Hey, good afternoon everybody time Stuart here. I'm with Liz Trotter our guest today as Kevin Conkel. This is smart business moves How are you? How are you today Kevin? I'm wonderful. I'm wonderful. How are you all? Awesome This one has it Kevin has a big lag Right. Is that just me is it? Yeah, it's I don't know. We'll see It's uh, it's the internet up there in Somerville, I guess Well, I am looking forward to hey Denean, I'm looking forward to hearing from Kevin today Because the last time he was on I couldn't be here and I was really bummed out. I've heard all you what happened I don't remember I had Pitchett Matt Matt came in and and helped us that day last minute something happened Was it last I don't think it was last minute I think that was when I was in texas Oh, I think it's when I was in texas.   So I hope you're doing okay today denit She's she's tough cookie. I'm sure she is I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm hurting for you denit.  Yes But see look she still showed up. So we're good What do you got in the background there kevin? You got some cool stuff back there What do I have in the background? Well, that's a little of my uh, my first life my career, um Which was the united states navy. I was a submarine road nuclear submarines for about 10 years and Did that I'm out of here and scotland and vane and out there where you're from bremerton washington So it's a little time out there as well Yeah, cool 10 years. That's a long time. That's I don't want to be some of that memorabilia back there.  Yeah, there's no one is the cold war Oh Yeah, gosh that's ringing a bell. We actually we actually call it Yeah, we actually qualify for uh veteran status If you have this little pin with patrol pin, so Yeah, so anyway, I can tell you about that is I was never there and it never happened.  Yeah, and if you have to know. Well, I'm not going there I'm letting that one go Tom Okay Anything going on out in the world that we need to talk about we will that would be another yeah Another call Okay, we'll we'll have you back in town Oh, all right. It was a I had a busy call right before this so Okay, gotta relax cool off a little bit here I don't know. Is there anything house kovat doing Tom? Oh, the numbers are getting a little bit better on a national level from what I understand Uh, you know depends what part of the country you're in I think it's uh Up north it's getting a little bit worse down here in a south is getting better It's still bad relative to most parts of the country, but I mean the trends are going a good direction That's good I know one of our um success members Uh lives uh up in virginia and they're like one of the top five Bad cities right now. So that's not fun. That's kind of scary Okay Yeah, I've seen some of those numbers, you know the the number of positive cases per hundred thousand people I was uh From virginia myself originally and I'll get these things showing up on my facebook Feed every once in a while about how bad it is and then I actually look at the numbers compared to what they are down You know, South Carolina. I'm They don't know what bad is yet, but oh really?  What are you talking about today? Kevin, what are we talking about today? Well, we're gonna talk about Something that's been on your minds all month long And all of your other presenters have talked about I think that subject's been employee retention And has I've gone through and listened to The episodes this month um I thought we could talk about Align how important And how important alignment is um to this topic And I use this term a call to action because um We use that term or we see that term a lot in marketing advertising retail Uh call us, right? And how people try to get our attention or create capacity so The one thing is we need to have a call to action for ourselves because If we're gonna talk about employee retention We still have to start with the end in mind And the end in mind really is what our vision is So we have to make sure we're clearly Identifying what our vision is And that we're clearly and competently communicating that vision To our employees to our workforce, right? Yeah, so if we do that We can come back and we can begin Our alignment we can start Building that road if if that's what we need to do or we can start modifying making improvements to And so that's where I start I like to start with the end in mind and then kind of move forward And see where you know, we we end up So we've heard a little bit about this um throughout the month and workplace identity and personal identity Are becoming more and more entwined And I kind of heard that theme throughout the different different presentations this month Maybe not couch this way but If you look at millennials and gen Xers They really want to have their personal identity Be recognized and be a part of the workforce They don't want that to be something separate You know So it's not only the employer who wants that cultural alignment It's the employee, isn't it? Absolutely. I totally agree with that. I love I love this verbiage right here. It's super simple Simple but not easy. You know, I think if we Trying to get my mind back around what this looks like Um I think that you know where I and as you'll see where I'm going with this You know, we have to make sure That we're digging in and we're engaging With these people who come on board And people already in our workforce To find out Is our vision Are our core values Aligning With what some of their personal values are Now I'm not suggesting that we sacrifice You know our core values And things like that we we have to you know maintain some semblance of organization But I think we have to become more and more sensitive to what These two upcoming generations that are now a big part of our workforce Of the way they think and what they expect absolutely So when you achieve this alignment All your employees from entry level to leadership Share and act on the vision of the organization So if if you can visualize for a moment that You know you went from roadblocks detours accidents Huge potholes you can't get through around Um to now thing aligned You know the road is now newly paved Um We have nice on ramps and off ramps We're actually now everybody in the same direction To accomplish the vision So again, you know there are words on paper, but we have to Get in the mode of of living this sort of thing And the first thing we have to do is figure out How do we reach the alignment? How do we get into the alignment because I'm afraid what everybody falls a victim to Is we have a tendency to put band-aids on things And we throw something out there that may suffice what we think is a lot or a couple months A half a year And then we drift away from it again And our our alignment then is misaligned And then we're back to revisiting that same issue again I know that this has happened to me So I don't know if you follow Yeah, and And you know we we sometimes is as leaders as business owners as managers that We're doing the right thing by Let's just use this maybe putting an incentive in place, right? And It works for a little while That if our incentive Did not align with what our goals are Then Is it really meaningful? Does it align with what the individual employee was thinking do they think that what they're doing is important? Do they have something in the end that they gain? Or is it just the opportunity to you know get a gift card or something? So we've got to make sure we have an alignment and we have to make sure that it aligns with Arcade eyes our goals our vision and with the individual And that that takes some discussion that's back to the engagement I think that's a new A newer way of thinking that more people are recognizing now than they have in the past also that It's not just about what you want If you're not engaging your team with what they care about and what's important to them as well that You're just gonna You're gonna keep finding yourself back in the same exact vote Not not being able to have enough people working for you It sounds like you're describing Something that could be called a negotiation where as a company. This is what we want and you know as Employees as a workforce. Let's find out what you want and let's see if we can find some common ground where You know, everybody can get some of what it is that they want Usually it's difficult for everybody to get everything that they want but it's Something more than a negotiation where maybe the old school thinking would be well, this is us. This is our company. This is These are objectives and mission and vision and core values and if you don't like it then You know, you need to go get a job somewhere else or are you saying that You know that that that may or may not have worked in the past. I don't know, but it's less likely to work now than ever I think that when you look at the research The survey are being done by gallup by Harvard business review You know the folks that are in that in that business. I think gallup did a survey In january 2021 and of all of their respondents 30 percent indicated That flexibility scheduling um Was very important to them The other thing that they indicated was I think lis brought this up a couple of weeks ago or a couple of sessions ago Was maslow's um hierarchy of needs The other thing was security and safe financial security health and safety Those were the other things with scheduling flexibility that was important To people today So if it's important to them today Then certainly that's going to be important to them, you know moving forward Um, and so going back, you know to tom's comment You know, yes, what we need to try to gain is what's always been known as a win-win You know, we're we're back in here kind of using some sales strategies with our employees To get to a win-win, maybe it's not all or one, but if we can get some kind of consensus And you know consensus building is is big And if you can get consensus among your workforce That's tremendous Because if you think about all the varying personalities and behaviors that you have If you can reach some common consensus You're probably going to be able to reach this alignment that you're looking for Okay Yeah, that makes sense to me yeah so What is really going to drive this whole thing And you can go, you know to that next slide if you want tom You know Is engagement employees who are engaged? You know, they're likely to stay with their organization And you know back to slide tom. This is You you can go back one. Yeah Okay There we go so Yeah, right We have and it's not about once in a while It's not about, you know throwing a Yeah, an anonymous survey out there It's about getting in front of our folks And you know when I say in front of them too, we have so many opportunities tom talks about this, you know a lot um, I agree you know Have all of this everybody's carrying a computer all out of phone But we have capability To constantly stay in touch Um, and our employees to stay in touch with us So, you know, we've got to learn how to make sure employees understand how to use that technology And how can we use that to better engage our You know, so that engagement life happens to people Life happens to all of us So how do we stay on top of that? You know, I I've heard through the the several Previous episodes of you know specific examples of You know people's family members falling ill people falling into you know needing Food items or just basic items um You know, we have to know that because sometimes people walk up and they're like well They didn't show up today. They didn't show up to work the next day But sometimes we have no idea why that was We may think oh, they were disgruntled with the job But maybe not