Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - Amigo the Devil on Losing Everything, and the Song That Came After (EP:352)

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Amigo the Devil joins Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast for an honest conversation about grief, coincidence, creativity, and what happens when life resets you overnight. This episode starts with Andy and Nick setting the scene, then Danny opens up about losing his home in a fire, what it meant to him, and the strange twist that he was recording a different song as it was happening. They talk about the shock of having no warning, the whiplash of going on tour while still processing it, and the painful irony of realizing how many lyrics in his catalog reference fire. Danny also breaks down his songwriting process, including the "blank white room" mental space he uses to clear out noise and find intention before purpose. The conversation drifts into being present, chasing the next thing, living in the dark long enough for your eyes to adjust, and learning to save a little kindness for yourself. It is heavy, it is funny in the way only real friends can be funny, and it is one of the most vulnerable episodes we have ever recorded. Trigger warning: discussion of house fire, loss, and trauma.   👉 Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday

Why did God give us time if it all feels the same it seems? It's a whole lot of crying and laughing with a little bit of love and hate in between And counting down to that great big boom where we're all blown to smithering Oh, I welcome the end of last thing that's thing. I get to see I don't care about the end of the world if you're the last thing that I get to see

the explosion And we're live Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast I'm Andy Frasco, hey and this is my co-host Nick Urlock and today we're here to save the world one Instagram real at a time God, how are we doing Nick?

I'm doing great today, wow What a fun day today is Much better than last week. What happened last week? We watched that IU Oregon game. Yeah. I can't remember who won. Oh, yeah. That was, that was this week. That was last week. Exactly. Yeah. Oh, no.

Fuck. No, no, no, no. We're, we're, we're, that was a week ahead. Yeah, yeah. We're weak in the past. This is the actually, we did a amount of work. This is the IU. Anyway. We're a real piece of shit. God. We're just trying to stockpile these openings because I'm on tour. Buy your tickets. We're breaking the fourth wall. West Coast, where the fuck you at? They're showing up, but they're not showing up that much.

Tough, tough markets. Also, I'm, Sandia sold out. Shout out to San Diego. Oh, yeah. Shout out to fucking Seattle. Seattle sold out. Shout out to... You always do good in Seattle.

Shout out to, like, Tows, New Mexico. Or Santa Fe, New Mexico. They pop... They showed up to. What are you playing? Some brewery. Oh. I forgot.

Have you been to Meow Wolf? I have not Santa Fe one It's incredible I heard it's cool It's the best one We play their city Show

A little more money You know Daddy's gotta get every If you can go to Miao Daddy's gotta get Every penny out of that city If you can find a chance On your day off

To go to Mial Wolf I highly recommend And I don't recommend things That's the OG one right That's a good one As the venues And I don't I don't really recommend things

But Um Heavy conversation today Amigo the Devil Not a lot of Gurulock Chiming in Not a lot of Gerlock. I was like, I told Gerlock, if you say anything,

you didn't. You said fucking one thing about belittling what happened to his house. Our boy, Amigo. I didn't, though. I know, you were really respectful. I got to give you a clap. It's called being a pro. Being a pro.

He was a good guy. He's actually pretty funny, too. Oh, he's hilarious. And, you know, this is the first time Migo is going public about his house burning down and telling the story. I mean, it's a hard thing to talk to. And I was there. I was at his house the night before the house burned down.

I was the last one to be in that house. All the stuff he lost in the house is even crazier. He built the house, dude. But like all his collections of things. Yes, everything. He collects. He built this bar in the basement. And it's like a time warp.

It's all wooden. Like, he put all the wooden walls. He found this wooden bar. And he, like, made it into, like, it felt like a 70s Cheers bar inside his house. And each room has different He clicked and he loves all that What stuffed

Dead animal thing? Taxidermy. Oh, cool. It's just a really cool. And then, you know... He's a bit macabre and I like that about him. And like he was, he sang songs and those lyrics were unbelievable.

That was cool when he sang for us. He's a lyrical. I like his lyrics because they're not so on the nose. They're not so... No. You can tell it's sort of... I don't want to say this.

I don't want to say it's effortless, but it sounds effortless. Yeah. No, he puts a lot of effort in death. Which is a huge comment. I know it's not. I know he works very hard, but like... Dude, I saw him by writing this song

because, like... He was writing a song about his house burning down. Yeah, I know. And fucking... While the house was burning down, he had no idea because he was in the other house. I don't understand. I didn't realize he was like...

I don't want to blow the whole interview, but he was like 50 feet away all that was happening. He was 50 feet away, but it was soundproof, and, like, there was no... There's no windows in the studio right next to his house. So he didn't even see the house burning, and he's writing these lyrics about everything turns to ashes. But you'll hear it.

But you're going to love that interview. It's a long one. It's like an hour and 20, so we're going to keep this short. Ride with us. Ride with us. We love you. Thanks for being part of this ride. It's another season.

This week. They can't all be goofball episode. Yeah, it's a very, yeah, it can't all be goofball, have fun. You know, like last week's award ceremony. Shout out to the disco biscuits. It's a camera. Oh, we're going to get a lot of heat for that one. I hope so.

That's my dream. How dare you belittle? What's his name, the drummer? Alan. Oh, no, the old one. Alan. He's the man. I know, but I felt like we weren't being, like, inconsiderate to Alan.

No, we called it drama. We called it drama. Yeah, yeah, it's drama. It's not, whatever. I mean, he did win disc track of the year. Yeah, I mean, Alan's... Even though it was a trash, it didn't... It wasn't a good disc track.

What do you think? Well, in my opinion, disc tracks don't always need to be seven minutes. long love you barber he jam band that disc track is a night inch nails but we love barber whatever's doing i like them all i don't know this is it doesn't love them all biscuit man i like all like all and i like barber none of this affects my life so they're good for me i hope allan's not pissed that we gave them jam band the year and we gave marlin drummer the year you gave marlin drummer the year it's crazy it's funny it is funny yeah a lot of times you do comedy stuff so you want to be funny you Right. But anyway, this isn't about the disco business. It's about Amigo the devil.

