of college, Um, not to go back home and try to figure it out from there. I mean, it's it's it's brilliant because 23 years old, there is no way in hell I would have made that leap and especially on your own. I mean, you you weren't in a relationship at the time, were you?

Steven Gizzi :   13:38
I was, actually. Yeah, I had a I was in a relationship with a girl in Miami at the time, and so we I moved. I moved out here and she was still in Miami. Okay, so we actually did a long distance thing for a while.

Brock Goldberg:   13:50
Nice. And how'd that work out?

Steven Gizzi :   13:51
You know, I have to. Well, first of all, I'm no longer in the relationship, okay? But it was actually I think we do it really well, I think we did the long distance thing. Really? Well, the reason that we broke up is not because of the distance. Exactly like that was never a fun thing to have that distance. But, you know, that wasn't I wouldn't say that was the death of the relationship, you know? So I was in a relationship at the time, you know, and we we kind of agreed to do this thing. And that was actually it wasn't a huge source of stress. I got a second, you know, and that's a credit to her, Not a discredit. Yeah, like for sure it was the way that we held together on that was really great. I think

Brock Goldberg:   14:25
that's awesome. That's awesome. Long distance, long distance relationships can be very challenging. My wife and I on when we were younger, we did a year apart when I first moved to Florida. Um, she stayed out here, and it was it was very challenging. Especially for me. I was Ah, ah, young growing boy. And you know, I wasn't thinking with my brain at all times or something with another head and so definitely, uh, cost some issues. And she eventually came out there. But it can be it can be challenging. So to hear that, you know, that wasn't the reason that you guys split up, you know? Kudos to her. Kudos to you. Um, but what kind of getting back to the story? Um, going through the experience of moving out here because you still were on your own, even though you got a girlfriend back there, which actually makes it harder, right? Because you're leaving something. Um, what was that like when you first got to California? Was it like fuck, yes, I'm here. Or is it like, what the fuck am I going to do next?

Steven Gizzi :   15:25
Yeah. Yeah, that's a good question. Um, let's see. Well, it's It's Ah, huge fish out of water sensation. Yeah, right. And it It still feels that way now, Like, I don't know if that ever goes away. You know, I don't know if it hasn't your experience or

Brock Goldberg:   15:42
not. I mean, yeah,

Steven Gizzi :   15:43
there's always sort of Ah, for me, at least there's always sort of Ah, a feeling of, like, you know, try to put up a face of like, like, looking like I know what's going on. Yeah, but yeah, I'm 22 years old in the big city. Yeah, that was I had a that into that assistant position that I had with that film composer ended up yielding me some more work. Okay, so I had that. At least I had the work situation at least partially figured out. It's awesome, you know, And I was able to live super cheaply, you know that I was subletting a room in a place in Woodland Hills and was able to live super cheaply for u years, you know? So I was able to keep my overhead expenses pretty low, and I was super helpful. Um, I, uh, kind of as just a a a side hustle just to get some more income going, you know, sort of just it wasn't something that I had really planned on, but I started teaching private music lessons. I was actually I was had a just a friend's place in Woodland Hills, and I ran into a woman there, a mutual friend of theirs, And we were just We started talking and it came out that I was a musician and all, and and she just said, Hey, would you like to teach my two boys how to play piano? Right? Wow. And I was in there,

Brock Goldberg:   17:01
e I might as well. I

Steven Gizzi :   17:06
mean, you know, I did private lessons all the way. You know, my whole piano education was probably lessons I never really did. The took the lessons. And through school, I was always private, like a guy would come to my house and we would he'll be very focused on me as an individual, right? And so, you know, I remembered a lot of that teaching and and I think and I thought I had a pretty good idea of how to do it. And I had a whole bunch of books, you know, from my childhood that I can use. And it was like, Sure, why not?

Brock Goldberg:   17:33
I might as well Yeah, for sure. That past that past, that education along, Yeah, that was a smart decision for you, wasn't it?

Steven Gizzi :   17:39
Yeah, it waas, and that's that. That particular story is actually interesting, because after I agreed to that, she said, by the way, like, that's great to hear. Let's start with you next week, etcetera, etcetera, by the way, you know, like, just so you know, like my my sons are like the grandchildren of John Coltrane. You know, like

Brock Goldberg:   17:57
that, eh? Yeah, sure. Sign me up.

Steven Gizzi :   18:02
Yeah, and so that was I I actually still have them. His clients, you know, like, I still teach him. And that's an awesome And it's this is you know, So I've come to love teaching. Yeah, you know, and you know, you've always some some students are, like, more motivated than others. So, sure, it's always of course, the most fulfilling. If you feel like you're really there was someone like you feel like you're really providing value to their life because it's something that they really want to learn. Absolutely. That connection. Yeah. So, um, you know, it's something that's so cool about it, especially with I teach all ages. But obviously, you know, most of them tend to be kids. So So it's so interesting. If I teach someone for, like, 56 years, you are. You just see them grow up. You want him grow up. Sure, I know, Louis. And it's like you see them as kids. You see them start to go through puberty. You see them kind of like start to have these, that these these struggles of a teenager and you know, just all the stuff. And then, you know, I I've even, like, help. Some people start like, apply to colleges and stuff. You know, you kind of start to see this whole process.

Brock Goldberg:   19:03
Battles did the evolution of that individual. And you're more than just uneducated. You're more than just a teacher. It's that bond that you're creating with with your student, you know, and to be ableto have that go the distance. Um, it will last with that person forever. It'll be with them forever. Um, and to be able to do that to be able to teach kids at, you know, such an early age? Is that more difficult than trying to teach, Let's say an adult or is an adult more difficult?

Steven Gizzi :   19:40
Yeah, that sound. That's interesting. I think it it it goes both ways, depending on the circumstance, Um, teaching kids is can be hard, you know, because of things like short attention spans or or lack of motivation. You know, like the worst case scenario is you have a student who doesn't want to be there, and they're just there because their parents want them to be there because then you you can't. There's There's no possible way to motivate, of course, because you can't turn into their parent and discipline them too much. You don't want to cross that boundary, you know, and you can't you can't say, Well, listen, you've paid me to do this, so you are just what kind of wasting your money that they have no concept, not matter. So that's always a tricky situation. But if the kid is good like that's an amazing experience, I think you know I love doing that because you can see the seed in them. You can see the spark. Yeah, right. And you can kind of help grow that. And, you know, there's a sort of, Ah, if you're a total beginner, there's sort of a traditional path that you would follow just to learn the basics, the fundamentals. But after that, you kind of get to go in whatever direction they want to go. Maybe they're like classical. Maybe they like rock music. Maybe they want to learn to produce hip hop. You know any of this stuff so you could kind of go with them where wherever they want to go. Absolutely. That's really great. Adults are also there an interesting case because it also goes both ways with them. Sometimes, you know, I become very aware of the age difference, like there, you know, maybe a few decades, my senior. And, um, I feel like I don't have a certain authority that maybe I should have as a teacher, you know, art. But some of my favorite students have been adults. There were two, two former Susan I had. They were both men in their seventies

Brock Goldberg:   21:23
no show, and

Steven Gizzi :   21:24
they started, um, lessons with me as beginners. It's not like they had been playing their whole lives. So they start. They picked up music in their seventies, never too late. Right then can I loved going over to their places, gets they just They tell me stories of how they just constantly re in the reinvented itself throughout throughout their lives, right? You know, one guy, he you know he's own multiple businesses throughout his life. He used to be in the restaurant business, and, you know, then, like he he started, he started martial arts in his fifties.

Brock Goldberg:   21:55
No fucking way. That may

Steven Gizzi :   21:57
be even more intense because that's such a physical thing or it's absolutely so he started martial arts, and I think I want to say it was jujitsu. Not that I could be wrong about that. There is one of the martial arts, and then he goes black belt.

Brock Goldberg:   22:09
Oh, no, she It was a black belt just right starting in his fifties. Yeah, that's what I just got to get to that point. Um, it's It's never too late. You know, A lot of people hit these barriers in their life, and they're like, Oh, it's too late to do this. Oh, it's too late to do that, but it's not at any single point in your life. 10 12 maybe not 10. But like 2030 40 50 60 70 Pushed through. Try it because we don't want to live a life of regrets. And so that person starting martial arts in their fifties picking up, you know, lessons. And then in playing piano in their seventies, it just shows what type of person that they were. That experience, I mean, definitely speaks light years for you as as a person, um, to kinda go back growing up in Let's go all the way back going growing up in Virginia. Um, compared to, let's say, Los Angeles now. Yeah. What? What is that? Like, you know, I've been to Virginia, but actually living there Never.

Steven Gizzi :   23:08
Sure. Yes. Um, East coast versus West Coast. Yes, it's Ah, it's a clear cultural difference. And, um yeah, in Virginia, I grew up looking back on it. Now I would say I was a bit of a bubble for sure. You know it, It's It's sort of this kind of Southern living culture, which is, you know, I have a lot of nostalgia for it, you know, I love that and and the seasons there are incredible. Every time get off the plane. When I go back, it's like I taste the Christmas in the air, and it's amazing, right? Um, it's so funny, you know, there's like that Southern hospitality culture is incredible. Yes. You know, I grew up in suburbia. Okay, so, you know, a lot of my childhood is kind of defined by that sort of grown up in the nineties suburb experience. You ever watch that movie boyhood? Yeah. I watched that movie. And it it was, Yeah, it felt like my life rights off. Which, of course, is the genius of the film. Yeah, I'm sure those people that watched that feel that

Brock Goldberg:   24:06
that that that was brilliant and the entire experience and the shooting experience about is great,

Steven Gizzi :   24:11
but yes, Yes, Agreed? Agreed. So you have grown up in suburbia like skating around, biking around with my friends, you know, just that whole thing. Um, definitely idyllic in a lot of ways, you know, Definitely that kind of trouble. So I'm so grateful for that, you know, because it did kind of give you a strong front foundation, and then you you you leave the house you go to college and then especially coming out here, that journey, that that literal journey from east of West has also just kind of lined up with my personal journey in life of growing up in the bubble of adolescence and the bubble breaking right. It's crazy. And so in some ways, my comparison of East Coast versus West Coast is lined up with my comparison of childhood versus adulthood. So it's like, biased in that way a little bit, because to me, L A is like, you know, this is the land of the sharks and this is yes, this is adulthood. This is real life. This is the city of figuring out how to pay your bills and figuring out what a mortgages and figuring out what an IRA is and you know, So it's It's the real deal for me, culture wise, I love it out here in L. A. I love the juxtaposition of nature versus urban. You know, that seems like something very unique to L. A. Yes, it is. Um, you know, I love working in the music industry out here. I love all of the inspiration that's here, but it is it's exhausting for

Brock Goldberg:   25:29
sure. Yeah, anyone that has never lived in Los Angeles, California, it's ah, it's a different animal is a different beast, you know, And for you, it's really defined by you from your childhood, as you know, growing up in Virginia tonight, your adulthood, Um and, you know, key things that you just kind of pointed out is like mortgage ira things that for me at least, I was never taught in school, you know? And so we have neither. We have to learn these things as adults, which really blows my mind away because, uh, you would think going to high school they would help you set your life up. You know, as as you kind of take these next steps. But But that doesn't happen. Um ah. The obviously on dso we have to learn it on her own, and and that's just the name of the game. I I do find it, um, incredibly. Ah, hard. Ah, being a person that for me, I I went through a lot of struggles growing up. I've faced a lot of shit in my life. Um, and when things get thrown at you, um, whatever it is in your life. I kind of in the past would just kind of run from it. And and and now I'm at this point, I'm just, like, pushing forward, sitting here talking to you. Um, you have just fucking pushed forward. You have just gone for you've taken these steps. You've taken these challenges. You've taken these leaps at 22 years old. I would have I I mean, I had 17. I moved to London for a little while, but that was on my mommy's pocket was on her dime right on. But a 22 years old for you to take that leap to come out here on your own just kind of shows the type of person that you are. Um, what would you say for anyone trying toe make their way into the music industry that lives that does not live in Los Angeles, California, that maybe lives in Virginia, lives in Florida, lives anywhere else except here. Um, what would you say? What would you say? Maybe to your younger self to someone that's trying to make that leap?

