Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 14: Jason Hann (The String Cheese Incident & EOTO)

Episode Date: July 17, 2018

We open the show with Shawn's magnum-sized opus: a tone poem set to an upbeat little ditty. Andy and Yeti, ever trenchant, forge through new frontiers of introspection; albeit, stoned out of their minds. Oh, and what's this!? Jason Hann from The String Cheese Incident (& EOTO) joins us on the interview hour! Make it rain. This is Episode 14. To keep up with the podcast, follow us on Instagram @WorldSavingPodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, tour dates, the band and the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com The views discussed on this podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the guests. Keep up to speed with our guest, Jason Hann, by visiting: www.stringcheeseincident.com Thanks to our sponsor, Receptra. Visit them at receptranaturals.com Produced by Andy Frasco Yeti Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Matt & Chad Cocuzza Arno Bakker Shawn Eckels

And now, an unreleased demo from the UN. I can't breathe I can't breathe Buckets of coal Buckets of coal When I come, I can't breathe I can't breathe How we doing, party people? We're here. We're live. We're in the membrane.

Yet again. And insane. Insane in the motherfucking membrane. Did you? Were you into that? Hell no. Who's that? Insane in the membrane. Gone Did you? Were you into that? Hell no. Who's that? Insane in the membrane.

Gone insane. Ain't no brain. I don't know. Insane in the membrane. Thank you. I'm having a brain fire. Cypress Hill. Cypress Hill. No, I was in a pothead when I was younger. Oh, just now?

Just now. This is a newer thing. What's up, guys? It's me too. This is the World Saving Podcast with Yeti. And I am your host, Andy Frasco. And my co-host, Yeti. We're here again. Andy Frasco's world-saving podcast with Yeti.

This is the name of our podcast. This is why I can't do shit this early in the morning, Yeti. It's not even 10. I know. It's early for me. It's true. When you wake up Like Cause you're on the road

300 days out of the year Yeah When you wake up What's your first thought? Did I say anything bad Via text message? What did I do After I blacked out?

Yeah you know I've been trying to Black out less That's my goal for 2018. It's true, though. It's summer. We're in summer season. This is when all the shit goes down.

This is where... Festy season, yeah. Yeah, this is where you find who you really are as a man, as a human. This is where you find all your bad decisions. Yeah, all my bad decisions. All your bad decisions are made between May and September. Yes. Shit, I regret.

Then you have to wake, then you have to like go through winter to like detox about it. And you start a podcast. Start a podcast. That's exactly what, but you feel bad. I feel bad, yeah. You know why? Because I have this thing about failing.

That's really tough for me. What do you mean? Describe that. What do you mean failing? Like what's failure to you? Like failure in a day. Like did I use my day right? Whoa.

Did I spend the time that I have on this earth the right way? What's success look like for you? Success is fulfilling my days with stuff I truly enjoy. Okay. You know, I think success is a way to have an open vessel between your soul and your mind. Because there's always going to be some complications between your brain and your soul. Oh, yeah. With counterpoint ideas and objectives. But those days

where your brain and your soul are simpatico, I feel like those are the best days. What do you think about that? I do. And I, like, I use a different term when I say brain, I say ego. But they're all signposts that don't get hung up on the words, you know?

Yeah. But it's, I hear what you're saying. When you're, when you're, who you really are, which is your soul at the core of who you are,

come, syncs up. And when that's operating and your brain isn't running the show, you know and your brain isn't running the show, you know, your ego isn't running the show. I think you feel a better sense of accomplishment.

Absolutely. Totally. Those are when I have my best days. Yeah. It's like your brain will make you overthink and overthink and overthink until you'd like running in circles. Your soul is in the background saying, all right,

waiting for that guy to shut the fuck up. Right. So he could start working again. And the goal for me, the goal is to, to spend more time in that soul conscious than in that, than with that ego. Yeah.

Just shut it all up. How do you know, how do you know when, um, oh, I forgot what I was going to say. Fuck. Being a stoner sucks. I know. But let me, I forgot what I was going to say. Fuck. Being a stoner sucks.

I know. I'll reverse the question to you. How do you feel? What are your dreams, Yeti? What are your aspirations outside of this amazing podcast we're doing? What's outside of the podcast? What makes you happy? What is a day for you?

Success for me looks like, and happiness for me is, I mean, it can be fleeting from time to time, but what it comes down to for me is similar to what you talked about. Have I given back? Have I brought something to this world? Have I contributed?

And that can be, depends on who I'm around. I just want to contribute to the people around me. I want to bring something to them. And so if I'm, and I think of that in everything I do, or I try to think of that in everything I do. You know, for example, like if I have a complaint, bring a solution, you know, that's making things better.

But fulfillment for me comes in that form. That, fuck it. I don't even know what I'm talking about. That's okay. Like when you feel bad, like, why do you feel bad?

Because I feel like I'm hurting someone else. Not hurting myself. I'm thinking about others before I think about myself. And that's the main thing why I started playing music and the main thing why I travel so much that I do because I

want to give that complete experience to everyone else because that's why I'm here on this earth is to make people smile. And I feel most accomplished is when I'm spreading the gospel, making people laugh, making people get out of their heads for a second. The Afro manifesto. Exactly.

You asked me what my dreams are. Yeah. That's what I forgot. And I just remembered, um, you know, my dreams, I I'm an MC and a host. Like I enjoy entertaining people. I enjoy bringing light to them similar in the, in the fashion that you do. I mean, I shouldn't say in the fashion, similar to the fact that you enjoy doing that, but I, I do it in a different way different way. You know, my job is a lot of the time is information and direction and with some entertainment thrown in. That's honestly how I look at it. And so that's as far as career goals, as far as things that I want to do, that's where I want to spend most of my time. With that being said, how do you use that same mentality for

nurturing your dreams? It's the same thing. I mean, you have to focus. There's a thing that I learned actually. So it's staying present. It's staying present. And when, you know, like everyone has their task lists and I'm the type of person I'm like, do it, do it right, do it right now. Like that's my mentality when I go in. And so a lot of the time I also get overwhelmed by the fact that I just want to accomplish, just check stuff off. I want to pencil whip things, so to speak. And so I have to realize that

sometimes it's not about accomplishing the task. It's about the journey that it takes to get there, which I mean, life's a journey, dig it. Blah, blah. Yeah, all that shit, right? But I think ultimately for me consciousness

shows itself when I'm actively pursuing the goal so if the goal is hosting a live event and getting people psyched for what's about to happen

whether it's a usually it's a music group or entertainment whatever it is or a movie usually it's a music group or entertainment, whatever it is, or a movie, you know, like a film, like snow,

ski films. Like I'll host at the front of those. Be like, we got this great film, blah, blah, you know. So. Have you ever bombed on those things?

Oh, yeah. What was the biggest bomb? Biggest bomb. I've got two empty room stories. And I want to hear your empty room story but my first bomb on the mic was

that I really remember it happened last summer and I was introducing a group at this outdoor festival and there was a bunch of people who were like

right on the shore of this lake and it was totally awesome and I was like hey we're really glad you guys came out now we got the and it silenced you forgot the band Now we got the And it silenced

You forgot the band name? I forgot the band name That happens to me all the time And somebody Actually somebody in the audience Like Saw them coming up And they were kind of associated with the program

And they said their name And I said it right then Like they totally bailed me out But I felt bad Because these artists were cool And I totally muffed their out. But I felt bad because these artists were cool. And I totally muffed their intro. That shit happens to me whenever I have to introduce the opening band. I'm a pothead.