Maybe they felt that They had something else more pressing they needed to take care of And they didn't feel that They could trust to tell us that And you know, we really have to work to develop that because Trust seems to be the common threat that runs throughout that I heard everybody talk about so far And yeah trust is a huge word Trust doesn't just happen And trust is something again that has to has to live and breathe And you know, you really have to work on developing that and You know, I I throw this in Tom knows what's going to be seen it enough, but You know the first time I meet somebody and I come in with a In I introduce them to a little dove chocolate Now why do I that it's not just the chocolate it's a gesture and You didn't I appreciate your time Or I appreciate what you're doing And and I really got into the habit of that when when my head was staying with us He was sick And up until he passed away and we would take him, you know to appointments and cancer and the surgery and And you know, I would always take this with me and provide it to the caregivers to the nurses and to the docs and You know to the people who are coming in to clean the room housekeeping And I would just tell them, you know what you folks deserve a lot more, but you know, here's a little appreciation and You know what most of the time those people somebody was complaining to them about something No one was giving them appreciation So, you know, my dad would say hey, they want to know next time you're coming. You're the guy with the chocolate, you know But you know that I wasn't gonna They also knew I wasn't going to be complaining about something And so I think we we have to kind of do a lot of that in our workforce You know to make sure that we're giving and coming across that that we do care Now we have to make that real, you know, somebody's, you know, misbehaving or non conforming and You know, we have to make adjustments to that. We have to let them know we have to try to correct that But I think we also have to let them know that we appreciate what they do because Not everybody sees what they do You know as being important work But but you know, Kevin, I mean You know, Kevin, you know the healthcare Sector is you know perfection is something that that that you know as a concept, but It's hard to find and I bet because you were building trust and showing appreciation When you had the opportunity If your dad needed some Consideration that maybe he wasn't getting and if you like made the request I bet it was given a lot more consideration than what, you know, the average Request would get because of the trusted And in appreciation that that you showed throughout the process And I think that if you utilize that thought as a byproduct Not as the means of why you do it Then it's good because it certainly can be a byproduct and If you do it right, it can be a byproduct But I would I would also caution that it shouldn't be the main reason why you would do it So yes, well, I like to I like to think in terms So there's a there's a couple of different things that people will say that you hear And one of them is that you you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar And then on the opposing side of that you'll also hear That the squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? So these are kind of opposing ideas and Both say hey Be a witch and you'll get what you want and the other one is hey be nice and you'll get what you want But I think the difference there is yeah, you'll get what you want from both maybe But if you give the honey or in your case the chocolate the people are gonna want to give you What what you're looking for They're going to be on your side giving you what what you need and what you want because it's coming from them From themselves from internally that they want to do it the other people might give you what you want But they're going to resent it And and they're not going to want to give it to you and you you might have to keep on squeak in that wheel over and over and over again which You know that that's just a hard a hard road to hoe there It's the difference between commitment and compliance Yeah Yeah, very good counts. Nice and easy way of saying that. Yeah, correct Yeah Yeah And you know that that speaks down the road as I as I you know kind of move through this You know, you know, it's so important that You know, we're you know, you know the building the trust and some techniques to go about that Um, but you know, we really want our employees To be advocates for us at some point You know If they're committed to us Klee to be that advocate for us If they're just begrudgingly doing it Not so much So that that that is very important. I think the commitment is is very important So, yeah, they'll feel a stronger bond of the organization. I think if they're engaged Emission um in the purpose Make them more effective And they can make them more effective brand ambassadors for us, which is what we're we're trying to strive to as well That's one of those byproducts And again, they have to know too that What they're doing matters And that you know, that kind of speaks to Liz's uh three ms, right? um You know that part of that's important that they understand that Um, and we have to let them know through that those points of engagement that we have um and You know and and tom and i've been discussing this with within castlekeepers Through this alignment You know through the organization from Our hiring and selection Sales our whole process of scheduling Um out to our to the training to the field supervision to the cleaning technicians, right? We have to make sure that everybody understands that they're responsible for some form of kpi They don't have to know The whole picture they have to know the vision of where we're going But if they can understand they have to meet this And they have to you know be able to clean that home within that period of time And if not to please give us feedback of why not but if everybody's set up in a line to meet certain kpis Then everybody feels that they're part of the mission They're part of the vision That what they're doing and meeting that are exceeding that is taking company where it goes, but it's telling them It's meaningful to them. They know me And because there's meaning And i'm just stealing this from liz they know what matters, right? And at the end of the day we're providing them with what? Well, we're providing them with measurement at key points in time Daily weekly monthly quarterly, right? So they know And then that's where those incentives come in so Um, so building the stronger relationship, um, you know customers helping their company sales And profitability Want, you know, we have to depend on our cleaning technicians as well to help us You know build those relationships there in front of those customers um And we've got to make sure that that they understand that also And that only comes through engagement and you know, we have to make sure that we're doing the right job of Helping them understand that So I think the point is the slide says and there it is So This whole engagement, you know, we usually have been used to talking about a lot of engagement on the customer side You know and in the past and in and in my past the business management experience You know, we would have a huge focus on our customers a huge focus And you know kind of a week and bring ourselves into into today where We um, we have to have like a At least a 50 50. Maybe it's a 60 40 Focus on our employees to customers Um We have to maintain we make sure we can maintain and sustain a viable workforce Because we can't Grow our business and keep customers if we don't So this engagement really has to be Geared up and it can't just be sometimes it can't be average It really needs to be maximum engagement and We have to make sure that Not only ourselves as leaders, but we have to communicate this situation that what our various You know throughout our our leveraged employees our field supervisors um We're all doing our part age To get that back to communicate that And to follow up And I think um What was the lady's name is her name um, martha who was on She talked about something that was Making promises you can't keep So in this engage If we're having this back and forth and we want this win win, you know, we really have to make sure that If we've Commented on something or said we'll get back with you or whatever You know that we do that because it comes back to the whole component of trust And if we're going to engage people and we're going to engage people more often Those opportunities are going to occur more often so My belief is we're going to have to be very very cautious and and really realize what we're communicating So that we don't fall into a trap Where we commit to something we didn't even think we committed to And sometimes that can be easy to do Yeah for sure You know you you mentioned something kevin about the value of a customer versus the value of a of a good employee and it's Funny that there's a whole body of work out there that you know Call customer service and customer service skills and you know providing outside outstanding service to your customers You know, you just don't hear the you know employee service or you know great employee service skills I don't think that it's uh It translates in that direction. At least it's it's part of the of the common thinking but you know, I believe what you're suggesting is We need to have those service skills and be of service to You know all stakeholders or employees being as equally invaluable as our customers From an economic standpoint, especially in the house cleaning business arguably a lot more so absolutely you know and It can be across any Any business segment, but I think especially in the In the service related business And you know in my again my background and in the in the waste and recycling business with bfi You know one thing bfi used to say was We don't need some customers And it's okay if we have to hire a customer You know because the customer is not is not fitting So, you know, I think As we find employee fit And how we help to mold an employee and get an employee going and on board and the way they want them to behave Um You know, we have customers Have to consider like that well and I'm sure you know, most people see that most business owners leaders see that Uh, but yeah, we can't forget that and I think I think There's more of a focus on that today Um with the way people's mindset is Especially the gen x and the gen z the millennials Um, you know who are right in front of us right now So if you'd like to go on to that next slide It's a lot on this one Yeah work here This one might be a little hard to see Um, so, you know, if we're going to talk about if we're going to seriously in my opinion and this is just my opinion If we're seriously going to talk about customer retention Then We need to understand This job seeker this job applicant journey And what are they seeing about us from the outside looking in so You know, what kind of awareness are we putting out there? You know what they have listed here is all the typical platforms where someone can go and Find out what we're looking for right? Give us the advertise or post jobs on these sites their social media Um, I don't know how many folks out there, you know Interact or or do speaking engagements uh community events if Job fairs and things like that, but you know, those only are are important and and can be helpful Do people see us like that? Um, or do we rely on everything being? um You know internet-based if you will digital So we want to make sure it is there and I I Have a question. Yeah, one of our One of our guests one