Steven Gizzi :   27:40
Yeah, absolutely. Something I've learned in my twenties. Living here in l. A is there's like a There are a few meta skills that are crucial to know. Yeah, and this probably doesn't just I'm sure this doesn't just apply to the music industry. One big part of it is Learn how you learn the best like that. Like, come to come to a deep understanding of how you process information. Um, how you can and and learn how to teach yourself things. That's a That's another part of the Google It. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And, you know, because certainly in the music industry with the hustle, especially when you're first starting out, a lot of what happens is you get a call to work some job, and it is partially in your comfort zone, but very much outside of your comfort zone. Okay. You know, you you kind of have a formal understanding of the skill, maybe, but not the applied skill. And so you get a call, and this is there's never time to think about it, by the way. All right. It's like I need an answer by tonight. Maybe. And you know, so it's like, Are you my di? Are you the guy that can do this? This this and this and in your head. You're thinking I don't know. I can kind of do this, but probably about this. But you within reason, of course, you don't want to. You know, if I'm a musician, I don't want to agree. To fix your car has to be within your general skill set. But it's fun. You know, you beak, if you're comfortable, if you're confident with your ability to teach yourself things, then you can respond to those kind of calls with much more confidence. Okay, Right. Because that's happened to me several times. And then YouTube is the friend. Yeah, YouTube's the big podcasts. Um, you know, just talking to your any various mentors you have around town, you know, like, just you've got to think with that sort of growth mindset. OK, you know, you've got to think, Okay, this is out of my comfort zone, but this is how I grow, you know, and I'm gonna put my best foot forward. I'm going to, you know, give this 100% 100 10%. You know, even if I don't know everything, I'm gonna do my best to rise to the occasion. Right. So now that does come with the caveat if you don't wanna overextend yourself, because that will have the opposite effect of leaving a bad taste in whoever the your employer's mouth. So you don't want overreach on this. But having that confidence is a big thing. That would be 11 huge thing that I would recommend moving out here in the music industry. It's everybody says This is the cliche is true. It's it's who you know, right? And, um, I'm saying networking is a lot like dating. You know, that's a That's a good thing to realize, you know, don't When I first moved out here, I sort of had that sort of formal approach of networking like, Let's go to the event where we all put our name tags on right time my name and we you know and you go to those and everyone has, like sweaty armpits and everyone. It's very for it, you know. It feels very forced and an awkward, and I'm you know, good stuff does come out of that for sure. But if you treat if you treat networking like dating it, I think you'll have a lot more success because you know it's in the music industry, especially, This is not like like people don't go on linked in to hire people in the industry so much. It's it's very much about feeling out each other's vied for sure, right? So everybody has the talent here. Everybody has the skills to do the job. Yeah, so that's almost just like a checkmark. That's, you know, that's a Do you have this? Okay, check. Now let's move on to the real thing, which is to revive together. So I like you because when you work with artistic stuff that people that create it are very it's very, very vulnerable thing for them. You know, it's it's art. It's something very personal, and it's something that they usually have a very specific artistic vision on. And so they want to work with somebody who they can feel comfortable sharing that with. Yeah, you know, and collaborating with. And so you know, you you meet people and you just learn to kind of, you know, you You speak their language and you you hang with them and you go to parties with them. You know, you go to Aa like I've got more business from going to a house parties than from going to networking events. Yeah, like mixers. And of course, you know, So you know, that's a big thing. Just meet people. You know, I'm not an extrovert on generally. Pretty introverted, but I can charge myself up to do the extroverted thing. Yeah, and when I do it properly, I I think I'm quite good at it. And so, you know, channel that kind of outgoing energy. And, um, you know, always think with the mindset of this is something my mom always think with the mind set of, You know, what can I want? Value cannot provide to you? Yeah, you know, kind of try to think selflessly like that. You know, like that Not just what can I take from you? Because, yes, you smell that coming a mile away on L. A. Especially you always. You know, before they even open their mouth What they're about to say Absolutely no.

Brock Goldberg:   32:34
Absolutely. Gary v with marketing. He has that jab, jab, jab, punches. I give, give, give and then ask. You know, people just coming up to you wanting to take shit right off the bat, it sets a bad taste in your mouth. It doesn't matter. You know who the heck you are? Um, no, that was that. Those were two really good points. And I think for, you know, kids that are thinking about coming up or young adults that is thinking of coming out here. It's a scary thing, you know, to make that step to make that leap. Um, for you. You said that. You know, you can't. You had something set up. Um, who was that professor? Was it a mentor of yours? Does he stand out? I mean, tell me a little bit about him.

Steven Gizzi :   33:21
Yeah, absolutely. Or her? Yeah. No, it was Ah. Ah, Professor. My name Carlos Rivera, actually, who is now quite the accomplished film composer himself. Actually, he maybe two years back. A few years back, he scored the Netflix series. Godless. Nice. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He scored that. He he did a movie with Liam Neeson.

Brock Goldberg:   33:44
Oh, I love him.

Steven Gizzi :   33:45
I believe that was called a walk amongst the tombstones. Good. So he's I know he's got some cool upcoming projects too, but, yeah, he he went to USC as a as an undergrad, and, um, you know, so a friend of his from USC named J. Vincent. Um, is the composer out here and thank you. So through Carlos, basically, I got this connection to this guy, Jake Vincent out here, and he posted in, like, a forum that we had for this for the school. Hey, my buddy Jay is looking for an intern, you know, as ah, he's a composer living out in L. A. If anyone's interested this summer to go out there, him up hands, it was it was a really lucky break for me because literally like the night before, I, um I had just, like, finalized my resume. And I had had new business cards and I had written a little cover letter to send to employers or whatever. And so I had I had just done, and so I saw that I was I was I was able to pounce on it so fast. Like within five minutes of him posting that I had e mailed the guy. Yeah, that's what got me the job. Absolutely. Wow, That's incredible. You know, I said it so so quick. I had it all ready to go. And if I had waited even a night to do that. You know, who knows? Because it would have been at least a few hours later that I had actually responded and you know, But he did. He told me he was like, Listen, you were like the first person to respond and you held up when you know, he called me later that night and we kind of had a phone interview and, you know, you held up and so, like you got it right place, right time, Very much so. Absolutely. What's the It's Ah, I don't know. There's some saying I don't know what the exact words are, but it's basically like, Yes, it's right place at the right time. But it's, you know, like succeeding is all luck, but it's it's about being prepared for when the luck happens. Absolutely no

Brock Goldberg:   35:33
absolute. And you were definitely prepared. I mean, you just finished, you know, your your your cover letter and what you were working on to be able to do that in the interview. And I mean you obviously ah, somewhat new your shit to be able to take that opportunity. And that was, if you look back at your life, let's say 40 years from now. And if you look back at your life, that was the moment where it all changed. Um, would you say that? Yeah, I guess you could say that. I

Steven Gizzi :   35:58
don't know. It's, um it's hard from it's hard to think in black and white like that with your own life, right? It's so hard to have that perspective. Give me Give me a few decades and I might very well say that That was certainly the thing that coming out to L. A. I absolutely believe that hadn't happened. You're right. I might not even live on the West Coast. I might not be doing this.

Brock Goldberg:   36:15
Were you willing to just go anywhere at that point? Like what was going through your head? I mean, even before you sent out, um, you know the reply fit to him. Were you just open to going anywhere If it was New York, if it was Georgia wherever.

Steven Gizzi :   36:28
Yeah, I had started putting together a list, actually, of a bunch of people I was gonna hit up and just, you know, the plan was to cold email them, which, you know, is certainly not the best approach, but it's you know, it was about the numbers game. I think I had closed in, like, 100 names that I was. I was looking at individual composers. I was looking at, like video game studios, because that was also interested in scoring for games. Um, you know, various, I think add houses, you know, postproduction houses, things of that nature. And and, you know, it was just going to go down that list and, you know, it's I at that stage in the game when you have no connections, you know, you gotta you gotta start somewhere, you know, and it's like even if even if 99% of 99 out of 100 ignore that email if you got one,

Brock Goldberg:   37:16
that's absolutely just like you said, it's a numbers game, you know, just putting yourself out there, being vulnerable, really. You know, opening your life up for whatever comes your way. Um,

Steven Gizzi :   37:28
a buddy of mine, he you know, it was the same experience with him. He would message this this Grammy winning producer, right? Any message him, like years ago, He said, Hey, love your work, etcetera, etcetera. I'm a upcoming producer. I would love to help you out in any way that I can. You know, if you need anything, let me know. No response. Okay. You know, um, a few months later followed up. No response. I don't know how many times he did it. It was least every three or four times, you know, And finally, at the fourth or fifth time, the guy responds in. And now this dude is want to grab me, by the way, Way worked with him. And, you know, he assisted him for so long to, you know, got his chops up his production shops to the point where that producer started giving him more work to do on his own. And now he's one of fucking Grammy.