Yeah. One of the greatest songwriters out there. You're going to love Amigo. Good guy, too. Good fucking guy. I'd like to get dinner with him, you know? He seems like... He loves... He just loves having a good time. My management did not want us hanging out. It took me two years. Oh, he drinks. He parties. But like... I bet it's warm, though. It's not dark. It's like... Yeah. It's celebratory. Like I drink.

Yeah, yeah. I bet he's like fun to have a... But we egg each other on, you know? If he's going to down 20, it's... 20 beers. I'm going to down 24. Well, I'll have eight. Yep. Anyway, enjoy Amigo the devil. This is a very heavy conversation. What do they call that? Warning.

Trigger warning? Yes. Yeah, I guess. Is it a trigger warning? If your house is burned down, I guess. If your house is burned down, it's a trigger warning. Yeah. We love you, Amigo. Enjoy it. Enjoy the podcast. Hey, guys, it's Andy, and I want to talk a little bit about volume.com.

Yes. Volume.com. Our sugar daddy, yes, our sponsor. and we are doing a only Frasco subscription. For five bucks a month, we're going to have extended videos of the podcast. You're going to have a live stream once a month of the band. You're going to have live streams of us making the new record. So head over to volume.com slash Andy Frasco, subscribe.

It's only five bucks. I got a cup of coffee today. It was $7.50. You could just spend one cup of coffee and get all the frasco you want. So head over to volume.com slash Andy Frasco and subscribe. I support your guys. Maybe I'll even pay Nick more. You never know.

There he is. Spoken a cigar. Had one of the craziest years of his life. And he's still around to talk about it. Danny, how you doing, buddy? Way better than I was. Even two months ago. Yeah, how do you, you know,

we could talk about it a little bit. It's such a hard thing to digest, right? it is honestly it's just not for consumption it's like i know it's fucked and like um yeah and it's hard it's even hard to even talk about and what i thought was crazy is the song you had well i got a funny story about all of that that you know me the first person to hear that i feel is appropriate since you're the last person to have been at the house. Yeah.

Yeah. Let's talk about it. I guess I think I want to kickstart this by like one of my fears through this whole process that I don't want to be like the fire guy. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. I wouldn't either. And it's it just kind of means that way naturally because it's, like,

horrible situation and it's such a grand event in terms of the size, in terms of impact, that naturally there's going to be this instinct for everybody to kind of lean towards that as, right? So, like, I want to, uh, I've been waiting for like the right situation to explain everything. Uh-huh. which is this in my opinion but I have had a fear of getting stuck as that beyond it

you know yeah man so this song that we just put out isn't actually the original song that I associate with the fire totally because I was actively recording a different song

as the house was burning down Yeah, I know Oh wow That's the craziest part about this whole thing That's what I was talking about Like this song that you had And I would like to talk about that song Before we talk about the single

Because it's like this weird Universal I don't even know how to explain it dude You know what I'm saying Yeah Mm-hmm What However you want to approach this

I'm here to fucking just Just talk with you on this because this is not an easy thing to talk about. It's easier now. I guess I can make a lot of jokes about them. And, you know, let's also not forget the fact that entire community is given together to help us out. And I'm pretty much for that.

Yeah. Gave me a lot of hope. I also, it's not like we got abandoned or we forgot that, you know, people are fucking wonderful if they're given the chance. It's also motivated me to just kind of be a very version. Explain that. What do you think? Not of myself. I think I got lost a little bit in stress. I got lost in work. I got lost in this temperament where I was like always in emotional debt. Like I was always trying to catch up one way or another. I was always trying to figure out how to accomplish the next, how to fix this house, or how to fucking get this

new piece of gear, or, um, I wasn't just sitting there focusing on friends and family as much as I usually put in. Isn't this the problem with the rat race of the music industry? Is we're always, they're always making us think about the future and not thinking about the present moment? Yeah. And it's, it's really easy to get stuck in that, man. Really easy. Yeah. So. I know. And that's one thing that's tough about this whole thing is this house of yours was your fucking sanctuary. It was your baby. You built everything. You built this whole fucking thing, dude.

It was you. It's like 30 years of collecting, you know? Yeah. Damn. And it's. I guess 30 because, like. You know, when you're a kid, I don't know what you're collecting other than fucking shitting yourself stories. I haven't talked to you since that.

And I was, we were having the time of our life that night. We were bonded. That was the first time I ever met Danny. Oh, really? And we were having so much fun. He was showing me everything. We were just getting to know each other because everyone's like our home, we have the same management. Our managers have been kind of scared of us hanging out because they knew we were going to be such.

great fucking friends. And we finally hang out and then and we became fucking buds, dude. Like I got to know you so well. I'm like, I don't want this, like you said, I don't want this interview to be just the identity of the fire. I want people to know about your starting up fucking opening for metal bands and like as a solo act.

Like I want this, I want them to hear the story I know of you. You know what I'm saying? I'm in. I also do want to just kind of cap. So basically, while I'm waiting on the headphones, the single came out, a new kind of lonely, right? Yeah. Which was essentially a replacement song for what I was actively recording.

And you saw the house, the studios, you know, 50 yards away from the house. Yeah. But since it's soundproofed and all that, you can't hear what's happening outside. while we had no idea. Yeah. And to me, that's one of the hardest parts is that I was having such a good time. We were in there just making this thing that I was so proud of. And meanwhile, outside just my whole life turning to rubble, right?

Yeah. Damn. So that's kind of one of the most traumatic parts for me is not having even, a millisecond of adjustment. Right. Because if you see smoke, for example, you're like, okay, well, this is bad. You try to fix it, but your brain slowly adjusting

to the idea that you may lose something. Right. Oh, dang, Monster. How did you come in through? Okay, Monster. Look at this. Okay, Monster. They got you a couple of fridges and some headphones.

Watch the fuck out. Hey. Hello. Oh, it's way better. There we go. Did that work out? That works way better.

Oh, yeah. Holy shit. Wow. Nine day. Yeah, no, thank you. This is insane. Okay, so. Now we can talk.

