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#120 – Five Times August, A Truly Independent Indie Singer-Songwriter
Five Times August is the pseudonym of Dallas-based pop singer-songwriter Bradley James Skistimas. Following a series of independent releases in the early aughts, he gained notoriety after every song on his long-player Fry Street (2005) was featured on the popular MTV series Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.
Brad is as indie as you can get. He passed up opportunities with major labels to go at his career alone.
Brad has written and produced several politically charged songs in the last few years and it was a real privilege to be able to speak to him.
I hope you enjoy the music and conversation.
Website Five Times August
Twitter/X Five Time August X
Ahmad (00:00.206)
It’s like, oh, so I’m sorry about that. But anyway, listen, you know what’s also weird? What’s really weird is calling you Brad. Like, I just always think of you as five times August. Like, saying.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (00:02.526)
That’s all good.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (00:07.168)
Yeah.
That’s okay. I get Mr. Five all the time or Mr. August or something. I mean, I’ve had that name. I’ve had the band name since I was 18. So I get all kinds of concoctions of different names because no one knows me as Brad.
Ahmad (00:25.686)
I love it. I love it. Well, you came on my radar a year ago. Yeah. God, it feels so much longer than that. When, you know, when your album came out, Silent War, and it was great, man. It was a great, great album. And just when I thought like, yeah, I mean, that’s great. Then you came out with your song, you know, this ain’t rock and roll. And it was like the lyrics, the lyrics are, I think what really smash it for me. Like your, your lyrics are just fantastic.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (00:27.229)
It’s all good.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (00:38.92)
Oh, thanks. Thank you.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (00:47.129)
Mm. Ha ha. Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (00:54.018)
Hmm.
Ahmad (00:55.138)
Um, because for me, you know, what we’ve been for in the last few years, this absolute shit show, you know, what for me was a massive thing was the complete lack of dissidents amongst the, the music industry, you know, the rebellious people, you know, the rappers, the rock and roll, you know, the fire brands, the people who stuck it to the man, you know, in the seventies and eighties, and I was putting my finger on, it was at this camera shot.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (00:56.376)
Thank you.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (01:17.334)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (01:22.528)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (01:24.866)
But you know, like, you know, like in the seventies, sixties, seventies, and maybe even a little bit in the eighties, like all those people would be like, no, you will not stamp down on us. And I was like, no, it was like tumbleweed. It was complete silence. And actually sometimes it was the opposite. It was like, they were properly shilling for big pharma and the governments. What happened, mate? Brad, what the frack happened?
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (01:36.18)
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (01:44.649)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (01:48.412)
Yeah, I don’t know. I can’t tell you because those are all my heroes. I mean, my whole life is music since I was a kid. So, you know, I always sat on the outskirts. I was this clean cut indie singer songwriter kid for the last 20 years, you know, growing up and then I became a family man and I was never going to be, you know, I never looked at myself as rebellious or dangerous of any kind.
And those were all those guys over there. They’re the cool ones, right? They’re the ones that stand up to the man and are sex, drugs, and rock and roll, right? That wasn’t gonna be me. And then we get to this moment in 2020, where I’m like, you know, I’m looking at this world falling apart, that this, my naive outlook on humanity and everything’s changing. I’m like, looking around going like, where are all my guys?
Ahmad (02:18.53)
Mmm.
Ahmad (02:27.777)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (02:45.084)
You know, where is everybody? Um, and, and none of them were there. And so, you know, it, it took some, a little bit of soul-searching on my end to, to kind of go, you know what, I, I need to say something, not just, I mean, just musically, I, I think I needed to vent because I was shut off creatively, um, for most of 2020 and, and I really didn’t know what to say, but also, you know, kind of.
what we’re talking about here, I’m sitting there going like, okay, somebody’s gonna say something here at any moment, and it’s gonna turn things around because culture drives things. And then, you know, you finally do start to see people saying stuff, but what are they doing? They’re joining the regime and they’re promoting the shot. And all of a sudden, they do show up in droves for this massive campaign to get your shot and all these other big pharma propaganda pieces.
Ahmad (03:18.893)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (03:41.492)
We saw it on the late night shows and everybody posting their picture. And you see it all in one sort of lump, one big happening, right? And it’s not like that was just like all these celebrities are sitting around going, you know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna go get my shot for the betterment of humanity and post this picture. This is an orchestrated campaign that got anybody and everybody that.
Ahmad (03:59.566)
Mm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (04:08.736)
that was willing to in art and culture to peddle this thing. And so, you know, that’s one of the reasons why I go so hard at them now. I mean, I call out everybody because it was everybody. I mean, really out of the last, you know, 60 years of pop culture, we ended up with Eric Clapton speaking out after he got the shot. And Van Morrison of that sort of legendary era.
of artists and then the rest of it’s kind of just like, you know, it’s indie guys and guys that aren’t tethered to contracts and stuff. But you got, you know, we all know each other now. Like it was such a small handful of musicians and actors, comedians that were willing to say something. But the exciting part of that is there’s something new happening in art and culture. And it’s and we’re right now.
Ahmad (04:55.202)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (05:05.716)
at that turning point where we’re starting to really make dents and compete with the old mainstream that I think is going to fall away over the next several years. So we’ll see what happens.
Ahmad (05:22.09)
I hope so. Do you know Hi-Rez? The rapper.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (05:25.664)
Yeah, yeah, great guy. Yeah, he’s doing great things.
Ahmad (05:29.594)
Yeah, I just had him on the podcast. Yeah, he is hilarious, he’s hilarious. And the thing is, I have so much love and respect for you creative guys, because I’ll tell you what, I think your medium, like the arts and culture and music, can cut through the narrative so much sharper than any doctor coming with science and data to say, no, look, everything we’ve been taught is
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (05:34.026)
I did you
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (05:37.687)
Yeah.