I have such bad memory. When you have to say thank you for playing. Yeah. Because you always got to do it. It's like, hey, give it out for the local band. And I always fuck up the name. Or if I have a sit-in, I always fuck up the name. Yeah,

we got so much. Because we have sit-ins every night. We have openers every night. It's like, I'm so worried about the show that I keep forgetting about the other parts of the show that are just as important

to make a complete show, you know? You focus on, if you focus on too many details, you miss some stuff. Exactly. I think that's, that's in songwriting.

That's in life. It's great to be manipulative. What is that word? Particular. Particular about what you want to do and what you're envisioning. But you have to take a step back. And I feel like that's with a relationship too.

When you overthink a relationship, you are overthinking like, oh God, what is she thinking right now? What does she think right now? You know, it kind of poisons the relationship. Unless you are really dialed in with that person. Like when it's a brand new situation, like I go into a show like this where like I have to play for a bunch of 50-year-old Jewish women for some Holocaust remembrance show.

That happens. All the time. I got to play all these. I play every type of show because our band, our fan base is so spread out. We have old people and we have young people. I don't say no to gigs. people and like I don't say no to gigs so sometimes we're doing a benefit for uh you know the New Jersey you know men's choir or like etc so you have to like go into the show with a clean slate saying all right I can't talk about fucking ketamine and drugs and at it at this knowing

your audience you gotta know your audience exactly so, you know, it's a push and pull. And I think, I feel like the same thing goes with relationships. You got to know the person. You can't like, she's not cool with you, you know, talking about dick jokes and other girls' titties and stuff. You shouldn't say that stuff, right? Right. You don't. It's like the same thing if you're hosting a show for a bunch of fucking 10-barrel snowboarders or whatever.

Yeah. And you're hosting a show for some hipster Portland people. You know, it's like... Oh, and I've dealt with it. Yeah. Like, I've done galas or fundraising events, and there's kids in the audience, and so I definitely am checking myself.

Like, we were listening to Howard Stern, and Cardi B was talking about that. Yeah. And she was saying, like, I definitely have to check. And she said shit, and she, definitely have to check. She said shit and she like stopped her. She like went to correct herself on Howard Stern.

Like, he was like, you can fucking say that. Totally. Have you ever played and like, there was nobody there? Oh, yeah.

What was your first MP room? My first six years. Yeah. I remember playing a VFW in like, butt fuck, like like upstate Utah. Oh, shit. Where it was like really suppressed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not a lot of Jews come in that area, you know. Not a lot of anybody, but white people. It's true. Yeah. So we had to play for a bunch of cowboys. It was like six cowboys there all hanging out at the park. They didn't want to hear fucking loud ass music.

It was a Tuesday. They just got off work. And I had to dial it in the show. I'm like, fuck, I'm just going to play country music all day. Yeah. And you got to understand what it is. By the end of the night, we got all six of those guys dancing. Jeez.

That's my goal. That's what I feel is a successful show is when you're out of your comfort area and you put on a show that is unique to the day that you're there I think that's failure to me is when

I try to throw a show expecting I'm going to have the show I just played yesterday at the same crowd. And that's when I'm not in the moment. When I'm in the moment, that's when I feel like I can't fail. Gotcha. Because I could audible it.

I could play the quarterback and not just play as a computer on a video game. I'm really audibling. I'm really bringing the vibe of what today needs to be, not what yesterday was. You're directing it. Yeah, because I'm still at that point in my career where I'm playing for 5,000 people one night, and then I'll play for 20 people the next night.

You know? We're not popular. Like, we're not super popular where we're selling out. Selling out everything you're going to. We're not popular. We're not super popular where we're selling out everything we're doing. And every room's at least 5,000 people. Yeah, and that's the beauty of my career right now is

it's really fine-tuning my show and it's really fine-tuning my ego. That's super important right now. What about your ego has to be fine-tuned? My ego has to be fine-tuned because My ego has to be fine-tuned because, you know, I'm a narcissist. I'll admit it. I'm not like a fucking horrible narcissist, but I'm pretty…

You're not a sociopath. I'm not a sociopath. Yeah. So, I take offensively when the crowd isn't involved. You take it personally. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't…

I need to have everyone on my level to feel like it was a successful show. You know? And if I'm not giving it the chance and I'm just going through autopilot and just playing the shows and doing the same shtick, then I feel that's a failure

because I'm in music to be present. If I can't be present, then what's the point of doing it? Have you ever done a whole show like that? What? Autopilot? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, you've done a whole show like that? Oh, fuck yeah. My band's pissed and the whole vibe's shitty. And I just tune out because either I got one hour of sleep last night or someone pissed me off before the show. Whatever it is.

And like the little things and it's not healthy to go into autopilot. You know, you have to be present in life. You know, it's like why live if you're just going to

have the computer run your life. If you're just going to be unconscious, there's, yeah, there's no point. There's so much more to it. Do you think after we've like had these conversations, do you think you'll ever stay on autopilot through an entire show now ever again? No. You think, do you think you

have the ability? I've been working on. Like once you realize that you're like, oh shit, I need to get here right now. Yes. Totally. It's much more, that's much less the autopilot thing. Yeah. Much, Much more infrequent. My band's about me about that. It looks at me like, dude, you're the general. They're not going to take the opening. My band's like that.

They're not going to take the step to push it up. They're not like Frasca. I guess I got to be the front man. Yeah, they're not going to do that. They're just not built like that. So I have to rev the engines with these guys. Plus, that's not how you guys do it. That's your method. Well, I

want them to do that. You do? Fuck yeah, dude. I can't do everything. I can't do everything. They need someone. Everyone has a bad day and if we're going to be a team, then the other guy has to take the initiative and say, look, okay, I got it.

I'll run the show today. That's one thing I have a problem with my band. They're lazy sometimes. And I just can't figure out a way to get them more involved. It's because my name's on the fucking thing. It's Andy Frasco's band. If it was different, because they're all

front men. They all deal with that. They've all had to deal with that. They just don't want to do it anymore. And it's okay. I'll pull the slack, but help me out. How do they help you out? They don't.

I'm just kidding. They play solos they do that stuff that's cool that's part of the show but like I also need help with the booking

like confirmations you know just take initiative like drive like I can't have Joe drive all the fucking time to a manager Joe

yeah I have I need the guys to help especially now we're not at that point where we're in a bus. We're still in a van. You know, things are going great with the band, but now they're preoccupied with their other lives.

And that's what frustrates me about it. It's like I feel like sometimes I'm here alone. Alone in a van with seven other men. Yeah. And that's what I feel like relationships, you know, alone in a van with seven other men. Yeah. And that's what I feel like relationships, you know, it's like that feeling of she's right next to you,

but you still feel alone. Like what is, how do we get out of that mentality? It's like, and stay present and say, all right, why are you sad? Let's talk about it. Yeah.

Instead of suppressing your feelings. You know, that's one of the things I'm working on. You know, we could talk about that for years. All day. It seems, well, we come back to that theme too, is finding a way to stay present or to be in the moment, the here and now, moment to moment, and then maintaining that. Yeah.

And it's not easy. I think one of the ways I do that, whether I've got a lot of emotion behind something, typically when I have a lot of emotion behind something, it's because I have an emotion. I've arrived at like an emotional judgment or I have an emotion attached to a thought. And so I find that the best thing to do is for me to just close my eyes and breathe in deep and go into my body.

And that brings me to the present moment right there. Like just breathe. And I literally visualize the breath going into my lungs and then coursing through my body, the oxygen going, and then I breathe out. And suddenly when I, sometimes it takes a few breaths,

but I get there. You're my fucking Buddha, Yeti. I'm not your Buddha. Well, let's, let's, let's attack this. Let's listen to the next interview and yeah,

I hope you guys enjoy it. We'll be back after the interview. Thanks. We got another great interview on the World Saving Podcast. We got Jason Han, my soul brother from String Cheese Incident,

Yodo. He's in the jam scene, but not only does he flirt around in the jam scene, he's also deep into hip hop. He was on the Dre 2001 record. He basically wrote a lot of music with Latin percussionists and African percussionists. He's the man. He lives in California now. He's all booted out. It was just a really good interview, and I had a really great time with him at Electric Forest.

