Drake Bell Performs Live & Reveals Why He Agreed To Do Quiet On Set Doc

Hey guys, Leslie, Robbins here, coming to you from the Young Hollywood Lounge. Joined by the one and only Young Hollywood friend, Mr. Drake Bell. Welcome back to Young Hollywood.

Thank you for having me back.

Now, you're dressed perfectly for the occasion because we are talking about aviation.

Yeah, the new album, non-stop flight.

Tell me the inspiration behind it.

The past three, four years I've gone through a lot of stuff in my life and, you know, some good, some bad, some great, some not so great. You know, I don't really journal or diary and I uh I write songs and so I just started getting this stuff out and and the songs started becoming more personal and I started to kind of like piece this thing together and it became this 36 track like concept album. I really love the golden era of, you know, commercial flight. You know, every seat was first class, you know, there you see the pictures of everyone dressed up and getting on a plane was an event and Pan Am and that whole 1960s style. I started incorporating that into like the artwork for the album and it was really fun because then it gave me the idea to kind of make the album like you're on an airplane. And so it starts, the album starts and you hear the flight attendant uh welcome you to the flight and then I come on as the captain and guide you through. And there's turbulence, so rock songs come on. We're we're dimming the lights and uh you know, blankets and pillows are available upon request and then we go into kind of the slower, softer songs and then the flight attendant, you know, comes on and tells you, you know, we're flying over Mexico and then the the the Latin stuff on the album come. So it's like this whole musical journey through the skies that takes you through and it's really kind of in three parts of like, you know, wanting to escape Hollywood and what I've, you know, what I've been through in my life and then, you know, losing love and then losing hope and then finding yourself and and finding hope again and that's when we come in for the landing.

Have you been to the TWA Hotel because I I you should wear this outfit there.

I I just I I just I just shot um a bunch of pictures at the TWA Hotel. It's awesome. Have you done the Pan Am experience? They built a replica the inside of a 1960s Pan Am airplane. So we shot the music video for going away on the airport there. So that's all vintage aviation.

You have to stand up and just do a turn the show this is off.

We take the record and bring it to the stage. So the band's dressed like pilots, the flight attendants are our dancers. And it's really cool because now the fans are showing up dressed like flight attendants or dressed like pilots and they're all going along with the theme. I just played recently in Guadalajara and I was looking out and like the first three rows were just all like flight attendants for for the for the flight. It was really cool.

They love you on tour. You're like sold out everywhere.

Yeah. Yeah. We just did a big run in all of Mexico and now we're going down to Latin America.

And you live down there.

Well, I spend a lot of time down there. So I basically live in Mexico City.

How's life down there?

It's amazing.

Have you ever been?

No. Oh, you would love it. You would love it. The food's amazing, the people are amazing. It's clean. It's beautiful. Each zone is got its own different character. You know, you go to Roma and you feel like you're in an old town in Europe. Then you go over to La Condesa and it's like cool and hip. Walking distance from me, I have a park that's like four times the size of Central Park. It's got seven of the most beautiful museums you've ever seen like trip you out when you go there.

It's been quite the epic journey the past year for you since Quiet on Set launched. What motivated you to even tell that story and to be where you are and have the courage to do that?

I don't know. I I mean, it was a difficult one. I'd been approached by a documentary years ago um about the same subject and I just wasn't, I was like, nah, I don't want to talk about this. This is not some documentary now. And I got a really scathing email back from these people saying like, oh, you're the reason that there's not going to be any change in Hollywood like all this stuff. I got really turned off by like that whole thing. So when I got approached again, I I had that sour taste in my mouth. They kept reaching out. I I talked to them a bit more and started thinking about it. And then I went to rehab and I cuz I was really going down like a really bad spiral just mentally. That was the first time that I'd been around people who just want to see you get better and no judgment and hearing stories from other people that I'm like, wow, if that, you know, you shared that like I I okay, I can share my story. Um and so when I came out of that, I felt more comfortable and I have a son now and there's just you look at the world a little differently and and so I just kind of thought, all right, yeah, maybe this is the right time. And then afterwards, I was just like, what did I do? It took two days to shoot and after the first day, I I went home and I called them and I said, okay, I'm done. I'm not going to come back like I'm sorry, like I'm not coming back today. You know, like I'm done, I'm out. And then they're like, well, just come down like you don't have to shoot anything, you don't have to film anything, but let's just like talk to you and maybe, you know, give you more information of where we're, you know, what our goal is and what we want to do and how we want to position this and. And so I went down and talked to him for a while and then I I got the courage again to kind of just sit back down and finish it out and um and that day was really brutal cuz that's when we really got into some of the heavy stuff and then and then for a year, I was just like emotional roller coaster. You know, I mean, this thing's going to come out. People are going to know. What are people going to think? What are people going to say? What what's and then but it came out and it's had a really nice impact something that I really wasn't expecting. I was recently at the airport and um a woman came up to me and, you know, she was telling me how she saw that the documentary and she opened up to her husband about something in her past that she never told anyone and and then it blossomed into now she's working with her state legislature like in her state. Things that are going to, you know, uh hopefully uh protect people in the future. It's things like that that I'm like, okay, you know, it's I feel good that I was able to share my story for moments like that.

