Do the homework
Without showing off the homework. Know enough to ask a good question, then shut up long enough to hear the answer.
Not amusician
The host
He is definitely not going to explain a Mixolydian scale to you
Kodi Nottingham is not a musician. He is not a music critic. He’s just a guy who loves live music, loves meeting people, loves hearing ridiculous stories and has always been more interested in why people do what they do than reading their résumé.
Sometimes that leads to stories about touring, songwriting and life on the road. Sometimes it leads to gas station food, terrible jobs, weird hobbies, embarrassing moments and conversations nobody planned on having.
Kodi’s job isn’t to impress the guest. It’s to make them forget they’re being interviewed.
From Kodi
I love people who are obsessed with something
I’m not a musician. I can’t tell you what key a song is in. There’s a decent chance I don’t know what pedal you’re talking about. But I love music. More importantly, I love people who are obsessed with something. Music just happens to be where I’ve found a lot of those people.
I started What’s the Reason for This? because I wanted to have the kinds of conversations you have after the official conversation is over. The stories you tell sitting around after a show. The stuff that would never make it into a press release.
I’m basically trying to create the feeling of meeting somebody cool at a party and realizing two hours later that you’ve been standing in the kitchen talking the entire night. Except there are microphones. And cameras. And unfortunately, evidence.
If Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney is somewhere in my DNA, I’m okay with that. I’m not trying to prove how much I know. I’m trying to find out what makes somebody light up. And hopefully have a damn good time doing it.
— Kodi
The philosophy
Serious about the people. Not too serious about ourselves.
Come hang out
Picture grandma’s living room in 1977. Shag carpet, a brown couch, a lava lamp working harder than anyone. Add microphones.
Follow the tangent
Thoughtful conversations, terrible impressions, somebody laughing so hard they forget the question. Ideally all three.
The name
Why “What’s the Reason for This?”
It started as one of those phrases you say when you look around and wonder how exactly you ended up in whatever ridiculous situation you’re currently in. Which turns out to be pretty useful in life.
Sometimes there’s an answer. Sometimes there absolutely is not. That’s the fun part.
- Why did you start a band?
- Why did you write that song?
- Why are you still doing this?
- Why drive twelve hours overnight for one show?
- Why is there a mannequin in your green room?
- Why are we talking about this right now?
Good vibes are the whole point.
WTRFT exists because music brings people together. Because interesting people usually have interesting stories. Because laughing with somebody for an hour is pretty damn good for you. And because sometimes the best thing you can do is sit down with another human being, ask them what they care about and actually listen.
You can talk about real shit and still laugh your ass off. You can respect the art without acting pretentious about it. And you can build something meaningful while still asking yourself: what’s the reason for this?
Pull up a chair