Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 105: J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)

Episode Date: November 17, 2020

Andy's triumphant return to Denver is marked by big news, a reality check by manager extraordinaire, Schwartz, and "Baysik" Bassist, Ryan Stasik airing some grievances. And on the Interview Hour, we got the legend himself: J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. Andy rummages thru the annals of J's brain to uncover some historical tidbits and talk about his relationship with the guitar. Ahri reviews the election. This is EP 105. Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Keep On Keepin' On" on iTunes Spotify  Get to know J Mascis a little better www.dinosaurjr.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Brian Schwartz Ryan Stasik  Ahri Findling Arno Bakker

Hey, it's Schwartz. Listen, welcome back to Denver. It's 927 in the morning. Why are you not available? Get your shit together, dude. I can't do season two of this shit show on my own. I need you to focus. Whatever you're doing, stop. Focus. Call me. Wake up. Drink coffee. Let's go. I can't do this shit on my own. Bye. focus call me wake up drink coffee let's go i can't do this shit on my own bye frasco it's stay sick dude what the fuck i leave you uh alone with my kids for like less than five ten minutes and you got them swearing like sailors asking for sips of beer what is wrong with you dude this is uh this is a little fucked up, man. This might affect our relationship. I'm not sure if you're suitable to be around young children.

But regardless, love you, buddy. Go fuck yourself. And we're live. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How's everyone doing today? How's our heads? We staying out of trouble?

Or are we having enough fun we're in trouble? It's just a sleep away. Man, I've been waking up hella early. I basically have a new job. I'm a comedy writer for the next month. My season two of the shit show got picked up. We got a producer, Cisco Adler, which is fucking tight. Let's go.

We're moving. Cisco, thank you. It's crazy. And then, you know, when I woke up, but last year, I mean, November, I was fucking, we were going on a headline tour and we were getting ready to sign a record deal and then quarantine hit and you kind of have to adapt to what 2020 is going to fuck you with. So I was like, you know what?

This is a good time, good opportunity to test the waters and see what else I could be good at Or see what else I could do Because I'm not just going to sit around my fucking house I'm just not that person So I'm like, fuck it, I'm going to start a talk show And now I look, that was, what, March we started? Eight months later, we got picked up. So I'm not trying to boast or brag or anything.

I'm just trying to tell you, try shit new. Try some new stuff in your life. If you're bored of your life or if you're worried that change is going to fuck everything up, stop worrying about it. Change is part of life. Let this be a moment in your life where you're experimenting because we're about to be locked down. I feel it. I just got back to Denver. Everyone is kind of high tense. Everyone's wondering if I got the, you know, don't you bring in the Rona back to Denver, everyone is kind of high tense. Everyone's wondering if I got the, you know, don't you bring in the Rona back to Denver. I don't have the Rona. And so I have a feeling

it's going to get locked down again. So let's take this advantage of being isolated one more time to find something else we like to do in life. Maybe you dedicated your life to your children or maybe you dedicated your life to a nine to five. Take this time to dedicate your life to yourself and see what you like. See what makes you tick and what makes you worrisome and find yourself and be part of the idea of being present because what is being present? I keep, I've been telling myself

this all my, it's like fucking seven in the morning, I woke up because now I have a schedule. I write jokes from nine to 9am to 2pm. and then I have calls with people who I'm tentative interviews, and it's crazy. It's crazy. So let me have a cup of coffee. Hold on a sec. Ah, fuck yeah. But I'm still here for the podcast because this is what I love to do, talk to my fans, talk to my people, talk to new people, who don't even know who the fuck I am, hey guys, how you doing, Jay Mask is on the show, Dinosaur Jr., gonna be fun, I know these are two different genres, the new fan base, but welcome to the show, welcome to the party, but like I was saying, try some new shit out,

be part of being present, that's what I was talking about, being present. What is being present? Knowing your emotions, knowing your feelings at the instant. Not having anxiety from the past. Not having anxiousness of the future. You know, my friend Bree gave me some great advice. You know, don't worry about being funnier than your last thing or better than your last thing. Just be funny now or just be good now. And that's the most important thing about being present is understanding your opportunities and your optimism at this second, what you're grateful for this second, so go out there,

find out what you like, and do it now, fuck it, why you have to wait, why you have to wait till you get, until you're retired to follow your dreams, you know, follow them now, who knows what's gonna happen, we could have an asteroid hit us. Another, you know, deadly disease. Fuck, you might just get the herp or something or the clap. Like a deadly issue of the clap. Remember when chlamydia killed people? Was it gonorrhea or 1800s? One of those dick and vagina diseases just killed a bunch of motherfuckers, I'm like, damn,

think about that, thinking that sex like that could kill you, so don't go raw, dog, wear a condom, this is my promotional thing to wear a condom, um, sorry, I'm lighting up my 14er weed, thank you, thank you, I'm finally back in Denver, I get to smoke some more of that beautiful 14er weed from Denver, Boulder area. If you're in the area, go grab some. They're out of Boulder. Super sweet guys. Evan, the whole crew. They're badasses.