Now we can talk. So this situation, this song, you were writing this song, tell the audience the song you were starting to write. without knowing that your house was on fire. I'll play some for you. Okay. It was for a movie. A movie asked us to write a song. I remember it.

Think about the fact that I'm actively recording this stupid fucking song. Whether life gives you lemons, the diamonds are you piss? Or you're from a town that puts the Methodist. Someone will say that it's all just to... test that they're too dumb to solve their own problems. Jesus Christ. So you burn it all down.

What? Just to see the spark. Sometimes a little light gets you out of the dark. Oh my God. Right? That's the pre-course thing. Oh, my fucking God. So my dumb ass is in.

They're going, so I burn it all down? Just to see that. Oh. And it was like, oh my God. The duality of how much I was enjoying what we were making without any idea

the violence that was happening outside. Oh, fuck. Yeah. Hmm. What's going? So when you finally become, you know, because you know how songs, teleport you

when you finally get back to Real and seeing this what was your mind going through? Was it too fast to even go through this? How do you even approach something like this? This feels like straight out of fucking twilight zone, dude.

Man, if I said here, next time we hang out, I'll show you all the weird shit because there's a lot of weird just weird circumstances around everything and not i don't mean nefarious i mean strange right um so then we you know a week later we go on tour in canada which i'm like not okay through right why'd you do that to yourself and as um uh because that's that's my job that's what i do I do.

We'll play shows. And people made plans. People, you know, they, people made the decision to come adjust their life to watch a show. Right.

So, so that's, that's what they should get. They should get a show. Right. How'd you get through those fucking shows, though, dude? Oh, you know, just dry firing into my fucking mouth every night.

Oh, I'm joking. I'm joking. Jesus fucking cries. Oh, God, Daddy, you scare me, Dad. No, no, no, no, no. It was beautiful, man.

It was like people were really kind and we have a good network of families around us, community. Sometimes the distraction is also the cure. Yeah, until You realize that 95% of your songs Have a lyric in it referencing a housefire Oh my fucking God

I'm sorry to laugh It's funny But what the fuck? It is funny Please laugh at all times Please laugh Oh my God, dude So I'm going through the first show

and every song is like fire, fire, smoke, smoke, fire, fire, smoke. Oh, my God. And I'm just going, Jesus, fucking Christ. And finally I get to a song that doesn't have a single reference to fire. What song was that? It's all gone. Oh, my fucking God.

Oh, my fucking God. Oh, my fucking God, dude. Oh my God. Danny, what are you thinking in your head? How did you, Danny? What are you thinking in your head that first set? And then you realize all these songs are about this kind of foreshadowing. I was like, I should have fucking written songs about making a maggillion dollars instead. Oh my God, brother. Gardinista. I had a great story about this. I went on a date. I was looking at me funny because I was kept on asking for Jameson on the Rocks at this really fancy restaurant. So I saw Gardinista.

These guys are my sponsors. I thought it would be cool to say, hey, I'll grab Gardnista on ice. And I did. And she... So do you want to be a dirtbag? Fucking drink Jameson. But if you want to be sophisticated, go to Gardenista, drink some on ice, and tell them Frasco sent you. That's crazy.

So you're thoughtful. guy. What do you think about all this? All this, these songs, all these things that led up to that moment. So there are a few different, if you put it into brackets of

you know, all right, here's the negative, the neutral and the positive. Yeah. The neutral is obvious. Shit happens. It's the circumstance of coincidence. That's it.

Yeah. The negative is that whether the universe or an individual wanted to harm me, it did. Oh, man, that gives me. That's an easy thought to fall into. That's the pessimism side, right? Thinking everyone's against you? Absolutely. We don't want to think like that, but I hear you at that point.

No. You don't want to, and it's so, so easy to spiral into. And at that point, you started realizing how easy it is to spiral into that mindset with anything in your life, even somebody cutting you off in traffic. Right. So you sit there going, well, I could consider that someone wanted harm to me. Or you don't know if this person's about to shit their fucking pants and they're just rushing to a target. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah.

You're right. You're right. It's the perspective of what do you deserve in your mind? And I don't mean what do you deserve as like a treat or treatment or it's just what do you deserve in terms of your own peace and sanity. Right. Well, what do you deserve? What do you think you deserve? I think I deserved to be shown that I was not treating what was happening to me and around me before the final with respect. You think you're taking life for granted?

Absolutely. In what ways? I think I was so focused on what was next and so focused on. and so focused on minor inconveniences that in the long run I had control over that I wasn't just sitting there going

holy shit this is cool yeah I'm like that too man why can't we appreciate now why do we always have to think about the next step I mean what we're doing now is cool like we're like I was like get your house you're in love you're in love with your girl we're meeting as

new friends like why we you know it's like why can we just like appreciate that and not think about you going solo or not having a band play or you know what i'm saying all that shit you know me fucking taking some time off because i'm fucking burnt out you know like we you know you know what i'm saying dude literally i mean i remember we we did we did Rocks were trampled by turtles, which is obviously a bucketless venue for me, bucketless experience. And for some reason after the fire, I couldn't stop thinking about that show. Because the only thing that I was thinking about during that show was what's the next one?

Wow. Mm-hmm. Oh, fuck. I didn't even sit there and go, this is heaven. Right. This is reality. And I can't believe that I get to live asleep. I live in my dreams.

Yeah. Yeah. And so I couldn't stand myself for realizing that that's what was going through my mind. Well, it's probably deep than that because you're probably thinking in your head, why didn't I appreciate this house more? while I was in there. Yep. You know?

I thought about everything that I wanted to change, everything that was wrong with it, how much maintenance it took. Right. Everything was a project. I always complained about, boom. It was a project. It wasn't the enjoyment. You know?

That's the word right there. So maybe we have to stop thinking that our life is a project. And we're just fucking dope for how we are. dude i think about this i get to be stupid for a living same dude i get to show up i get to show up you're gonna do what you're good at yelling people for an hour yeah me too man

it's a privilege well you know like we've always wanted this our whole life dan even when you're fucking playing those fucking acoustic shows in the in the bathroom dude and now that we're here and we're having our moment, we still can't fucking enjoy it. We need to

fucking enjoy life. Maybe this is a wake-up call for us to fucking enjoy life, dude. And it sucks, it has to be your fucking house. And everything. And everything? What do you think? I'm like, I'm talking this out with you.

