Taking his career in a different direction. This week, Koe Wetzel is a guest on comedian Theo Von’s podcast This Past Weekend podcast, where he talked about his recent album 9 Lives, his Christmas EP Wetzel's Wonderland Chapter 2, as well as the direction his music has taken with the release of the aforementioned album. In general, it definitely had a different sound than his previous efforts like Harold Saul High, and the themes and concepts were certainly more introspective then that of previous songs he's put out on other records. He told Theo that it was intentional to tap into the more "mainstream" side of the country genre with 9 Lives, from the music all the way to the marketing. He's done way more interviews than I've ever seen him do before this year, and even has a song at country radio: "With this record, we tapped into the mainstream side of it, I guess. You know, we've always been independent... coming out of Texas, you can tour Texas year round, you know and make a damn good living, which is pretty much what we've been doing. Over the last, probably, five years, we got out of Texas and got to pay these crazy arenas and stuff. It's been wild, and we've been blessed. The fans have just come out of the woodworks. It's cool to have people f*** with the music, what you're telling them and it's wild. We've been so busy, I haven't had time to step back and actually look at it, kinda see where we're at, but it's wild." Koe admitted that he was unsure of how his fans who have been around for a long time would take this new sound, and he said they mostly had a positive reaction to it: "Very proud people, man, and it's such a cult following, you know. And we've been blessed to have that cult fanbase for so long... they're so passionate, and they're such Koe fans, they've responded. I was kind of curious as to how they were going to take this new music we put out, they came on with it. I think they dug it. We haven't really veered off from the sh*t we've been doing our whole career." Koe explained that his entire approach to his career in general has changed some, and he did a lot less partying on the Damn Near Normal tour than he ever has, which was necessary as he starts to play bigger venues: "I'm still doing the same sh*t, it's just on a bigger scale, kinda more expected, you know what I mean? To do all these interviews and get your story out there. It used to be get f****d up, go play music, write music, throw down, party with everybody. And now it's kinda, let's take a step back and calm everything down a little bit." He also talked about having to quit the whiskey before showtime after it caused him to have to cancel a few concerts in 2023, and in general, it seems like he's trying to live a healthier lifestyle compared to the wild road life he's grown quite fond of. Honestly, as someone who has been a fan of Koe for years now, it's a little odd seeing him dip his toes in the "mainstream" part of country, mostly because I just never thought I'd see it. Not because Koe isn't talented, he's super talented with a really unique sound and I love his music, but he was always so engrained in the Texas scene that I never though he was interested in the more "Nashville" way of country, for lack of a better way to put it. It's working for him, though, because he had two songs debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this year, with "Sweet Dreams" and his duet with Jessie Murph, "High Road." He teased more music coming next year, as well asm ore festival and tour dates, so with the momentum he has now I have no doubts that 2025 will be even bigger and more successful than this year was. You can watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/QnOrhJ4kgMg?t=1