Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 112: Al Schnier (Moe.)

Episode Date: February 9, 2021

Has Andy's holy quest to find a purpose in life finally come to an end?? Was the missing ingredient this whole time just a dog?! Well, not *just* a dog, but nevertheless: the quest continues... And on the Interview Hour we welcome another legend from the Jam scene: Al Schnier from Moe.! Andy and Al catch up after a year of not seeing each other and talk stories from the long and winding covid road. Nick Gerlach joins Andy to close us out and gives us his thoughts on the worst of all holidays. This is EP 112 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  Listen to Moe. you filthy animals! moe.org Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Brian Schwartz Nick Gerlach Arno Bakker

okay of course you didn't answer um i just wanted to call and say thank you for dog sitting pinto i wanted to check in and see if you'd be down for watching him again this week uh yeah i mean sorry to bombard you on this i have to go out to la for this thing and i mean you surprisingly didn't do that bad watching him but if you are cool with watching him again, please do not feed him an entire fucking pizza again. And stop taking him to the alleyway to use the bathroom. I know this dog gives your life purpose right now, but he's not just going to shit on the fucking concrete.

This is a big-ass mountain dog. I know you don't read my long-ass text to you. You have to take him on walks. Hey, Schwartz, whose dog is this? You just dropped off a dog at my house while I'm on the phone and wave at me, and you leave the dog here. Call me back right away. What's up with this dog?

And this proves my point. You asked me last week. You say, hey, Schwartz, I'm going to get a dog, blah, blah, blah. I'm going crazy. I need a dog. I say, you're not getting a dog. It's a terrible idea. What are you going to do when you need to leave? Is this your answer? Come back and get this dog, please. And we're back. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How's everyone doing out there?

How we doing in our houses? Are we staying away from the devil they call the back of our mind? Are we watching? Are we starting to watch weird-ass porn? I am. I'm crazy. I don't know what happened, but I'm just bored of whatever's on the interweb. So now I'm like, oh, let's dive into some

weirder shit. And yeah, I guess I'm not saying I don't like it, but I'm not saying I like it either. Hey, what can you do? It's quarantine month fucking 20,000. How you doing? We're doing okay. Everyone checking in on ourselves. As a musician, I feel like this is summer camp in some weird fucking way. Basically be on the road for fucking three years straight after this to play catch up. And, you know, I kind of have a nostalgia about it, you know, take out all the death and all the bad stuff, but like just being in your house and when I'm not good with goodbyes or I'm not good with things ending, you know, I don't know if you're the same way, but like when things start to end, I start, I start getting a little detached and stop telling people how I feel.

And excuse me. Um, yeah, it's hard to, to move on to something new, you know? And it's like, I'm pretty excited to start.

I'm starting to write my new record here pretty soon. It's my birthday on the 11th. You know, I'm turning 33. Jesus fuck. It's not old, but it's, it's definitely not young. And so I've been thinking about that and thinking about just new things I like since the quarantine,

you know. I'm gonna go back on the road and be like, oh yeah, you know, I used to be pumped up about a three-month tour. Now I just look at the side effects and having my band's girlfriends all bitch about that shit. And like, I'm like, oh, fuck, here we go. So I'm going to take my year 33 with a grain of salt, you know, and realize, you know, getting back into the swing of things. It's like kind of like after Christ, like after AQ, after COVID or after quarantine, we're going to be different people. And, um, we're just going to have to, when we come back into the real world and go back to that bar and you see, uh, your friend, you know, Johnny, Johnny alcoholic or whatever that you haven't seen in a year. Cause you haven't been,

he hasn't been at the bar or you haven't been at the bar. He could be a different person. He could be wearing a suit. He could be having different ideas of how he wants to approach his life. So when we go back to our friends, when we go back to our watering holes, just be considerate that people are changing. I realize that too. I did have a really good hangout. I'm still staying healthy. Been eating the Yah-Yay vegan stuff or whatever.

I do like the salads. I do not fuck with vegan dinner. I don't know. I just can't do it. Can't be reheating tofu and shit. It just makes my heart explode a little bit. But I do like the salads and stuff. It just makes, it just makes my, um, my heart explode a little bit, but I do like the salads and stuff. I've been staying healthy, but I didn't have, I did go out. My buddy, um, Casey Russell was doing, you know, Denver's, you know,

that's a great thing. I didn't realize about Denver's like, oh yeah, everyone, all these super bands play on Tuesdays at, you know, fucking Joe Schmoe's bar and it's fucking great music. So I did have a little gathering at my house and to get to know Denver, cause I'd never, you know, I moved here in March. I didn't get to experience the city of Denver, Colorado without it being all diseased up with the COVID, like a nasty STD, you don't want to go in those streets right now, you don't want to get that COVID, you know, that dirty COVID, you got to be gentle with that, so like I rolled in the streets, I was feeling a little confident, you know, Denver slowly opened up, I was Gucci, shoo away devil. If you're in this bar COVID and it was just a nice hang.

It was good to meet all the musicians and, you know, hearing their stories, you know, how hard it is and how we're like having to get jobs and stuff and having to kind of substitute or not substitute, but like just pivot just to make this dream alive. to kind of substitute or not substitute, but like just pivot just to make this dream alive.

But I did have this great conversation that we're going to know who the, you know, who's going to stick around from this and who really wants to be a musician. You know, that's, you know, I always try to look at the upside of things. And, you know, I think one of the optimistic things about this quarantine is we're going to, if you want something bad enough that you're going through before this whole fucking thing, just going to make you want it better, want it more. Get that fucking thing. Do I have to play the fucking music?

I will. Where you at with your dreams? Huh? Tell me. Where you at with your dreams? Tell me. Where are you at? Because I'm here to tell you that shit's going to be fine. It's going to be fucking fine. Don't be scared just because you got to get a job at the fucking movie theater. I don't think the movie theater is working right now. You got to get a job as a takeout person putting food in a box. Don't worry about it. We're going to get through this bullshit. We're going to be back to fucking

full on, obnoxiously pumping out our dreams. I watched this movie called Fake Famous on HBO. And it was just like a social experiment on if they could get three random people famous and it is so fucking good and it is so fucking scary and fucked up that we're like this. You know, and I'm the same way. You know, I'm a media whore or whatever. I gotta, you know,

that's the hardest part about being a musician, I think, is knowing that 70% of it is sucking the social media teat. And it was just so fascinating to see how people don't have, like some of these influencers don't have really any skills or traits or things they're passionate about besides getting famous, which is kind of scary because what is fame? You want to be popular? What is popular? Do you want to be popular for what the things you do or do you just want to be popular just to be popular? And that's where we're having an existential crisis in our country. You know, 90s was bad. You know,

you watch all those Michael Jordan documentaries and the Tiger Woods documentaries and all these 90s, you know, celebrities and how that is. I think one thing good about that is everyone already sees like everything you do, like what you, how you pee and fucking what you eat and you know they're not waiting for you outside of a hotel unless you're like but you you're like super famous um but it's like seeing people who just want to get famous just didn't get that self-gratification that they're liked is super sad um to me because that means they're insecure about themselves. That means they're insecure about who they are as a person. You know, like we all have insecurities when we're a kid.

We all have things that we dealt with that make us the men today or women today. But we need to take a step back from them and say, they're not going to control us. They can't control us. Because the minute they start controlling us, the minute we spiraling back into fucking anxiety and back into depression and back into those things that we are, that we fucking hate about ourselves. So take a step back and say, don't let these fucking insecurities control you.

You don't need to have someone else tell you you're fucking dope to know you're fucking dope. You are dope as fuck. So don't forget that. Don't forget your smile. Don't forget that you are worth something more than just a fucking like or a fucking picture, you know, a fucking selfie. You got more depth than that, find what is gonna keep that fucking light bulb, light, or whatever the fucking saying is, you know, shine bright, be there, for yourself, I said this last week, you know, I was going through a slump where, like, on Monday, I was like, oh, fuck, here we go. You know, you don't know when depression hits.

Depression is the cavities inside your smile. You know, they hide. So you eat some fucking stupid sugar food and all of a sudden, boom, bitch, you're depressed. You know, so we need to take care of our insides. It's like kind of like having a clean house, but if you open all the drawers and they're just fucking messy because you don't want to see the mess. You just want to see what's around you if it looks clean.

We can't have relationships like that because that's when we start suppression. That's suppression. So stop suppressing your feelings. Start telling people how you feel when you're a crazy person like I am and you start suppressing one thing, you start suppressing your feelings. Start telling people how you feel when you're crazy person like I am. And you start suppressing one thing, you start suppressing everything. We need to be an open vessel. We need to be not scared to show the world who the fuck we are. So you go out there and you

fucking show the world who you are, even through a quarantine, even through a fucking Zoom meeting, fucking wear that shirt that says I'm a bad bitch. Because why not? Tell the world that you're confident, that you're optimistic. And even if you're having a fucking shitty day, I'm going to try to have a good day. That's what I want you to bring this week. Just try. Try to have a good day. Go out on a bike ride. I went, what did I do? I went drinking. I had a little fucking day drink. Had a little wine. A corned beef sandwich. I was like, damn, this vegan food's not making me fucking hungry anymore. Or not making, it's making me starving. So I got myself a corned beef. I feel today, but I didn't feel yesterday because I was like, yeah, I'm going to give myself something good.