So go out there and go check out some 14er and tell them Frasco sent you. Non-psychoactive. You know how I roll. You know, as I get older, I'm like, fuck. You know, THC is tight and all, but have you ever tried weed? Not a panic attack. I like that. But right now, be here, be focused in the now and the idea that we could find happiness in this second, not we're going to wait to find happiness or we found happiness in the past and it's never going to happen again. Be optimistic that right now is our fucking moment. Okay. I love you. All right. We got Jay Maskis on the show, Dinosaur Jr. You know, it's always hard to pull anything out of Jay, I'll be honest with you. You know, the interview, it's hard to rock sometimes, but we opened up.

We talked a lot about his band and how hard it is to keep a band together and how hard it is to find your dreams, find new dreams, when in your brain you already fulfilled your dream on record one. He was talking about that with Dinosaur Jr. It's fascinating. I won't get into it because I don't want to ruin it, but Jay's a good guy. He's funny.

He's like all of us deal with depression, deal with our brain taking over the present moment. So let's learn from each other's stories and let's try to enjoy the present moment. So let's learn from each other's stories and let's try to enjoy the present moment. All right, guys, I will catch you on the tail end and let's get this shit. It's fucking Tuesday, baby. Get out there. Do I have to play the fucking music? I got to play for myself. Frasco, you're going to write a great season two. Season two of the shit show is going to be so fucking good because you're living present. You're powerful. You're focused. All right, enough of that shit. All right.

I'm just pumping myself up on this morning before all these professional comedy writers roll into my house and roll into the Zoom. And so I'm going to splash some water. I'm going to say, I got this. Because confidence is half the battle. Alright. Love you guys. And I'll catch you on the tail end. Let's enjoy some Jay Maskis. Alright. Next up. On the interview hour, we got

Jay Maskis from fucking Dinosaur Junior. Let's go. Chris, from fucking Dinosaur Jr. Let's go. Chris, play some Dinosaur Jr. This guy's the godfather of guitar. In the 90s, he was just playing loud-ass music. Very thoughtful. Loved the guitar so much. Just a sweet guy. He's almost been in Nirvana's band Nirvana wanted him in his fucking band

Isn't that crazy? Jay said no to Nirvana That's how rock and roll and old school And his philosophy is that He had a band And he's like no I know this band's gonna get big But this is what I love to do

So shout out to you Jay And I hope you guys enjoyed this interview. Took a little revving up, but he got talking, and it's awesome. So, ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy Jay Maskis and Dinosaur Dream. Baby, why don't we? Baby, why don't we? Baby, why don't we? Baby, why don't we? Why don't we?

Won't you leave me? What's in the blue? What's in the blue? There you are and here I stand Trying to make you feel my hand What's in the blue? What's in the blue? I'm ringed over in your mind But it's locked from the outside You don't live there anyway

But I'm not going on a date There's a place I go but you're not there And I'm supposed to know How to get to where you're gonna be But you don't even know So I'm flaking while you're shaking it With every stroke you fight Without a mind, without a spine

What is it that you want to find? It's a place I'd go but you're not there And I'm supposed to know How to get to where you're gonna be But you don't even know So I'm playing along You're saving up Without a course in mind Without a mind

Without a dog But is it that you wanna fly? There's a place I'd like to go When you get there, then I'll know There's a place I know you've been There's where I can get on in Baby, why don't we? Baby, why don't we? Why don't we? You've been sitting here with me You've been sitting here with me There you are and here I stand You wanna see me You wanna see me There you are and here I stand

Trying to make you feel my hand You wanna see me You wanna see me Ring the doorbell in your mind But it's locked from the outside You wanna see me You wanna see me But it's locked from the outside You don't live there anyway But I'm not going all day Jay motherfucking Maskus, how we doing today, buddy?

Uh, you know, so-so-ish. Were you always gigging a lot, even when you were a kid? Um, since I started, I've been doing it quite a bit, yeah. I've been traveling a lot my whole life. What do you like about traveling? Just get out of my own head. It just kind of resets my life a little bit i just get out of my if i'm getting bummed out or something it's just kind of clears my mind out a little bit

doing something else yeah i agree it's like is it the idea that there's always something to do when you're traveling yeah you don't really have to think about dying or something as much because you've got something to do. Yeah. Are you scared to die? Yeah, I guess so. It's the unknown of it, man. Yeah, it's crazy, man.

I've been thinking about this, too, more ever since I've been quarantined because my brain's not distracting me. It's not distracting myself, so I'm thinking about all this shit. Do you go to therapy at all? Yeah, I just started therapy during the COVID thing. I hadn't done it before. What do you think of it? I don't know. think of it I don't know I guess I like it that it's just something that's on on

the books that I have to do yeah and I usually just yeah kind of makes me think about different things but I don't know if I'm bumming out the therapist too much or can I get that impression this time that's their fucking job though to hear you be all bummed out and stuff I mean

but I guess he wants to see some improvement after I don't know I've had 20 something sessions you don't feel, I've had 20-something sessions. You don't feel like you're improving? I didn't think about it, but he just said maybe...

Yeah, he made me think maybe I wasn't improving. I don't know. Yeah, he made me think maybe I wasn't improving. I don't know. Therapy works if you're willing to learn, I guess, or if you're willing to change. Are you willing to change? I'm willing to. It's just can I is the only thing.

