Archai Duo, how are you guys doing today? Doing great. So happy to be here. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining me. So we have Jonathan, is it Myron? That's right. And we have Philip Sheegog. Sheegog, yep. First accent on everything for us. All right, cool. Good. I'm glad. Well, I'm always, the last name thing is always a bit of a challenge. So that's good. Easy to pronounce. So you guys just won the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album Grammy this year, which is amazing and very, very stiff competition in that category. A lot of great musicians. Let's talk about how you guys first came together and met. I think you went to Juilliard. Is that correct? Yeah, that's right. So both Philip and I are classically trained and we went to the Juilliard School in New York, but we actually didn't meet at school. I'm a little older than Philip. And though we overlapped at Juilliard, we didn't meet in the building, which is kind of crazy, actually, because it's a very, very small place, about 700 students. And you're kind of like all just in the same building. And so you're bound to meet one another. We didn't meet each other. So it took a conference that was hosted at Juilliard, where we were repping the school. And one day after classes, there was a party and we had our instruments with us. and Philip and I just started to jam. And there was a whole room of people, so you can imagine like, well, we were kind of like the DJs that night. And so we jammed for over an hour. The whole room started singing and dancing to our music. And that was the first time that Philip and I really had a profound conversation, musical conversation. And it was this magical moment for us when we heard our unique sound. And that was kind of just the impetus for what Archive is today. But for some extra context with that story, Jonathan says, right, we just started to jam. No one at Juilliard jams. I was just going to ask you that. It's a classical, it's literally a conservatory. And everyone, at least in the classical music division, right, we're studying primarily it's become orchestral players, right? You're reading from sheet music. You're playing the masterworks of Western European literature, but you're not learning how to jam. And so to find another person who clearly had been on their own exploration outside of school, because school wasn't going to teach us how to jam. So someone who had been on that journey and then was already was obviously curious about so many other kinds of music and integrating that. I think that was the cherry on top that made that meeting so profound and unexpected. Yeah, and it's sort of like dating a little bit. You have to try different musical partners. The duo thing is a challenge because you have to find people that are on the same page, especially in the classical world, because we always think of the classical duo. Maybe it's violoncello, which is what you guys both play. But yeah, as you mentioned, Juilliard is not known for maybe jamming. I don't know. But how did you guys get there individually? Like who were some of your early influences that kind of gave you a broader perspective than just classical music? Yeah, great question. For me, one of my biggest idols is the cellist Yo-Yo Ma. And I love Yo-Yo because that guy's an incredible classical musician, right? He plays with orchestras, he plays recitals all over the world. But he's so much more than a classical musician. He's actually like taken it upon himself to broaden his musical horizons. And I love what Yo-Yo has done to like, well, collaborate with musicians from all around the world, whether it's through his Silk Road Ensemble. I thought that was a beautiful thing where he brought together some of the greatest musicians from around the world. And they all shared the language of music and they create amazing music together that kind of defines boundaries and dramas. I love Yo-Yo for that. I loved his like collaborations with people like James Taylor, you know, like all these artists from different genres. And so, yeah, I really look to him as a musical influence, but also just as a person and what he represents through his music. He's so much larger than music. The guy is just an incredible humanitarian and the leader within the world, within the arts. Yeah, I was kind of inspired by there was a whole crop of artists who broke through early UT, right? in the days when YouTube was just becoming a thing. And some of these pioneers, or I would say like the last generation of pioneers of classical crossover, we might call it, there was a number of groups, groups like two cellos, right? These two Croatian guys were playing stadiums of rock feathers, the piano guys who were making these cinematic music videos, literally piano on top of, you know, cliff sides and waterfalls. The violinist Lindsay Sterling, who is playing and dancing acrobatics while she's playing. They were, right, pentatonics, right, the acapella quintet. That was a whole crop of artists who were all kind of coming, who were breaking, right, as I was in my very formative years. And a lot of those people were inspiring in the sense of, they opened my ears to more kinds of music that could be made on my instrument. Because at the same time, while I'm studying my concertos and my sonatas, right, the very classical training I was doing, I was inspired by those people to like have my fun on the side with my friends, never in my wildest imaginations dreaming that I would one day be able to do that myself. It was always kind of like, oh, for fun. It's cool that that's out there. Other, I have to give them a shout out An older group is the Turtle Island String Quartet They kind of like OGs They going since the 70s um but using again the string quartet form which i was playing mozart and beethoven quartets at the time but taking great quartet form but