Treat yourself. You don't have to always put yourself in a sabotage mode for other people's sake. That's what, you know, stop fucking worrying about the next like, stop worrying about the next selfie. I'm telling this to myself too. I'm like this too. Let's just be present. Let worrying about the next selfie. I'm telling this to myself too. I'm like this too.

Let's just be present. Let's fucking love ourselves again. That's all we gotta do. Alright, we have Al Schneer on the show from Mo. Great guy. I interviewed a couple of their other band members and I got close with Al through the quarantine.

It's amazing. I got closer with a lot of bands, but there's some people you just get, you just have, you know, I liked the motherfucker and I'm going to keep talking to this guy. And, um, so we became really good dudes, um, together and, uh, he's just from Buffalo and I think he's a little upstate from that, but he roots for Buffalo and stuff. And we just talked about the old days and talked about his divorce and talked about a bunch of stuff. He opened up to me, which was beautiful and, uh, for an hour. So hopefully Joe doesn't cut too much of it. Cause I do tend to,

when my friends are on, I, you know, we start bullshitting about, you know, like little school girls, but hopefully, hopefully it's a longer interview and you can hear me and I'll just, you know, get closer in our friendship. So ladies and gentlemen, are you ready? Like I said, you ready to have a good week? I am. I am ready to have a great fucking week. It's my birthday. I'm going to celebrate. I'm going to get shit popping Valentine's day. People are having Valentine's or whatever. Fucking wear condoms. You know what time it is.

You don't want, just because you're lonely, you pick some random valentine to go on a date with and maybe get a handjob or whatever or get laid for the ladies. Just wear condoms. Make sure that IED or LUD works, you know, it's been a minute, ladies, make sure it's, it didn't move, I don't know how that works, but, or men, if you're gonna go get that men, what are the, I think that's like a birth control for men's coming out, I'm gonna be the first in line with that motherfucker once they test it on people and their dicks and

fall off, I'm gonna get that shit for sure, you know we're calling to be considerate tell tell them you love them if this is a valentine with your lover whatever you know take care of them make them feel good all right guys let's listen to al i've talked a lot i was like i was like and just started pressing record didn't know what to talk about. And, um, here we are. So enjoy Al and I'll catch you on the tail. And I think Nicholas Gerlach is going to, going to set this up with me.

Um, he's coming over right now. Maybe we could close it out. If not, he'll be on the Nathaniel Rateliff episode that comes out next week. All right. Love you guys. Like I said, be good to yourself and we're going to make it through this.

All right. Next up on the interview hour, we got our boy Al from Moe. These guys, I don't like calling them the God. Yo, play some Moe, Christopher. Oh, I pimp out Al a little bit. I don't like calling people the godfathers of the jam scene because that makes people feel old. And this guy is like the fucking founder of youth.

But these guys, you know, these guys were one of the OGs to really bring festival music and festival experience to our culture. And it was really fascinating to hear his story about, like, you know, he was like a little entrepreneur, a little hustler like I was. It was fun to hear him talk about all that stuff and then talk about the band and talk

about his divorce and talk about his new love and how he's so much happier with the love that he's getting in his life right now and how he's trying to, you know, pivot through the anxiety from not playing shows and what he's doing to fix that. And also he talked about Robbie's cancer. You know, his bandmate had cancer and they had to deal with that too. And it's just a great story, so I can't wait for you to hear this.

So ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Al Starr. I don't know. The last thing I remember, the sidewalk was black. Bells ringing on the 23rd floor. Static elevator through the sliding door. Head singing, I'm working on a song. Suddenly it hits me, everything is wrong. I'm dreaming of a home

in gold when I realize I'm awake and cold screaming out of your mind suddenly remember

drinking all those wines I'm losing my mind I'm wasting

all my time how could I know Where the hell to go What's up, Al? How you doing? How you doing? What's going on?

Man, I miss you. I miss, dude, God, isn't it weird when you see someone a lot through the summers and then all of a sudden things halt? How are you dealing with that? Hard stop. So we saw each other on the tour, the pre-COVID tour. Yeah, with Umphreys.

Yeah, that's right. I saw you in Portland, Oregon on that run. Has it ever happened to you where you think everything is going well, then all of a sudden, boom, a curve ball hits you in life? Yeah, for sure. I mean, we had that situation with Rob a couple of years ago. He had that major life-changing event, right? So Rob gets diagnosed with cancer. Nobody was expecting it obviously it was completely unexpected and we went from again kind of like you know full summer tour uh everything being you know just kind of normal you know firing on all cylinders as mo everything was going well

to not only are you sort of faced with, uh, you know, we got to pull the plug on the tour. We got to figure, you know, you just start putting out all of those fires when you're like, Oh shit, my best friend's going, that has cancer. And like, then all like reality of that sets in. I just started thinking about like his kids and like on all of it, then, and then my kid, you know, and then like the reality of it all sets in and you're just like, man,

I don't even care about our tour. just care about my friend and yeah was that the hardest thing you guys had to deal with as a band for sure yeah um it was it was the most it may not have there certainly you know other things come up where it seems like the hardest thing but this was the most real thing ever you know the the thing that mattered the most for sure. What, what was your philosophy on death before that versus when that happened? Huh? You know, my, my dad passed away about 10 years ago. And that was the thing that really changed my, changed my outlook on life more than death, I guess, you know, and it, it took, it, it took something like that, having somebody that, you know,

that you're close with to, to, to lose them in that way. And it was, I mean, my, my, my father was old. I mean, he had some sickness or whatever, but I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't unexpected I should say, but it's was, my, my, my father was old. I mean, he had some sickness or whatever, but I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't unexpected, I should say, but it's still, it rocked my world. It was one of the most challenging things that I'd ever gone through. It's, I went through like this metamorphosis because it's like, it's like a coming of age to, especially as a, I think as a man to lose your father and to go through that process, it changed my outlook on life decidedly. So then when we're faced with this thing with Rob, and to have your best friend who's your age, and we've been together for 30 years.

I've done more with the guys in Mo than, than I've done with, you know, my own family, but they are my family. That's the thing. They're my brothers. And, um, to have that happen to somebody so close to you again, it puts it all in check. And so it doesn't necessarily change my philosophy about death, but it certainly, it gives you a hard, makes you take a hard look at life. And, you know, you immediately check in on what's important and what matters.

Yeah. Like, yeah, that's what I was going to ask you. Like at the end of the day, like what's important to you being away from family, being away from your friendship, being away from the ideas. Cause I bet you, you're probably touring a bunch when your dad was going through that. Right. Yeah. So you couldn't, yeah, that's right. And we just, and we happen to have this window. It was, it was in, in October. So it was just, we happen to have come off tour. I was home at the time and I, and I live in my hometown where I grew up. And so my, my folks live a mile away from, from the home that I grew up in. And so my kids ended up going to my high school and, you know, I, I don't know. I like my hometown. I like where I grew up. I happen to be home. So I was, I was fortunate enough to be around during that critical time where he got sick in the end and ended up being hospitalized. But we were then supposed to go and start like our rehearsals for our Halloween shows and then ultimately have our Halloween show.