Brock Goldberg:   38:20
Holy shit. And it's like you said, it is that number's game. It is not giving. Uh, all right. It is not giving up. I mean, if he would not have sent that email 2345 times, where would he be now and now he has a Grammy. That's just mind blowing. And so it's just continuing to push on, even when, um, it doesn't seem like it's working or it's it's, you know, you're not getting a response

Steven Gizzi :   38:47
and not taking it personally to exactly is it's so easy if you get that ignore. It's so easy to attribute malevolence to the other party due to your own self consciousness. Yeah, you know, it's so easy to think, man, this person must have looked beyond hated me, and therefore they they'll never hit me back for sure. You know, they'll never contact me again, and they're spreading my name

Brock Goldberg:   39:13
across the sky like it, so it sounds absurd, but it's true, so true. And it feels so real. It does at that moment in your life, it feels surreal. But the rial honesty behind is that it was just busy and he probably didn't see it, right? Didn't like it just didn't come under his radar. But eventually, at that one point, he did and then just fuck you. He went for it. It's the same thing for you, right? I mean, obviously, the first time you reached out, it did, you know, it obviously panned out for you, right? But, uh, that is so many things. An individual's life. They take things way too personally, and then you get caught up in your own shit. in our brain can just wander and go down this rabbit hole so frickin fast, and then it just makes you so jaded, so blinded. Um, when in life it's not just one way or the other. There's so many factors that lead into whatever it is that an individual is going through. Um, growing up. Did you Did you rock out in any bands? Was it always personal? Uh,

Steven Gizzi :   40:16
yeah, I did. I, you know, played on a lot of those garage bands. Nice growing up. You know, the classic sort of, You know, I've got a shitty drum set, and this dude plays bass and I played keyboards. And here's a guitar player, and we'll just get together in the garage and Sam out. Yeah, definitely did my fair share of that. I was really into progressive rock. Grown up. Okay, You know what that is?

Brock Goldberg:   40:39
Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Program.

Steven Gizzi :   40:41
Yeah, I was I was huge. Snap about it too. Okay, Was a huge uh, so I was that guy who was like, Your music's not

Brock Goldberg:   40:49
complex. Not good enough. Yeah, that shit's complex, though. Yeah, it is. And I

Steven Gizzi :   40:53
gotta tell you, that was A. That was a crucial, uh, music training for me. Like learning to play that kind of stuff and learning how to count all those odd time signatures and just all that stuff. So it was really helpful for me because I had come fresh off of classical music, my classical music training. So that was it was kind of that was the bridge from classical into rock for me. Wow. But anyway, so I planted a few prog rock bands. Okay, which was super dope. And, um, my favorite is I played in this band. We call herself the Portland Oregon.

Brock Goldberg:   41:21
The Foreland Orga. Why I? Because, Well, I like you, but

Steven Gizzi :   41:27
I occasionally played in Oregon. Sound on my guess. It

Brock Goldberg:   41:31
was just a just a pot off Portland, Oregon. A little play on words. I'm real quick. If people don't know what Prague progressive rock is, we're tryingto

Steven Gizzi :   41:40
yes, absolutely. So progressive rock is a genre. A sub genre of rock music that became really prevalent in the seventies into the eighties. Started in the sixties, arguably people, actually, oftentimes we will refer to the Beatles as sort of the first proto Prague. Okay, Meaning like they they weren't progressive rock. Progressive rock was on nothing but the music that they made, especially in their experimental years. Yes, with things like like Sergeant Pepper's frequently cited as one of the greatest prog rock albums ever. So like the experimentation that, if they did in the studio, was sort of the genesis for a lot of the creativity that came that birthed the prog rock movement in the seventies and stuff and exploit is a big band, you know, in that prog rock scene? Um, um, let's see Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Okay, Genesis sort of the early years and became popular Genesis King Crimson. Yes, the band and all of these guys the rock music. So they jam out. But they they have sort of the the the the complex musicality of highly influenced by classical music. Like, you know, you imagine you know, a Bach piece or baseball or Mozart or something. And it's this very virtuosic stuff. Ah, lot of fast, you know, melodies and things like that. And so prog rock loves to incorporate that kind of thing into a rock band contact. So it's normally guitar, bass, guitar, drums and, like a keyboard is too has like especially in the seventies. They have, like the whole staff of people on stage with them, and they're like this wizard going. And so they've got, like, a few cents. They've got an Oregon, They've got a keyboard, you know? And they would you? It's these really long. Not all the times, but often these long, epic pieces. You know, 10 2030 minutes sometimes, and they're just these Odyssey's. They have multiple movements to them. You know, if there are lyrics, the lyrics are often kind of telling this fantastical sort of scifi kind of story. And it's just this whole journey of sound, like you could imagine Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon like that whole album together as one unit. It's just a prog rock odyssey. Wow, you know. So it's just it's all this crazy stuff, very experimental, Um, sometimes pretentious like, you know, at least to my that I sort of became jaded on the whole thing and, you know, like, kinda I felt very pretentious to me a time, so I sort of steered away from it. But it's just it's just a celebration of, like, really complex music

Brock Goldberg:   44:10
super technical. I mean, super technical, especially if you go from the seventies to now The progress, the progressive rock is just I was turned on to it. I'm, like, last year the year before, and I was just so fucking blown away. And I was like, First off, why is there no vocals? Yeah, a lot of the ship that my friend was sharing. I was like, Wow, but it reminded me and it reminded me a lot of like, uh uh, kind of like Like what Skrillex has done with, like, his dog stuff like, super fucking technical shit. Taking all of these sounds, bringing it together and just blowing your fucking mind away on dhe. That's exactly what it remind me. Especially the stuff you showed me. I cannot remember the band's name, but it was super impressive s Oh, yeah, it's, uh it's cool, but you're a little snob about it. Home, back.

Steven Gizzi :   44:58
Yeah, whatever. I was 14. You know, it's so interesting. Like, you know how like Facebook will be like 10 years ago today. Have made this shitty.

Brock Goldberg:   45:08
It's so true. Like, what the fuck was I wearing? Prefer me especially like I got this like bleach? Fucking faux hawk? Yeah, like in like a white T shirt with, like, a vest on. But like like a suit, Like a dress vest. And I've got, like, a frickin ty. But I was bringing it to you. I don't know. Just like super stupid by Christy. Yeah, but looking back, it's salty. It's

Steven Gizzi :   45:29
just like I would write the most pretentious, whatever it is what it is, man, that it was a crucial metamorphosis state. Oh, for sure. Absolutely. On, then. Actually, by the way, speaking of Skrillex, that's the That's how I got into electronica music. At first, I think back in, like 2010 2011. Okay, like when Skrillex was coming on to the scene? Because I heard, you know, they call that that that they had that sub genre of'em that they call complex TRO, which is Skrillex. You know, Wolfgang Gartner, like all of these guys that would do these like heavy drops where there's just all this crazy should happen, right? And yet somehow always kind of blends together. Yes, and so that was the big appeal to me. I, like blew my mind because it was It's like all those intricate parts. And, you know, I had that that influence from my prog rock

Brock Goldberg:   46:15
know for sure that that was the very first thing that I thought of. I mean, because if you just look it especially like the early years of like, Skrillex, um with, like, you know, cinema and the Bang Goring album and all that shit. It, uh it's just it's super fascinating. I mean, all of these different just unique sounds hard drops, it just blows your mind away. I mean, if you're not a snob about No, I don't like GM like that. Well, that's you. That's your freakin problem. If you can respect music, right, What fasten it is it's so fucking fascinating. If so, and it's

Steven Gizzi :   46:49
so impeccably mixed with electronic music, you can you can have a You have a wider range of of strong frequencies than any other genre. Before you know, like even compared to rocket is like rock pap packs a punch. But e d m really packed, you know, especially if you hear it live

Brock Goldberg:   47:05
like you go to a festival or go to a club manages you just feel everything, especially when you're not like if you're on ecstasy here, you're not an ecstasy. You you definitely feel it either. Either way, um, eyes. So I'm going back to Virginia. Are your parents from Virginia?

Steven Gizzi :   47:24
They are not. My mom was born in and grew up in New Jersey, like around Trenton, New Jersey. Jazzy, dropping shit to you and my dad. Uh, upstate New York. Okay. Nice. Yeah, they, um they both they spent most of their They grew up in those respective cities. They spoke to spend most of their childhood there. And then, um, my dad I know moved his family moved down to Virginia, I think when he was a teenager, like in high school, okay. And then they met because they both went to Virginia Tech. Nice. And my dad was in state at that point. My mom came from New Jersey to go there. Okay. And they ah, um they met because they both worked in this sort of dramatic theater group. Like it was sort of ah, kind of Ah, big show choir. Almost. You know. And they were huge, too. Like they were called the New Virginians. And they toured across the country like, wow, I think they were a bigger entity than just Virginia Tech like they may be. I don't know that history, really, But they may be started in Virginia Tech, but they got so big. And so he was a technician, a light and sound technician. And my mom was in the costume department and they met there. And that is actually, although I said no one in my family was his musical before me, you know, my dad was, um definitely, you know, an audio file as this tremendous appreciation for sound and audio. And he worked as a sound technician for a lot of live shows back in the day. Did Tina Turner. He did, uh, Jefferson Starship, maybe the Jefferson Airplane. OK, I can't remember. I like a C D. C. Like all these stories that would come through town, he would work on him.

Brock Goldberg:   48:57
Wow, that's so freaking cool, man. And

Steven Gizzi :   48:59
so then they lived in Virginia, you know, ever since then and my brother and I were both born in Virginia.

Brock Goldberg:   49:03
So what do your parents D'oh now? Are they retired? But what did they do back then? I don't know if

Steven Gizzi :   49:07
they're retired, but yeah, my, um My mom is the original entrepreneur of the family. My brother and I are both entrepreneurs now, and I think it's in good part because of her. She, you know, she she went in first thing, the attack to study like textiles. And, um, you know, she works with all things fabric and upholstery. After college, she worked in a kind of an upholstery house for a while, and then eventually, shortly after she she had my brother and I she started up her own business, and she worked out of the house, you know? So she like, she had a tremendous solution, by the way, to the like, the classic mom dilemma of, like, new parent dilemma of, like do I stayed home like she did both, right? She works from awesome and like, she was a tremendous who was so tremendously present in our lives, like growing up. So it was like, the best of both worlds. Nice. And I'm so she started this business out of the house where she does custom window treatments. Andi kind of upholstery, um, you know, for for clients and she goes to their house was a consultation. They're like, Yeah, I need. You know, I have 40 windows. Yeah, let's do all of the draperies. Nice. You know, when she does that. And, um, you know, she's got all this great professional equipment now, and she's all set up, and she started selling blinds and shades at a certain point, you know? So she

Brock Goldberg:   50:24
is the true entrepreneur through her. Wow. That's incredible word about your pops.

