Ross and Rocky Lynch aka The Driver Era shares their “first” everything!
How’s their first time in quarantine going?
What was Ross’s first thought this morning?
What music video did Ross dance in as a kid that brought him to his first red carpet?
What was Rocky’s first job?
Is he shocked he didn’t get fired?
Where did they first perform as The Driver Era?
- Oh it's upside down.- Oh.[bleep]- What's up everybody!- Yo.- It's The Driver Era.We are walking into ourhome studio right now.To do a video with Teen Vogue.About our firsts.Let's do it.[upbeat music]- Wow.- That's great, I like that question.My first thought today,literally was chess.- Really?- Yeah.- 'Cause we've beenplaying a crap ton of chesswhile we've been in quarantine.So I literally think I woke up and likestarted playing chess.- My first thought was, Iwoke up singing that songfrom last night.- Oh really?- I actually woke up at 6 a.m.this morning.- Just naturally.- Yeah.- We were up late last night,just like cooking up the jams.And we got somethingpretty special last night.- Yeah.- It was pretty cool.- The morning's are nicebecause coffee's involved.So like anything thatyou're trying to get done orgrind through, it's alwaysnice if you have coffee.A standard morning is,wake up, brush the teeth,throw on clothes.[Ross laughs]French press coffee.- Sometimes not the clothespart though, that's optional.- Yeah and then go ride on the sun.Usually get some vitamin D.- Mhm.
We like to meditate too.- Most of my role honestlyare from [mumbles].- Yeah?- Like I would say Dad, you.Mom's a big reason that we do this.Actually, probably one ofthe biggest reasons thatwe were able to be here today.- Yeah.- Is our mom.Our first time in quarantine.Isn't actually so bad, becausethere's downtime involved,and we're kind of doingthe same things we would doif we weren't quarantined.Which is like, make music.- It strangely works outfor us really well becausewe have a studio in our house.The only thing we're notdoing now is playing hockey,which is...- That's a bummer.- Yeah we like hockey a lot.Going to dinner for thefirst time after quarantinewith some friends would be dope.- Yeah.- That'd be sweet.- Yeah yeah yeah, and just catch up.- Yeah just be like "Yo, did you get it?"[laughter]- I think it'll be kind of niceto go out after quarantine,it'll reignite yourexcitement for social outings,and stuff like that.Our first family pet was...- We were in a relationship with two girlsthat were sisters.- Yeah we were!- And they got us hermitcrabs for our birthdayor something.- Yeah dude.- But after that, I got baby turtles.Those little turtles.- Oh [beep] what happened to those?Didn't you give them away?- No, they lived for a while,but they were super small,like that big.- I remember those.There was the famous stories,you know the story ofwhere dad forgets to feed the fish.- Oh yeah we did have a fish!- We had a goldfish, anddad forgot to feed him,and we came home to a whole new fish,and dad was like "He evolved!"- That was amazing.- And I think we were intoPokemon at the time, sowe were like "Oh [beep]!"- We believed him?- Yeah we totally, everybody believed him!- Man this thing's got a horn now!- He was like I don't he just changed!I think my first red carpet event...It was Kung Fu Panda.As a kid I was a professional dancer.You know the song thatCeeLo Green sings whereit's like "Everybodywas Kung Fu fighting".[song plays]- Oh yeah you're in it.- I'm in the music video.- I remember that.- And there was alsoan instructional video,but they had us come to the movie premiereto perform that song overand over and over againon the red carpet.- The most realistic situationof me being in like a"Wow this is kind ofcrazy that this person'sin my presence" was Obama.I don't there was ever been like a "Hm".'Cause we played a show at the Whitehousewith Ariana Grande.- Yeah we did, and Big Sean!- And Big Sean!
Maybe five, six years ago.- No bro, longer.- Wow.- Longer, longer, longer,like eight years ago.- That's crazy.But we met Obama and it was just like,you shake his hand like "Wow".- Dude had the softest hands.We were saying too, imagine how many handsthat dude shakes, he hadprobably 10 000 handshakes,so his handshake was justperfect, it was dialed in.- He's got hours in shaking hands.- Yeah, dude.- My first job, I taught gymnastics.I don't know how...I arrived there.I don't know how I did it for six months.And I don't know how Ididn't get fired immediately.- It's 'cause the moms love you my dude.It's a gift.- I think there was somethingwhere they were like "Oh!",they kind of felt safethat I was teaching their kids.There was something there.- For sure, dude.We went to a dance school in Colorado,'cause that's kind ofwhere our mom came inand was like "Oh these guyshave a knack for entertainment,I'm gonna put them in schoolso they can kind of learn about it".And the first versionof that was glee clubsand dance academy.There was a job opportunitythat was happeningfor dance kids.Where we went out to L.A.and auditioned for this...It was called "Macy's passport",it was like a fashion show.We all auditioned and itliterally came down toMe, Rocky, and this one other kid.And the other kid got it I think.For whatever reason.- I'm still holding a grudge.- Yeah, I still hold a grudge.[Rocky laughs]- That was the first job I've ever booked,but that led us to movingout to L.A.