I've been struggling to say this. I've been struggling to say it in, I guess in public, because I've said it, you know, with family and friends a bunch of it. I didn't. It's not that I deserved to lose everything. But without giving the circumstances and the collection and the cool things that I lost, the respect it deserved, maybe it really was just to some degree, almost like a, man, it's fucking weird to say aloud.

Take a time. We're not going anywhere. it's almost like a rapture in its own way like a detox where not so much a detox but I don't think that anybody deserves bad things to happen

well I mean people sorry sorry people there are people that deserve bad things to happen but yeah there's some pieces of shit out there but you're not one of those guys yeah you're not that fucking yeah I just really do believe that In the context of the world, it set my ego back to a place where I remembered how little control we have of anything other than our perspective and our actions towards other people.

Right. Right. But in terms of feeling like we are in control of our environment at all times, that's kind of silly. Yeah, but you shouldn't feel, do you feel like you, these songs you wrote, causes fire? Kind of. I don't think you should feel that way. That's completely different.

This is a freak accident. This is a freak accident, right? Oh, no, 100% like freak accident, but I think the fact that they didn't find a cause for it, right? Right. That has kept me from finding any. closure or peace because now like yeah some by fireplace at my cigar but i guarantee that i will not leave this at all no until it is the most extinguished right i like sometimes i'll be 10 minutes down

the road and i'll turn around to make sure that everything is off right um um Um, so you think it is, it. So you think this is a sign. I think that it, whether, whether it was the intention or not, again, you know, negative, positive and neutral. And the neutral, electricity exists. It was an older house. It happens. Right.

Um. On the negative, we can spiral all day long. And the positive, it's not so much that I'm saying that it happened with a purpose or that there was some higher being going, I'm going to teach this boy a lesson because I'm not the only one that was affected. You know, Abby was very affected. Alicia, my ex, who put that house together with me,

she lost a lot there too. like she's you know she's like family to us yeah and she's also suffering and so I can't say that this happened because it was teaching me a lesson because they all they got they're involved too and I don't think yeah I don't think the universe would teach me I'm not important enough to fucking ruin two other lives. I think you're

you are important. I think you're one of the most prolific songwriters of our fucking generation. And I will stroke that dick and suck it as hard as I can brother. Because I do believe it that you are a gangster. And I will suck it hard. I swear. But you know

it's this idea that, I don't know, this idea, I just don't want you to feel like this is an idea like, I've always had bad luck. I hope you don't feel that way. No, I think quite the opposite. I've had pretty good luck so far, and I feel very fortunate to even have ever experienced

the things that were in there. Yeah. I think a lot of my guilt comes from what others have lost and the fact that I'll never be able to kind of share my life up until now with any future. Because, for example, I had all the little videos of me writing BMX and all the first little books I ever wrote in second, third grade. Yeah, that'd be the hardest part, right?

I had this one book. I'm so sorry. I call it a book, but it was called Combat Friends. Yeah. And it was a whole story I wrote about Mortal Kombat. Fuck yeah. Hell yeah. What was it about?

Like your buddies? Goro and Reptile. Well, Goro ripped off reptile's arms, and so he died. And we got... but then at the funeral Goro felt really, really bad and Reptel came back to life

and Goro apologized and they both became best friends. Classic tale. So looking back at that, what do you think about that story now as something that happened to you now? I think that's pretty much every Amigo song ever.

what that hating and hating into loving that that's actually hate love that's actually pretty fucking funny Danny because it's kind of true

it's there's a tinge of positivity to all the negative right and then you know reflection regret and change

so how can we it all started the second grade yeah so tell me about it tell me let's talk about second grade about this little hint of positivity.

That's the fucked up part is that I don't have a great memory of a lot of it because I've always been so in that moment that I'm in that I kind of started just replacing

memories with other memories, right? Right. But if we keep thinking about the past... And so that's why those little... Yeah? I don't know. I'm the same way, dude. I think, like, why can't I remember anything?

Is it because of my, you know, liquid brain? Or is it just because I fucking just, I'm overstimulating myself so much that I'm always in the present and we're doing so much all the time that we kind of forgot who we were? I think that's the one. Well, maybe not forgot, but, like, I think that we are so focused on, making, oh damn, did I look like a fucking potato here?

Oh, hold on, let me go back. I don't go back. This is no good. No, you look good. Who cares? Yeah. You're telling a story.

No gives a fuck about what we look like. Oh, I know, but, you know, I'm trying to eat that lasagna later, and I don't want to think about this. How about that? That's perfect. The sexy boy now? Yeah, there you go.

You're like Tom Selleck, baby. You look like Tom selling. Magnum P.I. Magnum P.I. I'm actually on the sheepskin rug now, too. Oh, my God. Save some pussy for the rest of us. Jesus Christ.

Right there. But Danny, you know. I don't think... Well, this is... I mean, it goes back to what you were saying in the beginning. Like, we got to be present. We talk about being present, but are we actually present? I think that's where the memories get lost.

because if you're truly present, it stays in. But if you are present with the future in mind, you're experiencing it and you're able to be present for everybody around you. Right. For everyone but yourself. Have you read any other moments of foreshadowing in your life? Yeah, most of them. Like what?

Give me a couple other examples. This is a really silly one, but... Just recently. I was in Portland recently. And we went to see Pete and Boss, bass, Pete and and Boss. Oh, the rappers? Those guys, the old rappers? Old British rappers. Those guys fucking ruled.

Those guys are awesome. Those guys. I love them, dude. They fucking ruled. So went to to see them. And the people that were opening for them, it was just like a younger fucking rap group.

I can't remember the name. But I made a joke for no reason, because it wasn't related to the show at all, that they were going to... What was it? It was something about, like, MGMT. Yeah. And two songs later, they did... The kids...

