Journal Entry 002: Vinyl Days

July 17th, 2022

4:39 PM

Los Angeles, CA

It’s one of the greatest honors of my career thus far to finally present, Vinyl Days: The Documentary. Directed, shot, and edited by yours truly, for Logic.

Finally, I write to you from tour rehearsals in Los Angeles, preparing for a few weeks on the road, and I just noticed the documentary just hit 100,000 views. Nice.

Me capturing late-night vocal tracking for the documentary. Photo by Logic.

The past 6 months were spent quietly working on this in the background… Balancing my time between the snowy Oregon woods, the beaches of California at sunset, late nights in living rooms with friends, and early mornings at my desk.

Especially in social media’s scope of art nowadays, it all feels like a 24/7 news cycle of artistic output: constant and immediate turnaround of whatever is trending topically and aesthetically, in hopes that it catches the wave of a general audience’s fleeting interest.

There’s something to be said about retreating to the roots of one’s creative process and completely disregarding the idea of reception - and that’s the spirit of Vinyl Days to me. I tried translating that same energy in this documentary. Creation solely for oneself and the people around it, using your inspirations as fuel: An approach that I can only hope leans towards something more timeless and impactful regardless of when it’s seen or how many eyes come across it.

We shot through an entire briefcase full of disposable cameras (as if that’s any valuable metric to measure the amount of film we used) and a majority of them were used as surprise flash bombs to capture unsuspecting/unflattering faces by Logic. Here are a few of me.

I don’t think I fully realized what this documentary means to me until I finally sat down to press “upload”. I felt the past ten years of preparation, sacrifice, and dedication to this pursuit finally being realized; but only in the very slightest sense.

My biggest project yet, and for one of my favorite artists ever… That’s it?

Am I already onto the next thing?

There was always this lofting expectation in the back of my head for moments like this to be monumental and triumphant; when in reality it’s no different than when I first started creating videos in my childhood bedroom. It’s an almost shattering realization to arrive at that nobody will ever care about your work even a fraction of the amount that you do - no matter the level at which you create or scale at which it’s consumed - and that’s okay. It’s a testament to just how high and unattainable your passion is in comparison to anybody else. We build up these grand ideas of reception and accolades because we hold our work in such high regard - but to put that weight on external factors outside of your control is the foundation for disappointment. It always comes back to the roots: do it for you.

In that way, maybe this documentary is vicariously one of my most personal projects yet.

THANK YOU…

Thank you to the squad: 6ix, Kyle, and BC, for welcoming my presence within your creative space during the synthesis of this project. It’s easy to simply tolerate a director with a camera while you’re trying to make music, but it’s harder to make that person feel essential to the process. I’m inspired incessantly by your work ethic and dedication to creation. To y’all and the rest of the squad who came through for intermittent periods throughout Vinyl Days: I hold our daily congregations downtown for mimosas and cold hot wings very dearly. Thanks for making isolation in the middle of the woods a bit more like home.

Thank you to Egon for your stories, insight, and experience. I’ll always remember the night we sat downstairs and had an hour-long conversation that somehow navigated through the topics of yeast in winemaking, supply-chain issues, and synesthesia… all while the team was sampling upstairs. Your inclination to share and listen and be present is one that I revere and hope to embody as I continue to grow within this world.

To Kyle Wesley: Thank you for your incredible work coloring this documentary. I wanted this thing to be big-screen ready, and you delivered with such a disciplined and thoughtful approach that had me giddy with every update you sent. You helped bring my visuals to a level I used to dream of achieving.

To Kenny Amacher: Thank you endlessly for lending your ear and skillset to refine the sound mix of this entire project. There’s now an elite tier of polish and execution within the sonics that elevate the documentary to a level where I truly feel like a professional for the first time in my career. Thank you for your collaboration and friendship.

Finally - Bob. I really can’t say enough here. Please consider this whole documentary my way of thanking you for everything. Beyond just the opportunity, trust, and free rein to make this documentary however I felt; thank you for treating me as an equal. To sit in a room with you and the rest of the team and feel like my contributions are worthy and valued takes me back to my childhood when I could only imagine and manifest creating around such a special group of people. Thank you for trusting me within your life not only as a professional, but as a friend. Watch out for that licticide.

This documentary is my love letter to the RattPack and everything that Logic as an artist represents. I hope my vision and contributions to this era of Logic may live on and fuel generations of future artists and fans just as previous ones have fueled me. Thank you for giving it your time.

Some things and moments that I found myself around during Vinyl Days: My edit station, gear, my 23rd birthday in a record store, bike rides through the forest, sunsets reading “Crying in H Mart" by the Manhattan Beach Pier, edit breaks rewatching “Gravity Falls” and “Fleabag”, and various late-night dinners in cities with friends.

Onto a new era,

- JT

As always, here is a playlist of some of the music that accompanied me through this entire period. It’s a nice selection of sounds that remind me of friends, moments, and places that inspired me during Vinyl Days. The feeling of unlimited potential and taking life into your own hands.

If you haven’t watched the Documentary yet… WATCH IT HERE.

Also, here’s my REDDIT "AMA" from earlier this week - spent 4 hours answering a ton of questions about the process of creating this documentary!