playing blues jazz um uh jimi hendrix right kind of doing all these different styles at a really high level and so those were seeds that were planted while I was growing up before I got to Juilliard, um, that again, never thought that that would be the route I would take, but they were, it was just planting seeds and planting curiosities that were going to come to, uh, come to fruition later down the road. Yeah. And those, uh, one thing also, a lot of the, um, the younger groups you mentioned to have in common is visual, the visual aspect, making videos. And that's something that you guys, um, your sound of silence video, which for instance, which is one of the tracks on the album bright side that you won the Grammy for is such a cool visual, you know, thing to see and just to kind of take in. Talk about that. Like, how important has that been, the video aspect with you guys and helping getting your name out there and getting seen and heard? I think it's been really huge for our brand and our artistic identity. But Philip and I love epic cinematic music uh and exactly we look to the those incredible videos from well from people like lindsey sterling you know right uh like the piano guys exactly that and it's just like wow those were strength you know those were like instrumental players that were going out and doing really really incredible things um and so i think we just think of ourselves as maybe the next generation uh continuing their legacy you know and maybe creating our own legacy throughout the process and do our own thing but we love yeah we love our epic films you know well and to kind of to pull it even back before the musical part of it it's because both of us love film to begin with right we Jonathan loves um right Sergio Leone right the classics I love my Star Wars and you know kind of like epic sci-fi fantasy and so that language of the visual media which is the world we live in, right? The world we live in today is it's visuals, visuals come with everything. And so I think it's just us taking another side of our creative passions, because we should say that our videos, we basically do it all ourselves. We storyboard, we script, we make the shock list. We have a videographer, obviously, who's holding the camera, but then we go and edit, we color. It's a, it is a core part of our kind of artistic product. We have our hands all over those. They're really special to us. Well, and along that line, this album, which I think is your, is that actually your second full-length album? Sophomore, the one that won the Grammy, which is a pretty amazing feat, actually, on your second outing. So you guys actually self-produced that album, is that correct? For the most part, yeah. I mean, you know, yes, we produced, we recorded, mixed the album. We did have a few producers that kind of added their special sauce across the album. But yeah, we mixed it. We had it mastered by someone else. But for the most part, I would say like, yeah, 90, 95 percent of that album is. Yeah. And it feels it feels really personal. I talk about doing I know you're primarily you kind of do a mix of covers. You mentioned live you do covers and original material. But tell me about that. Like, how do you do you enjoy doing the covers? Is that something are you guys very particular about what songs you're going to cover? I would assume yes. But let's talk about that a little bit. Yeah, for sure. I mean, on the first level, some songs lend themselves to strings more than other songs right or sometimes you know an audience member will say oh i want you to do this song and um it's like that that just won't work i'm sorry but it's the thing a level beyond that of course we're trying to find songs that both resonate deeply with us that we love but also songs that we feel that we can do justice to them to kind of give them our own spin because we don't want to just you know kick out a oh you know kind of like karaoke right i was just playing these melodies on top like we wanted our sauce on it and so um sound of silence from the record is a perfect example right it's a everybody around the world knows that song but hopefully we gave it our own indelible thumbprints so that that is the archive version of that song yeah and you did a great job and again like also the video i would really encourage people to check out the video because it's super cool a lot of candles died for this video do not try this at home yeah i think that's the last time we're gonna do that yeah light all the candles um tell me tell me about grammy night how how exciting was that were you guys actually there or how exciting was that for you oh it was a crazy it was a crazy night it was a crazy week for people who don't know like the grammys are so much more than just the the one you know the award show it's it's a whole week festivities um so many events and parties um And it really was an incredible honor to be there. You know, we were in a category with some artists that we grew up listening to, like Bela Fleck. That guy's a legend, you know. And so to be in the same category as some of these incredible artists that we are so inspired by was such an honor in itself. Yeah, it's, I mean, we think back to the day, it's a blur, you know. It's like you go from one thing to the next and then you're waiting at this very long awards ceremony. man, we were near the end. And so I think we were like more than three hours into that premiere ceremony. And then our, you know, and I feel like, you know, with all these things, we try our best. We put out a good project, a good album. We feel the love, but you don't want to like get too ahead of yourself. And so I think the word that we would use is like, we were like cautiously optimistic You know if you know we in a room of giants And so you know So we were cautiously optimistic and to hear her name get called I mean they videos of our reaction