I'd be willing to, but something always pulls me back down you know i don't know what it is that's yeah it's do you think it's depression yeah definitely depression but i don't know yeah i guess i've been running from it being able to travel and stuff but just sitting at home for so long it's really sinking in yeah dude i'm i'd be bored out of my mind dude so let's talk about the band and we could talk about therapy but i'm not your therapist so let's talk about the band and stuff so what i heard you guys broke up see i'm new i'm i'm hiply new to your band so i did a little research. I heard you guys broke up and then got back together. How hard is it to keep a band together?

It's tough, yeah. What's tough about it? You know, it's like you have this relationship, like you're married, but you don't necessarily even like the people, and so it's hard to keep it together somehow so why do it?

for financial reasons or do you do it because you guys make important music together what's the point? yeah I stopped thinking about why and I just now i just do and just do so why don't you take that same philosophy and when you're overthinking with your therapy i don't know yeah good question it's like uh i'm like that too like i give i i

give advice or do things but the things that hurt me the most, I don't want to take that advice that I give to people. It must be fucking tough. What was the hardest time you had to deal with your band? It was right when we kicked Lou out of the band, like the late 80s. And he was acting so weird. He was really driving me crazy. You know, like he wanted the band not to exist.

But he didn't want to be the one to quit the band. He just wanted us to break up. Why? You know, I think I was just... He couldn't take it anymore. I'd been too mean to him or something. Yeah. Is he your best friend?

No. He never was? He was just someone you worked with? Right. Yeah, he never really even talked for the first few years of the band so we got along great and that's that when he didn't talk yeah was it addictions or oh sorry keep going no then he got a girlfriend and suddenly his ego got really pumped up so he was talking all the time and then

um yeah once you he was talking all the time i realized i didn't like what he was saying a lot of the time so yeah what about your what about the other guy in the band he's he just like goes with the flow yeah he's like the uh mediator between us we kind of talked through him at that period too. Like we wouldn't talk to each other. We just talked through the Murph. He was like the... Like the Buddha? Yeah.

The unsung hero of the band. Do you think he's the reason why you guys are still playing? Yeah, he's definitely a big part of it. Yeah, I mean, i don't know i just don't see working with people and i guess i don't know how long you guys been a band now i don't know since like 84 or something so what's the difference what's okay so tell me about touring in 84 and like in in the early 90s. When you guys were on, you guys were popping. You guys were writing great songs.

I mean, you still do, but the band was on full cylinders and you guys didn't even like each other. That shit's wild to me, man. Yeah, that's how it happens. It all kind of happens at the same time. We're going to get popular and then realize you don't like each other it all kind of comes together yeah it's kind of crazy

I haven't had that success like you guys have but there's got to be some driving force that keeps everyone together was it the music? yeah I think it's we realized that we're just better together than

on our own. We've made some kind of music together that it's hard to replicate. We just need those people to have that energy and we have that sound we kind of made together. We realize that's valuable

so we kind of stay together what were you doing during the hiatus were you playing music with other bands or heard you did some school stuff with schools and yeah i played with schools a little bit i played with mike watt for a little bit i was playing with the guy the ashton brothers from the Stooges a little bit. What did you like about playing in those type of bands versus playing with Dinosaur Jr.? It's just fun to play with different people. Like the Ashtons, like Ron Ashton was one of my musical idols,

so it was fun to play with him and learn stuff from him on how to play guitar. What did he teach you? Just how to play Stooges songs correctly and stuff. That's what he was playing. It was cool just to watch him play and pick up stuff just from watching him. Because he didn't seem to play for years and years but then he's plugged in the guitar he sounded amazing right off the bat you know it's crazy how that happens though like it never leaves you it's like when you guys got

back together yeah you just plug in and there's that sound again it's yeah it's pretty amazing what about guitar players growing up what'd you listen to besides stooges and stuff plug in and there's that sound again. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. What about guitar players growing up? What did you listen to besides Stooges and stuff? I was really into the Stones, you know, Mick Taylor and Keith Richards and The Wipers, Greg Sage. Yeah, with Ron Ashton, those were my main guitar influences. What did you like about The Stones?

I just love Mick Taylor's kind of really melodic leads. And I like Keith Richards' riffs and stuff. Yeah, that period of The Stones really spoke to me, I guess. Yeah, I mean, who showed you guitar? Who was like anyone in your family musical or how did you just all of a sudden have this obsession with guitar? No, I just kind of played along to records and stuff. Cause I was playing drums in a band and then we broke up and I decided to

switch to guitar and move Lou was playing guitar and I decided to switch to guitar and move Lou, who was playing guitar, and move him to bass. Then get Murph, I thought. I knew from high school, and I thought I could teach him drums because I had a lot of drum lessons and felt pretty confident that I could show him what to do. I didn't know any guitar players around here, so I figured for the sake of the band, I'd just play guitar and start writing songs.