And thenstarting the band and all that stuff.It literally kind oflike started all that.That was R5.- Mmmmm.Nah that was White Chocolate Brothers.- Oh [bleep]!- C'mon bro.- Damn, I didn't know you weregonna take it that far back.- First group!- A lot of people ask us whyThe Driver Era is so eclecticwhen it comes to genre,and I think that is abig reason, is becausewe were so exposed to varioustypes of music through dance.Like hip-hop, and even musicaltheater, and classical.- Yeah ballet, classical for sure.- Like, Do-op.- There was an acousticguitar that I actuallycouldn't afford by myself,because I wasn't working, he was.Maybe $2000, it was a Martin.And I think I had a thousandbucks, and I paid fora thousand, you paid for500 and I think Riker paidfor 500 of it.- Something like that.- And we still have the guitartoday, it's a great guitarwe play it on tour all thetime, but that was the first"Alright I'll spend my hardearned gymnastics money,on this acoustic."- For whatever reason I've justnever been a money spender.I think it's in my zodiac.So my car is probably thebiggest purchase I've ever made.And I've had my car forlike seven, eight years.It's a 2011 Infinity.
It's working great.I think it was Seattle.- Seattle.- We were going to playthis festival, at a placethat we had previously sold out as R5.So we're going back to thisplace that we had once sold out,As an opening act for a festival.That was kind of trippy.- Hockey!- Hockey's pretty tight.In hockey there's like,they split up the divisionsby two years, so no otherbrothers got to play on a teambut Rocky and I got to play on a team.'Cause we're only 13 months apart.And Rocky was defenseand I was the goalie.- Holding down the D.- The year that we playedtogether where I was the goalieand he was defense wewon the championship.- When I first started playingguitar, and shortly afterRoss started playing guitar,there was a moment whereif I was playing a song Ihad learned and I was like"Sick I know how to play thissong", there was a slightlike "I don't want someoneelse to know how to playthis song", like I'm young,I can play a couple songs.So if Ross was trying to learnit I'd be like, "Nah man"I'd turn my back.In the act of that there alsowas like "Yo dude try andlearn it with your ear, learnyour own song" or whatever.But, it forces you to goout on your own and kind ofallow yourself to learn theguitar how you would and or,kind of choose your own songs in a way.- Inadvertently, gave mea good lesson for my ear,and for my own taste.- The first time that welived together outside ofthe parents, was uh...- Sherman Oaks.- Yep, that was the first band house.That was a rowdy time actually.- That was a rowdy time.- You get a bunch of peoplemoving out for the first time,doing a band together,and they live in L.A.That was fun.- That was super fun.That was super fun, wehad a garage in the studiojust like this.- Yeah we always have astudio, garage studios.- We should open thattrack, but I remember wakingup one day and just hearingthis faint, is it Queen Mary?- Which one?- I think it's Queen Mary.I remember waking up and justhearing the muffle of it,and I was like "What is that?"Going to the studio and being like "Whoa!"- Out on a full blast.- Yeah.But one memory that wehave from that rowdy time,was we had a house party andthe cops sent a helicopter.[helicopter sounds]That's how rowdy it was.- I think I had just goneto sleep at that point too,which I was like "Damn".Once hit searchlight.- Dude I remember just asearchlight going throughthe window and me being like "Uh oh".- I don't know if this was my first time,but this is a good mishap.We were playing Good MorningAmerica, there was like thisguitar part in the beginningof the song, and it's supposedto have crunch and kind ofbe like, nice and heavy.And for whatever reason Ididn't have the crunch on.And everybody cuts out on this partin this song called Smile.They have like a couplemillion viewers, it cuts out,and it'a just like mingming ming ming ming...And it's just like clean, quiet, guitar.And it was great.And it still on YouTube, andit really isn't that bad but,at the time and if you arein the band and you knowthe song you are definitely like "Yo!"- First music video.We recreated Fall Out Boy'smusic video "Dance, Dance".A long, long, long time ago.It was really Riker's doing.- Yeah.- Riker put it all togetherand we were just like "Okay".- I was going for that "Love Me".- Or the Love Me, Justin Bieber cover.- Yeah when we first startedas a band, we did havemore of this like, punk,super pop punk thing.So we did like a remake ofJustin Bieber "Love Me".And I think that was thefirst thing I was trying toproduce as well.- You know what's crazy?- And it's like super pop punkits kind of sick.- That was like way before YouTube coverswere a thing too.- Yeah we should have stuck toit, we could be huge by now.- We should have stuck to it, oh my gosh.- We've gone back toColorado, and played six flagsElitch's, which is wherelike growing up goingon roller coasters and whatnot.That was kind of a cool moment.
Because,went to Elitch's when wewere like five or six,riding roller coastersand some roller coastersyou're not tall enough foryet and then like kind ofcoming back and like...Playing a show, it's kind of sick.- [Interviewer] Are thereany other firsts that youfeel like you thought maybeI would ask today but didn't,that you wanna, toss in?It's okay if you don'thave any, just wanna dig.- Virginity?- Well guys that was some ofour firsts with Teen Vogue,we hope you guys enjoyed the video.Like, subscribe, comment,do all the things.- All the goods.- Check us out on the internet,and we'll see you around.Have a good day.