Ahmad (05:58.082)
wrong. The problem is there’s so much dissonance and so much noise and information. Like some people going, no, the shots are great. And then other people going, no, the shots aren’t that great. And there’s increased adverse effects and there’s all cause and effect. It all just becomes white noise. But storytelling, music, art, that is a powerful medium. And that’s why it’s used as propaganda by the opposition. That’s why they use it. And actually what I found was there wasn’t much
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (06:13.121)
Bye.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (06:24.066)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (06:26.946)
coming back at them. And that’s why I think people like you and Hi-Rez, I don’t think you realize how important you guys are in this war, because listen, we are in a spiritual war. And what you’re doing is massive. It really is. Can I read out some of the lyrics? I really want people to listen to your song, “‘Ain’t No Rock and Roll.” I think it was your last one. I mean, just some of the words I’ll just read out. I mean, it’s really powerful. No one stuck around for their protest job.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (06:50.54)
Mm-hmm.
Sure. Yeah.
Ahmad (06:58.082)
All the stars and the big pharma whores shilling for a check from their corporate chores. All the actors say what they’re paid to say while the fans take the blame. All the once cool fools that were me and you, well, they pushed us all away. Because there ain’t no rock and roll and the blues have lost it. So all the punks gave the man control. Of course they did. And every pop stars bought and sold.
No, there ain’t no rock and roll. And you’re right. I mean, the thing is, all these people, they’re meant to be fighting back against the man. You’ve just realized it’s all just an act. They’re all pretending because ultimately the man is doing this and they’re just their puppets and everything they’re pretending to be anti-establishment and anti, you know, the man is just all fake. It’s not real.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (07:32.693)
Hehehe
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (07:39.611)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (07:46.026)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (07:52.304)
Right. Well, you know, that’s the thing that this was the time to show it like there was never a better time in the in his in our lifetime to stand up against the man, so to speak, I know the whole persona of rock and roll is standing up against the man damn the man and we get to this point and after you know all these years you look back over
Vietnam protest singers and then when they get together in the 80s for Farm Aid and they raise money and like all these huge moments in rock and roll and music and then nothing, right? And nothing when it really mattered. And so like, it’s the thing for me with Ain’t No Rock and Roll was realizing that, yeah, it’s just a farce. It’s just a marketing term.
Ahmad (08:31.135)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (08:49.316)
You know, it doesn’t mean anything that we thought it meant. And so, you know, now I go back and I look at all those moments in history and go, well, how many of those, you know, important cultural moments were orchestrated? And they weren’t actually the organic moment that we thought unfolded in front of us. And so, you have to question the entire thing now.
Ahmad (09:09.623)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (09:18.216)
And because like, you know, that’s what the song is, there ain’t there just ain’t no rock and roll. And so I don’t know what the current thing is, like, like what me what Hi-Rez are doing, the other artists that are speaking out. I don’t even call it rock and roll because I don’t know what it is. It’s because the artists that are speaking up. It’s really great because it has that.
that meaning behind it. It’s very punk rock to speak out, you know, but I don’t think what we’re doing is really punk rock because I think punk rock was just a farce, you know. There are punk rockers. There’s plenty of guys that I know. The band, The Defiant is a great, they’re a new band that came together of super, they’re a super group of guys that got kicked out of their bands.
Ahmad (09:55.37)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (10:06.86)
for not getting the jazz. There’s Pete Perotta on drums who came from the offspring and Dickie Barrett from the Mighty, Mighty Boss Stones. Greg Camp from Smash Mouth. He wrote the song All Star that we all know. So these guys have come together and they have a very punk rock attitude and they’re doing what they know because that’s what we all grew up with. We grew up with rock and roll and punk rock and this sort of attitude. But I don’t think what we’re doing is that. I think it’s something
more meaningful and better. And I don’t know what we’re gonna call it, but all these artists that are speaking out cover so many different genres and it’s the attitude behind the message. It’s not even the genre itself or anything. It’s just what it is. It’s the fact that we made it this far and we spoke up and we didn’t go away from it. That’s the thing that excites me so much about the moment that we’re at right now is we’re four years.
removed from the beginning of all this. And those that spoke out are not only still here, but our fan bases, our followings are growing and they continue to grow. That’s not happening on the other side. And so that’s how I know we’re winning. And that’s how I know what we’re doing is important. Not just in the arts and cultures, but doctors that are speaking out, scientists, anybody that spoke out in the last few years, we’re winning and you can tell.
Ahmad (11:08.875)
Mmm.
Ahmad (11:24.694)
Hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (11:35.412)
because we’re still here and we’re still growing and we’re so confident in what we’ve been saying because we never had to change our minds since the beginning of all this. Everybody that called me insane and dangerous and whatever name they wanted to call me, I never had to pivot from what I thought was true since the beginning, but they have. You can list out the whole thing of…
give an inch, take a mile, because they went from social distancing and that was the thing. And then one mass, two mass, and then shots and then, you know, the whole thing that stretched out to this point in four years. Anyway, I digress.
Ahmad (12:05.454)
Dude.
Ahmad (12:16.222)
Now I was gonna say, I think you’ve got some really polite people who simply said you’re dangerous or crazy. Like you never got called a racist or a white supremacist or you know, misogynistic and all these other things that they were a climate change denier and a Putin lover. You know, the thing is anyone who just went against it got called the worst things ever. You know, it was just, you know, everything like Trump supporter, quack, whatever.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (12:23.786)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (12:28.524)
Hehehehe
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (12:34.049)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (12:41.104)
Oh yeah. Yeah, every name in the book. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that’s the funny thing about it is people that, you know, I started five times August when I was 18. So it was 20 years old already. By the time I started speaking, I had 20 years of a fan base of people that had been following me, should have known where my heart was with things, known what I’m about, known where I’m coming from with my other songs that weren’t even related.
And instantaneously the door was shut. Like, you just, I don’t, you know, there was no conversation to be had. It was, you’d get a, I would get a mean message from these people. Like I completely let them down. And then it was just like, I’m done listening to your music, I’m deleting it. And as I was making new fans and connecting with new people over this time, like you find that they, those are…
those are the genuinely nice people, right? Like it’s kind of like the essence of Ain’t No Rock and Roll. You know, like it’s with, you start to examine all of your friendships, right? And then you really understand who was your friend during that, who was actually your friend the whole time, right? And who was a farce and who was only there, you know, for whatever reason, especially in the music industry, because I lost so many friends so quickly. But as…
Ahmad (13:45.079)
Boom.