Damn, I feel like you just float through life, Jay. Yeah, I have. I mean, what was it like growing up? Did you have good parents? Were they supportive of you being a musician? Or you were always just in the the back didn't want to bother anyone yeah they were pretty supportive i felt like uh you know my brother was older and he became a lawyer so i feel like that took the pressure off like me like oh oh, my dad's got a lawyer son,

so I don't have to try to be anything. I just kind of just wanted to play music. And yeah, my dad came around. He started getting into it just like he was proud, I guess, at the end. Yeah. When did you start getting proud? When you started making money yeah and i was in some i was in a movie and uh what movie it was called gas food lodging

and i did part of the soundtrack and it played in our town and he i think he went with his girlfriend to see the movie. Yeah, and we were in some newspapers getting reviews. How old were you? Like 19, 20. Damn, so you had success. I mean, that's pretty big success for 19 or 20. Yeah, our goal was when we started the band, we liked all these SST bands like Meat Puppets, Minutemen, and Husker Du.

We wanted to be on that label, SST, and tour. that was kind of our goal and we achieved that with our second album so then we didn't really have any goals which was kind of weird to achieve all your goals so early and then you're just like now what did we do we're still in the band hold on so you guys second record did you get a record deal the first record yeah because uh our friend uh gerard cosway i went to college with he left college to start this label and said he'd put out a record and so we pretty much had a record deal as soon as we formed so we had to like learn how to play and then we made our first record we had a record before we had any fans or anything shut the fuck up really so we could so to get gigs we could come with a record and yeah what was it i mean like i mean it must have

been that was probably the game plan i mean no one was going touring in the dark really i feel like that was you get on a cool label or you get some money to fund a record and then you start touring or was it was it different than that yeah you get the record is what you have to shop to give to clubs to try to set up shows and do so that was a good start to have a record to get gigs what was the worst tour you've ever been on? Oh, yeah. That was our first tour for SST right before our album came out. In the summer, we went on tour. They were supposed to put the record out, but then it got delayed. But we still had the tour, so nobody knew who we were. And we were driving around in this van that always broke down.

That's when the band really kind of fell apart on that tour. That's the first tour! Yeah. Well, we did a tour before that when we opened for Sonic Youth, and we just took our parents' station wagon and went in the Midwest, and that was our best tour, probably, and then after that was our worst tour. That's amazing.

So what type of ruins were you playing with Sonic Youth back then? Big arenas? No. No. Probably like 500 people or something like that. And then you were the only band that... How'd they hear about you if you had no record? You said you did have a record, so you're talking about the second record?

Yeah. Right. Yeah, we had our first record, and they came to see us the first time we played in the New York area. We played at Maxwell's in New Jersey, and Sonic Youth were there. And they liked us, and we kind of became friends with them and then they brought us on that tour it's pretty crazy i mean that's the best thing about living on the east coast you could do all these gigs two hours away make shit for money but at least you're gonna make it you're in a fucking minivan you know yeah so yeah we can drive out to the midwest or

you know chicago is like 14 hour drive or something yeah what about so that second tour was horrible yeah really horrible and we broke down in this town mountain home idaho and that's when it really fell apart. We had these long discussions about... I was super mean and kind of ripped apart their lives bit by bit. Like Lou... We had a week there of just like... That's where the end began. You went too far where you couldn't come back from.

Things were said that were just too much for what was said i don't know i can't remember exactly i just remember i was really mean and kind of kind of you know picked apart his whole life and uh upset him very much and yeah that was kind of then after, that was kind of... Then after that, it was kind of the beginning of the end. Did you ever fight on stage? Yeah. Like fist fight? Can you tell me that story?

What was the first one? Oh, yeah. It was near right before we kicked Lou out. We were in Connecticut playing, and we were playing this song that's really quiet, and he was making all this noise on the bass. It wasn't adding anything. It was just to be, you could tell it was just to be annoying. And I was playing, and I just go, oh, this is really bad.

I think Murph's going to hit Lou this time. This is not going to be good. And the song kept going. And at some point, I'm going, well, I guess Murph's not going to do it. I guess it's up to me. And so I just kind of stopped the song and went and kind of swung my guitar at him and hit the bass and made a big noise and then he got excited because i had you know he felt like he had won somehow that i

reacted to him and he stood up on the drum rise and was like yeah and it was really weird and like he was trying to get oh keep going sorry oh yeah he's trying to get a reaction and that he'd gotten a reaction somehow as a victory for him and uh so i went backstage kind of disgusted then he's then he came back he's like said he was sorry and i really wanted to keep playing the show. So then we played a few more songs or something. So you guys got off stage, finished up your business, and got back on stage and rocked again?

Yeah. Fucking metal as fuck, dude! It is halftime at the Enni Fresco interview hour. I'm your host, Ari Finlay. Today, I am reviewing the election. It's fucking over. Finally. But is it really over?

Because nothing has happened yet. Is he going to just rule like a king for the rest of eternity? I don't know. But even when it does finally finish, there's going to be another election two years after that, another one two years, another one two years, another one two years, another one two years, until literally the earth is uninhabitable because the sun has exploded. What I want to tell you is if you voted, thank you. If you voted by mail, you were smart. You went to the polls on election day because you were scared your vote wasn't going to count because the goddamn president was trying to take down the postal service.

Thank you as well. If you did not vote, 47% of people didn't vote. If you're one of those 47%, fuck you. Okay? You don't deserve to complain. If you know somebody who didn't vote and in the next two or four years you hear them bitching about the government, tell them to go fuck themselves. They had their goddamn chance. They could have said something.