A literal MGMT song. No, fucking way. And none of the other... None of the set was like that otherwise. none of it it was just this random moment in the show uh

recently after the fire like after the fire what's your what's going through your head you just fucking predicted that shit all I mean I've learned about

not instinct but listening to what your body is screaming at you uh huh little things Like if you have a I don't know

Maybe this makes me Some paranoid now But No I've been following My gut For Almost everything

Since the fire And The few moments that I haven't Are the moments That I failed to protect Whatever the fuck I was trying to But

That's contradicting To the song and everything you know to the fire and that that night though but it feels well actually

so the one part that I had called recording yeah like I was I was done I said let's just finish it tomorrow and for some reason I was like like we were packing out

we're going and for some reason I just told everybody fuck it let's just finish it tonight what was this the night I was over the night after after night after

so you said let's just keep going let's just keep going but if I hadn't gone against my instinct to call it that night I would have been in the house and you would have died.

Or caught it. Oh, fuck, dude. Yeah, depending on one. That's fucking nuts. But you shouldn't beat yourself up about that. Which, I don't know. No, no, I just tried to follow whatever

the decision is that, you know, my mind is like, oh, let's do this. That's what I follow. I know. So, you're got. wasn't telling you to stop. Your gut was telling you to keep going. I think my mind was telling me to keep going. Oh, really? Like fortitude in terms of not wanting to feel lazy or... Let people down because you were on a deadline. Yeah. Yes. So you're worried about other people. We've always been worried about other people versus ourselves, Danny. This is what we know. need to fucking, this is, this is the root.

You're fucking, you're a half spot on with that, yeah. We're always thinking about others before we're thinking about ourselves. Even when our thing is so self, whatever, selfish of partying and being on tour and doing this. But deep down, we're thinking about others before we're thinking about ourselves. And that's what we need to fucking change, dude. I have not forgiven myself for a lot of things yet. and I think that's what I'm working on.

We got you, man. We're just going to hold this shit in. Yeah. The past has got to end. We got to fucking... Dude, I can't wait. I can't wait to see again and show you all the other weird coincidences that happened. Like what? Tell me.

Yeah, I'll show you. I wasn't going to show anyone, but I'll show you. Dude, this is wild. The night The night We don't have to do this We do this private No, I will

I will Nah, I'm an open person I'm an open book I'm an open book We're open book We're open book for the people We're not an open book to ourselves I'm a picture book

Yeah, that's a great analogy actually I'm a fucking picture book Those pop-up books Those pop-up books of groreau and fucking reptile. Just tearing each other's arms apart. I'd read that. You know what sucks is I wanted to go on like Instagram Live or whatever and read that book so many times that I was drunk. Oh, man.

I just, I wanted to. I always wanted to get hammered and read. that book to everyone and the pictures. Yeah. And I would have had it. You still remember it, though? I'm looking for this. I remember the main gist of it, but it was really weird to see what second grade me was drawing and putting out there in the world.

It's true, dude. You're a little bit of weirdo. I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah for sure i'm a little freak to you know so oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah um so carson was there that night with us and he took this picture of abby and i uh oh my fucking god whoa but like a year before months before i don't i don't know time was less than the year before.

I had kind of started like just painting for fun to not good at it, but I had painted this. So that's the picture. Hold on I can't see it. Oh my God. Oh my God. Like, whoa. It's like the same thing. That's the same exact thing, dude.

Yes. Oh, my God. Oh, dude. Oh, my God. And there's a lot of stuff like that. You think you're psychic? No, I think I'm too stupid for that. Or maybe that's why, I don't know.

Oh, my God. I just... Yeah. What about take this? Okay, take this same thing, but put it in your musical career. Did you always think, as a kid, you're going to be at this level of musicianship? No. I wanted to, but I didn't think about it much, if I'm being honest.

I didn't plan it and I didn't have goals for it. What were you thinking about? Having fun. Well, you did that. Yeah. Mission accomplished. Oh, yeah. I mean, same, dude.

But, like, you know, there's, I don't know. We could spin our heads. around this fucking foreshattering this serendipitous that you you're the one who fucking put this in the ether and all this stuff but something there's just a freak accident

I don't know man yeah yeah no it 100% but like I is just something shitty I know but I want to talk about why did you change the song for the single

I wasn't as part of it was maybe superstition I was scared that okay this happened last time I tried recording this song oh fuck I'm not ready for anything else oh god that gives me fucking chills dude it just also felt like it was mine

at that point it felt selfish with it I felt like I'm not ready to let go this one yet did you give it to the movie not that one No. I gave New Kind of Lonely to the movie.

I gave, I mean, I remember when you were working it out, you had three different versions of that song the night before. And you started working on this track. And me and your girlfriend were just like mouth dropped. Like it was the moment. You remember that? It was right before I went and you're like, I think I'm going to go to bed now. And you wrote this like, that was the point. pre-course that you just said to me.

And we're like, wait, wait. He's like, it's time to go now. I'm like, fuck, okay. I'm like, fuck, okay. I grab my shit and got the fuck out of there, but like, out, Andy. It's time, Andy. It's time to leave now. You've worked my masterpiece.

But that was the craziest moment how, like, you were like just, you're finding an antenna to get to the ether. And you finally got into the, ether. Well, I found it and it wasn't grounded. Yeah. Right? Fucking. Talk about that. Are these songs like that? When you write these, these songs are so powerful, man. Yes. Well, so I just, my buddy fucking Nate was talking to me about songwriting and we were just having a boring discussion about songwriting. My favorite thing in the world, by the way.

I mean, you know me. I love this shit. So tell me what that boring conversation was about. Oh, yeah. It was about intention versus purpose and forcing a narrative to fill a purpose rather than exploring intention until you find a purpose. Right. Wow.

It's like beating a dead horse. So we got into this. Yeah, literally. It's just, it's like people who analyze other people's careers too intensely to emulate it in their own experience. Yeah. It doesn't work because you are not that person with their environment.