Ahmad (14:07.436)
Fair weather friends, you know.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (14:10.632)
Right, right. Yeah, absolutely. And, but the thing that like I noticed so quickly on this side of the aisle was that, you know, as I would get messages from people saying, thank you for my songs, they meant so much and they were so kind. And then as you start to go to rallies and protests and meet people, everybody’s so loving. And then that feeling of that, you know, peace and love.
Ahmad (14:32.876)
Mm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (14:38.46)
uh, kind of movement from the sixties That we’re talking about is actually on our side when you when you go to the rallies and stuff And you see people hugging and it’s not just conservatives and republicans. It’s everybody It’s literally everybody from all different walks all different beliefs all different backgrounds and it’s such a beautiful thing and uh, and that’s where the purity of
Ahmad (14:42.518)
Yeah.
Ahmad (14:54.542)
everyone.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (15:03.048)
of humanity lives is it lives on our side of the aisle. That’s how I know, you know, and when I speak out on X and Twitter and I call these people out and the trolls come to you, they come at you with such an ugly tone and you know they’re miserable. And so it’s another reaffirming thing that’s, you know, okay, you know, I’m on the right side here. There’s nothing you can do. There’s no graph or data like you’re talking about that can…
convince me otherwise because the proof is literally in front of our face. You don’t even need a graph or data to, you know, to argue what’s happened over the last few years, because, you know, I was thinking about the other day, you can show me any other, show me any graph or data that, uh, you want the people forget the core message of the last of the beginning of it all of say 2020, 20 through 2022 was
If you do not listen to your government, you are going to die from COVID. Like that was the message. We are so far removed from that now that it clearly was a lie. Like the propaganda, the fear, everything that was, you know, thrusted in front of us. The people that didn’t listen to the government are still here. There’s no whispers in our community of like, yeah, I really kind of wish I got the shot. There’s no whispers of.
Ahmad (16:06.103)
Mmm.
Ahmad (16:19.288)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (16:28.584)
of my family member who was unvaccinated. We’re not having that conversation on this side of the aisle. All that stuff’s just, you know, it’s just more propaganda. But the proof is right in front of us. It’s so blatant. But yeah, I think that that’s where music and art and culture comes in, because you can paint this clearer picture that hits you emotionally. And when you start to collect the pieces from the last several years, that’s what I enjoy doing right now is…
is taking the pieces and assemble them to create the big picture, right? And then when you present it to people now that were sort of farther away from it, you can see it now and go, oh wow, yeah, that was pretty nuts. That was pretty ridiculous. That was pretty absurd and cruel. The way that we handled senior citizens in home or sick people in hospitals dying and leaving them alone. It was pretty cruel to have Zoom funerals and…
Ahmad (17:04.12)
Mm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (17:26.188)
You know, all the ridiculous things, there’s so many that you, to keep track of, I forget some of them a lot of the time, but there’s too many, but when you put them together, and that’s what I like to do with my music videos, is you know, with Ain’t No Rock and Roll, it’s like, here’s everybody. Here’s everybody that lets you down, and this is what they said. You know, it’s not just a picture of them. Like in that video, in all my videos, I try to put information there.
Ahmad (17:31.234)
Too many.
Ahmad (17:49.07)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (17:53.772)
So you can actually have context of what it is. It’s not just that the rock and roll speakers and the rock and roll artists didn’t speak out, but here’s what they said. So there’s little strips of headlines next to them of what they actually said and did. And it’s the same thing with like my video, Sad Little Man or Gates Behind the Bars, is there’s actually references there. Mm-hmm, yeah. But it’s a fun thing to do as an artist because I feel like
Ahmad (18:13.982)
Oh yeah, I seen that one. Case behind the bars.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (18:24.3)
you know, over the last three years since I started releasing these songs, I really found myself and who I really wanted to be all those years ago that I was kind of afraid to be. And so it pushed me forward to speak up for my family, my kids, and have more substance behind what I’m actually doing with my art and what I wanna say. So, you know, I just, yeah, it’s a shame that more haven’t been doing it.
Ahmad (18:47.746)
Menace.
Ahmad (18:51.886)
I mean, it’s the same in my profession. Don’t worry about it. I mean, the thing is, I think what you’re doing is amazing. I’ll give you another example. It’s very difficult for someone to fact check you. At the end of the day, you’re just telling people how you feel, what you thought of the world, you’re putting out music, it’s humorous, it’s emotional, and it’s like comedians, right? Like who’s gonna fact check a comedian? But if I, as an orthopedic surgeon, say,
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (18:56.373)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (19:21.486)
Oh, you know what? This isn’t right, blah, blah. They’ll be like, oh, but you’re just an orthopedic foot and ankle surgeon. Go back to fixing feet. What do you know? People have a go at you or go, oh, we fact-checked you and you don’t know what you’re talking about. And then they start getting stupid crap research papers that are flawed. And then you’re stuck in the mud slinging it out. And I think you’re kind of like immune in the art world where you can just put out creative content.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (19:31.253)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (19:36.765)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (19:50.794)
And it’s just great. And it’s like, you know, it’s a song. Like what are you gonna do? It’s like, you’re gonna have a song dance off or something, you know?
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (19:56.428)
Hmm. Well, you know, that’s…
Right. No, it is funny. I mean, I do catch flack, you know, I’m just a musician What do I know right and in the irony of that is that you know, everybody that told me, you know to trust the experts early on That that ended up bailing on me that that’s no longer my friend All my friends now are doctors and scientists like over the last several years like all my friends now that I’ve made are experts in their fields
Ahmad (20:08.23)
Oh yeah. Yeah.
Ahmad (20:20.501)
Mm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (20:26.588)
And I leave that up to them, right? Like I know I’m not a doctor or a scientist. You don’t have to tell me that. I don’t put doctor five times August in front of my name, but I do feel a responsibility to use, you know, to use my skills and ability to speak out and on what I’ve observed and what I’ve experienced in life. And I have, you know, personal reasons too, because.