Um, and so now I ended up having, so he had a, uh, my father had a liver transplant back in the eighties, like in the frontier days of organ transplant. Um, um, and so he had to be flown back to Pittsburgh, uh, at the facility at the hospital in Pittsburgh at the university where they had done the transplant. And so he's in the ICU in Pittsburgh and that's where I am. And it's kind of one of those things. I don't know if you've ever been like stuck on a, stuck on a tarmac and late for a show and you're sort of counting it down and you're going, okay, well, I'll get there in time for soundcheck or, well, I'm going to miss soundcheck, but I'll be there in time for doors or whatever. And it was one of those things. And I'm there and I'm like trying to be present with my family and thinking, well, all right, well, I'm going to miss soundcheck, but I'll be there in time for doors or whatever. And it was one of those things. And I'm there and I'm like trying to be present with my family and thinking,

well, all right, well, the guys can start rehearsing without me and I'll do my homework here, like in the, in the waiting room. And we'll just, you know, cause we're not going to cancel the show. The show is still going to happen. This is like, everything's going to work out. And as it's getting closer and closer, I remember talking with our former manager and he's like, Al, we're not doing the show. You can't, you're not coming home. Like this is, you need to understand that. And the reality of that, once that reality set in, I realized what was happening. And it took that conversation for me to accept the situation that we were in. No, it's hard. Is it hard for you to mourn? Do you have to keep yourself distraction? Keep yourself distracted? Uh, that's a good, I mean, that's a good question. Um, I know, I know people do, you know, you, you, you know,

might tend to immerse yourself in work and other things or just activity in general um it it took me a long time to mourn the loss of my dad um and and i did do that i immersed myself in work. I immersed myself in the other activities that I liked. Like physical activity is the good thing for me. Like that's my medicine in a lot of ways. So if I start to have to deal with stuff emotionally or mentally, I need to get outside and do something physical. I need to get outside and do something physical and whether that's running or skiing or biking or something like I need to get outside and do a thing. And that helps me clear my head. Yeah. It's pretty tough. I mean, like that's, I, when I, I, I distract myself all the time

through anything. So like when I'm sitting at home and I have nothing to do, my brain starts clicking, you know, or talking to me again. It's like, like, it's the hardest thing. It's like, I bet this quarantine was pretty hard for you too. If you always distract yourself with that kind of stuff, or was it easier? Cause maybe you were a little burnt out, needed this time off or whatever, you know, whatever you're going through, you know, we're all different. What we go through is, uh, how hard was that to be home? You know? And what did you love it i mean i talked to you you're having a ball i talked to you a couple times this fucking court dude you're just

skiing man i'm i will say like there's in in some ways i feel like i'm thriving during this time because it's it's a gift you know we don't we don get this kind of time. I don't get to be home with my wife 24-7 like this, to be home with my wife and dogs and just be home. But I will tell you, it took me months, many months to like settle into a groove and figure out what that was. Because whenever I came home before, it was either days

or maybe weeks just a but like a couple weeks I'd be home for two weeks and just long enough to unpack do a bunch of chores and errands and stuff that I had to do and then you're already meanwhile like packing and doing all your homework and chores and errands and shit so you can go back out on tour again so it's like you're decompressing and sort of recompressing at the same time. And there's really no, there might be a day or two of downtime in the middle, but there's never really any downtime. It's just while you're home and then you get back out on tour and you're like, I get a little downtime when I'm on tour.

So yeah. So maybe like the, it's like the reverse. Like it's like you're playing catch up to be a family man, you know? And like a little bit. Yeah. And the funny thing is like, I never knew how much I liked it. Like I love being home. I really like, I, I, I love traveling. I love, I love all of it. Like I love flying. I like being in airports. Like I like, and I love seeing my friends. I love seeing people on the road. I love our fans. I like being in airports. Like I like, and I love seeing my friends. I love seeing people on the road. I love our fans. I love being in a bed. Like I love all of it. We have a great life and I love it. The work is hard. This, you know, taking a shower and a shitty backstage, like disgusting, whatever,

like, like some of our life sucks and like people don't know that, but, but I love it. It's great. And, and I miss it and I can't wait to get back and do more of it but at the same time i never realized how much i would love like not doing it because i haven't done it you know and it's like why why is it bad to like different avenues of life you know like oh god it's a morning blow up today every call and it's showing up on my computer uh yeah that's how it goes um but like you know it's like why is there pressure to not to like have different avenues of love you know why do we always just feel like we oh we only have one type of love or why can't we just like love different avenues of like, you know, having

separation, like you love skiing, like you love, I don't know why you're in Charleston, but maybe you do some fucking, uh, ocean stuff too. But like, you know, like we were afraid to, you know, deep, uh, you know, categorize love or like, why do we have to like put everything into one thing, like say music or saying on the road, you know? Yeah, you're right. Yeah. We should have an open relationship with our lives. Yeah, exactly. I know what you're saying. You're a progressive man. Yeah. You know, like, you know, this is why I've never had a girlfriend though. I like life too much, but, but, um, you know, it's crazy. What do you, what do you think about that? I think you're right. You know, we don't have to put it, put it into a,

just one, one box and say, well, I'm, I'm just this, or I just do this or, you know, why not, why not do it all and love it all? You know, like I love food and I love traveling and, you know, and I do love skiing and I like, so, so this, so this home, this one that you see here, this is my home. My hometown is in upstate New York and this is, this is where I grew up. But Charleston is another home for us. And I, and I do love being there and, and I do do ocean things. I started surfing this year again because I could and I love it. It's great. And I got this little cart where I could drag my surfboard down to the beach and I'd go to the beach every day, you know, started reading tides and figure out what I was doing.

I had no idea what I was doing. And then it became just sort of like a daily routine for me. Like, all right, honey, I'm going to the beach, whatever. And I'd go surf for an hour or whatever and then come home and go walk the dogs or whatever but it was like what a what a great thing i'd never get to do that if i you know if i put up the blinders and was like no man i'm only a this i'm only a skier i only like baseball i can't talk about basketball or what i don't know no i totally agree. It's like we're tunnel vision sometimes. Are you like that when you make records? Hey, I mean, Mo has never had that problem.

If anything, it's the opposite. It's been sort of a blessing and a curse for us. But we have such a wide variety of influences and tastes and things that we want to do. And from the beginning, we just kind of just said, okay, you know what, it's everything's on the table. Let's play it all. And, you know, sometimes in the context of a song, it's okay if it like there's a there's a metal break in it and then it goes back into a country song and then something else and you know i think we've we've managed to make that all sound like mo over the course of our career tell me why um why it's a curse to not be a record band uh just you know i feel like if we were a funk band, for example,

it'd be much easier to put us in a box. People would know what to do with us, and we could have developed ourselves as that, and maybe not a funk band in our case. Yeah, I get what you're saying. And that's the problem. I can't say, oh, well, then a punk band or this band. You know what I mean? I don't know what the band is that we would have been, you know, a shitty rock band. That's the category we should have been in. to categorize our music in genres like we're so much more than the genre that we have to categorize and to put ourself in a square for the radio people to fucking give us attention like it's just

it's silly to me like but didn't you have like radio success earlier in your career uh no we didn't we never really had any radio success i mean we did, we did sign with a major label, you know, in, in there's sort of a, a wave of jam bands getting signed, you know, in the, in the wake of Spin Doctors and Blues Traveler and Dave Matthews all having hits on the radio. And so then I think they, you know, they kind of went around and started picking up all of the jam bands that had any momentum at the time. And we got caught up in that, which was awesome to be on a major label and have that kind of a budget. We got to dip our toe in that world for a little bit. We never enjoyed much more than uh a recording budget for a couple

records but it was cool it was cool just to be a part of is it hard i mean like um is it no different than what you're doing now now that you're independent it's like it that's that's exactly it you know it's funny we were independent beforehand we did these two records with sony and then we've been independent ever since and And although, you know, we've done some, we've collaborated with some different indie labels on some of our releases, but the entire time it's felt the exact same way. Like we largely left to our own vices to just go make a record and promote it on our own and just do what you do. And, you know, and your expectations are like here about whether or not anything will actually gain any traction on the radio. And we could record a three or four minute version of a pretty catchy song that, for all intents and purposes, should be a song.

But we don't have the, I don't know, just for whatever. You know how that kind of stuff works. I don't know, you know, just for whatever, you know, you know how that kind of stuff works. I mean, if, if it were a, my morning jacket song, maybe it would like just get more attention or maybe it would be a better song. No, but like, I give it just saying, it's like record labels are just basically a bank with a higher interest rate, you know? Yeah. It's like, yeah, no shit. a bank with a higher interest rate you know yeah it's oh yeah no shit it's like why i mean i'd rather take the risk and not have the 30 40 interest rate and just like all right if we lose it we lose it but you you believe in your band so much that you know you're not gonna it's it's never gonna fail if you keep trying maybe right you know is that gonna keep working yeah

well yeah but what's your writing process like now? Like how do you keep the band inspired with a year hiatus and everyone in different towns? You know, it's interesting. We all stay in touch with each other. We have, we have a standing band meeting, which we just had this morning as a matter of fact. And it's funny when we're, when we're working all of the time, those meetings will go easily like two hours or more. It's a long, it's just a conference call.

Yeah. And, and once the pandemic hit, there was kind of a lull and, and then we immediately, like once the Zoom thing became a thing, we tried to do a Zoom call, and it didn't work at all. Everybody was like, this is weird. And everybody was just busy, like, you know, kind of doing their other, I don't know, Zoom just didn't work at all for the band, which is really interesting, because we all do it all the time now for other things.

We even have, it's funny, like, sometimes on the weekends, we'll do a thing where we just hang out with the band and crew and some of our extended family. And we just hang out on the weekends. We'll do like a Zoom happy hour that goes for like four to six hours. And so just getting drunk with each other, just having fun. Yeah, because we miss each other and we hang out with each other. We did it on New Year's because we always spend New Year's with each other. And then this year we weren't together. So we all hung out with each other. We did it on New Year's because we always spend New Year's with each other. And then this year we weren't together. So we all hung out with each other on Zoom.