would like to know if uh, this presentation is is for sharing Absolutely Okay, sure if I'm happy to happy to share just uh, I guess Send me a PM if you would with with with your contact info and I can uh drop it to you in an email I guess would be the easiest thing to do Sure. Yeah, I mean any of this is you know, I'm I'm pleased to share it. So um so You know, we want to make sure that that We're reaching people and I think we have to make sure that we're reaching everybody's learning And what I mean by that is everybody Some people are stronger audio some people are stronger visual some people are stronger kinetic or hands-on You know, what kind of ads do we have out there? Do we have video ads out there? You know, there's there's some research out there suggests that You know people like visuals better Um, do we have that out there? Are we are we utilizing that and I think I've I've seen where some Business owners the cleaning business I certainly are using that um So we want to make sure that um You know consideration and evaluating it. Do we have enough information out there? We're gonna go and really find about who we are Um, you know cuts reviews employee reviews um Are we doing enough to drive those to make sure that you know, we're Uh, we have the right message out there for folks to see And What about the application? Do we have a smooth transparent process or or do we have something that's cumbersome? Do we have something where we're asking way too many questions? um Those are things we we need to look at to begin with As we talk about of retention because we're setting the stage here for someone who's going to enter our organization And I think the the next most important thing and this has been talked about Is Onboarding and training Yeah So I love that you're bringing that up. Thank you so much Kevin. What is A lot of our onboarding the job a lot of us look like Yeah, a lot of us think the job is done when we hire somebody we've we've succeeded and Yeah That's not the that's not the end of anything at best. It's just the end of the beginning Well, tell us about Okay, so, you know, I would say like the three of us here, right we her And know from where we all came from at a certain point in time generationally You put foot forward first impressions are everything right So we're hoping that that applicant coming to us is putting their best foot forward Their best appearance everything Well, are we reciprocating that in our onboarding process? Are we our best foot forward? Is this the best we have? because We're not we need to visit it. We need to make sure that that onboarding process because this is their first impression of us At least in person at least now as an organization where they're coming into it And we need to make sure that feeling that You know, I attended um one of tom's On-site trainings a few months back And it was just by chance. I went down just to do some observation And the interesting thing was there were four young ladies in there who attended And One of the young ladies had worked for another cleaning company and then she had done some commercial cleaning And she used this term she said I have to say I have never felt this vibe anywhere else I've been Like wow That's big She's felt this vibe out of this training Out of what's been going on and what people have been saying And that's big now, you know, that's intangible. Okay But that turns into tangible stuff down the road so we have to really make sure that You know, we're delivering that You know, if we think we're having a gonna have a bad day and we're not feeling it Maybe somebody else should do the training that day You know, it's okay. I mean, I know we get stretched for people. It's easy for me to sit here and say that but You know, if we're getting people to feel that vibe and to feel good During that process then we've really looked something So I think it has to come with when we're doing it. We have to be enthusiastic We have to talk about expectations We have to talk about Making sure what are their needs? You know, we haven't left anything out up to that point Again that we're between that consensus with us that we're giving them off in the right direction from that Because if we're not Then we're we're not setting ourselves up for a good outcome So, you know, what what your onboarding process looks like and everybody's is probably a you know, a little bit a little bit different but we need to make sure that we are allowing for consistency because I believe that no matter what we have our customers want us to be consistent in how we clean their home Oh, yeah So do employees want to have consistency in their workplace You know, we need to make sure That we're following a consistent process with this whole onboarding Um, you know, we're not jumping all around from here to there that you know, they know where they're at And they can view us as saying hey this company these folks really got it together I like this This this me I'm looking down the road coming on board with these people You know, things are going to be together for me moving forward So And and I think with that, you know comes the whole the whole piece with the clear expectations too And and the during the onboarding is the time that you start laying that out We talk a lot about setting those expectations and then meeting those expectations That's just so critical um And not just with employees or customers. That's with families friends your kids. I mean relationships are Are built on those expectations You know bad outcomes bad quality Disappointment so much of that's just founded in Misalignment and expectations people aren't clearly on the same page in terms of what one person wants and what the other person is delivering and you know, it's The house cleaning business you see it all the time, you know, it's like somebody asking do you have fruit? Yeah, I have fruit and you show up with oranges and they wanted apples And we just aren't setting the expectations at a clear actionable level It's a lot of work getting these expectations Shared in a common way that doesn't happen easy No, it it doesn't and you know something I don't I want to leave out and and I'm talking a lot here, but You know, I'm a I'm a believer in assessment Okay, and assessment to me is not just formal assessment. Okay um, there there's some good in some of that as well And But when I'm talking about assessment and I use this a lot in the workforce development arena when I'm working with folks And they have something with that they do with Bams and counseling That's called an objective assessment summary and it's a series of questions where they identify barriers and that sort of thing But people to do is to open up And to get people to open up with them And I use the term behavioral based questioning And so it's more than a gut feeling. So this is another point for us during this onboarding to do some more assessment through behavioral based interviewing with people And you know, we can identify some more of those needs because It's helping to develop some trust early on And if we can uncover some things Of what those basic needs are that they may have We can do a big service for ourselves and a big service to them Because then that doesn't crop up We're all by the way I have this And I really need to I can't work on thursdays Or I have to be off it too or whatever the case might be. So the sooner we can identify those things You know, the more content You know, we can be you know, and the the employee can be At the same time, I think you identify behaviors at this point And those behaviors are sending up flags for us. We have to know to pull those people aside You know, we have to take a deep breath Especially in our environment today when we're looking for people to fill the role of a cleaning technician And say I just don't think that this behavior this person continues with this behavior and they're giving me too many flags We shouldn't move forward because if We make a decision Knowingly consciously to bring it wrong person We're never going to reach alignment It just it won't happen So we have to be disciplined to that Kevin we are Have about 10 minutes left And we have one question here that robin would like to know just generally What do you focus on in the first 30 days of employment to engage the employee? I think that's going to be a little bit different For everyone I would say At castle keepers and you know understand I'm working, you know as a third party I know that Very initial onboarding Very little hands-on training Very initial field training Um is done Fairly intensely There's evaluation that's collected Not only on the cleaning side, but on the behavioral side To collect information Um You know especially during uh the first from hire Through the first two weeks Now, you know, could we be doing a better job, you know, thereafter? Um, yeah, we're talking about some of those things Um So, you know, I think what you can't do is you can't forget about After this initial Period is through that engagement still needs to continue Um in in whatever form that that you would decide Uh, you know to make it happen and again, don't forget, you know, that doesn't always have to be face to face You know, we have mechanisms and and ways to text and to route and and and to stay in touch with our folks And I I think that's what the important part is even if it's only as much as asking them. How are you doing? Do you need any help with anything? You know, I don't know if that completely answers your question I mean, we could you know, we could take some time and get more specific about that So we've I know we're running low on time. So, you know through this hopefully we've created, you know, some loyalty With our customer Because again, we wanted to create, you know, that that advocacy out there that they're in that because My belief is that we have a whole another You know ambassador out there if you look at an employee and use an even number Of their network is 10 people And those 10 people are 10 the exponential effect of a good word out there For, you know gaining it referrals for new employees. That's huge And we really need to make sure we're tapping into that and we're doing a good job so that word carries out Because I know and and we need to work on that too here in charleston. Definitely So if you want to flip over to that next one We've got every day Yep, okay, so back to that call to action You know, I remember you're defining the needed actions and I'm now directly to You know this whole portion of of Retention and and the initial onboarding steps and the hiring And articulate, you know, why these actions are crucial You know, pretty much that flowchart. I just went through why are each of those steps crucial? What do we need to be doing? Why do we need to be doing them? and If need to make sure too that people are receiving the message Accordingly and I think we're not doing it. We need to make sure that we check for understanding Sometimes we put a message out there we communicate and we think people Know what we've said, but we don't bother to check for understanding And then that's where we have these misperceptions myths They do not want to get created occur So one thing that I've learned throughout my career is Is check for understanding Um when you communicate because it's crucial Yeah Yeah, so you can throw that other one up there Okay, so yeah, we're gonna deliver that message in an effective manner Um, you know based upon those first four that I showed you but this is what's crucial We have to constantly work, you know to align The employee point of view with the company direction and mission So we have to make sure via that engage that We're That