They could have voted. They could have exercised their goddamn civic duty and participated in their democracy, but they didn't. So tell them to shut the fuck up. You got, you can do it next time, okay? But until you vote, you don't get to bitch. That's my rule, okay? You don't see me, you know, getting pissed off at people's landscaping. I don't know how to landscape.

I've never mowed a lawn in my entire life, okay? You want to have weird shrubs? That's your own prerogative. I can't do it because I don't, I can't bitch because I've never mowed a lawn, okay? I know my place and I stay there. This has been Review. I'm your host, Ari Thinling.

Goodbye. It was just, you guys just didn't like each other. There was no, like, animos. There was just, you guys just didn't click as people. Yeah. Damn. So early in the band. That shit's crazy to me.

Like, first couple tours, you already hate this motherfucker. Like, I'm like, I could not. I don't know. You're patient. Are you patient? What? Yeah. But I was also, you know, not the nicest person back then.

I think I'm a bit nicer now. Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, Schwartz helped bring us back together. That was one of the things that got us back together. What was the selling point? Well, our first three albums were being re-released finally. And we thought to promote them, we could get together and play a gig or play something.

He asked the other two guys, and they were on board, but I wasn't really psyched on it. Why weren't you psyched on it? I was all just sick of them, I guess, at that point. But then I came around around and we played one show and we played on a TV show and played a show in LA and it went okay. We just kind of kept going. That's okay and we do another thing and then it just kept going.

We just kept doing stuff. Then we did an album. Now we've done five albums or something what did you confront him like say hey man are we gonna try to work this out or you guys just like met at the show and just started rocking yeah um yeah he had actually before that, he'd apologized for some stuff. For what? He had to basically cool down for like 10 years or something. Well, one time I went to see his band. I'd go see his band, but he would never come to see my band or anything.

So I went to see his band, and I had Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine was producing my album at the time. And we went to the show and it was really weird. We went backstage and he was really hot and cold, smiling, and he looked really

pissed off. And I guess he had a meth problem at the time i didn't know about but he's like grinding his teeth and just acting really crazy and and finally he got hooked on something and was like screaming at me backstage and and um so we just all kind of left and and so we just all kind of left and walked out of the club and he was on the, everyone was out of the club, but you went on the stage and was pacing back and forth screaming.

It's like, fuck you and your salary. He was mad for some reason that I'd put Murph on a salary rather than be a partner anymore in the band. So he was going, fuck you and your salary. And then he's like, even Kevin's here, you know, because Kevin Shields was there. We're just walking out of this empty room and he's screaming all this stuff

by himself, pacing across the stage. And Lou's mom came up to me, what happened? And I'm just like, I don't know, Mrs. Barlow. We'll see you later. I don't know what happened. Oh, my God. That's crazy. So that's so toxic to me.

Well, this was a long time later. This was 10 years after you know he was in the band so he was still so he had to wait for him to just cool out and then he apologized and i said and then i think yeah i think it was from there i just think I had to wait until he was not angry anymore or something. Are you forgiving? Are you a forgiving person? I'm not sure. I try to.

Yeah? What's the final straws for you not to forgive someone anymore? It varies with the incident or the person i don't know yeah that's crazy man how long you have have you had the same wife forever or is this a have she dealt with you through this stuff yeah she was there at that show and when he was screaming. I got together with her in the mid-90s. Yeah? Kind of as the band. Well, we kicked out, Lou, and then we played for a while,

like seven years, and that's when we had the most success. When he was out of the band? Yeah. Okay okay keep going but yeah but everyone thought of course the first three albums were better but our most successful

albums were after we kicked him out does that offend you no no it's just I understand it it's true I cannot see albums were after we kicked him out. Does that offend you? No. No? I understand it. It's true. I can see how it's better. How?

Because I thought we were just, you know, we had a good chemistry the way we played together and we grew up kind of playing together. Our albums were better. I think we kind of peak, you know,

we pretty much peaked on our second album already. And then that's just how it is. Yeah. I mean, it's so crazy that like to keep a band, you know, keep rising or growing and being inspired. Yeah, you're right.

You guys fucking peaked second record in your brain. Some people might say you're still peaking. You're still growing as an artist. You're doing something completely different now. Your new stuff, this solo record,

it's got's like got this like indie folk feel to it in a sense and i i think that's expanding as well or what does your fans think about that yeah some people like it better and some people don't like it i don't know what what made you want to do that um yeah i just tried it one time for uh cbgbs had asked me to play when they were closing down and i i did my first acoustic show there. And then I just kind of tried it as something to do in between tours and stuff. I don't know.

And then I had a friend who runs Sub Pop Records, and she always was asking me to do an album, like a solo acoustic album. So she kind of pushed me to do an album like this. So you always got to stay busy. Yeah, it helps. What else do you do to stay busy? Hobby-wise. Yeah, I don't have many

hobbies. I bike ride a lot these days yeah i don't know ski in the winter but uh yeah mostly i'm into music you know um yeah guitars and recording stuff and i don't know do you still love the guitar? yeah what do you feel like you still need to learn about the guitar? oh shit a lot of stuff

like what? I'm on a slow slow I don't know how to finger pick which I'd like to and just a lot of stuff. I just learned palm muting a few years ago. That's been good.