Cathartic for you and so many people.

Yeah. I don't know how cathartic it was for my dad. It was pretty brutal for him. But no, I mean, it was uh yeah, you know, like I said, like I I don't want to give the impression of, oh, hey, you know, if you're going through something, uh all you got to do is uh go on camera and talk about it and tell the world and then tomorrow you'll wake up and everything will be fine and like you'll be healed and everything will be better and you won't have to worry and move on with your life and everything will be great. Um it's just one step in the healing process. You know, I mean, it's your you're it's still, you know, I it's still my memories and my life and what I have to deal with emotionally and mentally and um how to navigate that forever. Um but it is a weight lifted. It does feel nice to get the support and and hopefully have an impact that creates, you know, some sort of change where other people don't have to experience what we've experienced.

Like you mentioned you're a dad. I have a son also and kids, young son. Like kids just have a way of making everything better.

Oh, yeah. It was strange. I was thinking the other day like he you know, my son is like my just my best buddy. I'm just dad. He's just my kid. Like he doesn't know like he just loves me because I'm dad and like read the news about like like I'm I've got these years before he gets on the internet and starts to see, you know, then he can have his opinion about dad and I can give him all the, you know, hey the facts. Do as I say, not as I do.

Moving forward, how does that help you as an actor, as a musician?

You know, when I do meet and greets and things with the fans or or I get gifts or I get letters or things from the fans, like there's just like different connection now that they know my story. They're going back to my old songs and and dissecting the lyrics and going, oh my gosh, like now we know what he was talking about. He was screaming from the mountaintops even back then and it's kind of opened up a whole new world of like artistic exploration.

So could artistic exploration include a return possibly to TV.

Yeah, I mean, I would love to.

I'm working on I I just wrote a film um that I'm working on um right now that's a romantic comedy that's going to take place in Mexico. Um I really just can't get away. I can't get out of I can't leave.

There are a lot of pillows on this here. Wait, I'm going to keep I don't know how I'm trying to get comfortable. I'm like, do I it's funny. I'm no you can do that. How many friends on these pillows? You're probably, are you on the pillow? Miranda. You might be on the pillow. Where's Miranda? Are you on the pillow?

I didn't make the pillow, guys. I have a guitar.

Mhm. It works. Yeah. The last time you were in the studio, you played on it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I feel like that word means more now than it did in 2017 when you were here last time. Kind of sorta.

It does, yeah. Yeah.

So, do you want to play something maybe? Is it in tune? All right, it works. Oh, you didn't start yet.

Oh, no, I was just I was just too. Let's see. What should I play? Um I didn't bring a pick. Dazzle in the dark. Moonlight in the park. Tell me now what should I do? How should I prove everything I do is for you? Should I fight the angry sea? Let arrows pierce through me? Take a beating until I bruise. Anything you choose, everything I do is for you. Will call me weak. Will call me disappointing. I'm on my knees begging please. Lay with me until the night is over. The sun shines through. You'll see it's true. Everything I do is for you. Should I run through the rain? Take a plane, a bus, a train? Storm the castle in these worn out shoes. Anything you choose, everything I do is for you. Will call me weak. Will call me disappointing. I'm on my knees begging please. Lay with me until the night is over. The sun shines through. You'll see it's true. Everything I do, everything I do is for you.

Woo! It worked. Perfect. Thank you. Beautiful.

Yeah, that's called Everything I Do. That's uh Everything I Do Is For You. That's the second song on the new record. Go buy it. Yeah, check it out.