constantly That's where you know going back to tom's comment How do we keep creating that win-win? And if I've my guess is And I know that it's not a one-time thing we've got to continue to create that win-win Again That has to be ongoing that has to be living And and one thing more if I can add You know, I'm saying, you know as leaders we have to do this Don't forget We need to have used to call My leadership management experience We're champions within my business And they and and today I call people influencers So we have to have some influencers within our workforce Who carry that message and can communicate sometimes peer-to-peer? Where our message that same message might not res And we need to have that because If we find people who can be good influencers with us in the workforce The power of that and keeping that message out there and alive Is It's invaluable because the same influencer is going to bring us information back Right and we need to get that information back because Just like our calls for action We need to be here in those employees call for action And not to dismiss them Yeah, nice. I like that Kevin we've got about three more minutes left Anybody have any questions about anything? um I can run through probably that remain out Um with that time we have remaining if you'd like Certainly This is really good stuff and we can come back at a later date and kind of pick this up and do Follow up in part two as well Yeah, and and this is just this speaks now directly to only the employee employee retention And so, you know, now we're kind of synopsizing what I've talked about which is we have to recruit the right employees We've heard that throughout the month We have to create that exceptional onboarding experience We've got to build employee engagement And we've got to build that culture employees want to be a part of So again, that culture Has to be what they want to be a part of if it's something separate in a way Then that that's not serving us well And what's that next slide tom? And so this is the other important part and and and real quickly um The best way I can describe this a line incentive across all funds and drive those goals And by previous experience at bfi and i'm going to make this quick We had hauling companies and landfill companies The hauling company could haul their waste wherever they wanted to A lot of times the bfi landfill charged more than the competition So if my bonus structure as a hauling company manager was based upon You know my my ebita I was going to go ahead and haul my waste to the competition who was less because it put more money to buy bottom line But that wasn't doing the company any good So one day someone had an epiphany They said Guess what we're gonna do all bfi hauling companies will haul to bfi landfills We'll guess what happened and you'll and you'll give them the competitive rate for it Well that changed everything That that increased the company's revenues the margins It increased our shareholder value Um It increased all of our our our stock options Um, so that one shift in alignment and that's just a you know on a different scale But that goes to show the power of what something like that can do So it's big and we can't forget to manage for retention And we're out of time on that so I'll stop right there. Kevin. This is uh, this is awesome and uh, you're gonna have to come back and You know, we're kind of jammed out for the rest Of september, but we can always swing back around and there's It doesn't really matter what month it is. We can always talk about employee retention, right? Liz Well, you know, we are going to be talking about holidays coming up and you know Managing employees around the holidays and there are a lot of issues around that Not not just employees, of course But that is one of the topics that we're going to be feeling less because there's a lot to consider there. So You know Is Very important don't want to lose you lose people You know, you don't want to be short staffed over the holidays because that's kind of when you're you're the busiest, right? Well, and it's more than just retention Um, it is around the engagement of the employees around the holidays because what people need around holidays is People are crazy around the holidays y'all People need different stuff People need different things. Yeah, if you can get it, if you can get it right If you can get it right around the holidays, you've probably built a lot of uh Good will that will will carry throughout the year I read So Kevin and tom tom real real quick Yes, sir There are some resources in this Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If anybody wants If anybody wants that, you know, we can get it out to you Yeah, I just uh blew through the resources. Let me I'll just cheat and do this. Um This is cavin's uh email address. I will drop this in chat You want to get hold of cavin? And Here were a couple of links I want to Share with us real quick what these uh articles are Are Tom you better just post the links. It's three minutes after what are you doing? You're going insane right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Tom has lost his mind. He's so excited about employee engagement I am well, you know, you're not you're not paying me I don't get overtime less Might as well go ahead and get the rest of this in I'm dropping the links for these as well. Thanks for having me Thank you. Kevin. Thank you so much Yeah, take care guys. We'll be back next monday five o'clock eastern. Bye. Bye y'all


All right, here we are, everybody. What is going on today? A special edition of the Metal Voice. Talking about, first of all, can everybody hear us properly? You want to do a mic check there, apparently? Testing, one, two, three, testing, one, two, three. Testing, one, two, three, one, two, three. Can you hear us out in Metal Voice land? All right, everybody, tell us if the audio balance is well. Sometimes I'm a little louder than parents, a little louder than me. Sometimes it's a nice balance. Sometimes it's too low. Got to crank it up. On the Metal Voice today, a special. Oh, David says yes. Very good. Thumbs up. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Special edition, like I said, Megadeth, the Sick, the Dying, and the Dead. I have heard this. Parent has not heard this. Okay, this is a very special edition because parents are going to be asking me questions and everybody out there in YouTube world, you can ask questions, too, pertaining to this album. I've heard it all. I've tried to absorb as much as I could. It is a very, there's a lot to absorb. Think of the Iron Man now, just a lot to absorb. I've been nervous all day, Jimmy, because I've done a lot of celebrity interviews and a lot of rock star interviews, but this might be the biggest interview I've ever done on the Metal Voice. I've been nervous all day, jotting down notes, because I just want to make sure. I want to put you at ease. First thing first, as you've noticed, I've been wearing my Grim Reaper shirt, and you will see this Grim Reaper shirt on forthcoming shows and shows that we've done. I'm not wearing it all day long. I'm just wearing it for the shows. It's my salute to Steve Grim Reaper who just passed away. In the link of this video, there is a link to Steve's send-off to Forest Funeral. They were not rich. They did not have a lot of money. Funeral cost a lot of money. Go to the video link in the description if you want to give a few bucks and help out a milli and a family and to send Steve off in a good way in a nice funeral. A little bit of money goes a long way to put someone who was so wonderful and gave us so much music over the years. Send him off in a great way. Perrin? Yeah. This is the first time I'm on the show since the passing of Steve earlier this week. Privately, when Jimmy told me the news that he thought it had happened, I was kind of floored and then when it was confirmed that Steve had passed away, I was floored. And we've lost a lot of our friends and heroes along the way since we've been doing the show together. But it hits the little closer to home when it's somebody you feel you know a bit better. And I know Jimmy, you spent quite a bit of time with Steve. And the last time Steve was in town, UI and he and Ian and the guys in the band had dinner together. So I kind of feel like it was somebody that even though it was just three years ago time flies, but I kind of just feel like it was yesterday that I was in this room having dinner with him. And now he's not there anymore. And I just want everyone to know, like I met Steve for the first time when I was 16 years old as a fan at an in store. And you know, sometimes those in stores could be like signed next signed next. And Steve was never like that. Steve, you know, I remember back then he stopped, he listened to stories, he laughed, and it was one of the most engaging in stores I'd ever been to. And Steve was the coolest guy back when I was 16 years old.  And we're talking as if no time has passed. And it's just very friendly, cordial conversation. And that's the thing, Steve was just like a regular down to earth guy, you can talk about music or life or anything. He was an open book.   But like a lot of our heroes, you know, he unfortunately didn't get the benefit from his music like he should have. Yeah, he lived a modest life. So if there's anything anybody can do, you know, it could be a dollar, it could be $100. Everybody just do what you can do. But we could give Steve the send off he deserves and help Millie and the family. And I just like to express my condolences to Millie and the family because they're they're great, great people. And, you know, if it's one thing we are here, it's a community and we take care of our community. So anything we can do in this case, we'd love to be able to do. And that's why we will be mentioning it on our shows and on the site as much as we can the next little bit. And just so you know, nobody great stuff parent and nobody send me money. You send it to the link that's in the description of the video. Because last time I was doing a charity for I can't remember who I think was razor. They're sending me the money and I had to like send it to them and just make it easy. Click on the link as a fundraiser link in the description. We can Google, you know, Steve Grimit fundraiser for sending him off and send the money there right to them. And that would be much appreciated. All right, let's switch gears from something a little sad to something a little new. The album is going to be released on September the 2nd. This is produced by Dave Mustainman, Chris Rackstra. I hope I'm pronouncing that name right. It'll be released on Universal and Tradecraft. There were three singles that were released from the album Will Be Back, Night Stalkers and Soldier on. Well, today you're going to get to hear what the rest of the album is like. Well, I'll do my best to tell everybody what the rest is. I've been hearing it. I've been trying to absorb it. And I'll give you the whole, how about this? We'll go through the songs. You could ask me questions, but I'll just start off with just thoughts, okay? Production. You've heard the production, everybody, on those first three songs, you know, it's bright. It's clean. It's crisp. And to me, it sounds very well mixed with all the instruments. Do you agree, Karen? Well, I can only speak for the first three songs. Well, I mean, that'll be the production on the rest of the album, right? So if that's what the whole record, and you know, my first question to you, Jimmy, was going to be, are those first three songs, whether it's production, whether it's lyrical content, whether it's pacing, are those three songs representative of the record? Like, if I like those three songs, will I love this record? If I'm kind of on the fence about those songs, will I be on the fence about the record? Well, we'll get to that question in one minute. All right. The guitar work, as you heard in the first three songs, top notch. It's clear. It's clean. It's just 10 out of 10 for Kiko, right? There's time changes. There are key changes. There's tempo changes galore. I don't think there's any megadeth album that had this many tempo changes. Lots of lead breaks, a lot of soloing. Solos are like hovering in the back at all times. It takes a long time to absorb this album. I'm going to tell all those fans out there. Very colorful and witty lyrics, something you haven't heard in a while from Mustaine. And lots of spoken word. Like, you've heard Iced Tea sort of, you know, doing this spoken word on which song was it? Was it on Soldier On or Night Stalkers? It was Night Stalkers, the second single. A lot of that. A lot of that. So is it other guests doing that? Or is it Dave Mustaine doing that? Dave Mustaine. At some points, I think he's actually kind of trying to rap. I wouldn't call it a rap like traditional. Jimmy, you're scaring me. See, like, if this is supposed to be selling the record to me, like you telling me that. No, I take that back. Kind of a mean phrase. Yes, spoken word. Yes, I like that. It's a phrasing. It's a phrasing that, you know, it's kind of like a talking phrasing where it rhymes. It could be considered a metal ish rap. But it's not. You know, if the sales of the record go down because of the show, then like, you know, it's not a good thing, you know? No, no.  