It is all because of Receptra CBD oil. Yes, my people. Receptra found me in Denver, Colorado. I was all paranoid. I didn't want to smoke weed. I was just having a weird thing with smoking pot. So they're like, why don't we try CBD oils on you? And the rest is history.

It got through my anxiety without feeling too in my head. I was really into it. But the best part about it, it is legal in 50 states. Yes, 50 fucking states. So if you're in like fucking Texas or Kansas and you're rolling with it, they can't pull you over because there is no THC involved in Receptra CBD oils. So if you want to hear more about Receptra, go to receptranaturals.com and use promo code FRASCO for 15% off your order. receptranaturals.com. All right, guys. Enjoy the interview with Jason Han. We'll catch you at the tail end. Jason Hahn.

What? Andy Frasco. String cheese incident. Oh, my God. The Odo. Wow. What is going on? This is your festival, right?

Electric Forest? Is this your? Yeah. Talk about that. Let's talk. Give them something to talk about. Electric Forest. So, Rothburybury which it was before

it ended up being Rothbury Festival ended up being run by Madison House you guys still work with Madison House? still work with Madison House wow how long has that been?

oh man still like I think it was I want to say like 95, 96 I joined in 2004 loyal dudes yeah I love that it's gone you know back and forth yeah of course but that's the swing I want to say like 95, 96. I joined in 2004. Loyal dudes. Yeah.

I love that. It's gone, you know, back and forth. Yeah, of course. But that's the swing of the industry, right? It's a combination that has worked, you know? And it's all, you know, like everything, the ebbs and flows and roller coasters. But like in the end, we know we're both like looking out for each other and trying to do the best thing. Yeah.

Or you know what I mean? Alicia, was that her name? Alicia. Alicia. She's like, what are you guys going to be talking about? What's going on?

I'm like, yeah, she's got your back. I met her once. She's a badass, dude. Oh, cool. Yeah, she books the whole festival. She books all of Electric Forest.

So yeah, let's talk about this. Electric Forest, how long have you been there? Electric Forest, we've been doing it from the start. I can't tell you the year, but it started,

it was Rothbury before. And then what happened? I don't know who used to own it before, but anyways, as awesome of a festival it was, for some reason they didn't see it wanting to continue. And the guys from Insomniac picked it up and I was like, well, we want to make something happen. But they definitely wanted to give it like an electronic vibe to it. And the thing that they couldn't figure out when it was started, they could get kids to Vegas. They could get kids in New York and LA and Miami to go to a place during the day,

but they couldn't figure out how to get electronic kids to go camping. Like, what the hell is this? Oh my God. Where's, where's technology? I don't know. It's just like a thing with the scene.

It's probably a hard scene to, to make a pure profit on because not a lot of these kids are drinking booze from the bars and stuff. You know, it's like a lot of water, a lot of other things. Um, so like to profit you really have

to get bands like you guys like electronic music like you got the like there's like 100 bands on this yeah yeah it's kind of it's kind of crazy and i i really think the thing was it was that the insomniac people were looking for ways to like okay in the jam scene a kid's camp and they love to camp and they want to be in nature. And I think they were looking to stretch out into that zone because it's a whole other vibe. You know, versus you're on concrete in a city and in a stadium. Were you already big in this region? Before like this like... I mean, String Cheese kind of holds it down in all the corners of the country.

Yeah, you guys have been fucking big for a long time. Yeah, and so with Madison House running the property, it was sort of, it was a little bit of a no-brainer. It's like, oh, well, let's do a combination festival with the jam scene and the electronic scene

and do it in a way mostly for the purpose of getting those two scenes that love going to festivals in general to get them around each other. And so, you know, there might be a few more glowy things going on. But one thing that we had going on conception-wise as far as String Cheese is we knew like the whole Burning Man scene. We knew lots of artists from the Burning Man scene. And Kang and Travis and the band,

they'd been going to Burning Man since probably mid 90s. Did you guys ever play Burning Man? Not as string cheese, but we've gone as yet. And we've gone and just hung. And the thing is, is that Kang and Travis know a lot of the artists and, you know, basically responsible for getting, like, guys like Bass Nectar to start opening up for String Cheese and mid-2000s and stuff.

And it was always about the counterculture scene. And part of that counterculture scene is that it's bigger than the stage that the artists are playing on, that it's about the artists and the art installations. Yeah. You know, and the clothes and making it a community social kind of thing, bigger than a stage with a lot of acts. And so the first Electric Forest was all of these Burning Man installation artists coming and putting amazing pieces of property that unless you went to Burning

Man, you weren't going to see it. And all of a sudden you see this whole, what do they have? It was like a carousel of flying monkeys and stuff like that. And you're just walking on the grass and you see that thing in the middle of nowhere. And you're like, what the? You know, it's just for kids to see that versus having to go. Yeah, it's pretty impactful. And then with the whole forest, decorating the forest itself, we went, String Cheese played at Fuji Rock in Japan.

Yes, I talked to Krasno about this. How cool is that festival in Japan? That is like one of the most amazing on the planet for a couple of different reasons. Tell me. As it relates to Electric Forest, is they have this raised walkway at Fuji Rock where it's all trees and it separates all the,

it's kind of interesting because you have all the stages on one side, then there's a big forest. And then when you go through this raised walkway in the forest, you come out the other end and the stage that they have there is really only for like kind of jam bands, which is weird. It's a small stage, but for some reason they considered that, you know, kind of this, when they wanted you to walk out of the forest and have this stage that was more esoteric and jammy and hippie and, you know, and, um, but inside the forest, it would be amazing on these rock walk, raised walkways. They have these little sections where just like two artists would be playing. Then you go down this other walkway and you'd have,

um, you'd have a DJ playing in there with all kinds of really cool lights. So the forest was alive. And then you'd come out of the end of it and you'd have, you'd see these projections of like, uh, spirits, like black and white spirit faces on like the trees. And it looked like the trees are talking to you at night. So, I mean, I, in Japan, in Japan, yeah. At this, at this festival. And so, you know, see, I think that, well, that was totally the inspiration for, you know, the forest. Well, let's make the forest the coolest place. Even without, minus all the music, you would still want to come here for the weekend. So you brought Mount Fuji to fucking Michigan.

Yeah, for lack, I can't say rip off. No, no. Inspired? We were so inspired by that. And Madison House, they acquired the land. It's all we were talking about. It was like, let's do a festival like that. But they definitely ran with it.

And they've taken it to such other levels. So that was your guys' idea to do the lighting and stuff inside the forest and stuff? And add all like the arts stuff? All I can say is it's very much part of it. All I can say is that's all we were talking about. Dude, you guys built a culture here. Yeah. I mean, Madison House and Jeremy Stein in particular

just took it all the way to this whole vision. But when we used to do our shows at Horning's Hideout and stuff, it was about the interactiveness of more than, again, of more than the music. It's about other artists that are there doing a type of production that either makes you think or is just kind of wows you or something like that. And so here it's that on steroids and other products.

Oh, I bet. How many of these festivals do you guys do? It feels like you have one in every region. Don't you do one in Florida? We do one in Florida. And that's done by, that's Hulaween in Suwannee area. Oh, that's sick. And I mean, deciding to do that, it's interesting.

Because we used to go down there as Iodo and do shows. I think Bear Creek is some of the festival that they would have there. Have you played when it was Bear Creek? No, we just did Hulaween last year. Okay. So they had some other festivals. They also had like an Allman Brothers festival down there. And that was cool.