It the craziest feeling It's like a bomb goes off. It's like there's nothing like it. And then we are skipping to the stage. And then, you know, we have to give our speech. And you're shaking. And you're feeling all these emotions. It was incredible. And just, yeah, what an honor. What a privilege. And I think for Philip and I, we think we're just full of gratitude. truly it's like we would not be here without scores of people who have believed in us over the years and that's kind of what we talked about in our acceptance speech was just like number one our parents who sacrificed so much for us so that we can live a life of possibility but then so many people who have just believed in us for over the years and have lifted us up and so um yeah just an enormous sense of of gratitude and love uh for for our community yeah and you You know, and people, they always see the artists up on stage. I mean, it's amazing, too, because, again, like you guys, this is your second outing as an album. And you always hear, and I've interviewed several people that have been nominated multiple times, and they never win. So to actually be able to win the first time out with a nomination is really an amazing feat. And also, too, it takes a village. As you mentioned, you have support from your parents. You know, going to schools like Juilliard, it's not an inexpensive endeavor. living in New York, moving to New York. Where were you guys actually from originally? Were you from New York or did you come out there? How did that happen? Yeah, I'm originally from Southern California. I'm on the beach, guys. Disneyland is our local landmark. I grew up 20 minutes from the park. But yeah, I was born and raised there all the way until I went out to New York for my undergrad degree when I was 18. Yeah, and for me, So I've kind of lived around the world. My mom is from Taiwan. I'm American. I was born in Taiwan. I moved to the country of Singapore when I was four years old, which is a tiny little island country in Southeast Asia. And my mom, talk about sacrifice, my mom literally moved from me from Singapore to Cincinnati, Ohio, when I was nine years old, so that I could study music. My parents did long distance for four years, so that they could study with this great teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio. And so, yeah, I can't believe they did that, you know, for me, but I would not be here without. that's amazing yeah and it's awesome i mean the parents parents love and the fact that they support you guys because as we know being a musician is not the easiest path a lot of a lot of parents i don't want to say asian parents but often asian parents are not going to be they're supportive of music but it's hard they want you to have a good career and and so that's awesome that they supported you along the way it's it's amazing absolutely yeah if you could give some advice to younger musicians people that because you guys took a path that's not that common in in the and the instruments that you play. Talk a little bit about that and being willing to explore different genres and be willing to try different things. Yeah, I mean, there's so many things that we have learned along the way. A lot of things that we wish that we had been curious about or trusted ourselves to explore earlier. And so a lot of times when we're working with younger creatives, younger people, it's just to explore your curiosities and to not be afraid of either like no one else I know is interested in this thing or maybe for people who are very, you know, achievement focused. Like I don't see how this curiosity like relates back to my main thing, right? Like for us, we're studying classical music at the highest level. Oh, that side thing didn't seem like it was ever going to connect or the side skills that we built up because there's a lot more skills that we have to use than just being great musicians, skills around management and leadership, around technological skills, media creation, all these things. And at the time, you don't necessarily see how the dots are going to connect. But if those things are true to you, if there's a curiosity and a passion there, just to have the willingness to pursue that, time will tell. But to have something that is is really true to you and deeply that you're passionate about, like, go for it. Yeah, I'll just add to that and just say that it's okay not to always know where you're going to go. It's like, and I think it's really important to, like, accept that. Like, for Philip and I, we're still figuring it out. But I think that's just, like, part of life's journey. But if we follow our curiosities and if we lead with courage and perseverance and we really look within and do things that are authentic to us um i think it leads to great things and like my gosh it took years for our sounds to kind of become what it is today for us to forge the path that we've forged we're still forging it and what i would say is that um especially well i think in the world in general but it's easy to get um I don't want to say intimidated, but the music world is so hard to make it in the music world. And if anything, we need more artists that are unique, who are doing their own things. That's what's going to make you stand out within this incredibly saturated market that we operate within. That is, I think, only going to get more saturated with AI in the years to come. And so it's just like, we really need pioneers that are kind of doing their own thing. And so don't be afraid. I think our journey is a testament to that. Yeah. Talk a little bit about kind of along those same lines talk a little bit about finding your own voice Because it a challenge for any artist to kind of find your style Obviously too it a process Can you talk a little bit about finding your own voice like because it a challenge for any artist to kind of find your style It