I never thought about it because I just had the guitar and we had a record deal. So I'm writing songs, learning the guitar. So to write songs, I just play whatever i can play at the time so i never really get a i never learned certain things and so i'm still learning stuff you think looking back that kind of it's kind of detrimental to what you could have been even though you're so fucking good but like if you would have like you know trained for 10 years before you got the deal instead of writing songs

for the songs you know like yeah do you think you'd be a different player no i like i think it's better when you don't know how to play because you're you don't have these ruts in your brain of playing the same things all the time and you're just kind of more free on what you can play. Do you still feel that way when you're writing for Dyna? Yeah, it's a little late. I have all the ruts in my brain now for playing. So you can't get back that innocence kind of.

So sometimes I'd try to play piano or something and try to write songs because I can't play that. But I don't do that often. But it kind of brings me that same kind of feeling. But I don't feel like I can get anywhere on the piano. It seems too hard or something. What record do you feel like looking back

where you were in the biggest rut oh um can't remember I can't get them all mixed up now um without a sound, I guess. Really?

Why? I just guess that was my most jaded period. I felt the most kind of jaded. I don't know. I'm just kind of bummed out. What were you feeling jaded about? Just music. What were you feeling jaded about?

Just music. And it was just kind of this point where everything just seemed really jaded. I don't know. It was kind of post-Nirvana crash when everyone realizes there is no other Nirvana. And you're just kind of still around and it's everything seemed kind of I don't know didn't they want you in their band yeah a couple times

he asked me to join the band Nirvana did yeah but at that time I think we were a lot bigger than them and i wasn't really thinking about it that much what did do you have any stories with kirk like uh what he just let he he looked up to you yeah there's this uh film you can see now on YouTube of when they played Maxwell's. That same club where Sonic Youth saw us, our first show.

Is that in Hoboken? Yeah. And that's the show where he was like, oh, you should join my band. And I was just like, I didn't really say anything. I was like, I don't know. I think he didn't like his, he had two guitarists at the time. He didn't like the other guitar player.

Yeah. But yeah, I guess maybe I should have, or maybe I'd be dead if I did. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, but did you like them as a band? Yeah, I was a big fan. So what made you not want to join that band? Because your band was popping.

And did you not want to be like a rhythm guitar player? I guess I just didn't think about it that much. Damn. Because they were, I don't know. That's crazy. And then you have any conversation like did you get close with him or any of the guys in the band

yeah then you know we toured with them a bit they were opening for us and right you know before Nevermind came out and I remember right before Nevermind came out.

I remember telling this manager at the time, who was kind of clueless, he's like, why do you want this band to open for you? And I'm just like, because next year when they're huge, maybe we could open for them. And he's just like, what are you talking about? So you knew they were gonna be big yeah it seemed obvious at the time what what was obvious about it looking back just the vibe of what was happening and their sound like it his voice sounded like something that could be on the radio,

kind of something more like Bad Company or Cheap Trick or something. Yeah. Which I couldn't see my voice, per se, be on the radio. No? Not really. I mean, God. Are you insecure about yourself, Jay? Are you insecure about yourself, Jay?

I just, I never thought much about singing or that I was a good singer or anything. But I never really, I didn't, it's not like I had these big aspirations either. You know, we're already, that's the problem when you achieve all your goals already you're just like i don't really know what i'm doing after our second album we'd achieved our goal so then where do you go from there you're just kind of floating i guess i'll still play or yeah we're just floating so you never like re-thought about the dream or tried to you just know i never re-upped the goal. Re-upped the goal. I mean, did you feel like you didn't need to?

You saw what you saw. I don't know. I just didn't have another goal after that. That's crazy. What about when you were... So you had this goal, this dream when you were a kid? Or was this a new goal and you got it quick like fuck yeah it was like yeah we wanted to be an abandoned tour

and i also wanted to not have a job that were that was my goal to make enough money where I wouldn't have to have a job. Yeah, I guess we achieved it within a few years. Seems like keeping this band together is a job. Yeah, sure. Now. Yeah. I mean, man, that's crazy. Just never thought that far ahead.

Yeah. Why? Did you think you were going to die young or something? Maybe. I don't't know I just didn't think much about it yeah it's crazy because like for being scared of death or whatever

I'd feel like I'd just have a bunch of dreams I just would fill myself with dreams so I'd distract myself from the end goal you know yeah i guess i always thought well if things get too hard there's always suicide so not nothing was you know and life never seemed that hard i always thought oh well you know if it gets too tough maybe

have you ever always just had really down years where you thought about that? Just, I don't know, not years or anything. Just little episodes? Yeah, just daily know since I can remember what were you sad about when you were a kid I don't know you just always had a cloud something

man it's heavy I couldn't figure it out I didn't have a bad childhood or anything bad parents were you well sometimes i'd be sometimes i remember being jealous of friends in college who actually had things to be depressed about because i'm just depressed and i have no real i can't really point to anything particular

do you think that's why you and your bandmate didn't really see eye to eye? Was he a happy, optimistic guy or was he sad too? Yeah, I wouldn't say he's optimistic. I'm not sure. You guys have been together

for so long and I didn't know that y'all hated each other. I love that. That's the shit I look forward to in interviews. That's the shit right there. All right, what are you working on now, though, Jay? What are you working on in quarantine that's getting you by? I'm thinking about doing things more than doing them.