Right, right. So it got to this point where I was just explaining how I write songs and it's never like the same process except for one part of it if I'm sitting down to purposefully write a song not like I'm sitting around and I'm fucking getting ideas

right the first thing I do is I put myself in a completely blank room white walls, no furniture and I don't mean physically, I mean in my mind. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So until I can visualize the entire room, every corner, every wall,

I don't start writing. But how do you get there when you're always thinking about the future, bro? So maybe like songwriting is your moment of... That's the hard part. Presence. That's the reason I do it is, it's the only thing that clears out all the noise.

Oh my God. And so at that point, you're in this completely blank space, and then you start looking around. And there it is. You feel, you hear it, and then you just take it and run with it. So why do you think it took this long to write that movie song? Were you preoccupied? grade. What? Above my

pay grade. That's above my pay grade. I love the honesty, man. I'm not going to try. Well, like, you know, like... I have no idea. A lot of these songs come so quickly to you, huh, Dan? I guess. It's like...

How do you start writing? I'm like the same thing. Yeah. I'm kind of the same process where I need to be completely present. The minute I'm not present, it's trash and I'm relying on other people to finish the song for me. But the minute I'm fully focused. Like, I love that analogy of, I have to get to a place where all the walls are white.

Because that's kind of how I feel. There's, but you don't fit, what's beautiful about you is you don't finish until every detail of that, of those walls are to your liking. Right? So you don't put things out. Very, very clear. Nope. So that's, I'm, I have like 90 something songs that are just sitting. And why are they sitting?

Because you feel like one of the walls aren't painted yet? Because if I were to move forward with them in that moment, it would be forcing my own perception of it, rather than what it asks. So why don't you give that same patience to your life outside of music? I think because I punish myself a lot and I don't forgive myself for my past. I'm somebody who analyzes a lot of my own shitty behavior, even when everyone around me has moved past it. But do you analyze your good behavior too or just beat yourself off for the bad things? Yeah. I'm the same way. Why do we always worried about the fucking 10% of bad shit we do versus the 90% of awesome shit we fucking do? You know?

Let me ask you this. Is it, do you feel like it's because you understand that it's our, it's like the gold star concept where, you know, you clean your room, you got to. gold star. I mean, I don't know if that's what happens. I've never had that happen, but do you think like the concept of being rewarded, do you think we just believe we are supposed to be good? I think we're supposed to live in this fucking darkness because that's where all the good stuff is. So we can't even allow ourselves to enjoy the good stuff because we're trained that all our All our fucking greatest art is in our deep, dark, dark, dark brain. There's this book, Desert Sultair, Edward Abbey. I love that you're just chilling on a fur carpet right now, Doc.

Fucking legend. You're the goat. What's the book? What's the book? So he's like a. this ranger out in Moab and he's talking about his experience

living out there alone taking care of the land and all that and there's one part where he's talking about flashlights and he explains why he doesn't use the flashlight anymore, right? Right.

And he basically explains that when you have the flashlight on it's so bright in that spot and you can see everything there but that's all you can see you are completely blinded to everything around if you keep the flashlight off

and you walk completely dependent on your eyes to adjust to the dark you are able to see everything and I think that that is a good representation of living in that dark is finding light in that dark by adjusting to it. But do we actually find the light?

Or do we just marinate in the dark? I think that's where our moments of peace versus turmoil stemmed from. Right. So like, are we too ignorant to use the flashlight sometimes? Sometimes we should use the tools we have. Yeah.

Depending on what, you know, like what are we looking at because if you're trying to figure out what kind of fucking bug something is like yeah let me use a flashlight so more finer detail stuff but if you're just yeah that's a fine tuning

that's the tools are fine tuning that's actually a good analogy they are so if we're not going to use the tools or we're just going to use our instinct should we have should our instinct be have the same mindset

of this dark, neutral, and light, not just have the dark. Does that make sense? Without the dark, we wouldn't be here talking and we wouldn't be buds, you know? I'm the same person as you, Dan. I'm trying to figure out how to be happy. I know.

I'm like, I don't know how to be happy, man. Uh-uh. And, like, I feel like it's just, I don't want, but I also don't want us to, like, feel like we have bad luck just because we think of it. darkness, you know, all the fucking time. Can I, uh, you, I don't know. Does that make sense?

Situation, 100% I think it, it's funny because I think you and I have such similar perspectives on, on the darkness, especially. And comfort levels in it. Yeah. I think there's a comfort level that you and I experience. We're like Bain. Yeah. Fucking, I should.

You live in the darkness. I live in the darkness. I live in the darkness. Just fucking Scatman It's like the It's like the musicians All the Titanic

You just keep playing music While the ship is fucking sinking That'd be me I'm like How much this gig paying in How much this gig playing it? It's going to be check or you're going to wire Who do I settle with?

Who do I settle with? I didn't get my buy out But why do we do this to ourselves? Because we're so, we care about other people More than we care about our fucking cells, dude Yeah, but focus on this How much do you

Relish moments that you have Laughing heavily? How much are you able to find comedy Where most people aren't? It's like, are you punishing yourself Or are you just fucking able to find joy where you probably shouldn't. Yeah.

Well, okay, now you're, maybe that's what we're, we're finding joy in the real. Mm-hmm. That's a good point, Danny. That's a good point. The first little thing I wrote, like, new thing that I wrote after the fire, was a really fun thing. Why, oh, why you did God give me? time if it all feels the same it seems it's a whole lot of crying laughing with a little bit of love

and hate in between and counting down to the great big boom where we're all blown to smithereens oh i welcome the end of the world if you are Last thing I get to see. Oh, my God. Oh, Danny. That is the most beautiful shit ever, dude. That is what I fuck. No, actually, fuck off for being this.

Not fuck you, Danny. Fuck you. Okay. Fuck you. The guy decided to put this down. I didn't get back to this one. I got a verse like this. I don't know.

I got it. Those people would kill to ever write anything that good in their life. I was like, I forgot. You know, no big deal. I'm just going to just sit this one down here. Sorry, man. We're going to work on something else now. That's funny.

Fuck off, Danny. Fuck off. Very profound. So tell me about, okay, so explain this. Why do you think you wrote that song after the fire? I think it's just, I wanted to. put words to the feeling of hopelessness that I had, even though I felt really good in that moment.