There's absolutely no way a Megadeth fan is not going to love it. And the first question was that I saw in the chat today. And it was from Dave Lee Murphy. Here's a question. Do you think Megadeth Dave Mustaine needs to call it a day after this album? Or do you think he has one more good album in it? I can tell you right now, he has not run out of gas. His tank is full and he's firing off on all cylinders. I'm like completely blown away by this album. Dave Mustaine is brilliant. You know what? Sure, throughout the career, there's been a couple of slow points or low points. And then there's been those dynamics of, you know, better albums.  So Jimmy, let me ask you, do you think it's the fact that maybe Dave took a little bit more time to make this record? Because it felt like, you know, I think most people liked the system has failed and that got really positive reviews. And then it felt like the albums after that came fast and furious. You know, United Abominations, 13, Endgame, Super Collider, dystopia, like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And some were better than others, but they came at us pretty quickly. It felt like, and this one, you know, due to COVID or whatever else and band member changes, it seems like it took a bit longer to get there. So do you think for Dave to put out the best music possible, he needs to not rush things? And if he puts out an album next year, maybe he won't be so good. But if he tours this and doesn't release another album for three records and really lets whatever else is going on marinate inside of them, do you think we get a better record when Dave Mustaine takes a bit more time to do it? Absolutely.  I think this is what happened in this case, because this album was started before COVID and then COVID and now today.  And this is not, I wouldn't consider this album sort of, you know, the P-Sells, but who's buying the hit, you know, like that song, it's catchy, it's melodic, I would consider it, you know, a mesh of these guys right here. And I had them all out.  So in other words, you're not looking at the 90s and you're not looking at the 2000s. You're looking more of the sort of dystopia and beyond. Like, it's not dystopia though, it's organically the next step away after. So I've been reading a lot and I have to say I agree. Based on the first three singles, I've seen a lot of people comparing the music to Rust in Peace era, Megadeth. Now in your mind, is that the comparable? No, I would say, whoops, I just dropped the CD. I would say it's sort of like Rust in Peace meets Endgame meets dystopia. Okay. And on and on, you know, Perrin has heard all three singles and Jimmy got an advanced copy. Okay, so that's one. And you know, Dave's played songs. Okay. Yeah, just everyone knows the way this normally works. Sometimes the record companies will send us something early and Jimmy gets to share it with two or three or four of us because they can see everything. There's no more CDs. Everything's digital. So in this case, I had, I only had the advanced copy on this case. Okay, so I heard it. I absorbed as much as I could. And here we are. Bottom line is this is not dystopia. This is organically the next step after dystopia. So we're going into new territory, we're still traditionally Megadeth, but we're also going into some new territory. And I think the big part of this album of why it's so great is because Kiko is now writing with Dave. He's more comfortable in the band, right? He's been with him for some time now. So now you're seeing the true essence of the songwriting team of Dave, Mustaine, and Kiko. And let me tell you, man, Dave is brilliant. Kiko is brilliant. And I guess there's some more contributors. I just got to see who actually wrote on this album. I think, let me just go here. Dave was recently quoted in an interview where he was saying- Oh, Dirk is also. Dirk also did. And Dave did an interview this week or he made a statement where he kind of said that it was really refreshing to have Dirk and Kiko contribute to the record. Yeah. So Kiko has contributed a lot to this record and you could tell.  So that to the original question that I asked, have they run out of gas? Absolutely not. They are firing off on all cylinders. Okay. So we had Steve DeGiorgio of Testament, right? He came in to replace Dave Elson on the album. Yeah. And I don't think he sleep. Steve is like an incredible metal all-star bassist. I mean, he's known for Testament. He's done sadists. I think he must have been an ice-earth for a little bit as well. He's been everywhere. Yeah. So Steve is like a metal all-star bass player. But for my understanding is Kiko actually, there was some bass parts. Elson then did the bass. They removed the bass. And then Steve DeGiorgio, he added some bass. We don't know how much and what extent, but the point is the bass is there and it's great. All right. You want to talk about the songs? I'm going to say and I'll say this once again. This is the most tempo-changing album Megadeth has. I went through the whole discography. There are just so many different moods going on. There's so many tempo changes. It's ferocious. Is that the right word? Ferocious? Ferocious. You can say it's ferocious. It's ferocious. It's thrashing. There are a couple of quirky moments, I would say, more colorful lyrics than most albums. And Dave, you asked me about the singing, right? But it doesn't get monotonous because I loved the first two singles. I didn't like the third one as much. And if the third one had been the first one and I hadn't heard anything else, I might have liked it. But by the time we got to the third single, I thought it was like, okay, is there an In My Darkest Hour? Is there a Tula Mon? Is there something different on this record? Or is it just all going to be the really heavy fast stuff? So I kind of divided this into like three types of songs that are on this album. There's the sort of out-of-the-box quirky ones. There's the sort of machine gun thrashing, you know, as you heard on the first three songs, right? The machine gun drumming and riffing, the chugging. And then you have sort of like the storytelling Dave Mustaine, you know? And that's kind of, I kind of divided into, those are more like the heavy metal storytelling of Dave. So is it storytelling like sweating bullets that's kind of swing tempo? Or is it like In My Darkest Hour that's a bit slower tempo? Look, is there a slow tempo song on the record? No, there's no ballad if that's what you're saying. There is a slow, there's more of a groove, slow groove, but there's no ballad, absolutely. There's no Tula Mon. And that'll probably make a lot of people happy. I mean, look, I don't mind one slower tempo song on the record. I love In My Darkest Hour, you know, and obviously it speeds up at the end.  All right, so the sick, the dying and the dead, that's the first track. We'll go through the tracks really quickly. I don't want to... Yeah, so yeah, so I have the track listing here. So okay, so the sick, the dying and the dead, first song. This is the black plague. So everybody knows that's the story behind it.  And then it gets into a really cool song. I would consider this more of a heavy metal song than a thrashing song. Of course, it's very technical. There's a lot of groove there, a lot of... Like I told you about the lead, there's a lot of lead breaks, but hovering in the background of the verse and the chorus, Kiko, 10 out of 10 job on this, on the whole album. And then at one point, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to tell everybody everything about these songs in the album, but at one point it just kind of stops. And it's like the ring around the rosy, Dave is kind of singing the ring around the rosy pocket full of posy. And you're kind of like taking back what? But it has to do with the black plague, and it just has a monster ending after that. So fabulous. Are these songs long, by the way? Like are these songs long? No, between the record... Four to six, seven, I would say. Okay, yeah, 14 songs, an hour and three minutes. So nothing should be too long.  And just K-man saying he loves those nursery rhyme stuff. He does. And that's what makes Dave Dave. And this album has so many colorful lyrics, like, you know, a lot of different topics. It's not that machine gun, let's get into... Like the first three singles were sort of the army, we'll call it war based. Yeah, you know, I think they were very deliberate with the first three singles, because, you know, the first single will be back.  And I feel like sometimes you can just tell kind of what the marketing message is. And I think they just wanted to grab people's attention of the first three songs. And let people know that if you like hard driving Megadeth, it's back. I'm really pleased he seems to have injected more enthusiasm on the album. Yes, you are correct. And I think the first three singles, they're connected in a sense that what you said, as well as the story of Vic, Vic Rattlesnake, right? Vic Rattlehead. Rattlehead, sorry, sorry, Vic Rattlehead. Wrong, wrong Vic. So that was the sort of the, what do they call it? The how he was sort of, he became who he was, right? What do they call it? His backstory. His backstory, but there's a word for it. I just forgot it. Yeah, backstory. That's a better word for that. All right, well, if anybody has a synonym for backstory, let us know.   Another thrasher. So all the thrashing fans will be very happy. Again, there's the spoken word that I was speaking about. There's a lot of that there too.  And you know, if anybody knows what spy versus spy is, it's from Mad Magazine. Mad Magazine, yeah, for our generation. You know, and another line in the story is busted, caught red handed again, a couple of pills, a couple of drinks, who doesn't care anymore. So I don't know if this is like a serial killer that's talking. I don't know if it's someone who's done something really bad who doesn't care about life. So that's all I can get out of it.  I don't think you've listened to this 20 times either.  