Yeah, just kind of like... We finished a Dyno album, so I thought I'd be on tour, so I was in more tour mode than write stuff mode. Yeah. You finished a Dyno record? Yeah. We finished that as quarantine started up. I mean, I guess I finished in April or something.

Who produced it? I produced it and Kurt Weill helped too. Yeah. He did some stuff. What's your relationship with Kurt? He's such a great songwriter. Yeah, I don't know. I've just played with him a bunch

and he played on my solo record before. Yeah, I don't know. I've just played with him a bunch. He played on my solo record before. I've played on some stuff of his. What do you like about Kurt? I just like his style, his sound. Do you guys grow up listening to the same type of music, or you just like what he does? I don't know. Somewhat, but he's a lot younger than me. What about Schwartz?

When did you meet Schwartz? I met Schwartz, I don't know, like 2000, somewhere around there. Did he come to you or did you come to him? What happened? He was with this other guy, Bart, who i think was more of a fan of mine and uh i think schools had something to do with it like they knew schools and and then they just started managing me how long you've known schools for

i met him right before then like a few months before that like 2000 around there it's crazy to me that's um yeah he produced both my records he's becoming a great yeah he's becoming a great producer oh cool yeah he's a good guy I just did a song for him that was something I did a Neil Cassell song

yeah schools is doing a tribute album to Neil Cassell yeah yeah did you know Neil well? not well but I knew him

yeah it's a sad story man it's like the idea that you know people are hurting and they're not expressing the hurt

that's why I like I'm glad you're fucking seeing a therapist Jay this is good this is improvement dog let's hope he doesn't fire me though yeah no I hope he doesn't fire you too I heard Schwartz's therapist

fired him oh yeah Schwartz's lying he never had a therapist he said he had one for like two sessions and then she kicked him out yeah he's neurotic too we're all neurotic that's why we all love each other you know

one last question Jay I'll let you go I know you're a busy man. What do you want to be remembered by when this is all said and done? Oh, I don't care. You don't care? No. You don't care about legacy at all? No.

What do you care about then? Just, you know, the people i know now and oh yeah trying to not be depressed and have try to have a good time and do you remember the best time of your life? No, I can't say. Really? Why do you? I think the best time of my life.

Yeah, I can't either. Fuck, we are depressed. Well, that's okay. There's always moments, but I don't know. What was the best moment of your band that you remember? I remember the highlight and low light of my career was the same thing. I was asked to play on Tony Bennett's Unplugged show, and then I played on it, and that was the highlight, and then they cut me from the show show which was the low point in my career

oh my god did you get to meet him? yeah I was playing with him on his unplugged why'd they cut you? well I guess MTV thought you know

they had these unplugged things, and they thought Tony Bennett was so old that kids wouldn't want to see him for 90 minutes or whatever, so they decided to cut his performance down to 60 minutes. And that was part of the thing. They cut out me and Evan Dando. Did you know, or were you having a watch party, like, oh, we're're so excited we're on this

event and then you do the event you're not even on the motherfucker dude yeah oh and then there was a picture of me i remember in people magazine with him like tony bennett's unplugged and they had my picture with tony bennett but then i remember one guy going, oh, I saw you on Tony Bennett. That was really good. Of course, he's like lying because it didn't happen. I was like, oh, yeah. Sure, dude. Damn.

Do you get a lot of bullshitters in your life? Yeah. Yeah. Is that part of the job? I guess so. You have to have the bullshit detector going you have a good bullshit detector i hope so jesus i mean you've laughed this long yeah it's crazy man what a fucking crazy story with your your bandmates y'all well i hope you guys find happiness

it's one way or another if it's through money or music, I just... Yeah, I think we've found a way to exist now. We're not hating on each other now. Do you guys talk at all on the road? If other people are there, we can talk through other people. Seldom would we talk just on our own. It's insane. What about, do you guys travel together?

Yeah. So when you guys are in the bus, you guys just don't talk to each other? Or are you doing bus tours still? Or is it just like one-off? We were doing buses. Yeah, we would more talk Yeah if someone else was also talking Then we can talk

Yeah But on our own it's a bit difficult to talk What about that time where You guys were in like London Or something and You know I guess Lou was on another One of his benders or something

And you had to get him out, right? Something like that? What happened? That was Murph, I think. Oh, Murph. Most of our dramas involved Murph in the past. Really? It's crazy, man.

It is amazing, though. This is amazing what music will do. It'll make people come together even when they don't like each other yeah because we all liked music and we valued music and realized that you know good music is more important than having a party band with your friends you'd rather have a good band you know yeah good music you we weren't really, we were always very serious about music, you know. Well, that's fucking, well, that's why you're the GOAT. That's why you are one of the GOATs

in Guitar World. So thanks, Jay, for being on the show. And thanks for just being, being here, bro. We love you. All right, thanks. And stay fucking happy. We got this. I'm just going to call you sometimes. Like, Jay, you happy today? If I got to send a dick pic, I'll send a dick pic, Jay. No problem. All right. All right, buddy. Have a good one.