You know, everybody’s been affected by this. It’s not like, you know, everybody should have a say. Everybody lived through it, right? So everybody, and everybody has something to offer to bring to this moment. We all have voices through social media. We should all be using them. But, you know, yeah, I do catch that flak anyway. And like that was one of the most awakening.
Ahmad (21:11.81)
But it’s funny you should say that.
Sorry, you just said we’ve got social media, we’ve got social media and we’ve got voices and we should be using it. Funny thing is, Brad, but not really in this crazy world that we live in. I think you’re a little bit younger than me. I’m 48, but when I grew up in the 80s, it was all about free speech and we’re not like the commies, the commies, you can’t say anything out there. It’s all censored, Russia, China, whatever, China. And we were all about free speech, but we don’t have free speech anymore.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (21:16.193)
Say what’s that?
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (21:20.236)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (21:39.275)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (21:42.951)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (21:45.43)
Like if you step out of the line and say the wrong thing, you get canceled. Like you don’t know this, but a year ago exactly, I did a video about saying, hey, like there’s something weird going on. I’m seeing weird stuff. My colleagues are saying weird stuff. Maybe we should stop these shots and investigate. And since that year has gone by, I’ve been subjected to harassment, bullying, investigations, referrals to the licensing board, suspensions. And my career is over now. My 25 year surge-
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (21:46.666)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (21:51.351)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (22:14.234)
Mm.
Ahmad (22:15.15)
careers ended all because I dare to use my social media platform to say, what the frack is going on? Um, and so nothing wrong about my surgical practice. I’m an excellent surgeon, everything. I’m not out of a job. And I think that’s the problem that we’re in right now. We’re actually, yes, we’ve all got social media accounts, but most people are cowed into saying nothing because they know if they, they say anything even remotely controversial.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (22:18.136)
Hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (22:23.257)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (22:27.916)
Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (22:39.617)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (22:43.49)
they’re going to get struck down, especially if it goes against the government narrative. Do you not think so?
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (22:44.855)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (22:48.944)
Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, we’ve been through the thick of that for sure. And, you know, speaking of rock stars, by the way, I think that every doctor, anybody in the medical profession that spoke out is the actual rock star of the last several years. They actually took the punk rock route and risked it all. And I thank you for being one that spoke out. I know that that’s hard. And I see the doctors that have risked so much, you know, in speaking out.
Um, yeah, it’s a sad situation. And I mean, that’s the idea is to make an example out of you. You know, it happened with Clapton when he spoke out, all he did was an interview to tell you what he, you know, what he experienced after, after getting it. Right. The next thing you know, he’s in Rolling Stone featured as an anti-vax conspiracy theorist, they even brought out the, uh, racist trope and stuff, just to add a little extra layer.
Ahmad (23:25.602)
Yeah.
Ahmad (23:33.861)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (23:44.416)
And that’s what they do to you. And that was an interesting and very revealing thing to me in my journey in releasing these songs because from one song to the next I lean I’ve leaned more and more into just saying, you know screw it. I’m gonna say what I want to say and The first song I put out was called God help us all and it’s very tame compared to this of songs I released later
And by the time I got to Sad Little Man…
Ahmad (24:13.931)
I’ve noticed that you get a bit more feisty. You get a bit more feisty.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (24:18.896)
Right. Because, you know, it was very revealing as an artist where you’re like, you think that you have this freedom because you are an art, but then, you know, to put out Sad Little Man and then get the video, this piece of art that you’ve created, that’s just a cartoon. Like, it’s at the end of the day, like the video for Sad Little Man is essentially just a cartoon. And the song is not pinpointing anything lyrically. So the song’s open.
But that song in that video have been flagged as medical misinformation. The Gates Behind the Bars video was completely removed from YouTube. And that was really eye-opening to me, that censorship and suppression has crossed over into the arts now, where these overlords on the internet are interpreting art for the people now and deciding what it means to others.
and saying, well, you can’t see that, you know, it’s dangerous. I mean, I’ve had videos that aren’t even like my video for I Will Not Be Leaving Quietly. It’s just a clip show of rallies of people in the street with signs. And that video was demonetized and flagged as dangerous because of what’s on the signs. You know, if that was on the news, you wouldn’t think twice. It’s just it’s it. And that’s the thing is it’s reality.
That moment happened. We had worldwide rallies for several years while they were screaming super spreader events, right? And any one of those should have been hot beds that destroyed the rest of the world, but it didn’t happen. So there’s this effort. I posted this yesterday. There’s an effort to memory hole that time and make it out to be something that…
Ahmad (26:08.498)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (26:11.54)
you know, they’re going to start telling you it didn’t happen that way. You know, it’s like when they tell you nobody was, nobody was forced to get the shot and you’re like, well, no, not yeah. Some people were forced to get the shot. I mean, they really were put into an uncomfortable position to have to question their livelihood and what they’re going to do with their family or, you know, all these terrible things that people, these, these positions people were put into, and not to mention children.
Ahmad (26:15.264)
Exactly.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (26:40.48)
who don’t have a choice, who are dragged by their parents and forced and you see these crying pictures and it’s just sad. And that’s one of the reasons I’m relentless online and it dawned on me maybe a year into it that we’re cleaning up this mess the rest of our life. And not just COVID stuff, just the whole entire really far left woke.
agenda of everything that’s just has unveiled itself over the last couple of years. So it goes far beyond COVID. It went from, I think a lot of people on our side went from going like, yeah, I’m speaking out to, oh, there’s this thing over here now. That’s not good. And it sort of morphed into just a battle of good versus evil. And that’s what the fight is. That’s the battle at hand is good versus evil. So
Ahmad (27:35.906)
Brother, I love you man.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (27:36.185)
But we’re going to be in this fight for the rest of our lives.