Is that the hardest part about just the companionship, not being with your brothers? Yeah. I mean, I think that's the hardest part about all of this. You know, it's like I said, I love being home. And fortunately for me, you know, I have a great relationship with my wife and I love my dogs and I've got enough projects on my list to keep me busy probably until I'm done. Right. Yeah. But I miss people, man. I miss hanging out with people. I just miss, I miss going out to restaurants and seeing our friends and just doing shit you know i just i i miss that who's taking this quarantine the hardest in your band you think i don't know it's not that's not for for me to say i suppose yeah well like you know nobody's really opened up and said i can't take it anymore you got to do something yeah it's like I lost, you know,

it's like, you know, I'm bringing my projections onto everyone else right now because I talked to my band and it's like we lost, we lost the vavum, like lost the tightness a little bit that you need from six hours in a bus

and sound check. And, you know, it's like, like you said, the Zoom thing doesn't fucking work for our band either. Like, it's like, let's just figure out a different solution. And it's like, that's what I was asking about the songwriting. It must be hard doing virtual songwriting with everybody. Yeah, well, so we have always largely written independently, and then we bring in what we have as a thing for the band to then collaborate on. And I know that Jim is writing a ton right now. Jim is thriving in a way that I've never seen him be so prolific in my life before, which is really cool.

That's beautiful. And Rob and I stay in touch about the things that we're doing, you know, like our, our virtual concerts and writing and stuff like that. And I know that he's been doing a shitload too, which is great to see. So I know that everybody's been active.

Chuck's been a little quiet lately, but that's also Chuck's tendency. He gets quiet. Yeah. And Vinny doesn't write. Vinny's dying to get out and just be with us and start playing again. I talked to Vinny a couple of times this time too.

He's like, I got to get on the fucking road no but it's good we're not that far from each other and i keep wanting to like figure out a way where we can hang out with each other but i mean i have friends here in in our hometown and we keep trying to figure it out and we get close to doing we're like man i don't know it's just then every time like we think that like okay it's cool we've been cool you've been cool and then dr fauci was like whatever you do don't hang out inside with your friends all right look we've been we've been cool this long let's not do that sleepover we were planning on the slumber part yeah the 4 a.m slumber part yeah no i get that man it's like um it just must be harder when everyone is dispersed a little bit, even though like Vinny lives in your town, right? Not my town. He lives in Saratoga.

Yeah, Saratoga. And so I'm in New Hartford, which is outside of Utica. So we're about an hour and a half from each other. That's amazing. I could be there by two o'clock. Yeah, I know. It's a beautiful thing. Yo, I want to go back to this skiing thing. Like, do you like skiing because it keeps you present? Like guitar keeps you present? Yes. There's something about skiing that, that I've tried to put my finger on and, and I, and I don't know exactly what it is, but I mean, part of it is being outdoors. It's, it's like that thing that, that I explained to you before, to you before where I feel if I spend some quality time outside in the woods, outdoors, in nature, that it recharges my batteries.

It's really, really good for my soul. And so skiing does that for me in a lot of ways. But you add to that this adrenaline rush that you get by flying downhill and then getting to control that and pick and choose the things that you do. And you do this stuff, and I think it's the closest that you get to flying in some ways. And there's something really cool about that. I think there's something deep in the human soul where we have this desire to fly and there's something about like, it feels like flying in so many ways. And I think there's something about that, that just, again, like it, it ticks some box for us, or there's, there's something like really innate in our, in our soul that just goes back thousands of years.

And it's probably not unlike surfing or like a dog sticking its head out the window as you're driving down the road. It's that same thing, you know? And that's what it is. I feel like I'm the dog sticking my head out the window. I can't get enough of it. I don't care if you're going 60.

Is it, so are you an adrenaline junkie? No, I don't get enough of it. I don't care if you're going 60. Is it, um, are you, so you adrenaline junkie? No, I don't, I don't, I don't know. Maybe. Do you like fat? I mean, maybe it's like the, you know, it's, it's, it's an endorphin thing for sure. And you know, it's like doing a show. Like, you know, there's a rush that you get from doing the show. Yeah. And especially like in the jam band thing, like you get it because you, you know, you get to, you get from doing the show yeah and especially like in the jam band thing like you get it because you you know you get to you get to do so you're not just out like playing a part playing

the song whatever there's a rush that you get there's a thrill that you get from it especially when you're playing live improv stuff and taking chances and it there's there's a similar element there because you get to you're kind of making up that thing and picking and choosing your line and then you do it collectively with some other people and now there's a crowd and whatever and that you know that whole thing is is very similar so it probably does accomplish a lot of the same things or feel like the same thing is like i mean your shows are like that your shows are like it's it's all about that endorphin and adrenaline thing and and the idea of being spontaneous yeah like but that's what it makes it exciting i mean your shows are all spontaneity you know and i love it yours are too

yours are too al so it's like why um yeah it like, were you always like that as a kid? Like, I want to like, what got you into? I think so. Tell me about your childhood. Tell me about it. I was a, I was a bit of a troublemaker. Like what? Like, what were you doing? Uh, well, I mean, it came like it manifested itself in different ways. But I was one of those kids who like. Like as a little kid, you know, I wanted to see what would happen if, you know, and. You know, and so like it might start with a hammer or some firecrackers or whatever, you know, and I was destructive, but not in a not just to be that I wasn't lashing out being destructive. I was like, wouldn't it be cool if like, and couldn't, you know? And so I was doing that kind of stuff and it's like, Oh,

what if we took the big wheel and you know, you added this other component to it and we just make it that much cooler. And then all of a sudden you don't have a big wheel anymore. And you're like, Oh God, no, I got to explain this to my parents. And I went through a lot of that stuff as a kid um were your parents strict they were not strict they were conservative and they put up with a lot of shit from me the oldest youngest or what were you i was i'm i'm the youngest i have a older sister um it's funny So everybody, all the guys in Mo were all the youngest boys, the youngest in our families. And at one point, even our crew was all the youngest boys, too.

We were all the babies, and we were all boys. And it was kind of mad. There was 12 of us on the road, and we were all the same kid in our family. And we're like, this is, this is some weird juju that we all kind of gravitate towards each other. That's, that's insane. Cause is it, is it a personality that all these younger, I mean, like I'm the youngest too, actually, my sister is seven years older than me. My other sister is eight years older than me. And other sister is eight years older than me. I basically got away with murder. My sisters will keep telling me that

I got away with more than they ever did. Was it like that with you? My sister was good, and I was not. I was the one that did all the things that she did not. Did you ever go to jail or anything? Sort of, but well.

How old were you? I mean, not for anything real or serious. You know, I got arrested once in New Paltz, New York for like driving without a license. And it was, we were on our way to a gig we were supposed to be playing in albany and i didn't have a license and the cop literally put me in handcuffs and like brought me down to the police station and it's like well come on you can't just kick me to the driver's seat and write a ticket and so they made like formalized this whole thing and the band had to leave without me and they left me there and then somebody had to bail me out whatever again it was one of these

things where i'm like looking at my watch going okay i'm gonna miss sound check but whatever and you know this is back in our van days a little long time ago um were you always optimistic like that i yeah i'm i'm painfully optimistic um Um, yeah, I always think everything's going to work out. I mean, why, why shouldn't that be like your, your line of, I don't know, I'm very hopeful and optimistic about just about everything probably to a fault. No, me too. This is what's the problem with me as well. Cause I always think everything's going to work out even if I, you know, eat mushrooms on stage or fucking, you know, do fucking do something completely illegal or something. So it's like...

I'm the same way. And that was a big part of my formative years. It is halftime at the Andy Fresco interview hour. Hi, this is Halftime with Nick Gerlach. This week I'll be doing a review of Valentine's Day, my least favorite holiday. And it's not because I'm lonely. It's because it's the dumbest holiday ever in the history of holidays. First of all, it's a waste of money.

Two, it's a waste of time. Three, all it does is put pressure on lonely people to fall in love and get a girlfriend which is one of the dumbest things you can do three it's completely arbitrary you can treat someone good any day of the year you don't need a holiday to tell you when to do it also if you're on an unemployment it's going to be running out soon you need to get your shit together okay don? Don't worry about Valentine's Day. You need a job. How old were y'all when you started the band?

How old were you when you had this dream of being a guitar player versus taking this band professionally? I mean, I guess I dreamed about being a guitar player at a band you know going back to when i was a kid you know before i started playing guitar you know it's just one of those oh yeah i mean i was no i didn't that's the thing it was never supposed to be a thing it wasn't a it wasn't a re that was that was like you, when they when they asked me, you know, what do you want to be? I didn't say that. You know, it's like the kid who says astronaut. I'm going to walk on the moon. No, you're not.