Amazing, beautiful property in Florida. And Paul, who runs the grounds on there, he would, he, every time Iota would play on the property, he would be like, oh man, wouldn't it be cool if string cheese, you know, started playing here. And, and we're like, yeah. And he just got, you know, was the best hospitality at all times. And every time we'd go back to our management to say, yeah, man, this would be a great property to really grow and do something on, blah, blah. And that communication kept going. There were some other sites being talked about and stuff.

And we just kept being like, what? This is the swamp. And it's so awesome. And you can do so many things with the swamp. Oh, my God. And light it up. And eventually, they brought in the guys from Silver Rapper in Chicago to you know when we want to play it

so in both situations there's definitely an outside promotion company that's putting the money behind it but it's your vision yeah

you could say that but you could be you're a humble guy you could go on I'm good to say I'm happy to say it because

I don't think it gets out there enough like people know that we host those festivals but there's you know there's a separate wing. That's like the owners and the promoters. And if we really made a, a, a big stink about like, well, we want this band to play in this band. We could probably do it, but it's so nice to come in there and let someone run with

the vision and, and do that. And it's something that both of those festivals are super proud of. I mean, you're captivating a culture, man. You guys have built so much into this scene. It's crazy. Not just the music, which is great. You're building the whole festival culture in the jam scene again. It was like a re... I don't know.

I was never into jam music before I got into the scene and understand all the hard work you guys. I mean, we're doing 200 plus shows. You guys still do 200 plus shows. Nah, we're far, I mean, String Cheese is far from that. But like you and Yodo.

Exactly. That's still, you're still gigging a lot, man. That's, it's just part of the culture. Sure. But I want to go back to this Japan thing because, Rewind, select. I got it because I was, I want to go back to this Japan thing because Rewind. I got it

because I had to get this because you know Europeans don't really get the jam culture as much. Right. So does the Asian culture

understand the jam culture more like Japanese like do you ever go to China or is it just the Japanese who really understand

this like this free feeling music? Yeah, the Japanese has been what we have had success when we've gone over there. And other groups have too. I mean, there's a lot of other music that's way bigger over there. But I found it really curious at Fuji Rock that they have, you know, when we were playing there, Chili Peppers were playing there.

That was when CeeLo Green was really big too and stuff. All this like mainstream music. Were you on a side stage or what? Well, we were on this jam stage. And on this jam stage was kind of like, again, you have to go through this forest. And so the way they treated this particular stage was like, we know about everything. We know there's going to be 50,000 people on the other side. But here, they could probably gather, you know, probably 12,000 people on the other side but here they could probably gather

you know probably 12,000 people amazing and it's it's own thing like when you're when you're just walking around there you can't even hear any of the other stages

yeah so that's and they do like a special blessing at the at the beginning and the end of Fuji Rock from that stage

it's weird so cool you know without without really knowing the particulars of you know, I don't think they're exclaiming jam culture is like their thing,

but there's some aesthetic about it. And I think it's sort of the hippie aesthetic in the positive way. Totally. Like love and sharing and caring and like that's pushed to the front versus. Man, Krazen said the same thing. I got to do that. Yeah, Krazen talks about how Fuji is just unbelievable. Oh, nice.

Yeah. But okay, I want to talk about the music now. Let's talk about the music. Let's get down and dirty. Let's get down. First off, I heard things that you worked on with Dre. Oh, yeah. I'm an LA.A. cat.

Are you growing up in L.A.? Did you grow up in L.A.? I grew up in Miami, but I got to— You live in L.A. now, right? I live in L.A. now. When I got out of high school, didn't know what I wanted to do, wasn't sure I wanted to do music, and I ended up joining the Navy. Really? That's what got me out to California.

At that time— Where, San Diego or something? San Diego, 32nd Street, Naval Station was where I went to boot camp. And at that time, all my favorite bands were in California. Like, I love that label SST. So it was like, you know, Minutemen and Meat Puppets and Black Flag. And for me, it's like I grew up around a ton of music, but like being a kid, being in high school,

I like, you know, I like to play all kinds of music, but I felt like in like the Minutemen and Firehose Zone that somehow that was like, well, no one's listening to this shit and these guys are so badass and don't give a fuck. Yeah, dude. And it's great music and they influence so many other, you know, great kind of movements and music.

And so, all, you know, I'm in Miami and no one would go down to Miami and play. And so I'm like, well, let's see. It's really nice and sunny

out in San Diego. My favorite bands like live in San Pedro. East Lowe's. Yeah. And then right when I got out there, it was like a combination of, okay, I got, did all my Navy work things done and then right when I got out there it was like a combination of okay I got

did all my Navy work things done and then I'd go to like shows at San Diego State and UC UC San Diego

and La Jolla and just they would bring the best like like alternative you know bands out and that was the time that was like Sonic Youth

and and Not Bad House it was like Love and Rockets and you know just all that 90s alternative stuff. You know, before that all got mainstream. So they would have the, I was in heaven being like, wow, I get to see these shows. Were you a drummer?

Or were you a percussion player? I was both at the same time. What was the passion in the beginning years? Drums or? It was like both at the same time. I didn't know what the hell I was. I didn't even know I liked music anymore. I was kind of like a choir boy in elementary school.

And that was fun, but it was more just like, oh, that was a cool hang because we got to do some different things. But then when I got into junior high school, my dad got a gig. This was in the 80s in Miami. He got a gig that was like four blocks from my house at a marina. And he had like the best musicians playing with him. And it wasn't something that I could distinguish at the time, but like the drummer that he was using was a drummer that grew up in Fort Lauderdale with Jocko and would play with Jocko all the time. But plus this drummer's

brother, they had a record deal in LA in the late 70s and was this amazing singing duo and other guys he'd have in his band some some guys would be from

you know like from the he would play a lot of island music and my dad's second wife was from Trinidad so he'd play a lot of soca music

and reggae music and guys like the guy that taught me congas would just bring a set of congas down to this place. And he just sat up with my dad, had a big old cigar, would play. You got the real shit.

Well, I got a good variety of stuff. So when I was a kid, I really didn't know there was a difference between rock and roll and reggae and soca music and stuff. And being in Miami, my mom's Colombian, so I'm half Colombian. Mom would take me to like all the festivals in town and little Haiti, little Havana. And I was just like,

what is all this? Everyone's having so much fun. And all these, you know, it was like hearing all these different kinds of music was like tasting different kinds of food. You know, they all had their own distinct spice and I didn't know what made them different, but I was like, how is this possible? How old were you here? Oh, that's like 11 years old, 10 years old. Okay, so when did you understand all this studying African music and Ghana and working on that? When did you feel like, I can incorporate this into rock music

and experimental music and experimental music and electronic music? What was that moment for you? It's been a process with that. But when I started learning about it, I started kind of almost more like separating them, like not doing them together. Like, no, this instrumentation for high life music is just congas or panlogo drums and you can't do it different. I had a little quest to like be very, very specific and like not mix stuff, like not in a judgmental way, but just trying to get it right myself. And as it kept going, I ended up being part of a band. It was a nine piece Sukus band.

Sukus music is music from the Congo. At the time, it used to be called Zaire. So we had three guys, two guys from Zaire and one guy from

not Somalia, from Kenya. One guy from Kenya leading the band. But the guy who put the band together was a prince from Rwanda who had to relocate to San Diego. A prince from Rwanda who had to relocate

to San Diego. A prince from Rwanda named Bongo Man who had, oh my God, you could do a whole thing on that guy. But he came because they had the Rwanda genocide and a lot of people were going to San Diego for asylum. And so he was there. And so anyways, he put it together. And he's teaching all these white dudes how to like, no, this is music is very big in Africa right now.