Ahmad (27:40.446)
I love you, man. I love you so much. You have no fracking idea, man. I like serious. I think I know a lot more about you than you know about me, but you don’t need to worry because essentially you’re looking in a mirror, like everything you’ve just said, everything. Like, you know, I started off questioning the whole COVID lockdown business, but now, you know, I think everything’s linked. You know, the whole climate scam, the whole transgender ideology scam, everything, the big pharma, big food, you know, the medical industrial complex.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (28:05.825)
Yeah.
Ahmad (28:09.366)
these stupid bankers wars left, right and center, the division we’re seeing everywhere, these weird mass immigration policies we’re seeing across the West and well, everything’s linked and it’s not unreal unrelated. And the thing is, if you take one thing in isolation, you’re missing the bigger picture. And you know, if I’m going to wake up to all this, I’m going to wake up, you know, and speak out. And what I sense in you is something called the Crusader gene. So basically I did a podcast with someone called Ed Griffin.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (28:35.832)
Hmm.
Ahmad (28:37.822)
And he wrote a book about the federal reserve, you know, the creature from Jekyll Island, he’s 92, he’s an American, he’s amazing. You should look him up. And he said, you know, less than 1% of the population has got this crusader gene amygdala and you’ve got one. And the more he said that I got goosebumps. Cause I’m coming from him. That’s high praise, but mate, I’m telling you right now, you got that, you got that 1% crusader gene. Like the thing is like, it doesn’t matter what, you’re not going to shut up. You’re going to speak the truth. You know, when people say, you know, a man can have babies or a woman has a penis, you’re going to say no.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (28:46.686)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (28:54.872)
That’s awesome.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (29:03.148)
Yeah.
Ahmad (29:07.87)
No, that’s not true. That’s just nonsense. We have to fight it. Otherwise, what the hell, man?
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (29:08.706)
Right.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (29:12.297)
Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.
Yeah, I mean, that’s the thing. I think a lot of us have reached this point where, you know, before COVID, I was live and let live. I really, I couldn’t have cared less. And most people I think were, you know, we just wanna get along with, get along. But you get shoved to this point where you have to put your foot down and say, I’m not going along with that. And I’m not ever going to entertain that idea because you start down a slippery slope.
Ahmad (29:30.548)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (29:44.244)
You know, I’m not ever going to entertain the idea that a man can get pregnant and have periods. And that is just, it’s just nonsense. And if we entertain that idea, then where does it go from there, right? But, you know, from a musical perspective, everything that you just described, everything that’s happening in the world, you know, the word that comes to mind is orchestrated. And you think about an orchestra on stage
It’s the entire picture that you’re seeing. You can’t, it’s not just the, it’s not just the violins over here or the cello, the single cello, it’s the entire thing that’s happening. And I think COVID is that thread, right? Like once you start pulling on that thread and questioning COVID and especially the COVID shot, you start to unravel this sweater that just keeps going and…
You see this bigger picture and you understand that everything is orchestrated. It’s so blatantly obvious at this point, how, how orchestrated it is. I don’t even understand how people can’t see it, but, uh, I see it everywhere. And especially when you come from the entertainment industry and you understand how, you know, how orchestrated moments are, I mean, everything you see on TV.
Ahmad (31:01.194)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (31:08.888)
is scripted and is professionally lit, edited. It’s all meant to present something to you, right? You have to ask yourself, when you see something on TV or when you hear something on the radio or read something online, it is designed to tell you something. And you have to ask yourself, what is it trying to tell me? And should I accept it?
Ahmad (31:18.626)
Mmm.
Ahmad (31:32.255)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (31:38.448)
And that’s what I do, you know, looking at anything that I see is, what is this trying to tell? It’s like with like everything that happened, you know, with the war right now is like we started seeing all of these terrible, grotesque pictures online of people dying, getting shot. And we weren’t seeing that with the Ukraine War.
And we live in a world where saying the wrong word gets you canceled, right? We know this for the fact. You say the wrong word, even, you get canceled. All of a sudden, like nothing, everybody’s sharing these terrible pictures of war. And we’re allowed to see it. You know, that’s not an organic thing. Right. And-
Ahmad (32:17.993)
Yep.
Ahmad (32:32.95)
You watch that a little bit.
Ahmad (32:38.258)
I’ve been questioning that, Brad. I’ve been questioning that. I’ve been saying, what the hell? Like, we never saw anything at Ukraine. We never saw any children dying in Ukraine. You know, stuff has been going on there. Maybe a lot more now is happening in a very short timeframe. But you know, there could have been a complete electronic blank down, you know, lockdown and nothing was coming out of there. We’re being allowed to see stuff. And the question is, why? Why? And I don’t understand
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (32:38.484)
You know, it’ll work.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (32:42.914)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (32:48.97)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (33:05.536)
Yeah. All right.
Ahmad (33:07.506)
Certainly puts the Palestinians in a very poor light and the Israelis in a very bad light. So why would they do that? Why? Cause from a PR point of view, Israel is definitely losing. It’s definitely creating a lot of division and hatred. You know, what is this all about? You know, there’s a much bigger plan here.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (33:21.438)
Mm-hmm.
Well, that’s it right there. Division and hatred. You know, I think that’s the idea is division and hatred. And the fact is that we are being used. You know, I’m not saying any of it’s fake. I’m saying, why are we allowed to see it? You know, we know that we are used. You know, we know we’re used. You know, our bodies mean nothing.
Ahmad (33:31.758)
100%
Ahmad (33:42.734)
100%
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (33:50.568)
Our life means nothing to the people that do orchestrate this stuff. We see it every day. So, yeah, I don’t know. I think that it’s just on the most basic level, it’s division and it can control. And for what, what are we working towards? But what are they working towards to say? But yeah, man, I don’t know. I just…
I’m just saying we have to get used to questioning things that we see online and why we’re seeing and what is its message. And that makes you a stronger individual in these times because you have, look, we don’t have an option. We live in the artificial intelligence, the era of artificial intelligence where you can’t discern the difference from reality and fiction anymore. So you don’t have the option to just take things as they come and say, oh, wow.
Ahmad (34:26.018)
Yeah.