It's great. I want to be a superhero. You know, like that's that level to me like you you know it's like you say electrician doctor lawyer teacher you know the things that you know your parents kind of want you to be and that are more attainable and like i'm gonna be a quarterback and you know i'm gonna play for the minnesota vikings like no you're not you're not fucking doing that so what with all those ideas isn't guitar being in a band like the few percent make it yeah yeah and it wasn't it wasn't a thing like it wasn't a thing that i aspired to do necessarily it's something that like in my heart i always wanted to do starting with kiss probably sick, you know, and then cheap trick.

And then ultimately, you know, seeing hundreds of grateful dead shows and watching them. And like, but I never thought in a million years, like I would be on stage playing in front of crowds and doing that thing. But, but I've always,

I've played in a band ever since i was 13 years old what was the name of the first band uh first the first band was called cutting loose and all we played were rush covers and neil young covers what'd you like about rush at 13 that's insane everything everything i mean so so we're in upstate new york you know canada is two hours from here yeah so you know rush got played rush was like a local band to us they got played on on our rock station like like they were ours you know they were just over the border um and my friend uh my he was still still a great friend of mine today uh and he and i have been through so many different uh different things like this together so we started our first band together he and i both played guitar

and um his brother played drums we didn't have a bass player, and nobody sang. We just played rhythm guitar and had a drummer. And so we would play all these Rush songs, and we were just playing power chords. And then this was the cool thing. So my buddy's name is Mark Kochie, and early on, like at an early age, he was like super techie, and we would go to the radio shack and they used to have this bargain

bin of all of the broken shit and so we would kind of raid that for you know this you know like speakers like raw speakers and different components and stuff we built our own pa out of all of the bits and pieces that we found and then we did the same thing where he started he started building lights and he built a light show like kind of the same thing so we were doing all of this stuff so we had our own light show he was trying to build a i think at one point was trying to get like dry ice so we could have a smoke machine too and that was we were more concerned yeah what you're a you're a fucking brainiac i love it so you built your own set i mean it's just like all this knowledge is basically prepared you to start doing these festivals and stuff and start

doing all these you know building your own shows and shit or am i just like overthinking this this was just but it's like kids like you know at the same time, like we're riding BMX bikes and building our own jumps. And then we got to a point where we learned how to take apart a bike and put it back together again. And so, again, this is one of those things. So now I'm like 12, 13 years old. My parents bought me, you know, a fairly nice BMX bike when I, I think when I graduated from elementary school and, you know, went into junior high and, and I learned pretty, there was a pretty like decent, uh, like black market of like used BMX parts going on amongst all of the kids.

And I got it in my head that like, I could part out my bike, make some money on it and buy another bike. And so I sold off my bike in pieces without telling my parents. And they were like, what? Like, where is your, like, what happened? And it was just like, it was like one of those things I did as a 12 year old. Let's fucking go. Hustling, baby. Hustling, hustling, hustling.

That's my guy, Al. Again, like, and it's prepared me for this life of like having to like record your own record and figure out how to market it and whatever and it's like I was doing it at 12 with BMX parts do you think you learned that or do you think that's always in you it's a little of both I think

that I think it's got to be in your nature to want to do those things to have that whether it's I don't know if I'd call it entrepreneurial as much as I would, just like sort of seeing a situation and going, okay, well, this will sort of get us from here to here. And these are the pieces and this is what you need to do. And then you just do it. you know, these are the pieces and this is what you need to do. And then you just do it. Like you have the balls to just go and do it because again, because maybe you're optimistic about it or maybe you see the logic in doing

something like that rather than playing it safe. Well, that's the, it's, I mean, you can have that same philosophy of saying having the balls to do everything independent your whole career. Right. Like understanding, all right, we need to get the here to there. We need to get all these pieces or properties or whatnot and we will get there because the optimism is you saying you will get there right right right and so that and that's what we always did with mo like we never ever

thought that we would get signed to a to a record deal right that wasn't it wasn't even a thing that we tried to do so instead we just tried to build a fan base, and we just did it on our own. And we didn't send out demos to a record label to try and get signed, because that wasn't going to happen. We didn't want to waste our time doing it. So instead, we were sending out recordings

to different venues to try and get gigs. We were connecting with other bands. All we wanted to do was see if we could hook up with the spin doctors ultimately and open for them or, you know, whatever those gigs were to sort of like keep expanding our horizons. And so. So with that dream of say that was your dream in the beginning years, like how long did it take until you started doing that?

Oh, it's been 30 years. You still haven't opened for the spin doctors? No. Oh, we did. We finally did. That's, that is, that's, that's a beautiful story. That like, the beginning dreams was just to open for a band and build fan base. Like, I feel like a lot of these up and coming bands have the formula all around.

People are trying to get record deals before they build their fan base and build their, you know, their property. It's like, how do you know what's going to work? You know, it's like, instead of chasing the rabbit's tail of what's cool in the industry for the first two, for the two years spans that that's what the industry is selling. Like you should just be your own individual person and try to build something that your fans are going to like forever because they like you as a person. Right.

That's the thing, you know? It's like, where does your band fit into that thing? You know, as opposed to, you know, and it may, there might be some guy, there's an A&R guy out there who's going to see your band and go, holy shit, you know and and and it may there might be some guy there's an A&R guy out there who's going to see your band and go holy shit I you know and and know that it makes sense on the other hand a band like yours that brings a certain kind of experience to to the audience like that's the thing and that word of mouth thing is the thing that ultimately is going to build it

up into the empire that it will ultimately become. So did you guys know that you had something special with Mo in those beginning years? Like how old were you guys when y'all joined together? Well, so Rob and Chuck started, I'm trying to think how old they would have been. They were probably right around 20 when they started and in college in at the University of Buffalo and in dorm rooms. And Chuck, I think was teaching Rob how to play guitar early on, like in, in the dorms. And then ultimately Rob switched over to bass and that's, you know,

that's the early foundation of the band and where it came from. And then when did you join? I was 21, I think when I started playing with them. Are you the youngest? And we're all, I mean, Rob and Chuck, I'm sorry, Rob and Rob and I are both 21 currently. Yeah. Sick. Yeah. And Chuck and Vinny and Jam are all a year younger than us.

So we're all the same, basically the same age. So those guys started, you, did you go to Buffalo? I didn't go to Buffalo. No. So I went to a different SUNY school, graduated from school and then moved to Buffalo because I was working so uh I was working as a graphic artist at the time and doing what working for the newspaper sick yeah so it was crazy so I graduated from college with a job in my in New York, uh, working for the newspaper there. And I had a union job working for the newspaper doing like, you know, the grocery store ads and laying out the newspaper or whatever, but it was amazing. I had a union job and all of a sudden I had a paycheck and that money. It was great. At 20 years old, you had a big gate. They gave you that much

responsibility. Yeah, it was awesome. And then there was a job that became available in Buffalo at a newspaper there. And my high school girlfriend, we had a long distance relationship throughout college, et cetera. She was at the University of Buffalo, friends with Rob and Chuck. And so I took the job in Buffalo, moved out to Buffalo and I started playing with them three weeks later. And then what, do you remember that first experience together? Tell me about that. Like, did you feel like, tell me, tell me, tell me.

So, so when I first moved out there, I wasn't, I mean, they had already been a band for not quite a year at that point. Um, and I had gotten a demo tape that they had made probably a few months before. And it was awesome. It was great. What was it like? What was it like? It sounded like, it sounded like the early chili pepper stuff, like freaky styley, like early chili peppers and little mix of, and then like also kind of sounded like some of the other like college bands at

the time. There's a little like REM influence and stuff like that. Um, it was, it was great. I mean, and I, there's maybe four songs on it. Um, it was like a shitty four track recording and, but I loved it. It was great. And I had been playing in Oneonta in different jam bands for for the for you know lack of a better description um and I heard that and I was like man I want to be in a band like that I want to play cool music instead of you know all the hippie music I've been playing and um three weeks in they had a house party that they were playing. And the guitar player, the other guitar player, the former guitar player in the band, couldn't do the gig.

They asked me if I would do it. And so this was like on a Monday and the house party was on a Friday. So I had to learn all 10 songs by Friday. This is crazy. And so and this is like pre-internet. So I couldn't just go like, look, you know, and it was like, maybe half of them were originals and half of them were covers. And so I learned all the songs we rehearsed once or twice during the week in their basement. And then we got to the house party on Friday night. And, uh, and I was nervous because

i'm playing with these guys for the first time i've never played these songs before and i think we played three songs and then the cops came and shut down the party and that was it it was like yes three songs perfect gig like it was great when we got wasted and had a great night together and that was sort of the beginning of our, you know, long history together. Ultimately I, and they, they ended up, uh, kicking out the other guitar player who had a, you know, uh, history of not being able to make gigs and whatever. And flaky. So do you, do you believe in destiny or fate or whatever?

Um, do you believe in destiny or fate or whatever? Um, maybe, you know, cause shit like that, like you always wanted to be in a band like that. Then like three weeks later, you get the opportunity to be in a band like that.