obviously too it a process Can you talk a little bit about that Yeah I mean both of us again our roots are the roots we came from was in an inch wide and a mile deep We were very at one kind of language. And in a lot of ways, right, there's pros and cons to that, right? It's like that classical training gave us the technique, right? It gave us the work ethic, the discipline, the delayed gratification of, right? We've been playing our instruments for decades before we ever met each other. But I think it was when both of us were opening ourselves up to more kinds of music, not just to like enjoy listening to, that's part of it too, is just you don't know what you don't know. But then actively taking steps to explore that and to say, okay, what might my own creative process look like if I started dabbling in these other kinds of styles and languages? And so, you know, a lot of times we think of this like a spoken language, right? If you're trying to learn a new language, the fastest way to learn it is to go and immerse yourself, right? Go to the country where the language is spoken. And if you immerse yourself in that, right, you keep hearing all those new words that sound completely foreign to you when you start. Eventually, right, you're going to internalize those. And then what happens? You're then able to speak that out. And so when it comes to finding your own voice, at least for us, ours is a language of synthesis, right? We have those classical roots. But then it was as we were starting to learn how to speak these new words, right? Oh, a little bit of kind of rock language, a little bit of EDM language, a little bit of epic film language. And then as we were speaking all these things, right? Suddenly you only like you have to do it. And by doing it, then we started to discover, oh, this is how these things come together in a new way. And it just has taken time, time and repetition and trying new recipes. but eventually we've landed on it and a lot of perseverance when you're doing your own thing there will be a lot of people who say oh you should not do that you should do it this way where do you belong and I would say yeah maybe that's true but at the same time if you have something that's compelling and unique people will remember you and so it's the blessing and the curse And I would, again, going back to what I said earlier, I would just encourage people to really like to not be afraid of doing their own thing. I really do believe that you have to be a Swiss army knife in this day and age. You have to like do so much. Kind of what Philip said earlier, like we do so much. We've been managing ourselves. We've been creating opportunities for ourselves, doing our own production, doing everything. And that's really allowed us to kind of take next steps within our career to create new opportunities because we were never reliant on other people. Right. And I think it's like, yeah, it's like running a startup. It really is. It's like you have to go out and find either you have to do it yourself or you have to go out and build your team. You know, and so, yeah, with regards to like our brand, our identity, it's morphed so much over the years. If you listen to our first album, Crossroads, which we released a year and a half ago, surprised me just saying that it's like that album is so much more like Explorers Warwick. Like, there really isn't a, we're still trying to find our sound in that album. Like, when we listen back, it's literally called Crossroads for that reason, because it's like, where are we? You know, what are we trying to do? Brightside, our second album, is so much more confident. And so I do think that a lot happened between that first album and that second album around like, kind of what our sound is going to be. And I think for us, there was a moment where we realized, actually, you know, what's really beautiful here? The secret is kind of the old and the new coming together, where we honor tradition, but we also look ahead. And so what does that look like? And so, yeah, it's this like cinematic feast that, you know, plays homage to our classical roots, but also to all the other kinds of music that we love in our own way. Yeah, and it's fun to see the progress and see the growth. And like we're always growing. You're going to be growing until the end of time. Hopefully, right? If we're on the right path. What do you guys have coming up? Are you going to be doing some touring? I know you guys have done a lot of touring in the past. Tell me about that and also how people can find you if they want to check out your tour schedule and that kind of stuff. Yeah. We're working on a big international tour right now. We will be announcing it soon. But, yeah, I think you'll be able to find all that information on our social media at Archive Music or on our website, ArchiveMusic.com. Awesome. Yeah. And it's exciting. And I know you guys have worked with a lot of exciting folks. And you mentioned Lindsey Stirling. We have a Cirque du Soleil with David LaChapelle, who's a great guy, great director. Thank you so much for joining me. I know you guys are very busy. And it's so exciting to see young musicians. I'm old, so I can see young. So, but to see like, what a great start to your career with coming out of the gate with the Grammy win. That's, you know, it's really exciting. I love what you guys are doing. It's innovative. It's different. I think you definitely have found your voice. It's going to continue to grow. So it's exciting to see where that's going to go. So everybody, please check out Bright Side, the album that you won the Grammy for. Check out the videos on YouTube. Very exciting. And you're on all the streaming services that we all know and love. sometimes we love sometimes we don't um but uh thank you so much for joining me i really appreciate it guys thank you daryl it's a pleasure thank you so much