That's all I need. Yeah, DeFrasco dick pic. No problem. No words. I'm not going to send you any words. Just dick. Just me and you. That's our relationship for send you any words. Just dick. That's our relationship for now. Cool. Later, buddy.

There you have it. Jay Maskis. Wow. All right. There you have it. Thank you, Jay Maskis. Yeah. He got deep talking.

Talking deep on the yard. I felt like I was Oprah in this, talking about his band and stuff. It's great. I'm glad you got vulnerable with me, Jay. You know, it took a minute. I know you don't know me for dick, you know, and I appreciate you being vulnerable enough to let me into your world a little bit so we can, you know, discuss things that are hard to fucking talk about. Depression, anxiety, being in a fucking band for that long. Jesus, with people that you might not like.

It's a character that's not overseen because I hear you and I see it. And I know a lot of people here too. So thanks for being vulnerable. Thanks for being part of the show. But that's it, guys. I hope you had a great one. This week was filled with, I'm still on. I drank so fucking much in Charleston, South Carolina. I'm like, I have gout now.

And it's fucked up. I drank like an I have gout now, and it's fucked up. I drank like an asshole out there and ate shitty food. I mean, I rolled into Denver, all my homies were like, damn, Frasco, better get your ass on the mountain. You're looking fat as fuck. So I'm going to get some exercise this week. I'm going to write a great show with my great team. We have a great team for the shit show.

We got a budget, so you're going to see a lot of things that I couldn't do with just me on the fucking keyboards and stuff working this show. Got the whole band. I mean, it's going to be a fun experiment, and we're going to try to record it in December. Just like the sketches and stuff. And I'm going to try to get you guys some live streams by January and we could go through the winter one more winter with a shit show. So that's it. What else is going on in my life?

Oh, November 20th. We just got confirmed for another dance party November 28th I got some surprise I got music stuff I can kind of talk about but We'll be releasing some music In the next month or two Wrote this killer

I like this song it's a little different You know like I was saying before In the opening segment it's okay to Get out of your It's a little different Like I was saying before in the opening segment It's okay to get out of your comfort zone a little bit And try some new shit out You know You could always go back to what you used to do But the

The hardest part is Breaking that fucking glass And trying something new Because once you realize You weren't affected Or you weren't hurt by doing something new, maybe it'll change your mind state to always searching for that new thing

or searching for that way to make things fresh or make things happy. So go out there and fucking get it, guys. Oh, Thanksgiving is coming up. Damn, goddamn. We are in the eighth month of this motherfucking shit. Isn't that crazy to you? Eight months. Survive in advance. You guys are killing it. We're making it through. We're making it. We are making it. We're making it, guys. So survive in advance.

Stay healthy. Get some vitamin D in you. It's the flu season, so that means corona's running rampant in these streets, so be careful. You're, you know, like I said, if, come, stay at home if you're sick. Come through if you're sick. Wear condoms.

Be protected by, by your mind. Don't let the devil in there because he'll come in there and try to fuck shit up. Just know that you're perfect the way you are and you're loving and you're caring when you want to be. So if you want to be loving and caring, fucking be it. All right, guys, I'm out. I got work to do, but I'll see you next week. We got a great show. I mean, I got some fucking killer interviews throughout the whole season for the rest of the season three.

And then we'll ramp up, take a couple weeks off in January like we always do after Christmas and get ready for season four because this podcast ain't going anywhere. I need you guys as much as I think we need each other. You know, it's good to talk about things. It's good to be vulnerable. It's good to listen to people. And it makes us feel that it's okay for us to open up and for us to be the people we want to fucking be in this world.

Because we never know when it's our turn to leave this awesome, beautiful COVID party. But COVID will come and go, but our happiness

is here to stay. All right. I love you. I'll talk to you soon and I'll see you next week. You tuned in to the third season of Blissful Blah here to stay. All right. I love you. I'll talk to you soon and I'll see you next week. You tuned in to the third season of Blissful Blah

at Andy Fresco's World Saving Podcast produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angel, and Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe, rate the show on iTunes and Spotify

so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For more info on the show, please head to our Instagram at worldsavingpodcast. For more info on blog or tour dates, head to andyfresco.com. Check out the new album Keep On Keepin' On.

Or let Andy entertain you at a Thursday night online shitshow. Or at this crazy Saturday night wanna-dance-with-somebody dance party. Oh, right. Summer season is here. No festivals, no music. So instead of trying to keep the lip going and hoping to find some shitty paid trombone at JubaGigs this summer, I decided to reroute. Building closets and wardrobes, build a tiny summer house and do some painting.

It will be October in no time. And yes, I sort of hate it compared to the wonderful life I live. But I'm also thankful that people trust my skills or my good looks or whatever. They have my back and I manage to make some money. The big danger in this line of work actually, it pays a lot better than being a musician. All right, how are you doing? Making ends meet? Worried?

No work? Putting on a virtual dance party every week? Let's make sure to carry each other. Get one another's backs. Keep each other safe. Keep each other sane. Keep each other, get one another's backs, keep each other safe, keep each other sane, keep each other healthy. Let's unite, for it will be a long road ahead. See you next week.