Yeah, yeah, which is fine. The drumming is outstanding, by the way, on this song. And it's, I would say it's the cousin of Night Stalker. Super technical speed and thrash. And then Night Stalker is next. So I don't know if you need to talk too much about that, because I think we've heard it, and we even reviewed it on one of our shows.  We don't really know how much Iced Tea really contributed to it, because it was just one little, little part. But you know, it's always nice to have Iced Tea. Dave Mustaine was on Iced Tea's album, and I guess he's sort of returning to favor. So everybody else, you've heard Night Stalker, we don't need to talk about it, apparently unless you want to. No, because you know, I'm curious. I love the next title. So the next title in itself has me curious, Dogs of Chernobyl. So I, and somebody asked, what's the best tracks out of the album? I would say this is probably one of the best songs on the album. This is Storytime with Dave. So if everybody doesn't know what the Dogs of Chernobyl is, in the Ukraine in the 80s, when everybody evacuated the, when the nuclear, there was a meltdown of the nuclear reactor, right? Right. All that was left were dogs, basically. A lot of the dogs were shot, but some of the dogs lived. And they say to this day, those dogs of the day back in the 80s, they don't live, of course, today, but they bred. So they're still dogs of Chernobyl. So it's a story of abandonment. It's a metaphor, basically. He's saying, you've left me like the dogs of Chernobyl. So it's an abandonment. It's a love song, but it's not about it.  We'll say, we'll call it like a spoken word phrasing. Yeah, I'm curious to hear this now, because see, I like a well-placed spoken word piece. Now, I don't mind rap either. I love what Rush does during Roll the Bone. So it just kind of depends how far you go and how it fits the song. But, you know, again, sometimes a very well-intended spoken word piece can really help deliver the message of a song. Some really cool riffs happening throughout that song, and then it speeds up, you know, at the end. And it's just, to me, if I was to say one of my favorite songs, I have a few, I would say Dogs of Chernobyl is one of the greatest songs. Because, again, it's not talking about war. It's he's using metaphors to describe abandonment. And I think that's what makes it even more fun and cool. All right, then we get into more simple song titles. So the next one is Sacrifice. All right, so on this one, Dave is using a more of an Arabic vocal line. So, you know how you hear Arabic scales? We're kind of a cadence, you mean? Like the cadence of the song? Yeah, the phrasing, the vocal lines, that type of vocal line. And it's fabulous. And again, it's a very fast-paced song. Now, however, this is where the song is a little bit weird. More proggy in a sense, where because the verse is amazing, it kind of goes into this bizarre chorus. I think it's a key change, and it's probably not a great key change where the chorus is not as melodic as you'd want it to be. However, when you listen to it on the headphones, you're going, oh my God, there's so much going on here. The guitar work, the strumming. I think this is more of a musicians, musicians type of song.  This is more of a musicians, musicians guitarist song. You put on headphones, you're saying, there's a lot going on here.  So I wouldn't say this is my favorite, but I could see a lot of guitarists loving this song. That's a grower. It's cool.  Junkie. So that's interesting given the history of some of the people who've been in the band, or are not currently in the band. So is that autobiographical? Is it talking about somebody else? Is it just talking more in general terms? You know what, it's hard to tell. I think that the title is self-revealing. It's about junkies. You know, that's kind of what the song is. It starts off like an 80s glam rock song, something I don't know, maybe you weren't or quite right would do, but right away it changes into a, you know, a mega death song. Probably lacks a little bit of melody, but I could see this song off of Endgame or dystopia. You know, it's a straightforward metal song. It's not bad. I'm just saying it's not one of my favorites, but maybe given that time, it would be a lot better. Is anything bad? Is anything on record bad? No, no, it's like, if this is one of the lower echelon songs for you, yes, it's kind of a passable song, but just not as great as some of the other stuff. Yeah, exactly. I don't know if he's ever talked about junkies in all the other albums. And if he has, maybe I didn't, I don't remember. Do you remember? But not as, it's not as straightforward. Yeah, I mean, sweating bullets. Hello, me. He hasn't necessarily talked about hard drug use.  Yeah, I wouldn't call this, and I'll just count down to extinction. This is not this type of album. It's the organically next step to dystopia. Yeah, look, I thought the first three singles sounded like rest in peace. You said it was a bit of rest in peace. Ungame and a bit of dystopia. And I thought dystopia was a really great comeback as well. So if you tell me this record is part rest in peace, part dystopia, that has me interested as a fan. As a megadeth fan, that has me interested. I think that way. You know what? You know what's funny? Like I was listening to this album on headphones. I just kept getting excited and excited.  Well, that's great, Jimmy, because I look, I will say. So Jimmy and I do get advanced copies of records. And sometimes we're really excited about it. And sometimes we're happily surprised and can't wait to listen to the next song. But sometimes we're like, this thing is 14 songs long and I don't really like it so far. So it's great when you get an advanced copy of something that it's kind of your job to review it, but also you want to enjoy it. So it's great that, you know, you kept wanting to hear more and it didn't become like your job. It sounded like, you know, whether you were on metal voice or not, you would want to be listening to this. Yeah, I know. Every time I put the album on, I get excited. Like, you know, it's like they're not, they have not run out of gas. In fact, again, I will say this, it's more technical than any album I've heard. And it's, it just keeps, it keeps, there's so many moving, it moves so much. There's no verse chorus, verse chorus fade, you know? And that's it. It just keeps moving. That's when Dave's at his best. I mean, Dave's a great musician and a great composer. So that's when Dave is at his best, I think, you know, when he keeps us on our toes. Is Dirk as solid as Chris Adler? Absolutely. Dirk is doing a phenomenal job in keeping it all together on this album. That's one of the questions. K-man saying, is there any songs that really blow you away? I just mentioned the first one. There's more. That's the Chernobyl, I think he said. That's the Chernobyl. That blew me away. I thought that was, and even the first song. Well, look, here's the thing. You know what? The first three singles were released and sort of we're not looking at them, but we have to look at them in the overall picture, right? That's down. We'll be back. It was great. I mean, again, it's later in the album, but, you know, okay. So let's keep moving. Psycho-Pathie. Psycho-Pathie. Is that what it is? Psycho-Pathie. Yeah, Psycho-Pathie. So here's the thing. That is just an intro. You know, think of the Hellexon. Think of the Hellexon. So it's an intro to Killing Time. Killing Time would be the next song. Strange enough, Psycho-Pathie is a spoken word. Okay. But it's not a rap, a spoken word. It's not a rap, a spoken word. But it's a great segue into Killing Time. So it could have been together. How's that? Is it Killing Time or is it Killing Time? And which is it? Well, it's Killing Time. Like Time to Kill? Killing Time. You're wasting my time in that. Sort of sense. You know, stop wasting my time.  So I don't know if this is about someone he doesn't like. This is somebody who's wasting his time.  Is it about anyone who might have been in the band in the past? No lyrical references in that way? I know you're lying when you're moving your lips. That's something he's repeating throughout the whole track. It's a bit of acoustic part in the middle at the end. The soloing is just phenomenal. Sounds like my tea has jabs at the end. When you start moving your lips, I know you're lying. So don't tell me you need me.  So it's sort of like you're wasting my time, right?   Stop wasting my time. So this I could see this off the system has failed. Okay. Well, I love that record. The system has failed is probably like my third favorite Megadeth record. And you asked for people's top 10 Megadeth songs before. And I had the Scorpion in my top 10 and I could have had Back in the Day and Die Dead Enough. So I love that record. So if you tell me killing time is something that could have been off the system has failed, that's something I'm going to go to right away when I get this record. Yeah, it's a great song and it's a grower too. And again, I will say this. I love all the songs. I just tend to love some more than others. Summer of Seven to us. Summer of Seven, Summer of Nine. That's the way life is, right? Yeah. Okay. So Soul Drone is next, which we've heard. And I will just say though, I loved the first two singles. And when I heard Soul Drone, I kept waiting for something to happen and nothing happened because I thought it was the first of the three singles that was just the same riff throughout. And it was the most simple straightforward of the three singles. And I was a little disappointed and maybe that wasn't fair just because I felt like there were so many interesting things that were happening and we'll be back at Night Stalkers that I thought Soul Drone was just a little bit monotonous. So it was my least favorite of the three singles. Where does it rank in the album for you? You know what, I even said this to you before. I really like Soul Drone because it's sort of like we've got to keep marching on despite the whole world falling apart. I kind of like that theme. Yeah, the message is great. I just thought the song was just same, same throat song. Would you agree that's more of a dystopia-ish type song that could have sat well on that album? Yeah, probably. Yeah, it's definitely in the bending of the strings which has become the trademark. You know that sound. I think dystopia, even Rustin Pisa could have sat well this song. I like it. Soul Drone is a great song. Everybody's heard it. So I mean, I don't know what else I could say about this. Yeah, I was just curious because it was my least favorite of the three singles. Everybody watching, did you enjoy Soul Drone?  Yeah, and I'm like you though, it's not a bad song, but whereas I thought the first two singles were like nines out of ten, I thought Soul Drone was like a seven out of ten. You know what, and I think what happened is the first three songs are very similar in style where the rest of the album is a little more variety. That's what I'm trying to say. Yeah, and I might have been, okay, I've heard this already. Maybe that's why it was only a seven to me, you know? And again, like you said, you need to kind of hear almost like the flow of the album to kind of really appreciate something. Because I mean, look, I'm really into sequencing of albums, and I feel like some bands pay very particular attention to how the tracks are sequenced, and some don't do a good enough job of that. So Soul Drone could be very welcome if it comes on the back of a couple of like differently paced songs before it. Exactly. So here's what Ove is saying, Soul Drone rules perfect chorus. I agree, man. It's a great song. You know, even watching the video, you get excited, right? I mean, can you believe these guys have had what? Is it 15, 16, 17, eight albums? And he keeps cranking them out. It's not like Metallica.  