Steven Gizzi :   50:27
He Let's see, he worked for, ah, Circuit City. Like I said for a while, he got out before they went under. He saw coming a few years bad for him. He got out a few years before they went under. He worked for Circuit City for a long time and then basically retired from there and just kind of traded on the stock market. He's got a really keen sense for stock trading and stuff. So he makes a lot of money on this

Brock Goldberg:   50:51
nice, nice show. Share some tips,

Steven Gizzi :   50:53
and you have no right. Seriously. So he did that, um, And then he went back to he started working again for Amazon. Okay. And now he is retired again. It's not the heat, you know. He sort of just like he starts working again if he feels like it. Hey, it's, you know, it's both of my parents, like they're staying active, you know, like they've got the things that they're doing, even though the empty nesters and now you know about my brother and I've have left the house now. But, you know, it's like it goes back to the one that was saying with those 70 year old pianist, yes, it's so inspiring to hear that because it feels like when you when you adopted that approach to life, it almost feels like life extent. Yes, you know, sure, it doesn't physically extend like you've lived however long you live. But the the window of opportunity extends to your whole life for sure, as opposed to just 0 to 50 in whatever it is, 65 s o. You know, it's

Brock Goldberg:   51:46
crucial. No, I know for sure. They're constantly, you know, people are reinventing themselves and they're not stopping. You know, I just kind of here this ongoing story of like, you know, the parent works and then they retire. They have nothing to do, and then they fucking die, right? I see a lot of people like especially working in the hair industry. All these frickin 70 and 80 year olds that are still fucking rocking. Yeah. And they have purpose, right? And I think purpose is a huge part of life. If you don't have purpose, you are lost. And especially if you've had purpose for such a long period of time, and then all of a sudden stops and you don't fill it with something else. You can only travel and do so much, right? But aware, then it just comes, you know, you know, mundane. And it's just kind of that every ah day of life. But if you have something that pushes you forward, um, I don't know how the story that it kind of keeps the longer, you know, keeps you here longer. And, um uh, well, for me, whatever the heck I'm doing, I hope that, you know, I continue to push forward and, um, you know, just kind of hearing your life, the entrepreneurial spirit of your mom and your dad, constantly inventing themselves. It just shows into you right on. You said you You have a brother, right? What's what's his start? What's he doing?

Steven Gizzi :   53:02
Yeah, he Ah, When he graduated college, he moved out to Chicago. He's a living there now, and he's He's definitely the extroverted, the family like he's very into that urban life. And so he he loved Chicago from the moment he he he moved them. And so he's been working at, um, he works at a start up. Well, he worked at a series of startups various tech start ups when he moved there. And he also is running this business, this side hustle, you know, out of his house, where he buys and sells used music here. He started up an online store, and it's like he, you know, it seems to be doing really well with it. You know, he's like he's selling a lot of product and he, you know, it's mostly guitars, guitar amps, guitar pedals generally focused around because he he is a musician. I started playing first in that he started a little later in life, but he picked up a guitar, and so he's nice. That's his thing. And he so a lot of guitar based gear and accessories. You know, he like, he's Pete's got his online store. He sells and ships all over the world. What's it called. It's called Marquette Studios.

Brock Goldberg:   54:08
How you spell that?

Steven Gizzi :   54:09
M a r Q u E t T e o k Studios. It's named after an address that we both not are not the house that we grew up in it first, but one of the houses that we lived in was on Marquette. Have a new market drive. Was on road market road market, right? And so, you know, he you know, that's that's the name is business, and he's got his online store and you know you're in there. And if you're in the you're shopping for, you know, like a vintage guitar or whatever, like

Brock Goldberg:   54:38
check it out seriously, that's a straight up. And once again, it really shows. Um, the way that your parents have lived their own life is a true reflection of yourself in your brother. Right. Um, you know, I have this philosophy, you know, in life, and I've heard it many times. It's like who you surround yourself. You know, the top five people you surround yourself with the most is, uh, going to be a reflection of, you know, kind of who you are. So if you hang out with you, know a whole bunch of, you know, deadbeats, drug drug addicts. Well, what you're probably gonna be if you hang out with a whole bunch of successful, open minded, Uh, you know, individuals. Well, what do you probably going to be and so growing up the most to the two most important people in your life, Um, I just have this knack of fucking pushing forward. It's a true reflection of yourself in your brother. It's really awesome. Man s. Oh, now you're at this point in your career, you're you're out here and good old Los Angeles. What you were working on what I've been doing the past year for five years. Six years?

Steven Gizzi :   55:38
Let's see. So for the past stem with three years, 34 years, been working mostly in TV Um, a Ah, phew. You know, collaborators and I we've got this relationship with DreamWorks Animation Way, started working on a show several years back called Harvey Street Kids. Okay. And it was called artistry Kids at the time. I believe they've now re titled it to be called Harvey Girls forever. Okay, uh, it's, you know, is this animated show the DreamWorks created it and then it premiered on exclusively on Netflix. And, you know, is this great show geared towards kids Really funny. Really like heartwarming. Um, you know, it's just a bunch of this animated series, a bunch of kids that all live on the same neighborhood street and then just get up to these crazy shenanigans, okay? It's got a very like Cartoon Network Saturday morning cartoons field I love it feels very old school in a way. And the animation style is kind of old school. Yeah, you know. So it's, um you know, it's just this great stuff. Like they you know, one episode they try toe because the big thing when you're a kid is like, What if we stayed up all night? Of course. So there's this one at the soda with like, Okay, we're going to stay up all night and it's the first time they've ever done it. And, you know, they construct this artificial sun so that there's daylight 24 hours a day so they never go to sleep. And then they all turn into Zombie. Then it turns into like a zombie horror. Like all the kids are sleep deprived of early around like zombies are all cracked. Yeah. So we, like, started in that episode writing, like, Super Like Positive. Musically. Energetically. Yeah. We're gonna do this. I bet it's switched to, like, just horror music. Just like crazy show like that. They, like, have these Berries they, like, come up with these crazy technological inventions. Just tow, have more fun and you know the whole thing. So So we did. I'm four seasons of that good and season, you know, And we did all of those in a row nonstop. You know, especially with animation, you can work pretty far ahead of time. So before Season one even premiered, we were, like, almost done with season three.

Brock Goldberg:   57:39
Only season three.

Steven Gizzi :   57:40
Yeah, and it's also crazy. It goes to the relationship between DreamWorks and Netflix because Netflix well, dreamers has done by that point. I think they had already done six or seven shows with Netflix, so they clearly had a model going. Yeah, and there's clearly trust. They're so Netflix greenlit. Four seasons before season one even premiered.

Brock Goldberg:   57:57
That's something I hear about Netflix. Try to cut you off, but it's like they just kind of fucking here you go instead of him with traditional, you know, production houses and things like that. It's like you got to do this. You can't do that. We gotta change it. Rewriteable bubble a block. Where is, like fucking before Season one launches you're working on season three. It's incredible.

Steven Gizzi :   58:16
Yeah, absolutely. So we did forces that. And season four actually just premiered on Netflix yesterday. Congratulations. Yeah, so and that's the final season as faras. Everyone's concerned on dso. You know, there was a big finale and everything, and you know, we did that. I've been on for that show for a little over a year now because we finished up last year. But, you know, it's just that was the true grind experience where it was like trial by fire, like learning how to do the job on the job only, you know, and I was prepared for it in the right ways, but But the, you know, TV deadlines and TV are intense. Yeah, you know, these are, you know, the 22 minute episodes and with animation especially, especially cause there was a lot of comedy involved as well. There tends to be a lot more music in animation than in live action stuff. Okay, because the music tends to just play this more interactive role with the narrative, you know? So So usually there's, like, 17 18 minutes of music per episode. Wholly. Shea do an episode, maybe every two weeks, maybe every week and 1/2 you know? So and it's like, nonstop, like going all year, you know? Episode, episode of

Brock Goldberg:   59:30
how long does that take to do one episodes that take two weeks,

Steven Gizzi :   59:33
yet it takes. The answer is, it takes however much time you have. If you had three months, it would take three months. Okay? You had two weeks. It'll take two. Okay? You're always like you're getting right up against the deadline. Each

Brock Goldberg:   59:44
time for sure. What's that process like? How do you know? What type of music is it? Just come to your brain. What is it like?

Steven Gizzi :   59:49
Yes. So the way that we got this, this gig actually is really interesting. We, you know, just kind of like you would go for a job interview and you would interview for a role. We basically auditioned for this role where basically they put out a blast. A publicity blast, like Hey, we need a composer for this show. Here's the give you a creative brief where they go over the basic concept of the show the logline, the and the general idea of what music styles. They want to pursue them, maybe give you a list of reference tracks to listen to, like existing reference music. And they say, Send us some tracks. And so the initial we we went to, we went through this demo ing process for six months. Only Crown Spec basically. And so the presumption is they're narrowing down the field over time. Yeah, I don't know how many composers initially started. Demo ing eventually just got down to two now and then one and so. But at first it was like submit to us a bunch of punk rock music, synth pop and Motown

Brock Goldberg:   1:0:48
music like multiple Kind of. Yeah, yeah, and that's a That's quite the tribe. No, that's exactly yeah,

Steven Gizzi :   1:0:55
and it's, you know, and it's It's so cool because, you know, I I I come from that background of like doing these these contemporary styles. You know, like I do the orchestral thing. You know it, it's it's, um you know, it comes up a lot. Of course, like the traditional film music is orchestral stuff, but my background has always been like rock and Elektronik and, like, just dope ass music, you know, like so So So that was so exciting for me, you know, to get tau score stuff with that style. So we sent in a bunch of rock and synth pop in Motown, some of which we already had, that we had done it previously, in some of which we had to write on the fly. And then you we hear back maybe a month later, like not for another month. We hear. And then I said, Great, send us some more stuff, you know? And we went through a few rounds of this, and then they eventually send us a cut of the first episode. And since it's animation, it's what we call pre viz, which is, you know, before they do all the final animation. So a lot of it is just a series of almost pencil sketches. Oh, digitally. And, of course, but just the equivalent equivalent of a pencil sketch. Yeah, and so you're you have to score this scene dramatically just on just based on this rough sketch that they've given you. Wow. And so we did that. They came back to us like a week later. Okay, score another scene. We did that. And finally, this whole process took about six months, and finally we got the job.

Brock Goldberg:   1:2:18
Oh, my gosh. How much work do you think? You because you weren't getting paid for this? You were doing this completely on spec. So how much? How many hours did that take?

Steven Gizzi :   1:2:26
Oh, yeah, it was. It was over 100 hours. For

Brock Goldberg:   1:2:29
starters. That's great. That's

Steven Gizzi :   1:2:33
all of the you're doing so much. It's so creatively exhausting at the beginning of a show because you're trying to figure out the sound. Yeah, And of course, you have to totally suspend your ICO cause you'll you'll you'll You'll put sweating tears, like all night into this amazing this thing that you think is amazing and you'll send it and they'll be like, this isn't quite what we're like.

Brock Goldberg:   1:2:51
A car, um are vulgar. But this is by heck yeah a all this time on. Are you serious? Yeah, man. 100 hours. Imagine the other person. The other. No, you just put $100 a time and you were gonna go with the attitude. That's the thing. Like second place is Yeah, it's not first. No, it's nothing. It's It's literally Yeah. Well, I'm so happy. You got it. Thank you. Who are you working?