And so we're like, OK, let's play. I had played Soka music before, but it was kind of similar. They couldn't find a drummer at that time for that. And I came in and I could play some Soka music, which is kind of close. And then I was like, I really want to learn the subtleties. But with that music, there was some combination of electronics in there and stuff. So then I was like, oh, you could start doing this with that. So you were into electronics younger in your life, like electronic drums?

Yeah. From like a whole, oh, this is a really good story. Come on, bring it. Check this out. You ready? Yeah. From like a, from a whole, oh, this is a really good story. Come on, bring it. Check this out. You ready? Yeah. So the first, the first drum machine that imitated like the sound of acoustic drums was this drum machine called the Lindrum.

And that was the one, when that shit came out, it was like, everyone was like, okay, that's, that's going to take no more live drummers in the studio. So this guy, Joe Galdo in Miami, who went on to produce all the Miami Sound Machine records, Gloria Estefan in Miami Sound Machines, he was like the gigging guy, the lead studio drummer in Miami. He got this Linn drum and he brought it over to my dad's house and he was just learning to program on it

and did like a reggae song with my dad. And I'm watching him program it there. And I wasn't even playing drums at the time, but I'm watching him do that. I'm like, what are you doing? And I just kept hearing about, just in general conversation, yeah, the Lind drum is gonna take over

all the studios and stuff like that. And so I'm seeing him do that and that just clicked in right away. So when I started playing drums, that was always still around in my mind. And I did a, I did a little music project in junior high school where I went to Criteria Studios. Do you know Criteria Studios? No, where's that? Criteria Studios is in Miami, but that's where Bob Marley recorded Aretha Franklin in the seventies. It was like Bee Gees. That was like the hit studio in the country. Franklin in the 70s it was like BG's

that was like the hit studio in the country I don't know the exact setup but but the guy Tom Dowd

who basically you know he's one of the originals that was his place and he had famous producers like Ron and Howie anyways this

Criteria Studios was the thing and I did a tour of it when I did a tour of it that's when Miami Sound Machine was recording that song Conga yeah Machine was recording that song, Conga. Yeah. They were

recording there at the time, and I just remember seeing Amelia as the fun. You were in the session? Not in the session. They were taking a break, but the guy that was taking me around the studio was like, oh, you can go in here, and there's Joe Galdo, this guy that was recording with my dad was in there, and he remembered me. Oh, this is Harry's kid.

And they just played the sample that I remember. It's like, it's in the song where they go, like that. They were just recorded that. You got to check out this. And we just recorded. So, but then at the same time, you know, on my way out,

we walked past Rob Halford of Judas Priest. Because he was recording there. And he's, I just remember. Was there a scene in Miami? I mean, I think always, but particularly in the 70s, I'm sure it carried into 80s.

But everyone went to, look up Criteria Studios and just see like the amount of stuff that came out there. And so they were, they were recording like Turbo Lover

out there. And I've, I've, you know, it was just starting to get into like, like kind of heavy metal. So I know who Judas priest was, but he was like,

we're wearing like super shorts and all studded up and stuff like that. I'm like, at the session. Yeah. Yeah. But it was like, I guess he must've been getting ready to go to the pool at the same time. I remember these images.

It's the weirdest thing. Oh my God. But those things, did he talk to you? No, it wasn't even a high. It's the weirdest thing. Oh my God. But those things stayed with you. Did he talk to you? No, it wasn't even a hi. It was just we walked by. Yeah, well,

it was more like we walked by and the guy that was with her was like, that was Ralph Alford of Judas Priest. And then you could see all the other guys in there and stuff.

So it was just, you know, whatever. All these little things are, you know, click in that stuff, like how you get excited about that. I totally get excited about hearing stories of the studio and like how did that session go down.

So that, I mean, I think that excitement has stayed with me in music in general. So who was the guy or the inspirator who said, Jason, you're good. You're going to be a musician. I think when I moved to San Diego, all of a sudden... It's so weird because San Diego doesn't have a music scene. I don't know back then.

Well, maybe back then. 90s was big. 90s was big in San Diego. Like bigger than I thought. I actually missed that. And I could have been more active in it, but I was in a way, I was into world music at the time. All I wanted to do was study and go study music in Africa,

play African music. I was playing Nigerian traditional music. And they would get me to teach at some of the colleges in the area because I knew the music of all these guys that would come from different countries. I would learn, you know, I'd be in their bands and then I would learn their music that they would teach at schools.

And sometimes their visa would run out or something in the middle of a semester. And I'm like, I'd be at their classes all the time because I wanted to learn and participate. And then all of a sudden there'd be no one there. I was like, well, Jason knows, I'm like 21 years old. And they're like, well, Jason kind of knows all the things. He's usually assisting.

The white hippie from Southern California. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It would be weird how that worked out. So I was down for that. And I wasn't as much into, like, I think somewhere around that time, someone was really close to, like, Jewel.

And, like, They were helping Jewel with her promotion. She wasn't big yet. She was starting to win some awards in San Diego songwriting. I think she was hanging out with the Rugburns guys. Man, it was a cool scene down there. Country Dick Montana, Mojo Nixon.

The alternative scene down there was cool. I love San Diego for that but my thing was like oh you go play music hang with these different African performers try to learn the music but then at night time

so many times it'd be like go across the Tijuana border and all kinds of musicians from San Diego would go down there to play oh I'll remember the name of the place I can't remember it right now from San Diego would go down there to play. Oh, I'll remember the name of the place. I can't remember it right now, but that would go till four or five in the morning.

Oh, yeah. El Napal. El Napal. Oh, my God. So they're just doing jam sessions till five in the morning? Just jam sessions. And it was just an artist community. And it's kind of like jazz guys that were off to gigs in San Diego would go down there.

And musicians that were finished with their gigs in TJ would go down there. And everyone would just play. It'd be a very, you know, it's not like it was packed or anything like that. But you'd get 30 people hanging out down there. And whoever wanted to play could play. And then that's when, you know, all of a sudden, even though I was down there for being in the Navy mostly, it was kind of like, oh, you know, how do you know how to play, you know, either salsa music or something like that?

And I've just been around it so much. And then you're exchanging numbers, but I'm still in the Navy. So what were you doing in the Navy? Oh, just trying to. Oh, trying to. I didn't know what to do. It is halftime at the Ennefresco interview hour. Hey, yo, this is Chad Cacuzza.

And this is his brother, Matt Cacuzza, of the Spoonfed Tribe. And this is... You Remember That One Time? With Matty and Chaddy. Hey, yo, Matty, you remember that one time at the band house? Yeah, Chad, I remember that one time at the band house. Fucking mailman comes rolling up, delivering packages. So our guitarist, he signs for the package, no problem.

He sets the package in the living room. Next thing you know, the cops are busting down the door. It was the DEA, dressed as the mailman. Someone sent us a pound of mushrooms in the mail. Do you believe that, Chad? I couldn't believe that, Matt. I mean, it's not like we ordered that or anything. No, we definitely didn't order that, Chad.

Nah, Matt. And here comes more cops, busting up our drums, busting up our instruments, making a mess of the place, searching for other stuff. Yeah, I remember that time. I remember that time, too, Chaddy. But couldn't you, like, be in a band in the Navy? Like I heard a lot of people do like the band. I don't know about the Army,

but in the Army you could be in the house band. Well, yeah, I think all the branches have a band, but I was like honestly trying to learn something else. I didn't know if I wanted, like I was playing in clubs in Miami since I was 13 and stuff. And this is Miami in the 80s. So it's kind of like I was- Fucking cocaine and rolling.

