Episode 1 - AJ Good

[AJ Good] I'm AJ Good, and this is Freebase Media Co. [William Pizzolato] Thanks for sitting down with us today, AJ. How are you doing? [AJ Good] I'm living the dream, bud. [William Pizzolato] Good to hear. Happy to hear it. So, I wanted to sit down today and talk to you about you as an artist, and you as a collector, and everything that you do. So, to begin, what are the origins of AJ as an artist? [AJ Good] Well, as far as just artistry in general, I mean, I've been drawing and doing anything, I guess, constructive, since I can remember. Like, I've always kind of played around on drums and instruments and stuff, and I definitely remember drawing before I could even write my name. So, I go way back with that. My dad was always getting tattooed, and I was always allowed to go to tattoo shops and stuff with him. So, I just took a lot of influence from the people, and the art, and the flash that was on the walls, and just everything that I saw in that sort of time period. So, definitely started very, very young. [William Pizzolato] What's the earliest experience with art ingrained in you? The first, this is what I want to do moment that you had. [AJ Good] It's probably one of those times that I went with my dad while he was getting tattooed. I just thought that all of that was so cool. And I remember asking some of his artist friends to draw on me with magic markers and stuff, so I could leave with my own tattoos and all that stuff. My dad will be the first to tell you that, probably three or four years old, I always said that I was going to be a tattooer. [William Pizzolato] At what age did you finally end up getting a tattoo machine? [AJ Good] I went through a traditional apprenticeship. So, it wasn't like I just ordered one or whatever, you know? Like when I got into it, it was still very frowned upon. It's probably still frowned upon, but to like order your own. Right on. So, I started working at a shop just as like a counter boy when I was 15. I don't think I could drive yet. And then they probably put a machine in my hand at like 16, and that was just to do apprentice stuff. I don't think I was full time until I was around 18. Right on. And that was at Wicked Sensations, right? Yep. [William Pizzolato] Do you ever feel that your fame from collecting has kind of overshadowed you as an artist? [AJ Good] I feel like I let it. I look back at a lot of stuff that was way more creative than what I'm doing now. And I don't know where that went. Like, I still think that it's in there. I just, I guess it's just like a time and a place thing. Like there was a time and a place for those 365 day clown projects or the tattooing portion of my life or whatever it is. And I'm still able to do creative things. It's just a different kind now. So, it's like I don't draw anymore at all. Obviously, I don't tattoo, but like I've gotten to make music videos the last couple of years, which was something that I've never done in my life. So, that was fun to like learn and try to progress a little bit and stuff. So, I let that stuff fall to the wayside. I think that I could still be doing the creative artistry sort of thing, rather than just the videos and the collecting thing. But maybe it'll come in waves. Maybe it'll come back. [William Pizzolato] With the foray into video production for bands and whatnot, I mean, do you see yourself continuing and further expounding on that? [AJ Good] It would have to be special circumstances. I think the only reason that I did what I did was because I was kind of in a position with Mauld where I was like, let's do something productive to get you guys to another level. And I had never made a music video. So, I knew that if there was going to be a time to do it, it would be then and with them. Like, they're trusting me to kind of guinea pig that, and I'm trusting them to carry like my name with the video, I guess, with the work. So, if a band approached me and everything was right, and I was like really feeling it and stuff, I would probably definitely take it on again. The Mauld one is definitely special. Like, those kids are my absolute brothers forever. I have a bond with them that I don't think I've ever had with any group of people before. And then there's the obvious, like the Sid one is a huge deal. Because he was... I don't know. I don't even know how to explain that one. That's such a weird one to try to put that one into words. But he's definitely a mentor. And I've said the same thing a million times over. It's like every time we have a conversation, whether it's the first time that we've seen each other in a year, or a random FaceTime or whatever, there's just always like a Harvard class of like learning something. Something about marketing, something about work, something about anything. And Sid is just... He's on a different planet. So, yeah. To go from like idolizing the dude from the time that you're like six to like staying at his house and shooting music videos and whatever it is that we're doing at the time is... Yeah, that's always a crazy one to think about. [William Pizzolato] Yeah, that is like the ultimate like big bro experience. [AJ Good] Yeah, big brother Sid. That's what I call him. [William Pizzolato] So, I mean, with so many full circle moments that we've seen you have over the last 10 years, I mean, God, even going back to like the Corey Taylor interview or the linking up with Jay Weinberg and stuff like that. How many of those are you still, if any, in disbelief over? And like how did you kind of come around to like, holy shit, this is somehow my own doing? [AJ Good] I don't know. I don't know. Sometimes I don't believe it at all. Like sometimes I still think to Sid's first visit and like everything that happened from that point or whatever. I didn't even know that he was coming. Like, I think it was like a week before that show. He was like, all right, I'm going to be there. And I was like, what? So, yeah, and then just, again, just everything that happened. Like the whole shit that night. He stayed at the House of Masks until like five in the morning that night. And we were just like plotting and brainstorming and goofing off and telling