Ahmad (34:42.774)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (34:45.6)
You know, it was on the news. I saw it. So what? You know, so what if you saw it on the news? Did you see it in person? You know, I don’t know. You just see the links at which people will go to sell you on a narrative, to sell humanity on whatever the agenda is. And we just don’t have the option anymore. So, you know, and I don’t want that world for my kids.
And that’s the thing that’s why I wake up every morning. I’m like, all right, how do I do my best as a father to create a world, to at least fight for a better world for my kids? I used to say, and I’m still in this mode, but that was the switch where I enlisted myself to this time. I didn’t, I had plenty of military friends growing up. And…
Ahmad (35:16.849)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (35:43.212)
friends that, you know, after high school, they joined and they went to Fallujah and fought in the war. And I never did that. And so to me, like this moment now is like, well, what do I have the offer have to offer is my platform and my music and my words. And, and that’s, you know, how I will use it. And I will use it relentlessly as if we are at war because we are at war. And I will wake up every day doing whatever I can to speak out against it. And
I think we all need to sort of take that mindset is, wake up, do what you can with what you have and understand this is not a, it’s not a traditional war. It’s a war for our minds to control what we can say. And just like with what we were talking about earlier with factual information, you have to be willing to say, no, I am not entertaining that idea because it’s not true.
Ahmad (36:19.618)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (36:40.872)
And if I entertain it, then it flows into the next generation of kids who are going to grow up naive, not knowing any different. When you watch, I mean, I could talk about this all day. I don’t mean to ramble so much. But just looking at the digital realm of things, my kids are growing up on actual like,
Ahmad (36:52.578)
Mmm.
Ahmad (37:00.051)
No, I love it.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (37:09.82)
listening to music, for example, they have records and CDs, and I don’t really prefer that they listen to anything online because these are tangible things they can hold that can’t be edited once you have it, right? So this generation that’s growing up in the digital realm, AI, artificial intelligence, it’s gonna be a massively confusing and hard time because…
Ahmad (37:23.458)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (37:34.912)
They make things are gonna get memory hold. History will be rewritten because if it’s all digital and we all go down that route and willingly just say, hey, it’s progress. Isn’t this cool? We can now open our car door with our wrist because it’s microchip. Like all these things are so dangerous and stupid. It’s stupid to not be aware of where this is going to take us. When Elon Musk shares
Ahmad (37:42.636)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (38:04.584)
a gigantic, what did he share the other day that it was called Optimus, the robot person. I hate seeing stuff like that. I don’t use the word hate very much, but I’m just like, we all know where this is going. Like, yeah, you can show the robot cracking an egg and how great that is. It’s gonna cook for us, right? It’s gonna make our food and take our kids to school. It’s definitely not going to turn into the Terminator down the road and destroy all of us, right? So.
Ahmad (38:33.335)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (38:34.216)
You have to observe these things and be conscious of it and understand there’s so much control Over what we’re seeing what we’re doing where we’re heading Go ahead
Ahmad (38:42.254)
Can I tell you something?
Yeah, can I tell you about, I had this conversation with a guy called Larry Pilevsky. He’s a holistic pediatrician, MD, out in the States, your end, neck of the woods. But basically, he was telling me about the whole digital platforms and iPads and screens and what damage it does to kids. And I didn’t understand this, but he was saying, you know, we all develop with this reptilian brain, this hind brain.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (38:54.849)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (39:11.934)
And then we’ve got the mid brain and then the frontal brain, the frontal lobe is the creative personality, the whole, all that kind of stuff, higher thinking. But the reptilian brain loves the screen time. It loves the dopamine hits that it gets from it. And these things are designed deliberately by the social media companies, by the computer game manufacturers, by Netflix and whatever, to make these programs and games addictive.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (39:28.224)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (39:38.946)
So they’re getting these instant gratification, instant dopamine hits, and the reptilian brain loves it. And the problem is the kids that are spending too much time on screen time don’t develop their frontal brain, don’t develop frontal capacity. So they are all about instant gratification. They’re not loving, they’re reptilian, they’re cold. They have the tantrums, the anger, and easily compliant.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (40:04.158)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (40:04.862)
you know, obey authority, just robots. You’re getting, you’re just breeding robots. And when I heard this, I got goosebumps. I was like, oh, frack. You know, I already kind of really limit screen time with my kids, but I became a bit of a Nazi over the weekend. I was like, oh my God, no, put that screen away, put the iPads away, let’s not charge them up. Because, you know, it’s worrying because it’s bad enough with the adults. And you know, you’ve been there on the train platform where everybody’s hunched up, they’ve got that.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (40:08.768)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (40:18.869)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (40:23.968)
Right. Yeah.
Ahmad (40:32.474)
neck, shoulder, posture, where they’re on their screens, just scrolling rapidly through the reels or whatever, is bad enough as adults, but at least you’ve developed your brain by then. But with the young kids, and I don’t know about you, but my kids are really young. I’ve got three kids, four, six, and eight. You’re screwing with their brain development. So it’s not like, oh, a little bit of screen time now and in the future we’ll limit it. No, you need to stop it now. You need to get them out playing in the fields and in the garden, even when it’s snowy and cold.
read a book, just like I’ve got them playing chess. I’ve got my, I got the chess board out. And you know what, my kids are playing chess. It’s great just seeing them play chess, like little four year old playing chess, you know, just, and it can be done. And so you’re right. It’s all about control. It’s all about our next generation, mate. Cause everything I’ve sacrificed, listen to me, I’ve sacrificed my career and everything for humanity, but especially my kids. Cause one day, you know, my kids, I,
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (41:11.48)
Right. Yeah.