Because I couldn't understand it. I couldn't figure out why in that moment on a porch with one pair of boxers and a toothbrush to my fucking name, sleeping on Nate's couch. Like I was, I felt fortunate. I felt very lucky. And I just realized I had everything I needed. Well, you know, you even said in the lyric where like even through all the fucking the big boom and the destruction, you have the love of your life or you have everything, you know, you have the people.

Lazzania. You have lasagna. Oh, my God. I fucking. I know the Garfield joke, all that shit, but I love lasagna. Do you hate Mondays? You hate Mondays too, Dan? I actually, look, I love weekdays.

Weekdays are the shit. I do, too. There's too much pressure on weekends. I mean, there's not traffic, there's. There's no lines anywhere. There's no, nothing's busy. This pressure, weekends make, there's pressure for the weekend, you know? That's why I hate playing New Year's Eve, too.

Yeah. There's pressure. Like, everyone's Valentine's Day. What do you jump out of a fucking cannon? Like, shut the fuck up. Jesus Christ. They're like, yes. That's my funeral plan.

Can we do a Viking funeral for you, Big Doc? Oh, dude, I'll tell, I'm going to say this in public now. This is on record. I want to set money aside. Okay. Like, instead of my little 401K and shit, it's going to be my little fucking death plan, K. And I want to rent a cruise ship, free cruise ship for everyone I care about that I love. Open bar.

Just. have a fucking party for three days, and then at the end of it, shoot me out of a cannon into the ocean. That's awesome. It kind of sounds... But I don't want to be whole. What, like pieces?

I want the cannon to fucking blow me up. Oh, my God. It actually kind of sounds awesome, actually. That sounds way better than someone trying to have good aim and having a Viking funeral. And like, what if you just keep missing the arrow? I'm sure that happened, yeah. We're going to have to help carnival.

I think that's beautiful Literally carnival is fine I just want But I want to be propped up for the three days Like Oh like weekend at Bernies Literally Just fucking weekend at Bernie's me

And then shoot me out of a cannon Can we put you on like strings And I'm playing piano And you're dancing with the piano Porn Cords Weekday I will be in sync for the weekend Oh Well you know

It goes back to you want to entertaining your friends Fuck You still doesn't entertainer Dance Even after you're dead Dance for us I didn't even think about that We really don't think about ourselves

We don't That's the problem Dan We're thinking about everything else And that's what we need to work on And as your friend And as like your buddy And we're going to be friends for life You know this

be dogs. We're going to be gray old men. I'm going to listen to you, sing these beautiful songs. I'm just like, fuck you. You're better than me. Every, until we're 100 years old. That's not true. But I really do. I believe, I don't know. We got to start, we got to be more gentle to ourselves, Dan, Danny Boy. Yeah. Yeah, we do.

Especially you, you know. Let's start with you. I hate myself. I got to get out of Denver. But it's true, man Yeah, when are you getting out here? Hopefully soon. I got to see you again, man. I just haven't, I didn't want to bother.

I've been there a few times. I just, you know, we're new friends, and I don't want to bother you. I know you're coping through things, and I should call you. And I don't want, you know. You can't tell me that we're homies, and then you feel bad for bothering me.

You got to bother me. You're fucking right. Well, again, I'm thinking about, I'm thinking about, I don't know, I'm thinking about you before I'm thinking about me. And, like, I know I could help with just being your buddy. I'm selfishly not doing that. And I'm going to fix that.

I'm going to be your fucking friend. Fuck it. I'm going to come out to Denver to see you. And then we'll go out to that casino that I love so much. Oh, Black Hawk. You love that. Oh, my God. Danny, tell Nick about Black Hawk.

How much you love Black Hawk, please. You love Black Hawk? God, I loan it. It's so close, too. It's such a vibe, dude. I don't even know. It doesn't even feel like you're in fucking Colorado. It doesn't.

No, we stayed there. Sorry, we went there on the driving through and ended up staying there for three nights. I don't even think I left the building. No point. How much did you win any money? Yeah, that one I did. What's your sport? What's your game again?

Blackjack. I'm on a new kick. I'm a new guy. What do you got, baby? Slots, baby. I fucking love slots, dude. You guys are a couple old ladies. Oh, my gosh.

All slops all day. Oh, dude. My favorite, what's your favorite slot? I go, I go like, uh, what's that? Huff and puff. Huff and even more puff. Oh, huff and puff is a vibe, dude. I watch all these guys play it.

I like pinball. Dude. Pinball rules. You're a pinball guy? I do high dollar pinball. Like dumb, like $50 swats or whatever? $50 slots. Oh, you're 50s.

But I just do $1,000. If I lose, I lose. Oh, see, I'm a longevity. I need to be playing for at least 12 hours. I'm like, man. Okay, you need to teach me that because I'm just like fucking throwing gum. This is my love life, too. This is why I come so quickly.

I'm just like, ah. Me too. I just think about you. That's why. Wise dog. But, you know, I know my, this, the Riverside is going to fucking. closes out at 1.30. So this is, or at 90 minutes.

I can't believe we've already been talking for an hour and 10 minutes. We need to do this more, Dan. But tell me about this song. Tell me, tell me the new version of the song and what you want people to get from it. Because, like you said, this isn't all about the fire. And I'm glad we talked more about

the inside of our souls. And it wasn't mostly about the fire. It's about us. It's about you. I'm saying us because I relate with it so much Because I feel like we're kindred spirits in this thing, where we're just sometimes feel like we're the gestures. But talk about... Which is fun.