stories and whatever. So, yeah, I think everything will always come back to the Sid thing because that's kind of where it started anyways. That is like the ultimate full circle. [William Pizzolato] Yeah, I mean, the BCD and that being the very beginning of this entire thing that you have here. [AJ Good] I feel like that's like the story that's as old as time. That's why really the only masks that you see out there, like at my editing bay where I work all the time is the gold BCD and my original one, because I can look over and I have like the 100k plaque. And then I have that because that is like the story of the House of Masks. [William Pizzolato] If you could see yourself 10 years ago, what has come today? Do you think you'd even believe it? [AJ Good] Yes, because I always knew that it had to be this way. You know what I mean? Like I always knew. Yeah, I knew that it wasn't going to be normal. Like the storefront in Chillicothe, like I've said it a million times in videos, I always knew that that place would be mine. And then it was exactly what I would have imagined, whether I was eight years old or 16 years old or whatever. And things work out in different ways. Like I never in a million years thought that I would like own a church or something. But now that we're here, like everybody agrees, it just makes total sense. So yeah, I think, yeah, I always knew that it would be this way in one way or another. [William Pizzolato] What's the next big plan for the church, if any? [AJ Good] I don't know. I have a million projects that I just want to finish. Like it would just be nice to like have a room that's finished because nothing here is done. Like the studio side is not done. The red room is not done. The sanctuary will probably never be done. So yeah, I really just want to get back into the groove of like the weekly Wednesday update stuff where I'm just every week doing work on something. I just got to get back into that. We kind of put it off leading up to the church warming party. We like got to a point where we're like, OK, it's presentable. And then fell off ever since then. It was like immediately Halloween. And then it was the holidays and whatever else. So yeah, we got to get back into that. But yeah, I just want to be content with it, to be honest. Do you actually think you're ever going to achieve that? No, no, we'll be in a different building by the time that I'm like, all right, well, that's cool. It's an endless dragon chase. Yeah. [William Pizzolato] I'm sure everybody's wondering what. It's about four inches soft. Nice. No, I'm kidding. That's a big lie. What is the next big development in Pale Fest 2026 that you can tell us about? [AJ Good] The next big development that I can tell you about. I don't feel like everybody's even soaked in the developments that we've already told people about, to be honest. Like, think about where we're doing this at. It's a multi-million dollar haunted theme park. And where did it start? That idea? [William Pizzolato] No, where is ground zero for this? So from there to where it is now. [AJ Good] Oh, yeah, we had a we had in a parking lot. In a parking lot. [William Pizzolato] Yeah. [AJ Good] And before that, it wasn't even Pale Fest. It was just a meet and greet open building. Yeah. I think everybody needs to take a step back and realize what's up. It's it's it's it's so hard to tell people what it is and like where it's at, like you can't just say haunted house because it's not just a haunted house. It's like a village. I don't know. Have you been there? [William Pizzolato] Land of Illusions? Yeah. No, I have not. [AJ Good] Dude, it's insane. It's the nicest facility that I've ever been to for anything. Like their bathrooms are nicer than any venue, hotel, convention center bathrooms. I got stoked about bathrooms. It's sick as fuck. It's fucking nuts. When people hang like we like the hangout part of Pale Fest, you know, but there's never been like a proper place to do that. Right? That is like - the focus of this is like we always talk about how when we wanted to do a festival that we wanted it to be real comfortable and whatever. But the festival obviously grew so big that it was hard. So like you're like scrunched in with people and like all these venues were too small and stuff. Like this is the place where the vibes are going to be center stage. It's going to be sick. Beautiful. Yeah. [William Pizzolato] If you would like, you can utilize this opportunity to tell people to keep the bathrooms that way. [AJ Good] Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, if you don't, if you - we've always had the same role with Palefest, like we're businessmen now and we're professional and stuff, but we will beat your ass and then we'll make our moms beat your ass and we'll record it. And there's nothing that you can do about it, because if you try to fight back, then we'll just have even more people beat your ass. So, yeah, respect the surroundings and you won't end up on the internet getting beat up by my mom. [William Pizzolato] This has been great. So before we go, obviously, the House of Masks is so big on sobriety and making sure that the youth isn't picking up anything that they shouldn't. I don't know beyond that. What is the greatest advice that you can give the youth watching? [AJ Good] The greatest advice that I could give the youth is to stop fucking around. Like just in general, the quicker that you can stop like the weird hive mind mentality of falling into traditionalism, because you think that that's what you're supposed to do. As far as like, I see it with chicks more so than dudes. But like everybody thinks you like, OK, we're out of high school now. I have to fucking find somebody that I'm super serious with, and I have to go to college and I have to get pregnant and we have to get married and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And it's like you leave no time to actually figure out who you are and what you want to do with your life. So I would say to just date yourself in your 20s. Stop laying waste with these awful relationships and just figure out who you are and what you want to do. You'll be happier because of it.