Ahmad (41:30.294)
Just like you, I look at this whole thing as a war, okay? Like the second world war, you know, and what did, what did our grandparents sacrifice? And I think one day my kids might turn back and if I don’t want them to turn around and say, dad, where were you when we needed you, you know, we’re in the shit show because of people like you didn’t do anything, at least they’ll be able to look back and go, you know what? Dad fought for us, you know, whether we won or not, I hope, hopefully we will win. But you know, they will know that dad was fighting for them. And you sound like.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (41:43.881)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (41:48.085)
Right.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (41:52.606)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (41:59.146)
a strong, protective, loving, caring man. And I think we need more of those kind of guys.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (42:08.472)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, you’re right. I mean that was one of the things that drove me to speak out I mean that was the main thing, you know, I speak about looking around wondering where my heroes were but that was that was the thing was Exactly. What you said is I don’t want my kids to look back and say where were you dad? You know, what did you do? In the wrist, you know winning or losing doesn’t matter. It’s it’s the act of doing it and
Ahmad (42:38.027)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (42:38.468)
Yeah, I wake up every day doing it. And as far as like screen time goes and stuff, you know, kids, they’re not aware of it. Like I’m aware of it. Like I use social media as a tool to say what I need to say, but I would not be on social media right now if this was another world. My social media platforms were dead prior to COVID. I really wasn’t using them that much other than to say, hey, I put a new song out or here’s a tour.
Ahmad (42:55.726)
same.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (43:06.444)
coming up, but I wasn’t like posting every day saying, you know, whatever it was, I wasn’t posting my food all the time, you know, all that other stuff. But, but, you know, it became it. And I was actually going to I was actually going to leave all the main social sites at the height of all the, you know, the fact checking and all that stuff. I was I was going to bail on it. But then I realized
Ahmad (43:32.365)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (43:32.66)
I’m just gonna stick around and be louder until they kick me off. And fortunately, I only had suspensions. I was never actually removed, but I’ve also been very, I think, conscious and careful with how I word things sometimes. I’ve been a little bit more blunt on X now in the last year since Elon took over. But yeah, I mean, with the kids, you know, the…
Ahmad (43:59.214)
Well, can I ask you something? Can I ask you something? So how has this affected your career in terms of, are you independent, so you’re not having to work with any big label and you don’t need to worry about being canceled and not promoted? Is that how you survive or what is it like for you?
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (44:01.772)
Go ahead.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (44:06.552)
Thanks for watching!
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (44:15.512)
Thank you.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (44:19.252)
Yeah, so I started five times August when I was 18, right after high school. And my vision for my future then was based on the traditional route of I’m going to get my record label deal and have my hit song and, you know, whatever it was back then, it was tied to the old way of doing things. And the arc of my career has been going from that sort of
Ahmad (44:35.224)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (44:47.58)
you know, naive outlook like any anybody starting out music thinks I’m going to get my big record label and have my hit. And and then what happened with me was the internet became this amazing tool for independent artists to reach people. This was back in 2001. I started five times August and so I record songs put them on a website at the time it was called mp3.com
And as an independent artist, you now had this portal into the world for people to discover you, this platform. And then MySpace came along and that became a huge thing. I was like a number one independent artist on MySpace for a long time and really honed in on that. And I had song licenses on MTV shows and films and movies. And so I created this whole independent world for myself where
the further along I went by the time I was meeting with record labels, major record labels, I didn’t really want to do it anymore, which was a new outlook to have when I was, like when I was having those conversations, this was about 2007, eight, nine, was meeting with record labels and I had already had my album distributed in Walmart stores and Best Buy stores here and I’d done that on my own. And that was stuff independent artists weren’t doing at the time. I was touring the country on my own. And so,
Ahmad (45:50.367)
Mmm.
Ahmad (46:08.255)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (46:13.82)
I kind of decided I’m just going to stay independent. And so that path, although it’s been a lot harder and maybe I haven’t been seen as much if I had gone another route, I think prepared me for this time. And I think that everybody on our side of the aisle, our paths led us to be here in this moment and is all sort of divinely aligned in that respect.
Ahmad (46:37.665)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (46:40.96)
because I think I was saved by not going down that route. I used to think I missed out on something. I used to see my other friends, like they would get a record label deal and I’d be like, oh man, they’re gonna get so big now and accomplish so much and go on some amazing tours. And they would, some of them would have some great tours and stuff, but by the time they were dropped from their label, they were so relieved.
Ahmad (46:41.186)
Hmm
Ahmad (46:47.211)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (47:07.316)
And so it was, for the most part, ended up being a terrible experience most of the time. And the few people that I did work with on the mainstream side of things, you know, really screwed me every single time. So it ultimately became, you know, financially or however it was, every single time, it always came down to, well, I’m just going to do it myself. And because that’s the only way to make sure it gets done right. So I very much became, you know, I mean, I have a lot of
Ahmad (47:13.416)
Mmm.
Ahmad (47:29.698)
Hmm
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (47:37.836)
I’ve made so many friends across the spectrum, from indie artist friends to people that you know very well. And I lost a lot of opportunities, I know that for sure. And I lost a lot of friends. And I lost a lot of fans. I mean, I basically took everything that was over on one side of my career for 20 years.
and just mangled it and saw what came out on the other side in the process of speaking out. But on the other side of it has been this beautifully satisfying thing of the friendships I’ve made and the new artists that I’m friends with that I probably wouldn’t have been friends with otherwise. All the doctors and scientists I’ve become friends with. The fans that I have now, the relationship there is completely different. Whereas,
Ahmad (48:26.796)
Mmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (48:34.368)
You know, I don’t feel like any sort of celebrity when I meet somebody. It’s just a person, you know? We’re all just people doing what we’re doing.
Ahmad (48:38.786)
Do you know?
Ahmad (48:45.686)
100%, I don’t know about you, but I’ve always said no one is above me and no one is below me. One of the things I love about my supporters they’re just so loyal. Like it’s my extended family, it’s my tribe. And we just have so much in common. I’ve jettisoned a lot of so-called friends that I’ve known for decades. And I just feel like I actually don’t have anything in common with them.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (48:46.24)
Go ahead, though.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (48:52.088)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (49:03.745)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (49:13.494)
I don’t feel like I have the same respect for them. And the ones that I’ve now made from across the world, just like you from backgrounds, like I would never have imagined. You know, I’ve published over a hundred podcasts now and I think probably about 60, 70 of them keep in touch with me regularly and message me. And it’s just really, really nice. And these are people I would never have been in touch with before. And they’re just such good human beings. And I haven’t even met most of them.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (49:34.636)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (49:38.456)
Mm-hmm.