Steven Gizzi :   1:3:17
Yeah. So, J Vincent? Okay, who I mentioned previously? He's the guy that I started interning with it first. Um, you know, after I entered with him, I started. He started hiring me to do work. You know, I graduated sort of from the internship, And I would just, you know, we were all freelancers, so we all do our own projects. But we just started working together a lot. And, you know, before this, I had done a few films with him, like a web series, You know, things like that. And so it was. It's four of us. It's Jay and myself And this guy, Ryan Lofty and David Butterfield. And we did all the music together. And David Butterfield, by the way, is also from Miami. He came out of University of

Brock Goldberg:   1:3:59
my eye, just like me. He's got a great name to David Butterfield, right? Fucking Hey. Wow. Wow, That's that. That is really freaking cool after going through that internship. What was it like? I mean, that Did you have work right away? I mean, did you have to? Frickin uber was it was hit, you know, the side hustle of education that kind of got you through. And, you know, teaching people how

Steven Gizzi :   1:4:23
the side hustle is what paid my bills for sure. You know, you the income starts rolling in for composing work, but it's not always regular, right? Even, you know, even working on the show. Um, you know, once we got that gig, you know, you're making there's a set amount that you're making. So you have that security. But, you know, the schedule with which you get paid is not always regular for sure. So So even when I had actually started making money composing the side hustle, the teaching has always I've always relied on that to pay my bills. And so I And when you keep low overhead, you know, for for the first several years, you know, I always made sure I could pay all of my bills alone just with the teaching income. And then any of the composing income is Cherries on the top.

Brock Goldberg:   1:5:05
There we go. That's that's so smart. I mean, you know, sharing that type of knowledge with people starting out because, um, you know, you could have went crazy, right? Ah, and just blown blown blood through your money. But being smart with your money has really helped you out a lot. Or do, like, where did you learn the skills to be smarter with your money was a family. Was that you

Steven Gizzi :   1:5:26
know, Google? Um um uh, my dad's credit. He actually, for both my brother and I he, um, put us a lot about you mentioned earlier. They don't teach you that at school schools. And now that's that's absolutely true, because I certainly didn't learn that in school. And my dad always had this philosophy of life, you know, it was the parent's job to sort of fill in the gap the functional life skills, you know. And so he, his dad did not teach you. Many give him any financial wisdom. And so he he taught himself, you know, going back to that self teaching thing. He taught himself all this stuff. You know, when he was my age, he readily Is he like he just had this thirst for that financial knowledge because he wanted to tow level up. Yes. And so he taught himself all about this stuff. And then when we were kids, he started up this thing called the Bank of Dad.

Brock Goldberg:   1:6:16
Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Here we go. To explain.

Steven Gizzi :   1:6:20
Yeah, he, uh, the bank of Dad where? So he we would get an allowance, but it was, you know, he wouldn't just give it to us. It was conditional we would get, like, a regular allowance, But it was conditional on, you know, kind of helping out around the house. Basic. Okay, that was always the expectation that it wasn't, like, specifically tit for tat. It wasn't literally, like, you know, do the dishes get this

Brock Goldberg:   1:6:41
amount of money. It

Steven Gizzi :   1:6:42
was just like, here's a regular wage, right? Yeah. And you're just expected to help her out. Life skills, man. Yeah. So we would kind of get a regular allowance, and then it would be invested in the bank of Dad, basically, and as opposed, which works just about exactly like a normal bank. Yeah, but just instead of, you know, going to some other bank and putting our money in, um, we would invested right with him, and he would keep a spreadsheet. And, like, every month we would weigh would, like, do a meeting like a report way like, here's your money. Like, here's what What is what was last month? Here's what it is now. And so he would give us an interest rate? Yes. And it was better than because the bank interest rate is not

Brock Goldberg:   1:7:23
nothing. They're just taking your money to give it. Okay, alone it. Yeah, well, we're losing.

Steven Gizzi :   1:7:28
So he gave us a great I don't remember exactly what it was. It was quite generous. Yeah, I was like, so And because he wanted us to learn the concept of compound interest. Yes, exactly. The value of saving

Brock Goldberg:   1:7:39
100%. I mean, compounding interest is such a crucial factor to the, you know, these individuals that are making you know, you know all of this money. And, you know, people don't realize how, um useful of a tool it can be for your life to save for your future. You know, because if you just keep your money in the bank or inside your safe or wherever did your fucking losing money, you know, with inflation every single year. You know, it's just getting chipped that right? But, you know, if you're starting to build that nest egg and you put it into the you know the right areas as that estate grows that calm pounding interest and builds and builds and builds. And, you know, hopefully one day you have enough so that you can retire to do whatever the you want. So, uh, how do I join up for the bank of, uh, honestly,

Steven Gizzi :   1:8:25
my dad would be an amazing, like he is the quintessential podcast because he lost. He he would like. You ask him a question like that and he'll go. He will. He will run with it. He's, you know, like he even Hello, Mom. There have been certain occasional scenarios where I like. I take him to a party with me. Yeah, you know, like if he if my parents came down to visit me in Miami when I was in college or, you know, when they they came out here to California, that is me. And I was going to like a holiday party or something, like, I'll take him with me and Hill his mission is to, um, kind of impart wisdom, you know? Yes. Like to, you know, like so if he locks in with somebody, they're going away that night with some crucial information.

Brock Goldberg:   1:9:07
That's incredible. The next time he comes out here, you better bring him on. Wow. These crucial ah, life skills that your father and mother instilled in you guys is a reflection of one's gonna keep on going back. It's a reflection of who you are today. The bank of dad, man. He should create a website called the Bank of Dad. That just helps educate the youth on. Um, you know, these key factors on how to save for your future, you know, because, um if you're smart with your money, you you can, But, um, you know, unfortunately, most most or not, it's a really sad case. Um, you know, throughout the United States of Americans throughout the globe. Um, uh, So you enter the internship. Um, this this this TV show, um, working with DreamWorks and Netflix. What's what's the next step? Because this was just recent, like I mean, I know just launched. But that unfinished way a year ago, you said that job.

Steven Gizzi :   1:10:06
Yeah, we finish that up. Uh, You know, I think it was early 2019 that we finished that. And then shortly after, actually I with the same team, I hopped on a different show. Also, dreamers also Netflix. Okay, I'm called Cleopatra in space.

Brock Goldberg:   1:10:21
Okay. What is that about? That is a great I love the name.

Steven Gizzi :   1:10:26
Yeah, also. Ah, kids show. I would say the democratic demographic is probably a little higher than what Harvey Street kids waas. Okay, you know, getting a little more probably into the teen room. But I would say Imagine Star Wars like that space opera sort of story. But these it's all Egyptian civilisation. Egyptian culture, basically the provinces. Basically. And this is based on a comic book series, by the way. Okay. So the comic creator, his name is Mike May hack. And so drink. Mark's got the property from this guy and developed it into an animated series. So the concept is basically it starts in the past. In ancient Egypt, when Cleopatra was alive. Okay. And through some fluke, she just she discovers a certain tablet like a mystical tablet, and she it somehow opens up a wormhole. where she gets catapulted thousands of years into the future. Like And at that point, all of civilization is in space. You know, it's an intergalactic sort of thing, and and, you know, it's all Egyptian, basically like the She joins this, you know, sort of Starfleet Academy type thing where the head of the academy is, you know, like a Sphinx cat. Okay, basically, you know, So it's really cool because it incorporates all these, you know, Egyptian cultural influences and stuff. It's got that, you know, it's got Pyramid six cuts. They sometimes ride around in space on these these space bikes that look like Spinks is okay, you know. So the aesthetic of it is really cool. And, you know, it's sort of a classic story of there's Ah, Cleopatra, who's the protagonist? There's a main villain, and there's a whole rivalry and a grudge there, and it's just, you know, they're always sort of under attack from this villain, and, you know, it's a classic sort of space opera story. And, um so the that's man and we just wrapped on that, by the way, we did two seasons of them, and, um, that was it was such It was such a fantastic, uh uh, show to score, because the style for that was, um, very futuristic because it was set in the future. So we there was a lot of electronica synth based stuff, but also incorporated a lot of traditional Egyptian influences, like a lot of, um, you know, sort of ancient Egyptian instruments. And so and there are there are musical scales that are that specifically evoke that Egyptian sound. There are specific Arabic scales, you know, things of that nature that you hear him once and you're in Egypt. Yes. You know, they're so evocative. And so we combined. Um, you know, these really exotic sounding, mystical sounding Egyptian instruments flutes and various Egyptian plucked guitar kind of instruments And with since, you know, like some of their some action scenes that are just fucking bangers, that's like, you know, they just drop it, you know? And that's the credit of you know, Ryan Lofty, who I mentioned before part of the team. He was sort of the lead guy on the show, and he, like, he's so good at that, you know, like keep before he was ah, composer for TV he was a deejay, was a producer. He like he lived in Vegas. He you know. So So he's still got it. Just making that electronic bank gets right. Yeah, for here. So you know. So he would He would take those action scenes and just do some incredible stuff with him, you know? And so sometimes you're just jamming out to this dope like e t M kind of dropped. And sometimes it's like, really tense, dramatic Egyptian sounding music. Yeah, that's the That's one of the profound joys of doing this kind of composing work because you'll get hired on Project and they'll throw the most random combination of things that you like on the previous show on Harvey Girls forever. It was punk plus Motown plus synth pop right, which just don't know if

Brock Goldberg:   1:14:11
that's never gone so well,

Steven Gizzi :   1:14:13
you know, So you have to, like, come up. It's a challenge is creative challenge. And on this show, it was ancient Egyptian music and medium okay, you know, people always say, think outside the box. But what's really stimulating is here's the box play within the box. Okay. Okay. Here's the crazy box. Like Egyptian and e m like Here's the box. And the challenge, which is really fulfilling ultimately is figuring out how to adapt to the

Brock Goldberg:   1:14:41
absolutely, absolutely being able to play. Ah, you know, being under the kind of collab to with different individuals. Now when you guys were writing the music, is it? You know, you're in the studio many hours a day together or is it separated? How does that work out?