I love it. But sometimes we've got to think of ourselves. And that's what we're going to do, right? Put your right hand up and say, I, Danny Boy. I, Danny Boy. While I also love to give love to everyone else. while I also love to give love to everyone else I'm going to save a little bit of love for myself

I'm going to try to save a little bit of love for myself Amen Amen Amen So talk about So when you change the lyrics of this song Is it still the same feeling Or did you change the theme of it

It's kind of a I see it as a completely different song. I think that there's a beauty in the terrifying reality of having no idea how to navigate a new situation. Yeah, it's kind of... Do you like turbulence? No, but I think I need it. Yeah, same. I think it gives me something to...

occupy myself with or yeah same well maybe we need it to fucking I think I'm the fire yeah I didn't mean to say fire like that you know I don't like I don't like the fire work I'm fucking I fucked it up feel feel the energy

okay let's let's be you know really honest here so I started writing new kind of lonely and by mistake just not consciously I wrote another fucking lyric about fire Oh my God

Interesting That is interesting What do you think that is? Like that wasn't on purpose But you said all your songs Have a little bit of fire in it What do you think it is? Every, I don't know man

I don't Like I was never like a pyromaniac I was never a fire kid Um Actually that's a huge lie. Yeah, it's true. Whoa, hold on.

What do you got? Damn, I really liked fire as a kid. Really? We're getting somewhere. I'm going to ask my mom about this and I'll get back to you. We're getting somewhere here. We're getting somewhere here. But, so that's what I'm saying.

Should I call her? Maybe this foreshadowing. Maybe this foreshadding isn't really foreshadding. Maybe it's just like, even when you didn't want to talk about fire, you talked about fire. Maybe you answered your own question. I can be an asshole. Yes, I can. I can hold fire in the palm of my hand.

Oh, my God. I don't mind the hurt. I don't mind the heat. Pain is just food for hate to eat. Jesus, fucking Christ. That's beautiful. That's the first verse of that new song. Did you feel weird talking about fire?

And I'm just sitting here trying to convince. No. I didn't even realize I did. Until when? Like until, you know, I was... Recording it? Until I was... Yeah, recording it.

Holy shit. What did, uh, what did the, what did the director do when he said, I'm keeping this? Did you understand? He never heard the other version. He was unbelievable, unbelievably accommodating. Like, when that whole thing happened, it was genuinely a beautiful, act of kindness and patience. Yeah.

I mean, he was like your number one. He's one of your top fans, man. That guy was fucking very, very nice. That's, you know, and that's what, you know, when we're afraid to ask for help. Help is always there because we're good people. Yeah, I felt so bad. I felt like I just let him down. Yeah.

Well, that's up. Your house just burned down. You felt like you just let him down, Danny. I don't know. That's our thing, bro. We think of others. We're givers, dude. We got to save a little for ourselves.

I think the, the plan is to record the original song now. You got to. You got to, man. And put it as the B-side with New Kind of Lonely. Oh, you got to do that. Do you think you're ready to do that? Put that out as a seven inch. Yeah.

Is it time? And then I'm going to close the chapter out in fire. Yep. You know what? I'm going to clap to that. Yeah. We're clapping to that. Where's?

Damn it. Give me this. Hey. Let's fucking go. Hey, Danny. Will you sing? Do you play that one song again? Um, the, the song you played after the fire.

Those lyrics are so fucking good, dude, if you don't mind. The happy-sony one? I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's yeah, yeah, the happy set one. Yeah, for sure. Like, this one. Why, oh, why did God give us time? If it all feels the same, it seems. It's a whole lot of laughing.

And crying with a little bit of love and hate in between. And counting down to the great big boom, where we're all blown to smithereens. Oh, I welcome the end of the world if you are the last thing that I get to see. Oh, I welcome the end of the world. If you are the last thing that I get to see. God, dear. Songwriter, right.

I love you, Danny. You're the fucking man, buddy. All right, too, man. Thank you for this. You know, thank you. Thank you for this. Dude, we're fucking family, dude. I want one more question.

I got one more question before I let you go for now, because I'm on that ass now. Now that I know, now that I'm on that ass now. I'm be on deep in that ass, okay? I'm deep in that ass now. Are you? Please, dude. Pressure zone.

Pressure zone. We're going to write a song called Danger Zone. It's all about deep in that ass. Okay, so. Danny. Except the first letters are Dan, so it's about me. Yeah, exactly. Danzer Zone.

So, you know, we talked about how you don't want to be remembered for being not being the fire guy. What do you want to be remembered by? Just whatever I am in that moment, I guess. Adaptable. You're like a Swiss Army knife, bro. I would... Fucking... I don't know if that's a mental illness or not, but...

Everything else. Who fucks with the fucking scissors in a Swiss Army knife? I don't know. I don't know anyone who fuck with those dumb-ass scissors in a Swiss Army knife. Sociopaths. We should write that song. Swiss Army knife, Danny. Swiss Army knife.

Swiss Army Life. Swiss Army Life. Yes, dude. Well, Danny. That'd be fucking hilarious. Thanks for being vulnerable with us today. I really appreciate it. And we just scratch the surface.

We need to get you back on to talk about everything. Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry for rambling and shit. I don't know how to shut my mouth. No, I love it. No, this is just part one. This is just part one. And I'm glad you're putting out this song. And I love the idea of the B-Side.

with fucking closing the chapter on this fucking thing, and we can move on. That's beautiful. You know what's going to be called? What? A night without mercy. What's the second verse of that song? New Kind of Lonely or the original one?

The original one. So it's the second one I say, so now you're living for a habit, but you call it routine. Your faith comes in waves that keep knocking you clean. Suddenly the ocean feels too far to reach with a wagon. Oh, my God. And then the third verse is the dumbest one.

His, imagine this, again, I'm reiterating it. I'm singing this as the house is burning down. My life is burning. And my dumb ass is like, oh, I'm doing it. it. Don't belittle it. Some nights I dream that this nightmare is over.

Then I think to myself how many fucking days are there. But lately it seems like I'm just getting older without a real reason to be. Oh my God. Well, that's a fucking bookend. That's exactly what we talked about at the beginning, bro.

Yeah. And not enjoying life right now. and we're just getting older without knowing why we're getting older. Yep. I'll save the choruses for when I recorded, so you can hear it then. Hey, will you send me the voice memo of that happy song so I could listen to it a lot? I think it's really beautiful. Absolutely, I will.

Danny, thanks for being vulnerable. Thanks for being a goat. Send my love to your lady. I love you guys. You're always in my heart. I'm on that ass now. Later, buddy. Thank you.