Ahmad (49:41.162)
Like most of them are out there in the States. And I just know that the first time we meet physically, honestly, it’ll be like, we’ve known each other forever. It’ll be like big hugs. And we just tuck into a big steak and have a chat. It’s nice.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (49:50.3)
Yeah. That’s exactly what I have experienced. I mean, this time last year I was in Austria and going from Dallas, Texas to Austria and meeting people over there that had been listening to my music or people I’d meet for the first time. Being in this movement, there’s an instant understanding and respect and…
Ahmad (50:17.292)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (50:18.672)
and a connection there where you already know each other without even knowing each other’s names. By the time you’ve shaken your hands and hugged, you’re just saying thank you to one another for whatever it is that they’ve done. And that’s what I love about it. And that’s another… Yeah, I think you’re right. Yeah.
Ahmad (50:35.479)
Isn’t it trust? Isn’t it, you just trust that these people are good people. The ultimate litmus test, the ultimate barometer of trust and decency and common sense and critical thinking and integrity, they’ve got it. They’ve got it in abundance. And like, you don’t even need to try it out and check that they’ve got it all. Because they’re in this movement, they tick all the boxes.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (50:42.536)
Mm-hmm.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (50:52.508)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah.
Ahmad (51:03.518)
And that’s why you can just hug them, drop your guard and love them. It’s, it’s, it’s really nice.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (51:09.884)
Yeah, it’s, yeah, it is. I mean, it’s very reminiscent of, you know, the old world, that naive outlook I had on humanity prior to 2020 was that, you know, we probably don’t agree on everything and that doesn’t matter. That level of trust and respect that, you know, is there. And…
Ahmad (51:29.581)
No.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (51:35.664)
Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing. That’s one of the things that really excites me about our future and why it’s worth waking up and fighting for is everybody I’ve met across the board, especially being in entertainment. I’m in this, in my own like special space where I’m meeting the political side of things, the medical side of things, just all sorts of individuals from…
all sort of different walks of life, master gardeners and preppers and I don’t know, the list goes on and on. And as I’ve seen these, met these people over the last several years, I see all these different lanes merging to create this better world. Like once we all sort of find this way where all these different sides of things line up.
And the narrative has officially been cracked and broken, and there’s no going back from that. The floodgates happen. All these special people are in place for the next new, I hate to use the word new world, but we have this special new world in front of us. We have a blank canvas to make our own. And there’s so many good people, trustworthy people, the best of the best made it through this moment.
and they’ll be on the other side of it. And that’s an exciting place to be when we get to that side. I don’t know how long it takes to get there, obviously, but once we do, you know, that’s gonna be an amazing time for humanity because truth will have revealed itself and we’ll be working together and integrity will be restored and morality and just…
Ahmad (53:16.403)
Absolutely.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (53:27.781)
I just get excited about that. Yeah, decency.
Ahmad (53:28.118)
Decency. Amen. Listen, I need to pick up my kids soon. I need to ask you a very important question. Imagine you’re on your deathbed. You’re well into your hundreds, don’t worry. You’re surrounded by your loved ones, all your children, grandchildren. Before you pass on and meet your maker, what advice are you gonna give them, health or otherwise?
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (53:50.988)
Oh geez, I don’t know, just always be truthful, you know, and fight for what’s right. I mean, if I had to boil it down to something so simple, that’s what I try to instill in my own kids every day, is be truthful, always do what’s right, and be nice to everybody, but you don’t have to put up with everybody, so, yeah.
Ahmad (54:16.261)
Well, I sum it up as first do no harm, but two don’t take no shit
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (54:22.88)
That’s exactly right. Exactly.
Ahmad (54:26.426)
We’re in the same page, brother. Listen, I love you so much. And you’ve agreed to give me a little clip so all the listeners can hear one of your songs as we roll out and finish this conversation. And we had a bit of a timing issue, which means that we’ve not got as much time as we would have liked, but I need to pick up my kids. Otherwise they’ll be stuck at the school gate. And I don’t want to upset them, especially my middle child. The look that she can give me can literally destroy me. She’s only six.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (54:29.952)
Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (54:49.9)
Hmm.
Ahmad (54:53.238)
But oh my goodness, that looks that she’s got. I think she definitely, yeah, I think she gets it from her mom. Yeah, actually she does. But listen, Brad, I just wanna say thank you so much for, oh yeah. Brad, I really appreciate all that you’re doing. I don’t think you realize, or maybe you do. I’m sure all your fans and supporters have told you, you’re doing a really important job, mate. Like.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (54:54.953)
Where you been daddy? Yeah.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (55:02.993)
Yep, those little girls will get you.
Ahmad (55:16.97)
And I know it might seem like you’re alone. Sometimes I feel like I’m quite alone out here in the medical world. There’s less than a handful of doctors who are openly speaking out against things. And the ones that have been punished very severely. So it can feel quite lonely. I’ve been having quite a tough time last week. You know, I packed in the boots yesterday. My mom was quite sick. She had a heart attack. It’s been quite tough. I’m just gonna go.
to see her in the hospital now. It’s just, everything just seems to be like, oh, coming down on us. But you know, we’re not alone, mate. We’ve got a legion, an army behind us and we will definitely win. We will win for sure. Last words to you before we end this, my friend.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (55:41.959)
Sorry.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (55:53.264)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. 100%.
Brad Skistimas (Five Times August) (56:00.516)
Thanks for having me. Thanks for doing what you’re doing. Thanks for speaking out. Thanks to everybody who’s listening now, who’s speaking out in their own way. And just keep it up. I think that we have a beautiful world ahead of us. We just have to get through this dark and weird, gross time. But there is a community in place. Don’t ever feel alone. There’s a beautiful thing happening. And so it’s just waiting to blossom. It is blossoming. So thanks for having me on. It’s been a great chat.
Ahmad (56:29.454)
I love it. I love your positivity. I needed to hear this. God bless you. My friend.
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