Steven Gizzi :   1:14:55
We also we all work remotely from home. Most of the time, we all have our own little studio set ups, and generally it's some kind of divided up where, you know, I take these scenes and he takes these scenes etcetera, etcetera, or we might collaborate on one scene together, and then sometimes we'll get together and we'll work in the same place and do it. But for the most part, it's, you know, it's very digital. It's like, yeah, you know, we're on the phone with each other all the time. We're always going back and forth. Um, then we have shared Google docks and things where we're typing up feedback and things. But yeah, it's, you know, it was It's a great sort of for me personally. at least because this lines up with how I operate really well, you know, especially with creative work. If you feel like you're always being someone's looking over your shoulder all the time, it's sometimes hard to really 100. Get into the zone and write something that you're really is authentic. And so it's It's been great for me to be able to just work from home. I don't even have to be like wearing clothes half the times now doing it naked. Absolutely. You know, you do whatever you have to do to get in the zone. You know, you set your own hours. You know, you can work as a study like 9 to 5 if you want, or you can just, like work in the hours from 11 p.m. To 3 a.m. if you want, you know, And so it's a really great balance for me, at least for

Brock Goldberg:   1:16:19
sure. Absolutely. You know, you kind of hit on. Ah, good point, though, in its micromanagement. You know, there's this, like, old school mentality, especially from the boomers, where it's like, you gotta fuckin you know, you got to do this. Yeah. Yeah. Someone's always looking over your shoulder and, you know, I understand in certain, you know, workplaces. That's that's how it has to be. But there is a large scale work places that it does not have to be that way. But, you know, the older generation, that's how they were brought up, right? Um, and and for me, as an individual working, that is not how I liketo work. I mean, and no one likes that. No one likes someone just breathing down your neck. 24 7 And it also drags shit out, too. It's just Ah, it's never a win win. Um, you know, game when you're tryingto meet deadlines or work on a project together. Uh, yeah. So I just I can't stand Michael. Management's a little something I wanted to throw in there, but, you know, for you, what is the next step? You

Steven Gizzi :   1:17:17
know what's after this? Yeah. So I just moved up here to San Clarita. Garrido One thing and that I'm doing is I'm opening up a physical studio space. Nice. I'm gonna be using that. Gonna be running my studio out of it. I'll combine it with my teaching studio. You know, I'm looking to get a baby grand piano or something in their uniforms. And so, you know, I could have students come over there and work out of there. I could have clients come over into the studio that I'm working with, so that's one part of it. I'm starting. I'm trying to grow this physical business. Yeah, um, and then I also have a big project coming up, which I'll tell you as much as I can about, um, I have to leave some details vague. Based on who? I'm working for it. But for sure I'm doing this, uh, this orchestration project, basically. And so for those who don't know in music, the job of the orchestrator is basically, you have pre existing music that you're given that's been written, and you then arrange that for an orchestra. Traditionally, you know, you can apply the term orchestrator to pretty much anything. So you arrange it for some other group of musicians than what it was originally written for, right? And so? So I'm I'm taking, you know, I've been hired to I'm going to be taking all these original songs and arrange them for an orchestra, and probably even we've talked about throwing a choir in there, and it's gonna be a pretty big scale production where they're gonna be doing some life shows across the country and hopefully going into Europe and stuff that's exciting. I'm excited because it's, you know, transitioning into the live music scene. You know, I'm, um I'm excited to kind of try do something outside of the TV film domain for a little bit for sure. You know, you know,

Brock Goldberg:   1:19:02
kind of step out of that bubble, you know, that the public would been in. But the crazy thing is is like, you haven't bitten at that wall and to be able to find the success that you have found in a short period of time, and it's no disrespect to what you're doing, But 67 years you've been out here, right? It is incredible, you know, because this is, you know, as you know, it's a cut through industry. But, um, you know, surrounding yourself with the right people and obviously your personality speaks a light years because you want to start. You wanna work with people that you like to be around, even though you work remotely stuff that talk to the individual. Um, and it's just it's very inspiring because you're young. You're at a young age. You, um You know, you just bought this place. What? How long ago? For four months ago. Four months ago. You know, shoutout to Alex, right?

Steven Gizzi :   1:19:54
Yeah. Our mutual friend out.

Brock Goldberg:   1:19:56
Absolutely. That's that's like, That's how that's how we met. We went out to dinner a couple weeks ago. Uh, me and Alex was like, you know, you got to come hang out. You gotta meet this guy. He'd be great for your podcast. Um, and obviously he was freaking correct. Because you have a beautiful story, you know, starting in Virginia, you know, going, um, you know, through everything you went through with with your parents teaching you and instilling these thes blocking, awesome things that just blow my mind away. Um, then making yourself, you know, in Miami, the University of Miami. Um, And now, now, out here, you have so much more life ahead of you. I know that you're gonna go on to some very big fucking things. Um, and kudos to you, man. Seriously, Kudos to you. Thanks, man. Appreciate. Absolute are kind. You know, I just I say I say it how it is, Um, looking back at yourself in your in your college years, did you have the same type of mentality? Did you Were you fucking wild re partying your ass off? Like, what was that like?

Steven Gizzi :   1:21:00
Yeah, it's definitely, um uh, I was definitely a work in progress then, as I am now, of course, as well for sure. But in a different way. Um, I, um I think, um, I hadn't developed the same level of motivation at that point that, um I certainly had the inspiration. You know, I look back at college. My college experience is being a tremendous time of artistic freedom for me, for sure. Like, I I, um I went into college with that Prague rocks nominees Little snob via Ebbed of Ed's within less than a year. Being there like, broke down those walls and opened up to so much stuff and, you know, started hanging out with all of these incredible people that became friends. And and they're all musicians. And so we would all share music and jam and like that kind of that is honestly, maybe the best argument I could give for going to a music school because there's a lot of arguments to not goto college at all, let alone for music. Absolutely many of which are extremely strong. Yes, and I'm getting stronger every year, every single year. Yeah, I agree. But the one thing that really does make a difference is B in that physical energy. You know where you're with all these musicians both as your peers and as your professors as your mentor. Yeah. And as I said before, like the reason that I got most of my work. Like what? The opportunity that led to a large amount of my work following graduation was through that connection with the professor. So absolutely, it is a lot about the people.

Brock Goldberg:   1:22:31
It's the experience, man. You know, I I am a big proponent for, uh, not going to college, right? Unless you wanna be a doctor. You know, the things that things we need to sort of, You know, you need the certification, which totally makes sense, right? I don't want someone working on that. I never went to school, right? That learned out for YouTube. Um, but but I am a big proponent for the experience. You know just really being out on your own for the first time, being able to surround yourself with a whole bunch of, you know, you know, younger individuals really experiencing life for the first time, the ups and downs. I never got to experience college, right? And it used to be a regret of mine. Now, it's definitely not 110% but, um, you know, talking to my little brother, you know, I'm always, like, you know, college and not fuck college to the sense of, like, once again going back to the doctors and that type of that person's but not racking up a 30 40 $50,000 you know, debt where you can learn these skills elsewhere, That is for sure, especially, you know, business and on all of that shit. But I am a big proponent for him, for for that experience, you know that that that really that once in a lifetime experience, you know that that you can get going away to a school, um, and and going through the ups and downs, right? Uh, you know, that's Ah, but that that is definitely a valid point. Um, so being out in Los Angeles, California. Working on all of these things. You really want to be able to kind of take your business to that next level, Alright? Really growing. Um uh, is it called a studio? What you call it?

Steven Gizzi :   1:24:12
I'm calling it a studio. I think that's the best catch all term port because it is a studio in many senses, the outward it zits. Ah, composing studio. It's a recording studio. It's a teaching studio. Yeah, it's sort of a multipurpose space. Absolutely. But, you know, looking to just establish that kind of physical centerpiece of the business, the more that you the more energy you put into those kind of things, you know, it increases your legitimacy a lot. And yeah, now I'm able to invite clients over. Here's a comfy couch like like do a whole presentation. Absolutely. You know,

Brock Goldberg:   1:24:43
bring them into your zone where you feel the most comfortable, like I am here right now.

Steven Gizzi :   1:24:48
I have to say, I'm very I'm very wooed by.

Brock Goldberg:   1:24:51
Thank you so much, man. There's a little bit more work to do in this or not, but definitely it's just a reflection of you know who I am? Yes, and your studio will be your friend.

Steven Gizzi :   1:25:01
And it shows, by the way, started interrupting. It shows that you're serious about what you're doing. You know, like you come into this studio and ends and we've got all the right equipment set up minus the video. But, you know, if she shows like this guy is gonna take this podcast seriously, you know, like, he's gonna bring his a game, you know?

Brock Goldberg:   1:25:18
Thank you. Thank you. It's important to me, you know, just being able to kind of go through this process of podcasting, creating a space where people from all different life forms all different careers, all different nationalities, all different genders can come and share their story, their ups and downs of their life when you know, we have all gone through it. All right. Every single individual has gone through something in their life, you know? But for you sharing your story switch like in the music career. And you know the chances in the risks that you took to get to where you're at today. I truly hope that, you know, some kid that's in high school or college, that's kind of going through the same shit that you went through is listening this and gravitates towards it, Andi, And to be able to take that risk. And you know what sometimes were up and sometimes were down for you. Um, is there a failure that stands out in your life? Is there something that has happened to you that you're like? Maybe I should have done it differently, but I did take something very positive from it. Yeah, um, you're like, Fuck. No, no, just just checking.

Steven Gizzi :   1:26:23
No, no, no, no. I, um I would say that a lot of personal failures come from mentality. You know, that's been my experience. Whether the failure is sort of never shooting the shot or whether the ship the failure is shooting the shot, but in the wrong way, I definitely have sort of mental viruses installed in my brain. That kind of can jeopardize the process. Something Yes, you know, so a lot of working through my twenties and in the real world and has been trying to iron out a lot of those kinks for sure. You know, the ego is always

Brock Goldberg:   1:26:58
is always a dangerous thing. It's huge, man. It is huge.

Steven Gizzi :   1:27:02
Yeah. So you know, I've definitely learned from experience from burning myself a few times, like you've gotta, especially when everyone you're working with is a creative person. Like we're all we all have our own sort of proprietary nature over our own creativity. You know, like, this is my work. This is my work. This is Yeah. So it's definitely, you know, you run into circumstances where you butt heads because you are, You're tryingto assert a certain amount of control over a project, and that can land you in trouble. If you're not careful with it, right? You gotta always be humble and be respectful of that sort of thing. It's absolutely That's definitely something that I've learned as I have gone alone. Yeah. You know, you've got to You gotta approach the work as a zoo. Human? Yes, The hours and it's It's so hard because, you know, I was there where you're a struggling artist. You're just moved to the big city. You're struggling to pay your bills. It's so hard to be toe adopt that that mindset of generosity like it's so hard to do that because it's so counter intuitive. You know, it's like, don't what do they always tell you like you can't save a drowning person if they just pull you under with, um so you you always have to be looking out for yourself like that. So it's natural to be kind of proprietary like that. You know, you want to make your buck, you want toe, you know, get the credit, et cetera, et cetera. Um, but, you know, especially when you're starting out, that's almost like you can't do that as much because you've got to You want to be the guy or the girl in the room who is just Everyone is so excited to be working with them because they're so generous with what they bring to the project. You know? Absolutely. And it's not about. It's not all these stipulations. It's not like, you know, we can be creative. But first, you know, we've gotta, you know, set some clear boundaries and you know, it's there's there's a danger and bringing too much

Brock Goldberg:   1:29:00
order to chaos. Yes, absolutely, absolutely. And you know, it's ah, once again, the dog eat dog world, right? You know, going through this, you know, going through that kind of mental failure, it man, it happens to all of us. One of my friends gave me one of the best pieces of advice on It's simply this just fucking do it right. Me. I get in my head so much, I've had so many fucking awesome ideas that have so much time in the planning process. And then when it gets to that fucking and point of executing it, I'm so drained by everything that I did before that I just gave up. And that has happened countless times in my life. And so when thinking about this podcast right here, he told me that, like, a month or two ago, right? And he said, Just fucking do it. You will figure it out along the way. But you have to put yourself out there. If you spend so much time in that planning process, you get so drained out. And I'm not saying like don't spend time in the planning process. That is definitely not what I'm saying. But especially starting out anything in your life you have to fucking do it. And because you learn as you go exactly right, and then you have people around you that are just willing to you know like you today, right? When I was figuring out this video camera right to do the very first video recording, I was having issues setting up the angles, right? And I was a fox with my doing, and I felt bad that you were waiting, right? But you were so cool about it, right? And then eventually figured it out. And it'll get better.