You're 13. You have no idea what the fuck is going on. My dad was awesome because he was so protective. And so he's like, you can talk to that. Like when they were playing music and stuff. It's like, you could take a drink from that guy. Don't take a drink from that guy. You can go there.

But holy, it was definitely like, there were narcs there. There were dealers there. There were modern day pirates making boats, boats for the DEA and for the drug runners and stuff. But that was like a place everyone was just like hanging out.

Do you feel any similarities between Miami and San Diego? Oh, not in that regard not our tempo way different way different tempo way different tempo san diego i love because it's so man it's california and chill and just like that's my pace yeah totally i really like that i i love what i love about miami is i love all the cultures trying to find a way to exist together. Oh yeah, dude. Because there's some, at least back, you know, when, when I was growing up there, the cultures like didn't get along as amazing as they were in their own right. They bump heads, you know, if it, if it was just, you know, primarily, you know,

a neighborhood where there weren't a lot of Haitian kids in and the Haitian kids were the target, you know, and when I was growing up, that's when the Latin community was definitely big. But then there's differences between the Colombian community and the Cuban community. And holy shit, if you had an opinion about Castro, you know, it's just all kinds of things that can make for you know instant fireworks and a real situation

it really toughens your skin how to talk to people and like you know and just like building a way to have a relationship with all these

different cultures hence why you have all these different cultures in your music you know I think that's a huge inspiration in your life I love it

that's like my favorite thing about Miami and that exposure to so many different kinds of music. But what's wild is when I was in San Diego, that's when I started playing a ton of like African music. That's when I was like, I'm playing with the Congolese guys

and the Nigerian guys and the guys from Ghana and the guys from Senegal, guys from Guinea and stuff. That's kind of weird how that worked out. Did they think like, oh, this white boy, he's not going to be able to keep up? Or were they like, yeah. Well, it was, if you talk about the drumming scene, the drumming scene is kind of funny because you definitely have a side

that comes from, like, how would I say it? Like the new age side of drumming that can be very like, I don't call it, I don't want to call it fake enlightenment, but it's kind of like, just because they're hitting the drum, they're like, Oh, I've arrived, you know, I'm here. And it's like, what? Yes. Yes. And, uh, but there's, there's another part to learning, uh, indigenous drumming that it's like, especially in the African-American community, it's like we're getting, we're having access to our culture again.

And take it as- It's part of their culture. It's part of their culture. And so many people that I learn, especially in the community of like drumming and dancing and that finding a way to bring that to their community. And it's a whole not other level of, you know, so there's some separation between that,

but whatever. I liked it all. And I think to a degree, I was part of the community, but I just wanted people to learn that they could make that choice. How serious they want to dive into it. I knew what I wanted to do for my path. I'm not going to tell anybody else.

I interviewed Stan Moore a couple months ago. He's one of my buddies and he was talking about the drum culture in New Orleans. That's very similar in a sense. It's like growing up with all these different fields, these different players. It's like you're going to get better and you're going to get inspired. You're going to get inspired.

So let's get, I want to get into the Nershey thing. What's going, how'd you get into string cheese? What happened there? Like what, were you in the Yoda before that or was it? Oh no, it was, let's see. I'll try to do a shorter version. I had a. Or just what was the moment?

Like he's like, oh fuck. Yeah, this makes sense. You're in the band. Who's the guy? I don't know too much about String Cheese Incident. So who's the point guy? Billy Nershey formed the band. He was the only guy that could play

when the original four got together, which was Travis, who only played congas at the time. He didn't play drum set. Is that the keyboard player? Gray hair? Travis has the gray hair. Yeah, I like that guy.

He's a good guy. So he started off on congas. Kang, the electric mandolin player, started off. He was a violin player before. Didn't play mandolin. And Keith, who's the bass player, was a guitar player, but they needed a bass player between the four of them. And Nershi was the guy who had won like flat picking awards already.

And so he was doing everything and they were forming a four-piece acoustic bluegrass band. Where were they out of? Colorado? At that time, Colorado, Crested Butte. And then there was a desire to, I mean, the whole band history is this desire to, I mean, the whole band history is this desire to keep moving, and so Travis started learning drum set.

Kang got an electric mandolin. They started playing more rock stuff and electric stuff and plugging in, and then at some point, they got Kyle, the keyboardist, who was from Baltimore, but was starting to be in the jam scene in Colorado. And they got him in the band.

They started doing more like jazz stuff and funk stuff. And then it was a while. They basically built their, I would say, built their, you know, national reputation and base. And then I came along in 2004 when it was, it was like a time where I think that there were, that was around 9-11 and just some different things happened for the scene at that time, which was like, you know, what's going on. Some, some things were not sure. Some things were, were difficult, you know, in, in the band as well. So they were looking for some jolt that would be something.

And like I said, Travis and King had been going to Burning Man. They're seeing this other kind of music just flourish and like a DJ scene flourish in there. And I think, but they weren't necessarily looking for another soloist because it's like everybody solos in the band. It was like, so it just happened at the right time. So in the mid-90s, I was with my band in High Sierra, which we were like a-

What were they called? Zoo People. Zoo People. And we came up in Venice Beach, and that's where we got signed. And so we got signed by Atlantic Records. And that was around the time when Dave Matthews was getting signed. So was it a big record deal, or was it like a development deal?

Let's see. Let's just say they spent about half a million on us. Oh, man. I'm in the wrong year for fucking music industry. They spent half a million and never released it. That's what a fucking drop you got. So it's like, yay, yay, yay. Oh, fuck.

So you're in a weird mood or what? Were you in like a weird mood because they weren't doing shit for your band? Well, the band broke up because of it. So they spent all that money on it. But before that, we started, one of the guys in the band, in Zoo People, loved, like the jam scene was his thing. It was like, oh, we should play some of these jam festivals that were coming up, High Sierra in California.

So we booked a couple of times playing there. But we weren't known in the jam scene at all. And we played early in the day. And the stage that we were on, we counted it that the power of the generator went out 13 times during our set. But every time the power went out, we'd just go drum solo. Just me on percussion. The show must go on.

Yeah, and we kept doing it. So it was kind of like the power would go out, and then we'd start, and then everyone would be cheering, and then the power would come on, and everyone's cheering again. So Travis, the drummer in String Cheese, saw that set, and we talked afterwards. He invited me over.

String Cheese was all the buzz at that festival. Everyone wanted to see. They're rising. They're rising. And they were playing the late night tent stage. I don't know. I don't think they were on main stage, but they were playing the late night tent.

I don't remember really. But we all went to go see that. And so I played with Travis just by their bus during the afternoon. And then we were probably kept in touch like two phone calls a year after that. So how many years until they said, all right, fuck it, you're in the band? Well, I did maybe two sit-ins. Then 2004, Travis called me up and he said, hey, we're going to play in LA. Can you sit in?

And I was like, I'm down for it. And I was like, what should I bring down? He said, we'll bring down a bunch of stuff. We might could be looking for somebody else to join the band and blah, blah, blah. And so I went down there and I played the second set. Was it music you wanted to play at that point in your life? Well, I didn't know. At that time, I had been touring with like Isaac Hayes and Ricky Lee Jones and stuff.

And you did the whole Dre stuff too, right? I did the Dre. The whole Dre stuff was one day session, but it was a 10-hour session. Still, 2001 is an iconic fucking record I know Isaac Hayes you're the one

playing with all these dudes so anywho it's awesome JP but so and I was doing a lot of studio stuff

at the time and I enjoyed that I love love studio stuff but when I was playing with String Cheese there was like a whole nother thing

about just being in a live setting again. And it's different when you're playing backup for other artists. And then when you become a part of the collaborating within the band, it's like being part of the arrangement and part of some of the writing, whatever. Just having a creative voice in the band.