I mean, like, do you believe in like that? If you, it's like, it's like the same, uh, theory is optimism.

Cause you're putting this energy into the universe that this is going to work. Right. So did I manifest it? I mean, did I make it happen? You know, that I don't know. Was it meant to be? I mean, I would say for sure. You know, and was it going to happen if like if I didn't want it?

I mean, you know, that's the thing. Like you got to ask yourself all these questions. I mean, if I had been pessimistic about it or defeatist about it, I'd be like, Oh no, it's not going to work, whatever. You know, I'm not, I'm not going to return the call or I'm not going to learn the songs. Well, then you don't get that first gig. And so. Is that, do you feel the same way about love? Like. Oh,

that we should have an open relationship with love to just say yes to everything. Full circle conversation. No, but you know, like if you, if you would have, I don't know how you met your wife or I don't know how, if she's, you've been together forever or whatnot. I don't know your personal story like that, but like, it's kind of the same thing. If you don't open up and let love be the vessel inside of you, you're never going to experience it. Right. Yeah. I think you're right. So we, my, she, she and I have known each other for 20 years at this point.

Yeah. And we're friends, just platonic friends for 15 years. You all never hooked up for 15 years? No, we were both married. We were in other, yeah, other committed relationships, but we were just friends. And then both not married any longer and still friends. And then one fateful night at jazz fest at four o'clock in the morning, things, things took a turn in a more positive direction. Like everything at four in the morning at jazz fest. Uh, what's

the hardest part about keeping love around? Oh, you know, I guess it's, it's the small stuff, you know, I think, and, and keeping your, I would think keeping your, keeping your eye on the, on the love itself, you know, and this is something that, that, that she and I happen to do really well, like our, you know, and this is something that, that, that she and I happen to do really well. Like our, our love, our relationship and, and the love itself is so important to both of us. And we do a really good job of taking care of it. You know, it's, it's a priority for both of us. Um, and by default, you know, we end up being really awesome to one another.

Yeah. So all the little shit works out. Um, we don't, we don't get bogged down in, uh, the day to day of, you know, who's, who's turn it is to, I don't know, get the groceries or whatever, you know, it's all that stuff. Like we work together really well as a team because we love each other so much, but we like, we love the love so much and it's precious to us. Is it, did you, is that something you had to learn from your past relationships?

For sure. Yeah. I mean, it, it sucks to have loved and lost, you know, to, to, it's like, I will tell you, divorce is a, at, it's like, I will tell you, divorce is, uh, at least in my case was one of the shittiest things I ever went through. And, um, I don't wish it on anyone. Um, what was the worst part about divorce? If you don't mind, what was what, what's the worst part about divorce? Um, I mean, it was having my heart broken, you know, and honestly, you know, there was that, but, but I was also incredibly alone in that, in that experience because, and you'll, you'll appreciate this, like, because, because my ex and I couldn couldn't couldn't reconcile this thing so she would have been the person that i would have talked to about it but i couldn't obviously because we couldn't reconcile this thing so we went through this long period of not even talking to each other

which was while being married while being married like the last year of our marriage was really. So would you just keep, just book every show and just stay on the road? Yep. Just bypassing one another, whatever. And I come home and just very cursory sort of, you know, communication with one another. And, but, but it did, it got to the point where I realized, like, I was trying to find a reason to stay out on the road and not come home anymore. And as soon as that happened, that's what flipped the switch for me. And I realized I needed to pull off the Band-Aid. Did you get into substance abuse or anything during those years?

No. That's good. You never have, right? You know, not to the point where like i've needed help yeah um you know i'm sure that there have been times where i definitely drank too much and partied too much and definitely times when i did way too many drugs and you know but that's that's in my past yeah growing up yeah i think part of growing up you know it's sort of like everything else you know, but that's, that's in my past. Yeah. Growing up. Yeah. I think. It's part of growing up, you know, it's sort of like everything else, you know, it's like pushing the envelope just to see how far you, you could.

So like the minute. I just want to finish one other thing about the divorce though. It's like, like, not only did I not talk to her, but like, I didn't talk to any of my bandmates about it. I didn't talk to my friends about it and talk to my family about it. I didn't talk to anybody about it because, because I was partially like trying to protect the relationship and protect my kids and protect her. And, and so I didn't open up to anybody about it for as it was in its decline. And then once it got to its like kind of end,

and then when it finally got to the end, I had to, I had to come out about it. Like I had to break the news to the people around me and let them know what was happening. And once I started talking about it, it was like, why the fuck wasn't I doing this the whole time? I'm like, I just should have been talking to people, you know? That's the hardest thing is to be vulnerable with the people you love. Yeah. Why? I don't know. You know, it's, it's, it's funny, you know, and, and I've, I've seen it a few times since then with,

with people that I love and I, and I reach out to them and I say, Hey man, like, do you have people? Are you talking to people? And if you're not talk to me, like, I'm like, you need to talk to people and just try and like underscore that just, just so they know, you know, Was Robbie like that when he first found out about cancer? Yeah, he's, he was, he was amazing during that process. I will tell you that I, I, in some ways I feel like I took it harder than he did. Yeah. I don't know. It was weird. Like it hit me really hard and, and I was not, I was afraid that I would not be able to offer him

the support that he needed. And in turn he provided the support that I needed so that he could get through the cancer. I mean, he became a rock for me in this thing. He was great through that. Yeah, man. It's, it's amazing how strong you get when something like that happens. But like, do you think that from how the divorce, I don't know, how long was the divorce versus when Robbie had cancer? How many years was that? when Robbie had cancer. How many years was that? My divorce,

my divorce itself was pretty quick. No, but like how many years between? Oh, I see. I don't remember. Yes. So anyway,

anyways, what I'm getting at. I passed. It was, there were several years in between there were four years or whatever. What I'm getting at is like the minute you started opening up about that, that might've helped you to talk with Rob for sure. That situation. Absolutely. Yeah. It's, it's again, it's like you said, it's changed me. I learned a lot from that process. And it was probably a necessary thing. I mean, who knows?

Maybe the fact that I couldn't open up beforehand was one of the things that contributed ultimately to my divorce. 100%. I'm not immune to any responsibility in that relationship. I'm sure that's got to be a contributing factor because if I could communicate better beforehand, maybe we wouldn't be where we are today.

Yeah, maybe that angst. Who knows what's next? What am I fucking up now? Tell me. Therapy sessions with Andy Frasco and Al Schneer. No, grab the chair. Grab the couch, Al. No, but it's like, you know, that's the hardest thing about life

is being vulnerable with the people you love, I think. And once you fucking break that wall, look how happy you are. Look how happy you are with your wife. Look how happy you are look how happy you are with your wife look how happy you are it's just it's a beautiful thing man to to uh get a second chance at love and learning that um there's different ways to approach love you know and maybe that's why your relationship with your wife is so much more healthier than it was with their ex-wife. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. It's, and it's, it's taken time and, and, and again, like a lot of communication. Yeah. That's,

that's been, that's like so key with us. I mean, we rarely argue or disagree about anything. And if it starts to come up, do you see it start to rear its head a little bit it's stupid you know there's never been anything real but like like she'll put it in check right away and she'll just be like what are you doing what's wrong why are you acting weird you know like call me out on it right away like i'm not she's like bullshit like you're you got a you got a thing you got an attitude or whatever like you know i see you like you give me the stink eye or whatever but that's you need that right and i was like all right you were being a dick to me all right look and you know we but like we settle it and it's like okay good and then we put it down and then

we just sort of get out with our day yeah that's that's the beautiful thing about uh god i'm gonna give you one more shout out shout out to the power couple communication at its finest right there um i we're um we're at an hour i just want to i got two more questions for you thank you for doing this this is so beautiful i love this you're awesome all day the same bro and you know it's like we could talk about the band but i just want to get to know you as a as a friend because now that we've we have a couple years now in our relationship and i just want to get a little deeper um one thing yeah i don't see that thing i don't want to fuck this up you will never fuck this up unless i start sending you dick pics at like 3 a.m

i'll never do that but but you never know. Some, some blackout nights it'll happen. Um, but what's the hardest part about keeping a band together that long? Hmm. You know, it's, it's funny. It's a lot of the same things. Yeah. Um, it's, you know, you, you need to be able to communicate with each other, you know, you, you need to be able to communicate with each other, which has taken us 30 years to figure out, um, you know, especially as a bunch of, a bunch of guys, a bunch of dudes who, you know, it's, it doesn't come easily. Sometimes, um, I heard, uh, I can't remember what I was listening to.