Steven Gizzi :   1:30:30
Yeah. And now it's It's now you have that knowledge for the next time exactly. Like the next time it will be like, there will be no indication that it was even an issue. Absolutely. You know, you just you just you do it. You, uh you have that vulnerability because it takes that it requires courage because you need to do be comfortable with looking stupid. Yeah, you know, with being vulnerable like that. You know, I was just meeting with someone earlier today. I had a guy who builds studios, and he's he's like a sound engineer. And he's an acoustic technician, you know? So for those who don't know, when you build a music studio, you need to acoustically treat the room so that the sound is optimal, you know, because the sound waves come out of your speakers, and they if the room is not good, they'll bounce all around, and it'll be super echoey, and it'll make it hard to mix. So you want to treat your room right? And so I had this guy come over and he was giving me all this expertise and you know me like, I've been in the music mindset for years. But if I had acted like I knew everything, you know, I wouldn't have gotten nearly So I had, you know, I had to like asking questions that we're stupid. Like What is this? Yes, as it and, you know, even if it was the most obvious thing in the world. No, it's it's being

Brock Goldberg:   1:31:39
vulnerable putting yourself out there. And so

Steven Gizzi :   1:31:41
that's how you would prove the whole game? Absolutely, You

Brock Goldberg:   1:31:43
know, deflating that ego. You know, um, and for me, I was talking about this the other day. It was like psilocybin mushrooms have help me deflate my ego because I usedto have the biggest ego on the face of the planet. I thought when I walked into a room, um, I was the fucking shit, But I wasn't I fucking definitely was not right. And these these tools have helped me unlock certain parts of my brain. And and now I have this newfound perspective on life, and so you know it, Brock, you know, you know, 34 years ago, um, would have just said fuck it with the video camera, I would have felt way too stupid. And I would have just started recording, right? Totally. Like why? Why? Why You helped me out. You help me, you know, set it up, and and you were fucking so cool enough to just be I just figured out it's totally fine. We got time broke, you know? And that goes with so many things in your life. It's like, deflate that ego and just be willing to put yourself out there and ask questions. Just so many people don't ask questions. Right. Um, so now you're at this next phase of your life where Ah, you're a few 2 to 3 years away from your thirties. What do you think? The thirties. They're gonna take you,

Steven Gizzi :   1:32:57
man. Yeah, I, um who knows,

Brock Goldberg:   1:33:01
right? No one knows.

Steven Gizzi :   1:33:03
No one knows. You've got to set your goals. You gotta have some direction that you're moving towards. But you also gotta stay open to anything that may happen tangentially. Right? So, you know, there are career girls. There are personal goals, like I definitely want to be, um, increasingly more and more stable. You know, in terms of my lifestyle, that's, you know, supported by what I do. And you know it in terms of what I'm working on exactly. You know, I'll chomp on anything that comes my way, you know, just like the project I'm working right now is like a pivot from what I've been doing. And it just it came to me and just a fairly coincidental way, and we're running with it, you know, I So it's like as long as I am, you know, working on music, writing music and putting art it out there into the world. That feels authentic from me, you know, And as long as that is supporting, you know, me and my family and my bills and everything, then, like that's the dream to me,

Brock Goldberg:   1:34:01
Eric, Honestly, that's so that's it. That's exactly now, not for you. You know, you've been you said some goals. Uh, do you have do you What do you write them down? You have a white board that you write your goals down. Do you just keep them internally? Because you know, different people do different. Yeah,

Steven Gizzi :   1:34:16
Yeah, I do the you know. And this is, of course, special my mind because because it's the new year and, you know, so I do do resolutions, and I didn't This year I didn't last year.

Brock Goldberg:   1:34:27
I want to hear,

Steven Gizzi :   1:34:28
you know, and and And And they are They are written down there, you know? They're not. Some of them are not super defined. Some of them are very specific. Like, you know, I want to make this amount of money, Yes. Year or something, you know, or I want to, um, you know, I want to travel for pleasure, you know, 23 times this year, you know? So we're like, you know, one of them is I want to get my orange belt in Krav Maga.

Brock Goldberg:   1:34:50
Nice. You know, Nice. Which is

Steven Gizzi :   1:34:52
coming up in about a month ago. Congratulate, man. Thanks. So, uh, you know, some of them are super defined, then others are more, you know, abstract, sort of just kind of patterns of behavior that I want to. You can't flip a switch and they happen. You I'm trying. I want to just sort of adapt over time into them, you know? And And one of them is, you know, to be try to eliminate kind of personal hypocrisy, you know, from my life because, you know, you're everyone's human. U U um, you you have instinct. You have impulsive reactions to things, you know, someone cuts you off in traffic and you're like, Ah, this guy and then you And then you never think about how the fact that you do that Yes, you know, of course. So I definitely you know, I think about those things and they really they they cause a lot of insecurity and me because it, you know, it's just it's like there's such a profound sadness that comes with being a hypocrite. It right, because you want a pity yourself. But you know, you

Brock Goldberg:   1:35:54
can't You can't. You're a fucking yes,

Steven Gizzi :   1:35:56
right? So you it's so there's so much cognitive dissonance that comes with that, and it's really, you know, distracting from your life purpose, you know? So a resolution and, you know, one of those resolutions of mine for this year is like, Let's, like, try to eliminate to the best of your ability, that kind of internal hypocrisy. Where you you you without thinking, you know, do the same things that you judge other people for. Yes, you know,

Brock Goldberg:   1:36:23
key. So key. That's I mean, that's that's such a such a great point. Um, you know, I have never been a big person for, like, resolution of resolutions have always been my goal goal oriented. Um, but yeah, this year was the first year that I said to two of them for myself, One was working out four times a week. US. Um and I think that's important. You know, the, uh, the point of staying healthy, keeping your body moving? Um, it I never really did that. I've skateboard, snowboard and shit like that. But I'm at this point now in my life where I'm 33 years old. You don't want to take really good care of my body. I want to be here for a long fucking time, you know? And, um, you know, life is way too short. And if you're you know, if you brought with a whole bunch of, you know, just issues health wise. Um, it sucks, you know, It really, really does. It fucking sucks. And so kind of keeping my body moving. And the other one is personal, you know? I think it is good. Very good, too. Have you no resolutions that you also keep personal, You know, about that one is it's ah, it's it's for you. Right? I guess the 3rd 1 is to this podcast, and yeah, I'm obviously doing it because you're on it right now we owe, but, um, but outside of music and outside of, you know, creating things business, what other things do you like to D'oh? Because I heard crossed my God, But what else?

Steven Gizzi :   1:37:51
Yeah, I started crop. My God, I've never done martial arts in my life. And I started, um, last year, a little over a year ago, you know? And, um, very nice. And it was a lot of that motivation. Like you're saying, like, I haven't You know, I didn't do a lot of sports growing up. I never liked been one that works out regularly, so I wanted to build that into my life, you know? So the crop and God thing is, you know, and I'm starting to get into jujitsu a little good, good, you know, so that and it's it's just invigorating, you know, it's I think, a lot about this, like, you know what? What builds a meaningful life? Because I think you build a meaningful life from the ground up. Yes, you know, it's important. There's there's sort of a traditional, you know, sort of theological theory of like, meeting comes from the top down, you know, like it's ordained and yeah, and I and I mean absolutely respect to you if you know if you have that mindset. But it that could never work on its own.

Brock Goldberg:   1:38:46
No, you know, it's from the ground up from the

Steven Gizzi :   1:38:48
ground up. You gotta and so you've got a I started thinking last year. Like, what are the wells of meaning that you can tap into that are regenerative like they're sustainable, Like like thinking about like, you know, uh, renewable resource is right. Like, what are the renewable resource? Is that build up meaning in your life? Yeah, because you can adopt the attitude of hedonism and pursue sex and pursue drugs and and and you know, and whatever, and And and you get a lot out of that. But they're not renewable resource, is it? I mean, they are in the sense that you can always find a new. Of course, they're gonna hook up with you, but really, it's diminishing marginal returns. Yes. So what are the wells? A meaning that you can tap into where their regenerative like that. And so martial arts I've found is one for me, you know? And it's like you're super drained after each for workout session. But then you're so invigorated to go back again

Brock Goldberg:   1:39:42
100% just like that. So

Steven Gizzi :   1:39:44
it's like that in music is one for me as well. You know, I like to, uh, you know, a resolution of mine that I'm doing for the second time now is, you know, I like to go hiking once

Brock Goldberg:   1:39:54
a month. Awesome. We should go sometime out. Fucking home. So down

Steven Gizzi :   1:39:58
would love that. Actually, there's so many great spots around here.

Brock Goldberg:   1:40:01
Yeah, there is for sure, for sure. So next time you go, let me know Prior. Great. We've got

Steven Gizzi :   1:40:05
a fantastic a buddy of mine, and, uh and I a few weeks ago, we went out kind of towards the Angeles National Forest and one of the peaks. And we we we hiked up. I'm trying to remember the name of the peak Mount Lukins. Okay, It was called and, you know, we've got some snow, you know, you can see in the distance there. So that snow on the top of the peaks out in the distance. So we went to one of those and we hiked up, and we have, like, so close Now

Brock Goldberg:   1:40:29
you made it up to the snow. So it was like it was like dirt eventually. Yes. No,

Steven Gizzi :   1:40:33
it was literally There was a lie.

Brock Goldberg:   1:40:37
So that's so fucking cool. Did snow in So Cal? Yeah. It's not always a minute. No, it's not. No, no, no. Definitely not so And then you said, traveling to write it, make you want to To three.

Steven Gizzi :   1:40:48
Yeah, that's that's a That's a resolution of mind to do more of it. I can't say that it's a hobby yet because I, you know, I traditionally have not traveled a lot given during the year. Most of what I do is like visiting family and stuff. Yeah, I want to explore some new places because it's, you know, it's one of those things you always tell yourself to do, and then eventually, you just will have never done it.