And all that just got all my juices going. And so it was definitely a weird thing when they kept asking me to go on tour. I had to turn a lot of other stuff down. But in my mind, I'm like, this feels good. So were you already striding as a musician? Or were you just making money or doing your thing in LA? Or were you in Marina by then? I was, let's see, San Diego.

Zoo people got me up to LA around 94. And all those guys have gone on to be, you know, they're all great musicians. So it was like a crew of us that we would always do each other's studio sessions and stuff like that. And that would always escalate, you know, kind of far. That's a documentary in the making. Where did everyone from the zoo people go? Because they all became great musicians. They're all doing their stuff, yeah.

Anyways, it's great to just have friends around, you know, that long too. So what was the moment you're like, oh shit, I got another Isaac Hayes session, or I'm going gonna do a month with cheese yeah what was it uh well it's not a moment I was just glad that that the stuff from string cheese were when we were looking at like the next tour that I was like wow that's what I this is what I want to do and there was um who would recommend Brian Jordan, who I think he was a guitar player for Lauryn Hill or something like that, that he said someone was going to call

because she was thinking about doing a world tour at that time. And I don't even think that, I think at that time I was like, ah, I can't really do it because I committed to the String Cheese tour. And there was some other weird audition that I went it because I committed to the String Cheese tour. And there was some other weird audition that I went to. I went to a Jessica Simpson audition. And like someone

recommended me to do it. And I was like, I'll go check it out. And that was just like, I don't want to do it. I don't mind learning music and I don't mind doing it. But it was just like, it wasn't inspiring. It was just like, oh, that's a style of touring that I hadn't done before. I had done mostly like R&B stuff or like jazz. I would play with, there were some incredible musicians in LA to play with kind of on a regular basis. So, but yeah, starting to do the string cheese thing,

that just felt the best. All the guys in the band, they're just awesome and just wanted to keep going that way. So at some point, I think they would tease the audience. They would be like, hey, this is Jason. You think we should keep him? And there's usually a positive response, thank God. But it always felt like a sort of migration in the band.

It wasn't like one moment was like, you're in the band. I was just like, can you do the next tour? Can you do it? Yep, I can do it. And then eventually- So they never really said, all right, you're in the band. They just said, here, you're busy. Here you go.

Yeah, exactly. We're giving you. And eventually it came to a place like that. So yeah, super thing. And I still love the scene. What a story. Yeah, right?

And I love that all these guys are still like, that's why we got our studio two years ago. You guys are here, you're fucking practicing. Like, I'm looking at your rehearsal spot in a fucking, in a water park right now. You guys,

you guys are fucking freaks at your instruments, man. And like, the idea that you want to just keep growing as musicians and keep growing as a band is why you've been so successful for the last, what, how long you guys have been? I think so. 20 years, 15 years? When New Year's comes around, it's going to be 25 years for the band. 25 years.

25 years, yeah. And like growing with a scene, you know, growing with a jam scene where they always want new things and new things and And like, you can't always bring the same set or they're like, oh, fuck that. They played that fucking two weeks ago. I mean, like how much pressure is that on a band to always having to write and to collaborate and do different things? Or is that what you live for as this band?

I think, well, the funny part is, is everyone's got their families in the band. Takes up a lot of time. I think, well, the funny part is everyone's got their families in the band. Yeah. Takes up a lot of time. Shit. And so the desire to, and everyone's, I would say everyone's got a healthy dose of ADD in the form of like, you know, Travis does like paragliding, and they're all almost pro skiers, you know, in the band. And there's so many other interests going on

that we really have to schedule our time to be together and when we do that everyone's good about wanting to do it but the thing that

we that nobody wants to do is we don't want to become like a relic of ourselves I think that's everyone's biggest fear you know

is that okay there's just one era that there was any era of the band that we have to be loyal just to that. When it's kind of like, well, the whole point of the band in the first place has always been to grow and do out-of-the-box stuff. And you want your fans to come along,

but it's like if everyone had to, you could talk to, if everyone had to do the same thing over and over again, but it's not built in anyone in the band no you guys are freaks like that yeah but that's why

on you know we'll do some you know an African song in the set we'll do a Middle Eastern type song we'll do a song

with programming we'll try to you know rearrange a song to have some big production spectacle around it you know

god you guys are so fucking creative because you put your light show and you put your, I mean, I could see it in this fucking festival here, man. Like, this feels like string cheese. Oh, that's great. And that's like, and you're building a community and a culture like that

everywhere you go. And, you know, it's like, because, like, there's fans for all these different, you know, it's like me being an outsider looking in and seeing like the fan base of the Umphreys camp, the fan base of the String Cheese camp, the fan base of the Panic camp, and knowing all these people, and like they all have the same vision

of how they want to keep growing with the band, but seeing how like their own different perks of, you know, their own feel perks of their own field to the same concept that you're talking about. Try not to be a shell of yourself. And not trying to be anybody else. Exactly.

They're trying to be the most authentic person you can. Absolutely. Man, I could talk to you for fucking hours. We got to do this a lot. I think every time we hang out, let's sit down and do this. I got one. I have to play a show in 10 minutes or I got to do this a lot. I think every time we hang out, let's sit down and do this.

I have to play a show in 10 minutes or I got to get there, but I got one last question. I got two last questions. Jason, you're my guy, dude. You were the first one who saw our show. It was summer camp. Out of all the jam bands, you were there on the side of the stage

just bobbing your head. I'm like, dude, and I didn't even know you're from LA. That's respect. Are you living in LA now? That's respect. Okay. Have you felt like you've written your opus as an individual musician

and as the band String Cheese or Yodo or whatever you feel is the most fulfilling to Jason Hahn at 2018. There's like almost kind of not even close. When did you come to realize that I am not even close to my own? Well, every time I'm in my studio, I sit down at the keyboards or something like that.

Then I'm like, I really want to be a better this. And I go to do some music production thing. I want to get better at that. When I sit behind the drums or percussion, when I sit behind the congas, I sit behind the djembe. I sit behind the djembe. I'll sit behind Brazilian instruments, the pandero. And I start working on it. I'm like, oh, man, I really need to devote some time to that.

And I want to get back to like world traveling and stuff. There's like a desire to keep going, totally appreciate everything in the moment, like crazy. But every time I do something, I'm like, oh, there's another level to get to. And I'm not there. And I go on YouTube, like probably other kids do. And I'm like, I want to watch some stuff. I was like, that, you know, bar just got reset. do and I'm like, I want to watch some stuff. I was like, that, you know, Bard just got reset and I feel driven, not in a way that, you know,

some people feel like, oh, I'll never get there. But I feel like I just want to keep taking a step closer, you know, each time. Never stop inspiring. Never inspiring yourself, right? Yeah, yourself. That's important. I mean, especially when you're on the road and the whole, you know, you're away from your home so much, you got to figure other ways to inspire yourself, right?

You have to find your go-tos and stuff. What are your go-tos? Well, funny, you should mention, ha ha, we can talk a while. I know, I know. But I do a lot of boxing when I'm at home. I do a lot of boxing when I'm at out. Has made me rethink so many things, but in particular about breathing, if you can believe that. Oh, I totally see that. Because I went to boxing at first just to, you got to go.

No, keep going, keep going. But I went to boxing at first just to have a different kind of workout. I'm still trying to find out the right kind of workout to do, but it inspires me in a different way. First of all, with the gym I went to, it looked more like a Taibo gym. Like, oh, you go work out, you do some kicking,

there's some music. It was like with a punching bag. It was like, eh, you know, I'll do that. And when I got there, it was like an actual boxing gym in Venice. So you should swing by one of those times. Dude, I totally will. Oh, yeah.