I heard a, I can't remember what I was listening to. Somebody was talking about the difference between the way women communicate with each other versus the way men communicate with each other. Women communicate with each other face to face. Men communicate with each other shoulder to shoulder. You know, it's sort of like, but you have to be doing something it's like you know while you're engaged in activity but like women can just like sit down and you know and and talk and and i thought that was really interesting there is there is a sexuality to it or you know just your your and i mean you know your masculinity or femininity and that and and in the context of a band you know there your masculinity or femininity and that. And, and in the context of a band, you know, there's a lot of,

there's a lot of, um, not being in touch with that. I should say, I don't know how else to put it. Is it because you're all equals? Uh, no, it's just because you're a bunch of dudes on the road together and, you know, and again, maybe you don't want to be vulnerable around the people you love or just put yourself out there or, you know, any of those things. And, you know, when you start as a bunch of 20 year olds, literally like hanging out with

each other, it's very different for a bunch of 20 year olds to be vulnerable around each other, you know, and not shotgun the beer or whatever, who knows, whatever the stupid like depression or whatever boy thing you're supposed to do. And you know, now we're 50 year old men and we've been through a lot of shit together and we've been through a lot personally, independently of one another. We've all gone to a place where we're really good with each other. We work really well together. I keep reflecting on this. Prior to the pandemic, we made an album in October of 2019.

We were in Burlington, Vermont for about for about four weeks straight. And for us to be together four weeks straight, no big deal, do it all the time. But in this case, it was four weeks in the studio, which is a little more intense and a little bit different than being on the road because you're working in a different capacity. Um, and there's a lot more emotion and mental anguish and stuff at stake i guess than the typical show because now you're sort of putting it out there where you know your part may suck or you're not you're not actually everything's under a microscope too it's like hey dude you're you're out of tune or you know all of these things you're like oh is that is he being mean to me or you know whatever it's like it's hard again like when you're out of tune or, you know, all of these things. You're like, Oh, is that, is he being mean to me or, you know, whatever. It's like, it's hard again.

Like when you're in your twenties, but by the time you get to 50, like you realize that like that shit's not personal. Like you're all just trying to achieve the same goal. You figured out a better way to say those things to each other. Um, but we were also living in an Airbnb together. So we were together 24 seven7 for a month straight. Yeah. There wasn't a single argument.

There wasn't any discord amongst us. And we just went. We made a record independently. We self-produced it. We made all our meals together. We hung out for a month straight. Do you think it's like taking out the ego once you get older? It's like part of it, just, just relaxing a whole bunch, you know, those things,

you know, whether it was, you know, my father passing away or going through a divorce or finding love again, or, you know, all of these things, you know, you, you, You go through a lot in your middle ages. everybody else has too. Everybody else has gone through their own shit, whether it's Rob's cancer or Jim getting remarried or, and I don't want to air

everybody's laundry here, but especially Vinny's. Vinny's laundry is dirty. Just smells of his clothes. Like when he gets home from tour, he doesn't even do laundry on tour. Sounds like a drummer. But you know, we've all, like we've all, I think we're all older and wiser now.

Yeah. I think that's beautiful. That's a, you know, you know, going back to that idea, which I totally hear you on, is like walking forward as men. And I think it's an eye contact thing. I think we're afraid of eye contact. Yeah, that's part of it. Because women can get you.

The audience won't know, but we are fucking staring at each other heavy in the eyes. Al, this has been wonderful, man. Thank you so much for doing this. Yeah, the audience won't know, but we are fucking staring at each other heavy in the eyes. Al, this has been wonderful, man. Thank you so much for doing this. And I hope, I just, you know, I'm rooting for you always, bro. I think you're a good guy and I, you know, you're. Likewise.

And I can't wait to spend, you know, you're going to teach me how to ski too one of these days when I have the balls to do it. All right, I'll do that. Last question and then I'll let you go back to your amazing life um what when it's all said and done what do you want to be remembered by oh sorry sorry you know i just i i honestly this sounds trite but i hope i hope that i i hope that people remember me that that i hope people remember me as a good person you know know, my, my intentions are good. And, and I hope, I hope that people remember that nobody's going to remember my songs or remember my guitar playing. I'm not going to leave a mark, like, like the legendary musicians that I think of, you know,

you'd be surprised. I mean, and for some people that may be the case. Um, however, you know the the relationships that i've had along the way and the friendships that that i sort of keep making and and the things that we do for one another um are are the things that that that's the stuff that's really really important to me when i think about all of this like if like like now you know if something like the pandemic hits or the band goes away or whatever and all all the music and all that goes away like you still have all that other stuff like i still i still have my my friendships with like you know the guys in umfries and people like you and like all that like all of the promoters we've

worked with and you know all these people over the years and and that's that, like all of the promoters we've worked with and, you know, all these people over the years. And, and that's, that's the stuff that lasts the lasting, it's the relationships and the friendships and the love and those bonds and connections. That's the thing. Ultimately, I want to be remembered. I would like to be, I don't know. No, that's beautiful. You know what I mean? When I think about that, I don't want, I don't know. I just, I hope that people would think of me favorably. Yeah. I don't want people to think I'm nice, man.

Yeah. I have a feeling. It's not bad when I say it that way, but. No, but no, I, you know, this is how i end every uh interview and probably 85 percent of them say that so yeah it's so true it's like at the end of the day our works our work but our are really our body of of art is how we approach our soul and you're a good fucking guy buddy so thanks for being part of the show and thanks for just fucking kicking ass in life. Thanks for bringing optimism through some fucking dark times.

So you go keep skiing your ass off and hanging out and going to Charleston and doing the whole thing. I'll find you one of these days. I will. Have a great one, Al. Thanks for being a part of the show. I love you. Love you too, pal. Later.

Later, bud. Wow, that was beautiful. What a great fucking guy. Al, shout out to Al. I'm going to give a shout out one more time. That was beautiful, Al. Fucking beautiful. And there we have it.

Thank you, Al, for being on the show. Schneer. Nick Gerlach. Nick Gerlach finally came over. I come over. I've been over here 300 times. What do you mean finally? You mean it's been a while. It'slach. Hey. Finally came over. I come over. I've been over here 300 times. What do you mean finally? You mean it's been a while.

It's been a couple weeks. Yeah. Well, you were in Chicago with Mikey. With Mikey. My sister. Uh-huh. We call each other sisters. I don't know why.

We both have actual sisters. She was saying something sweet about you. Who? His sister? No. Bayless's wife. Really? She says something really sweet about you. You guys His sister? No. Bayless' wife. Really? Says something really sweet about you. You guys are just having a conversation.

She's like, I don't even know who you are. I gotta go on stage. And you just fucking shredded fucking saxophone. Oh, yeah. It was an indie. Probably last... Well, the last real summer. The last real summer. Yeah, I don't know her that well, but we just got to talking.

And her son almost broke my saxophone. Really? Because they were back there. You know Bayless' kids. They have a lot of energy. They're throwing a baseball around backstage and they're on the other side of the semi and he throws it over the semi. There's a dog here. Oh yeah. I'm dog sitting. Oh yeah.

I'm dog sitting. Hey Parsley. It's all right. Another inspiring podcaster coming into the podcast studio. Here, we'll do it again. And we're back. And we're back. We got interrupted by a large hound. And back to Bayless's wife.

We're dog sitting. I'm dog sitting. It's funny because I don't really get to hear a lot of stories about people saying sort of nice things about me behind my back. So that was kind of nice. I don't really know her that well. But that does check out. That does check out for me. I'm kind of matter of fact.

I don't get hyped up before I go on stage. I told you, you're like the best assistant coach. You're the smartest guy in the room. I don't know if I'm the smartest guy in the room, but I think I am. What are you going to do for Valentine's Day with your girlfriend? I don't know. You going to go to brunch? I don't.

First of all, the last thing she wants to do is go to brunch. No, I hate brunch. Why? Because it's a half hour. Okay. So first of all, the food isn't the problem, right? With brunch. We all like breakfast and we all like lunch. The problem is the culture surrounding it, what it is.

Like it's why do people sit there for two fucking hours? And then, okay, so everyone's hungover, right? Do you go to brunch? I mean, I don't plan on going to brunch. There's no way you like brunch. There's no way you would ever be like, let's go to brunch. No, I don't do that. It's two hours. You don't do stuff for two hours. No, no way you like brunch. There's no way you would ever be like, let's go to brunch. No, I don't do that. It's two hours.

You don't do stuff for two hours. No, no, no, no. I'm in and out. You barely do stuff you like for two hours. So everybody is hungover, right? And then they all get $40 worth of food and they all get $70 worth of alcohol. That's great.

Let's support our small businesses. Here's the problem. They sit here for two and a half hours sweating in the Denver sun, not eating their food. There's homeless people 75 feet away that i haven't eaten in three days and they're just throwing away hollandaise like it's nothing and then they get then they get the picture for their instagram they take one fucking bite out of it and then they talk about how great denver is all day nick gerlach on the show. I'm mad at brunch.