No, eight years between records.  Yeah, yeah. All right. Okay, the next one's an interesting title. Celebutant. So it's like celebrity and debutant or celebutant. Yeah, it's basically talking about models and actors, how they need to be famous and popular. You know, it's more of a need than a want. And I think that's the message, you know, another technically thrash song. I dig it. I gave it like a nine out of ten, eight, nine out of ten. And again, great solos, a lot of tempo changes, a lot of key changes. There's not much more I can say. I would say again, Endgame dystopia, that's the album. And is it like making light of the Kardashians of this world and those kinds of people? Yeah, exactly. Exactly how it's become, it's more of a need to be a celebrity than a want to be a celebrity. I haven't done anything in a while. I haven't been in the public eye. Let me do something to get into the public eye. Exactly, exactly. And again, it would sit well on Endgame and dystopia. So that's how I kind of look at it, right? I went through all the albums. I go, where would this sit if you could put that? Okay. The next title is more like something I would expect on an Iron Maiden album, like Mission to Mars. I don't know if I, I don't envision Dave singing about outer space and that kind of thing. You see, me too. At first I go, this is going to be kooky, right? This is the best in my opinion. In my opinion, because I love space and Mars and all that stuff, the greatest song. This could have been the prequel to Hanger 18. Okay, wait. So is this the best song in the record too? To me, this is the best song. This is Mustaine Storytelling at his best. This is like the sixth million. I hear the title and I think Final Frontier from Iron Maiden. I think that kind of thing, you know? Which I know you might know. Do you know the song, 44 Minutes on Endgame? Yeah. It's kind of like a story, right? And it's police sort of back and forth going on. On this, he writes this. This could have went sideways, okay? He just writes it so well that you're just listening to the song and you're listening to the story. It's basically a mission to Mars, right? They're blasting off the story, right? They get to Mars and there's this sort of exchange between mission control and Utopia, the ship that Dave's on, Dave's on, whoever's on, right? And then there's some sort of, wait a second. We see some life there. We see another ship there. And I don't know if Earth evaporates at the end or the spaceship evaporates at the end, but there's this whole cliff anger where it starts off as this cool thrashing song. It goes into overdrive at the end. And it's just this grand finale. And to me, one of the best tracks. And I would guess this is going to be a video because it's so intense.  It's kind of like that. So, from a political perspective. And there's a little bit of humor. And there's witty humor in there, which makes it that much more enjoyable. All right. You really piqued my interest of that one. So I'm looking forward to it as well. The next track is We'll Be Back, which was the first single. So I think everyone has heard that a ton. I loved it. That one grabbed me by the throat the second I heard it. And I was like, wow, Megadeth are back, you know. And I'll be the first one to admit. I said this to someone on our thread today. I'm more of a casual Megadeth fan, the sense that I grew up with them. I don't really get into the deep tracks. I kind of like the more well-known songs. But We'll Be Back when I first heard it. I'm like, wow, I really want to hear this record. I think this is really like a harbinger of something like really great coming, you know. So I thought it was a great song. I think it's probably my favorite of the three singles so far. And I just want to say something about the first track, The Black Plague. That was written before COVID. And I think Mustaine said something about this in the press a while ago. Has nothing to do with COVID. This was written well before. And sort of the history of The Black Plague back in the day. And yeah, you know what? I would say this. This is a brilliant album. Dave Mustaine has outdone himself. And it would definitely fall into the top three all-time Megadeth albums. Okay, Jimmy, that's a huge statement. It is a huge statement. If you're saying 16 albums, I think, into their career, that in 2022, Megadeth has released a top three album when we're talking about Rust and Peace, you know, Countdown to Extinction, Peace Cells, So Far, So Good, So What. It's around there. You know what I mean? It's around there. Will it outdo Rust and Peace? Only time will tell. I can't make that call now. I'm going to say, that's a bold statement to say it's a top three record. So I mean, you're really. Within the top three of the Megadeth, it's higher. It beats all the 90s and the 2000 albums, The Risks, you know, all those albums there. Okay, I'm going to ask you this. It beats Endgame. It beats Endgame. Best album since. Now, if you like dystopia, you might just say best album since dystopia. I would say Megadeth and Endgame were the two best last Megadeth albums, right? Right? And I think it's a fair statement. I think everybody would say that too. I love that the system has failed. I haven't like. Oh yeah, me too. I haven't right here. You know, it's a long time ago now. It's coming up on 20 years, you know? No, this is a great album too. Don't get me wrong. It's wonderful, but this is more. It's the first two tracks are great. You know, it is a great album. It is a great album. I mean, no question, but it does beat this album. Look, this is Megadeth at its best. Technical thrash. And you asked me about the vocals. Listen, it's Dave Mustaine.  Yeah, you like his vocal delivery or you don't. You know, I will say like his voice isn't for everybody, but I mean, it's it's distinctly Megadeth, right? You know what? I don't think you could have these types of songs. I think the songs were written for that witty, growling, snarling voice that he has. When I first discovered Megadeth, back when he first released the first album, I was kind of put off by his voice. Yeah, I think a lot of people were at first. But I can see how his voice plays a huge role in the music that he makes today. It's just it's just it's distinct. Jimmy, I got two more songs on the now. Do you do do you get a version of these two songs? Because the next two songs are police truck, which is a really weird title. And then this planet's on fire, which really intrigues me. So you don't have those two songs on the advance tracks. No, those are bonus tracks. So you'll be a little bit surprised too then when you get the record, because there's going to be two records, two songs that you haven't heard yet. So on the normal version, we'll be back as the last song on the regular version of the record. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, man. I'm looking forward to even picking this up when it comes out.  You know, just I love the cover art too.  I'll buy a physical copy when I want the whole package. And I really like the cover art from what I've seen. So yeah, let's go through my questions, Jimmy. I just want to make sure I've hit everything. So I want to cover everything here. Yeah, I wanted to make sure the first three singles are representative. You say it's more diverse than that. Rust and peace comparisons, not exactly. There are no ballads or slower songs. I think you touched on some of the lyrical themes. You talked about Dave's voice. You talked about Kiko Dirk and the bass playing. So a couple of questions.   You're going to like it regularly. You know what, when I first heard the first three singles like you did as a megadeth fan, I was completely compelled to hear more, right? So I think it's a hit in that sense. But what makes megadeth great is that there are still other tracks in the album that are growers and growers. You know about growers, right? Growers over time, you just learn to love these tracks. There's some quirky moments with the lyrics like we mentioned, right? But that's colorful. I like that. Why always have the same war themes, right? Will we be talking about this record a year from now, two years from now, three years from now? Because this is something you and I always talk about privately. Yeah, I like it, but in a year, I don't know if I'm going to be listening to it. Or I love it and I'll always listen to it. So which category is this in? Will this record stand the test of time? Of course we're excited about it now, but you know what? I think because there is so much going on in these songs, there'll be guitarists trying to take it apart. See, that's where the thing is, right? With megadeth. Guitarists try to take the songs apart. Drummers try to take the songs apart. That's why it stands the test of time. Now then there's the listeners, the casual listeners, like you and me, right? Are they hooky enough to stand the test of time? Is there enough substance in them? I think it does. I think it stands the test of time. Because I was trying to pinpoint which album it sounds like and it doesn't sound like any of the albums. There is that megadeth sound, but it doesn't really sound like any of the albums. Yeah, and I think that's a good thing though. Like when I say Rust in Peace or anything else, I always like it when a band puts out a record, but I can say, okay, there's kind of a lifeline to that record and a lifeline to that record, but it's not a copy of that record. I don't want a copy of Rust in Peace, but for me, the ideal megadeth record might be something that sounds a little like peace sells and a little like Rust in Peace and a little like the system has failed. And for me, that's the magic recipe. And for someone else, it might be something else.  That's a really weird combo. You know, but I like that you're saying it's a bit of dystopia and a bit of end game and a bit of Rust in Peace. You know what, a lot of people tell me, Jimmy, you love every album. No, I only love the albums I review. Yeah, because you know, guys, we don't want to come on this show and totally destroy something, particularly if it's a band or people that we like. So we're honest with you. When we do the panel show, sometimes I'll say something's a six on 10 or Jimmy will say he didn't like that song. But you know, we want to kind of turn you guys on the things that are cool and we don't want to kind of, you know, bury people if they don't really deserve to be buried. So are you ready to rate the record, Jimmy? Like, do you want to reserve your rating or are you ready? I think I might have to reserve it. Look, absolutely it's past eight out of 10, right? Like it's above that. There's no way it's any lower than that. Time will tell it, right? If it's going to be at 8.9 or a nine, you know, it's somewhere between eight and nine. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Okay. Well, I give of course three singles, a nine and nine and a seven. So nine, nine, seven is 25 divided by three. So it's like an 8.3. So for me, for the three songs I've heard, I'm over an eight with the three songs I've heard. If I thought the Sick of the Dying in the Dead was fantastic. Life in Hell is fantastic. Night Stalker is great. Dog's a Chernobyl. Sacrifice is good. Junkie Soso killing time. Soldier on. I love Celebutant great. And then Mission to Mars, that's nine. We'll be back. That's 10. So right away you could see somewhere between eight to nine out of 10. And again, so we're talking the album of the year candidates here. We're talking an album that will be in the conversation. Definitely. The album of the year. Yeah. Oh yeah. You know what pre-order this? If you're a megadeth fan, you have to pre-order this. This is, this is like, and especially if you love the, if you didn't like the first three singles, then don't bother. But I can't even see how megadeth fan wouldn't like at least two of the, the singles that were released, right? And those singles are not completely reflective of the rest of the album. Even though a lot of the album is like that, there's also a little bit more variety and a lot more going on than just that. There's a lot of stopping. For me that's the best thing that you've said. For me that's the best thing that you've said because I, I love the first two. I told you I was a little, hmm, soldier on's a bit same, same. And I was hoping you were going to tell me there was a bit more variety. So I'm really excited to hear that. Are there any last fan comments? There are no ballads. So there's no Tula Mahon. There's nothing like that. Okay. Great. And that's good for some people. Are there any last fan questions? Because I always need to remind Jimmy sometimes to read your guys' comments. So are there any last comments or comments? We're waiting for comments and questions in our final minutes here. Well, he said, so Francis says nine out of 10. Wow, that's a classic really. I'm just saying between eight to nine. I'm not giving it a number right yet. I just need some more time to think about it. But it's somewhere there. Yeah. But it's up there. Ove saying something for everyone? Absolutely. There's something for everyone. Happy to hear good vibes from it. Do you think it will debut at number one? I think it will. Perrin, what, what competition does it have? Yeah. I mean, look, so, well, September 2nd, I mean, look, there's so many charts now. There's the hard music chart. There's the, you know, new music chart.  And you know how it goes, right? Metal fans are such that the first week, we all go out and buy it. And then the interesting thing to see with the record in metal is, does it sell decently well the second week, or is there a huge drop? Like did everyone buy it the first week and then there's nothing. So we'll see what kind of staying power, but you know, I don't even care about the charts. I'll be honest with you. Like at this point, what do the charts really mean? Like it's not, no one sells like a million records anymore, like the first week. Like it's just, that doesn't happen. But without a doubt, I know September 2nd, there's that. There's a few things coming out on September 2nd. It's like, you know, Jimmy and I were just saying, Fridays seem to be the big release day these days. It is, it is. Friday, September 2nd, there's a few things coming out. But I think, I think Megadeth is, you know, Megadeth is the big one that's coming. Ozzie, I'm not sure what the release date is, but I'm sure that's gonna, you know, get a lot of attraction. Yeah, I think it's October. Yeah. Yeah. So, look at this. Here's a, is it the best of the 2000 era in your opinion? Yes. It is the best of the 2000 era. I'm trying to think of all the ones in the 2000. We have this. Yeah. You have the system is failed. We have this. You have United Abominations. United Abominations that I don't have right here, but I have it somewhere. You know the Abominations? Absolutely. Oh yeah, definitely. 13 end games, Super Collider dystopia. Yeah, absolutely. So that's, that's a yes. Kiko, holy mackerel man.  He's not just playing fast. There are some moments on this album where he's just playing to the song and it's more of emotional solo than it is. Let's not forget Kiko and Dirk have been in the band for a while now, right? Even though they haven't recorded a lot with the band, Kiko, Dirk and Dave have been a unit for, you know, over five or six years, which I know isn't like 20 years, but for Megadeth it's a long time, right? So minus the basis change, you know, three quarters of the band has been a unit for a while and done a lot of shows together. So I think there's something there. And look, Dave has not always been one to want to let other people into his bubble when it comes to writing and creating. Of course, of course. And so the fact that he's letting Kiko and Dirk into the bubble I think it says something about the amount of respect he has for their ability because, you know, it was very much, you know, it's still Dave's band, but Dave was also the creator and was kind of like, here, play this, you know? And for Kiko and Dirk to make it kind of more of a band vibe and the creation of the songs, I think that says a lot about where the band is going and it's good because maybe we'll be able to see, it's they seem very happy with James Lemenzo, right? James joined as a temporary member. And then after the tour, the metal tour of the year of Lamb of God, it was announced that James is now a permanent member. So, you know, if we can keep this unit going for this entire tour and then record an album, another album together, we could be seeing, you know, a megadeth lineup with a good amount of longevity, which we haven't seen in a bit. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, is there any last questions from everybody? I think I pretty much, as my voice is going, I think I pretty much covered everything enough. I mean, I'm not a great guitarist by any means and I couldn't tell you, you know, you know, chord by chord, but I could give you an idea of what it sounds like. And I think you painted a good picture, Jimmy. I think like this show definitely, I think you've wet the appetite for me and for the rest of us. And look, the good news is, it's two weeks from today, so it's not too long to wait. Yeah.  So everyone keep your eyes and ears open. But hey, Jimmy is a good citizen. He did not share the record that he was not supposed to share. And we did this show where I was flying blind a little bit and Jimmy's in the know and soon enough, you know, in a couple of weeks, maybe we'll do a panel show where me, Steph and Giles can chime in and Jimmy can interview us. But for today, the man in the know. So what did you think of my review a few weeks ago? Yeah, I'm going to review your review after I hear it. It's interesting because Dave Elson you know, I see a couple of comments, you know, so he was sort of brought in to just do his bass parts and then he was sort of removed, right? I don't know if he had any contributions to the songs themselves other than just doing the bass part that he was supposed to do. And for what I'm reading is he was just supposed to follow the bass guide, right, and do his own kind of thing. So it's a shame, but it is what it is, right? Yeah, I'm just happy that they survived. Yeah, people grow apart. Everyone's doing their own thing now and everyone lives to tell about it that we go from there. And who knows? Maybe there'll be another reunion one day down the road. Yeah. Everybody, thank you for watching.  Go pick it up and see I'm getting tired. Pick it up on pre-order. I put the links in the YouTube chat, YouTube video description. Grim Reaper, you know, you can send some money. I put also the link to send some money to for the funeral of Steve Grimit. Family's not rich. I'll put the album up as we close.


What are positive affirmations and how can you use them to help you manage your anxiety? So today's anxiety hack is about understanding what positive affirmations are, thinking about how you can create your own, and then I'm gonna share some that might work to help you with your anxiety, so you can nick mine if you want to basically. Okay, so basically the idea is that if we've got difficult kind of anxious thoughts and feelings going around and around and around in our head, we can use positive affirmations which are kind of phrases that we can repeat to ourselves to try and replace those negative thoughts.  And yeah, it can feel a little bit weird and kooky at first but you get the hang of it and it can be incredibly powerful. Now, how does it work? So first of all, you find a phrase that works for you and we'll have a look at the end of the video at a few phrases that you might be able to use but you wanna find words that work for you, words that feel good when you say them words that you want to believe essentially. So you're finding phrases that you might not believe but you want to believe them. So, you know, I love and I am loved or I'm calm and in control. Something you wish was true, you want to be able to believe. And then when you begin to feel anxious, essentially you say this phrase over and over again. You just repeat it like a mantra. And as you say the phrase, you really think about it, you really engage with the words in that phrase. Now, also think about how it would feel if that phrase was true. So, if for example, I'm saying, you know, I'm calm and in control and I'm saying that because I'm feeling really anxious. If I'm saying I'm calm and I'm in control, I'm imagining what would it feel like if I was calm and I was in control? And then try acting as if it were true. So try acting as if you're calm and in control, for example. So act as if that affirmation was true. And then any time through the day that you begin to feel those like anxious and negative thoughts coming back into your mind, you just take a step back and you repeat your affirmation again. Now, there are different takes on this. You can do it in front of the mirror. You can say it out loud or in your head. Find what works for you but the key thing is basically finding a few key phrases that you can repeat to yourself that basically feel right for you. They feel like what you wish were true and you say them as if you believe them and you try and act that way too and you just keep returning to these phrases. I mean, give it a go, give it a go. So the thing I'd say is that it can feel strange. It can feel weird, but maybe it'll work. So try it and don't give up on it right away. So maybe try it two or three times a day for a week and if you don't see that it has any impact, fine, bin it. That's cool, you've tried. But you might find it begins to have an impact. So thinking further. So we're gonna have some suggestions now of affirmations that might work for you. And again, it's about finding what works. So don't feel like you have to use mine. You can make your own up or you can adapt mine or whatever or Google it, there's loads out there. So here are my 10 suggestions. Number one, I am not my anxiety. Number two, I've done this before, I can do it again. I've done this before, I can do it again. Number three, I'm in charge of my breaths. I can slow them down. I'm in charge of my breaths. I can slow them down. Number four, I'm in control. I'm in control. Number five, this is a favorite of mine. This is a favorite of mine. I am safe. Simple, but it works. I am safe. Number six, I can manage the next minute. I can manage the next minute. Number seven, I am loved and I love. I am loved and I love. Number eight, I am a kind and caring person. I am a kind and caring person. Number nine, this feeling will pass. This feeling will pass. And number 10, I am courageous and I can do this. I am courageous and I can do this. You don't have to do the actions, but you know, I just like them. Okay, so there's some ideas. What would be your one? Which one do you like? Which one do you hate? Or maybe you have some of your own. Leave them in a comment below. Let me know how you find this. Let me know if you have any other kind of routine around using affirmations that they work for you. Would love to hear more. Drop your thoughts, experience, ideas in a comment below and don't forget to subscribe so you can be kept up to date with my new videos every Tuesday and Friday. Thanks for watching. See you next time. Bye.