Kickboxing or just regular boxing? This is regular boxing. But they're signed out front. They have some... The guy that runs the gym who's a boxer, he used to be a kickboxing champ. Wide world of sports and stuff in the late 70s. So he's OG.

Really OG boxer? He would teach boxing classes in Venice in the late 70s. So he's OG. Really OG boxer. Well, yeah. He would teach boxing classes in Venice in the 70s when it was like Arnold Schwarzenegger's out there. This is like the OG guy. Holy shit. But damn, if, you know...

Well, it's a longer story, but about boxing in general is just like... And it can happen in music too that there can be like chaos going on. And then how do you like hold yourself when that, it's like, does the adrenaline take over? Does it add to your ability to react to whatever's going on?

Or does it take away from your ability to act? And in boxing, adrenaline dump can take away from your ability because all of a sudden you get tired really fast. And it's just like, okay, so you can go really hard for a little while and then after that what happens and you just really got to work on your technique and you got to breathe through the whole thing because even if you're getting hit it's kind of like your ability to breathe and relax through it gets you to the other side way easier than just like freaking out and just to the other side way easier than just like freaking out and just, and, and, uh, in boxing,

you learn really quick that, uh, that you would rather, uh, you'd rather get hit than be tired in a boxing ring because your arms just burn. You can't raise your arms. It's like, just hit me. Yeah. Just make me go down. Save me, save my day. Exactly. Make it all stop. But that's totally carried on into like all my aspects of music and just in general, you know, just our breathing is like, is so fundamental to making everything easier.

Yeah. I always, you know, I always consider my show like I'm an athlete. You know, I love the Michael Jones of the world, the Kobe Bryant.

You know, I'm a big basketball head. So like, you know, it's all about breathing. It's all about staying present. And it's all about inspiring yourself to be the best person you can be. Yes, sir. Jason Hahn, we got to do this a lot, my man. What time are you playing tonight?

You guys play like 27 fucking times this weekend. No, no, no. But our set is from 7.30 to 11. You guys are fucking freaks, dude. We're taking a break in there, but it's just, we put a lot of work into it and we hope it comes,

well, we hope it comes across as effortless, but we really, every time we do these events, like String Cheese probably does 40 shows a year and some of these. I know, it's really light. It feels like you guys play so much love. Yeah. So much of year. Oh, that's it? I know. It feels like you guys play so much law. So much of that.

We gear up for it. I'll have to figure out the number. But anyways, we try to make all of them count, and we put a lot of practice on it. You do a great job. Yeah. Jason. Doing this.

String Cheese incident. We're going to talk about Yodo next time around. Yeah, yeah. You got lots to go. Anytime you want to travel, you need travel buddying. I like that. I'm your guy. I'm your guy, my man.

Jason Hahn. What a pleasure. See you, buddy. Well, hello. I'm Arno Bakker, and this is Staying Relevant with Arno Bakker. On today's segment, we will be analyzing the lyrical structure of the artist called Migos. The song we will be analyzing today is Walk It, Talk It from their recent album Culture Slash Slash featuring Drake. Shall we get started?

Walk it like a talk it. Walk it like a talk it. Walk it, walk it like a talk it. Walk it like a talk it. Walk it, walk it like a talk it. Ooh. Walk it like a talk it, yeah. Walk it like a talk it. Walk it, walk it like a talk it. Walk it, walk it like a talk it.

Ooh. Walk it like a talk it. Hey. Walk it, walk it like a talk it. Walk it, walk it like a talk it. Walk it like a talk it. Ooh. Walk it like a talk it. Walk it, walk it like a talk it. Walk it like a talk it. Woo! Walk it like a talk it.

Talk it, walk it like a talk it. Aye! Walk it like a talk it. Walk it, walk it woo! Like a talk it. Yeah. So, apparently these gentlemen are walking. Could they be having a conversation?

I wonder what they are walking about. See you next week in Staying Relevant with Arno Bacher. Fascinating stuff. I love these interviews get all kinds of stuff I'm learning a lot I feel like I'm learning about myself through every interview I do

with other people because I'm basically asking questions I ask myself and getting the conversation and getting the conversation so I don't feel like a fucking crazy person

that I'm just talking to myself in my brain you know what I'm saying like I feel the same way because you'll ask me questions and nine times out of 10, I'm not around for the interviews. So I'm not getting that process. But when you and I talk, you know, I've been really challenged to be, to answer the question, you know, instead of deflecting. Cause I'll definitely do that. Especially when it starts, the light starts to turn on me. I'm not the type of person, I just don't like to,

I don't like to go deep and into myself. Um, I've definitely avoided that for a long time. And so it's been a journey to like, figure out that it's okay to do that and to share that. And that other people are experiencing or maybe experiencing some of those things that you're going through and that it's important to share. And I learned that concept. I call it the concept. What I call is going first. And what that means is like if you're with a group of people or even if you're just with another person,

be the vulnerable person and open up first. And that gives the other person the opportunity to open back up. Exactly. So what did we learn today, Yeti? Vulnerability is okay. Vulnerability is okay. And fucking up is okay. Yeah.

Failure is part of life. Yeah. Failure is part of life. And I love that saying, failure is not an option. What it means is that that's not the path I'm going down. But I also think that, I mean, you have to learn from your failures, right? There's that saying, fail forward. All kinds of jargon out there

that's like the buzzwords and everything. But when we learn from our mistakes, well, there we are. We have to learn from our mistakes. We can't repeat them. Exactly. Well, there you have it, guys. Another episode down the drain.

The hatch. It's like when you take a shower and all of a sudden the afro hairs get stuck. You have to take a shower after me sometimes, don't you? Almost all the time. I have a thing about that. I can't take a shower when the tub's wet. Oh, really?

Perfectly. It's got to be clean. It's got to be clean. That's why you claim it. That's why I claim it. I always let other people go because I take a long ass shower. Yeah. Because you're beating off.

No, I literally take 20. It's from when I've always taken long showers. I love it. Guys, subscribe to the podcast. You know the deal. Like it. Rate it. Give us your questions.

Add us on Instagram. Frasco and Yeti. We got lots of stuff on there. We love connecting with you guys on there and it's funny stuff. I'm touring all summer long. If you guys want to check me out, go to andyfrasco.com for the tour dates. If you want to be Yeti's personal Facebook, Instagram buddy, go to I am Yeti. And that's it. That's all we got for you today. That's it. That's done. We're out.'s it That's all we got for you today That's it That's done We're out

We're giving you everything we got today Mic drop Mic drop Thanks guys Love ya Well thank you for listening to episode 14 Of Andy Fresco's world saving podcast with Yeti Produced by Andy Fresco

Yeti and Chris Lawrence Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes and Spotify produced by Andy Fresco, Yeti and Chris Lawrence. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes and Spotify so we can make this a worldwide phenomenon. For info on the show, please head to our Instagram at frescoandyeti or our website frescoandyeti.com For more info on the blog and tour dates, head to andyfresco.com Our sponsor for the week is Receptra Natural CBD Oils. If the daily stresses of life are wearing you down mentally or physically, you should consider

adding CBD to your daily routine. Andy's been using the products from Receptra Naturals and it's been life-changing for him. Believe me, I share a very small van with this guy. He's sleeping better, more calm, less anxious, more focused, more creative and he's actually less jumpy. A great benefit in the small spaces we share. They ship to all 50 states, so if you don't know about Receptra, check them out online at receptranaturals.com and use promo code FRESCO for 15% off your order. Promo code FRESCO for 15% off.

For more information on our guest, Jason Han from String Cheese Incident and EOTO E-O-T-O Please head to stringcheeseincident.com and eotomusic.com This week's special guests are Chad Kakuza Sean Eccles and

Arno Bakker. May this week be comfortably tight for you all.