Ryan Meyer (Highly Suspect): Being Open To Your Flaws, The Evolutionary Roots Of Anxiety, And Black Mirror Coming To Life

Today on Auxoro, I sit down with Ryan Meyer (@Ryan_Suspect), the drummer and backing vocalist of the band Highly Suspect. The LA-based band Highly Suspect has been nominated for two Grammy’s, worked with legendary producers like Joel Hamilton and released their latest album in the fall of 2019 called MCID, which stands for My Crew Is Dope. The hip-hop-infused album contains features from Young Thug, Tee Grizzley, and Nothing But Thieves to name a few.

In this episode, Ryan and I discuss making music in Colombia, the psychological breakdown of narcissism, going through breakups, the give and take of social media, Black Mirror and more. Without further ado, please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Ryan Meyer of Highly Suspect:

Here are a few highlights from the conversation:

Cancel culture and being wrong (5:45)

“If I’m open to being flawed, then I’m open to fixing myself and progressing forward, which I like more than the pride associated with being correct” (7:12)

“Many times, when I’m wrong about a particular thing, the thing that was correct was nowhere close to what I was thinking. You need to speak with other people because everyone thinks differently.” (11:13)

The narcissist versus the empath (14:03)

A scene from Rick and Morty on gaslighting (17:25)

“Some of the most traumatic situations can lead to the most glorious results.” (18:00)

The DARE approach to anxiety (20:00)

“When you’re in a relationship, you give so much of yourself to somebody that you become synced together. There’s a part of you that’s in them and a part of them that’s in you. When you break, you have this void. The beauty of that is you get to fill that void with whatever you want.” (22:30)

The LA Mentality (25:30)

Using social media as a tool to promote content versus engagement (27:40)

Sapiens and the concept of individuality (29:30)

Cab driver test in London (38:00)

Gang initiation on the subway (41:30)

Making a Highly Suspect Record in Bogota, Columbia (44:30)

Cocaine Stories in Columbia (49:00)

The anxiety response in the body built on surviving an attack (53:00)

“A lion is born with confidence. A male lion walks around the way he does because he fucking owns everything. No one fucks with him.” (56:30)

The cyborg age and artificial intelligence (58:00)

“The scariest part of Black Mirror is that the show is not that far fetched where it can’t come to life. It seems realistic.” (59:15)

Algorithms are the ultimate influencers - self-driving cars and the tech landscape (1:05:00)

“The currency of our modern-day world is attention.” (1:13:20)

Today’s educational landscape and the breakdown of the corporate, promotional structure (1:20:00)

Some Things and People Mentioned In The Conversation:

Listen and Learn:

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Full Searchable Episode Transcript (Click Anywhere To Play):

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