Brock Goldberg:   1:41:08
Well, abso absolutely. You know, you want to be able, you know, um, call my wife, and I have is t visit six of the seven continents. Right? Um and, uh, we've already gone toe three on. And, you know, traveling has been such a huge part of my life. My wife and I, uh, So So when we got married, we've been together for 16 years. She was in charge of the wedding, right? She got to plan the way, she would do exactly how she fucking wanted. And I was in charge of the honeymoon, right. Um and, uh, for me, it was a dream come true, because we did. We traveled for 40 days. Um, we went Thio started Seven countries, 11 cities. So, listen, this is where we started. Right? Um, we started. We flew to London. Andi, we're in London for a couple of days. Then we took the train in to Paris and we were there for a few days. And mind you, we did. Airbnb is the entire camp. So we stayed, like in the culture. Rented out the whole place. Fucking dope. So took the train to Paris, right? And then from Paris, Um, we went to Amsterdam. I remember the moment getting so so as a kid, right? I mean, canvases like fucking legal in 11 states now, right in California, it's just everywhere. But growing up it was, Remember, getting the high Times magazine like Amsterdam was like the ship right now. And I remember the moment getting off of the train, and I just started fucking crying. I just started. I was like, Oh, my God. Put him here, right? Yeah. And you come to fight? It wasn't even about the cannabis, right? It wasn't even about It was just like being mixed I never thought I was ever gonna experience. Right, Um And so then from there we went to Amsterdam. We went to Berlin, Um, which was awesome. And then Ah, bucket list of mine was to drive on the autobahn. Eso We rented a naughty a six and we drove from Berlin down to Munich. Fuck you was So you get you go so fast that you totally feel like you're floating. Do? Yes. It was so cool. And then from Munich, we We took the train into Venice, Italy. Um and then from Venice, we took the train down to Rome. Ah, I remember I saved. Saved a joint for this moment. And the Airbnb we had was really freaking cool. And it was like, You walk once you walk out the door, you walk around this corner and the Coliseum is right. Okay? And you just I was just, like, so, like, Oh, I like it was just fucking insane. You something for the first time. And so her and I Well, I was the one smoking, but, uh, we we like, walked around and I smoke This joint was really fucking cool. That, honestly sounds like the best place in the world just so fucking cool. And the food is amazing. Yeah, just the in America. Pasta and gelato. Nothing like it isn't Italy. It's so different. It's so good on Dhe. Then we took

Steven Gizzi :   1:44:04
my brother and I and then get back to your story because we are Italian. Where? Italian and German night. But we have never been to Italy. My brother and I have. Ah, and we know the exact town that were from. And it's a it's Ah, it's a small town named Marciano. Okay, like, you look it up online, and it's like the kind of small Italian town that you would expect, like a 19 sixties black and white film to be

Brock Goldberg:   1:44:26
shown. You guys gotta go.

Steven Gizzi :   1:44:28
So we're gonna like we have the dream of doing the trip. Where we go, we get an air. There's a beautiful Airbnb there, Okay? And you go and

Brock Goldberg:   1:44:34
it's just like rolling hills. Like I can't wait. You've got You have to do it. These are things that you have to do. You work hard, you save your fucking money up and you go right. So go, go. You know, as you're telling me the story that you kind of fucking go. Okay, So after Italy, yes, I was going over yourself on we be then took the train into Naples and then went to Pompeii, which is just fucking crazy. Just like seat. Seen all of that. You know what, Mount Vesuvius blown up. You can just see the remnants of still, you know, all these years later, What's the state of that? Those ruins. I mean, it's just fascinating the technology they had back then, like running water and Babs and pools and, uh, the toilets that they had. Um, and I think they've uncovered, like, 1/3 of it, and they're keeping like the rest. I could be wrong, but I know all of it is still not covered. And, you know, it just happened so quick and, uh, you know, the like, be the remnants of, you know, you see, like a dog, right? You literally fucking see the dog. It looks like a fucking dog is so cool. Um, I saw

Steven Gizzi :   1:45:41
this mean online that, of course, you have no idea, but it's like a shot of the ruins of Pompeii. And there's a there's like a You know, uh um uh, What's the word? There's, like a, um you know, the preserved body of a hue of a man. And he's like, grabbing his dick.

Brock Goldberg:   1:45:59
I'm sure I don't doubt it. And

Steven Gizzi :   1:46:00
so it's like, you know, this dude living his best life. He saw the world crumbling around him and he decided

Brock Goldberg:   1:46:06
to yank award. I don't doubt it. There's there's literally parts where you see, It's like like like like dirt, right? And it reminded me of, like, a three layer cake like split where you can see all the layers and you can, like, see, like, remnants of, like, a fucking house and shit like that. It's Oh, incredible to see. It was really fucking cool. I fucked up the ladder and I fucked up twice, like planning the whole entire thing. But I remember her, um, going to because it was only hotel that we stayed at, and I go there, and I wish I remembered the fucking name. That was so cool. Um, I go to we go to check in, and they're like, we don't We don't see your name. And I'm like, What are you talking about? You don't think I name? And I think they're having, like, the biggest festival that they have, like, once a year. Um, this is a town in Pompeii, right? And, um and what do you mean? You don't have to think and they look and I booked it, like, a week later, or like the next month, right? And I I told him, like we're here on her honeymoon I can explain everything to her. And she just happened to be the daughter of the owner of the hotel. The Onley room that they had was the like presidential. So it was the number one romantic spot in all of this room was like thousands of dollars a night, Right? And it wasn't booked out. They graciously Yeah. Fucking gave us the room for two nights. No extra charge. God, I wish I knew the name man. The dads, like, picked us up. You focus the place like I was so fucking cool. Fuck. Uh, if I can find it, I'll put it in the show notes of this podcast, because shout out to them like we would have been way would have been fucked because it was the busiest time to be in Pompeii. Everything was sold out. So, like, really shout out to them, and it hasn't worked out really well then, after that, we took a plane to Athens, Greece. Um and we were there for a few days, which was beautiful. We flew back to London. This is the second fuck up. They did. I flew back to London for ah, happy hardcore festival growing up. I liked Happy Hardcourt, And, um, I thought they were having this concert in in London. And so I stayed in the town That was supposed to be him or the area that was supposed to be in. And, um, we get dressed, we're ready to go. So dump, um, come to find out this street or city that it was most are the street that was supposed to be on was actually wasn't in London. It was like four hours up in northern fucking England. And so we flew to London for no reason other than to go to this thing. And it wasn't happening. My wife is just, like, laughing and bigoted and still to this day. But, you know, it was it was still great to be back in London. And then from there we flew to Barcelona for four days. That's a good one. Bach. Dude, it was amazing. Barcelona by far. I mean, like, if you talk about like like a country, the best country out of the whole trip was Italy. The best city that we went to was Barcelona. I mean, cannabis is fucking it's legal. There's like this loophole or whatever so they got, like, 200 cafes. Kind of like, um, like, Amsterdam style. And it's like, right on the beach. And we went to electric bikes. We went everywhere. I was so quite memorable last night. We're eating just, like, amazing dinner, and they're, like, right on the beach. And we're just both cry in our fucking eyes out, man. But by far, just insanity. It was amazing fucking trip, right? And, um, and it was just an experience of a lifetime. And so getting back to the point of view, right is like, Just do it, man. Just fucking do it. Save the money that you've got to save. Don't go, because at any moment, lights can come out right. And whenever that time comes for me personally, I want to say that, you know, I've, uh, you know, just gone to all these beautiful, amazing places, and I want the same for you. And I want all the same for the people listening. And I know people out there, you know, struggling and they can't do it, you know? And I'm truly am sorry. And I feel bad for these individuals. And, you know, if you could just even save, you know, a dollar a month to wonder. At least go to that one place of your fucking dreams.

Steven Gizzi :   1:50:22
Do it our way out is one tiny little step at a time.

Brock Goldberg:   1:50:25
Exactly right. It's one tiny little step at a time. And and, you know, for you it's the one tiny little step at a time that you have been able to make and and the and the courage to be able to fucking take the leap right to take that leap at 22 years old to come out that Los Angeles, California, which is a dog eat dog world and do it and you've made it, man, You fucking me. And I know that you're you still got a lot to go. And I want you to come back in every so often and so we can fucking catch up so people can listen. Hear your story because you got a great story and you're very positive, right? Um so as we fucking wrap this up, man, um, you know, if you look back at your life, if you look back at everything that you have gone through personally, um, who is your It was like your number one person Who's your hero, who's your mentor? You is your person that stands out most It's been ableto help you throughout all the experiences in your life.

Steven Gizzi :   1:51:22
And I'll do you 100% gotta say the parents there we go on to say that. Fuck, yes. And maybe that comes as no surprise given the conversation we've been having. Yes. Yeah, This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently, actually, you know, because the older you get, the more you know, you get resistant to the control that your parents exert on your life and all. And so, you know, obviously the older you get, the more you become independent and stuff to the point where you're an adult and you're in the real world, because we, you know, we we we have our conflicts like way bash heads occasionally, like, you know, everybody's strong minded, has strong opinions, you know, and so there's inevitable arguments that happen. And you know that you've got to do your own thing. Of course, like you can't keep living under your parent's influence. But you know, the big thing. And then I've been thinking about recently is like the longer that you, except that presence in your life, you know, through the conflict, like the longer that you you almost state grateful for the conflict. And I don't be insensitive here because, you know, when I talk about conflict with my parents, I talk about relatively small scale stuff, like people have a legitimate conflict, tests, you know, people, you know. So this is this is nothing in that round, You know, you have to get yourself away from toxic relationships. So that's a whole other thing. But, you know, within the kind of constructive criticism realm, like, the longer that you can kind of tolerate that presence in your life and be grateful for it and accept it like the further it pushes you, you know, like, because all call my parents up and be like, Hey, I just did this thing. I just managed this accomplishment, you know? And you just you want the unconditional pat on the back? Yeah, you've succeeded. That is all you need to do for life, right? Yes. And as much as you want that, you get that pushback of like because they're always like the judges for me personally. They're always the judges of, like, my potential, you know? Are you living up to your potential? Are you doing everything that you can be doing? And as frustrating as that can be because you're faced with your own, you know the pressures of your own potential, which is like, it could be very, uh can freeze you up, right? Yeah. The longer you can, like, accept that and tolerate that,

Brock Goldberg:   1:53:30
it's like the further it pushes you. That's a lost man itself. That's so awesome. You know, I I I I I personally lost my pops that, you know, 17 and thio here, your story of your parents. I hope that one day when my wife and I have kids or kids, um, that I could be half the parents parent, I guess, uh, that your parents were and how influential they were to your life. And it feels it's it's just really nice to hear because, like you said, you don't want to be insensitive to the people that went through shit with their parents. Toxic fucking relationship. Yeah, that sucks the fucking sock. Absolutely. By at the end of the day, you know everyone's stories everyone's story and for you to hear how influential they were It makes me feel good inside. Dude, it really does. So, you know, shout out to the folks, man,

Steven Gizzi :   1:54:21
Shout out to the folks,

Brock Goldberg:   1:54:21
shadow to the folks. And next time your dad is in town, you better bring him off. Thank you so much, brother. I really appreciate you on my father and barking guest. Have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful day, bro. Um, and, uh, yeah. Everyone listening. Have a wonderful night. Thanks for listening back to a story.