Why are you mad? I just don't like people, I think. You got to realize that no one gives a shit about you. Okay? No, I'm serious. It's actually a very freeing way to think. No one cares about

your life nearly as much as you do. The things that you're worrying about or you think like you know you say dumb shit all the time too i'm sure that you've woken up in the morning i've been like oh my god what the fuck did i say to that girl i just met three minutes ago you know what i mean but then she's probably like doesn't remember one fucking thing you said because she doesn't she's thinking about her own dumb thing she said you know and then whatever that person you know know, no one cares. So conversations are just,

what we remember from conversations are just what we said instead of what other people said. We're just selfish. We're all obsessed with ourselves. And we all think everyone else is obsessed with us too, right? Yeah. But they don't give a shit because they're obsessed with themselves too.

So once you realize that no one actually cares about you at all, it's a lot easier to not get sad. Good morning, Nick Gerlachach it's 10 in the morning but it's true it's like it's weird that should make you more sad that no one gives a shit about you but i think it should make you less sad yeah it makes you feel like um it makes you feel like um yeah like stop holding on to shit don't hold on to shit i mean some things i think people hold on to like you want to hold on to some stuff if your parents die or you know there's real things in life i'm not trying to diminish but i think that and especially in the last two three years everything is such a goddamn big deal now why is everything such a big deal big i don't know what do you think it is is because social media partly

add culture you got to watch that fake famous dude i'm gonna watch it holy shit that is right up your alley of just like because i love some popcorn i fucking love social media uh-huh me too but i also fucking hate social media what do you hate about it i just don't like the thing where everybody's the main character now. You know what I mean by that? Yeah. Just either, like, it's okay to just be on, I don't know. It's hard to explain. No, keep going. This is what I talked about at the beginning of the podcast.

Okay, so I didn't hear the podcast. So everybody's the main character now, right? So everybody it's just like what we're just talking about earlier with conversations. It's the same thing. Also, everyone complains too much. I hate complaining. Constant

complaining. And then it's like that complaining kind of drowns out the real complaining we should be paying attention to. Also, I just think that people like what you're talking about, that fake famous thing. It's about people trying to get a bunch of followers.

Yeah, not having any, just to get famous. I was actually thinking about fame the other day. People aren't nearly as famous as they used to be, right? No. Okay, so there's more famous people now, right? They're saying there's 140 million people with 100,000 plus followers. That makes it meaningless to me, not cool. cool like you know what i mean if it's not you it's like then you're not famous if there's 140 million people just like you you're not famous

you're a union welder you know what i mean that's more than there are union welders that's more than there are teachers you're not who gives a shit like michael jackson those people were i mean okay let's choose someone that wasn't i was talking about the 90s celebrities michael jackson michael jordan fucking tom cruise uh whatever even lebron james for example is the most famous athlete probably on the planet right now maybe there's a soccer guy i don't know yeah he's not nearly as famous as jordan was i don't think no and not nearly as impactful and i think that's probably because there wasn't a social media then so there's like all the media is focused just on George. You know what I mean?

Yeah. And everybody's not trying to get their little piece. Now, is it better or worse? I don't know. Because obviously being that famous is bad for you. Yeah. There's very few people that have been that famous that are mentally stable. Well, it's like insecurity.

I mean, you're trying to cope your insecurity about yourself with likes and follows. Do you think that you can watch someone's social media feed and tell what's wrong with them? Psychologically? It's not nice to do that, but do that all the time. Yeah, but you can be like, oh, they're a narcissist.

Oh, they're... They are... You're on fire this morning. They're vain. It's better just... What are you drinking? Goat fuel? It's pretty good.

It's got like vitamin B in it or something. I don't know. I'm just on fire. I haven't talked to anybody in two weeks. I literally sit in my apartment and write things and make music and then just watch a lot. I watch a ton of TV. We got to finish that song we wrote. Yeah, we've been writing a song.

That's good. Andy, he'll get on it. Let's get back to this fame thing. Yeah, we've been writing a song. That's good. Andy, he'll get on it. Let's get back to this fame thing. I'm kind of heated about this. Keep going. A lot of people would argue that it's better now that more people get a piece of the pie. I actually think it's worse

because all these people are getting famous. Okay, let's go back to other things. So like Michael Jordan, most famous basketball player of all time. Okay, also the best basketball player of all time, right? Yeah. Michael Jackson. Okay, besides all the shit that's come out, probably the greatest pop star of all time, right?

People are famous now and they're not even good at anything. I know. Fame is now what they're good at is being famous. That's fucking bullshit. That's just dumb. So is that the problem with our society? We're giving too many people fame who don't deserve it? I don't think it's the problem with our society because I don't... That's another problem with social media is people that are...

You know the people that live their lives through social media? All they do is post about politics. They try to make themselves some kind of authority figure on there. They're always posting about stuff. They're always arguing with people about dumb shit. You know what I mean? Because they want to be like the smartest guy around ever uh-huh those people think that the whole world is on social media but guess what 70 of the world doesn't give a fuck about social media or whatever yeah i mean all the people that are actually in power don't give a fuck about you yeah it's like that that's another way they're

just inflating their shit they are like make they think that they have this way bigger role in the world than they actually do. Well, we're running out of time, buddy. I said a lot of shit. I'm going to get you on at least every other week. At least? Yeah, people love you. People love the Nick Gerlachs.

All right, Nick. Bye. The other thing... All right, one last thing. I normally do my motivational speech at the Nick. Bye. The other thing... All right, one last thing. I normally do my motivational speech at the end. Okay. It's your turn. Okay, what am I...

Because the last one we did... About what? I shelved our conversation because it was getting too politically. We got a little political, but to be fair, we recorded it the day after the Capitol building. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

One of the most crazy events in the last fucking... So I'm going to give you one more shot at this. Okay, what am I giving them? Whatever you want. Motivation. Great. I am a motivating. I know. All right. Before you do that, thanks for coming out. We got Nathaniel rate lift on the show next week and we got who else Maggie Rose and the next three weeks is rate lift Maggie Rose and Allen Stone. So hope um enjoy and it's my birthday on the 11th oh 33 33 what do you larry bird uh cream abdul-jabbar larry i'm from indiana oh yeah who's okay you might be biased cream cream i'll put cream as third best all time and larry is fifth oh maybe seven but you also don't put Kobe in your top ten. I put Kobe like nine or ten maybe. Maybe 15. That's fine.

If Jordan didn't exist, he'd be higher. This is a different episode. I need a motivational speech. Don't downgrade my goat. I love Kobe Bryant. Okay, here we go. Not on my fucking show. I don't like him at all. Okay, here we go. Not on my fucking show. I don't like him at all.

You ready? Motivational speech for our listeners this week. Nick Gerlach. Have a great night, everybody. Unemployment is running out. You only have a few weeks left. If you have a job, you're probably miserable at it. You've been sitting at your desk for a year,

staring at a computer screen, wondering where it all went wrong. Hey, at least you can blame the pandemic time for your, this time for your life. But you know what? The pandemic is going to be over soon. Are you planning for that? Are you just sitting in your apartment alone, making excuses for why your checking account gets lower and lower every week. Sure, you're paying the bills, but are you happy? No, no one's happy. You need to be Michael Myers this month. You need to pick one goal and not stop until you get it.

Don't try to do seven things half-assed. Do one thing well. And there you have it. Have a good night, everybody. You tuned in to the fourth season of the world saving podcast with Andy Fresco and just listen to episode 112 produced by Andy Fresco Joey Angelou and Grizz Lawrence

help us save the world and spread the word please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes and Spotify for more info on the show please find us on Instagram at world Saving Podcast. Fresco's blogs and tour dates you'll find at andyfresco.com Check our socials to see what's up next.

Can be a video dance party, a showcase concert or whatever springs to Andy's brain. And we will be back on tour the minute it's safe. Big thank you to this week's guest, Al Schneer from Moe. Find him on moe.org. M-O-E, Moe.

Their co-host for this week is Nek Gerlag, or as we say in Holland, Gerla. Find him on Instagram at gridlock27. Our special guests this week are... I haven't got a clue. Sean Eccles, are you there? Caleb Hawley, was that you? Brian Swartz, hello? Hello?

And this might be a bit of a curveball heads up, but as I speak this, I'm working on some tracks for singer-songwriter Nathan Moore. A wonderful, open-hearted, sharing musician I met at the spot. In the spot. We're talking jam crews. The cruisers will know. And think of what went down from there. Nassau got hit by a hurricane. Oh, it was a rock boat. And the entire fleet of cruise liners anchored down without a sail to set in the near future. The whole country shut down. All concert halls boarded up.

And there is passion away in large numbers. And still, all around, from the darkest volts on the internet to the brightest spots of your imagination, things are stirring. There's secretly music being made. Plans are cooking. People are joining forces. Sounds come over the high-speed lightways. There are millions, billions, zillions of musical bits going round, faster than that festering virus, and a force for good. Let them clap, let them crack, let them pop, those starched lilies snatched from the fresh dig. Let them flower and fill the airwaves with love and hope and joy and togetherness and, fuck yes, music. I'll see you next week.