Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 142: Ryan Montbleau & Luke Bemand (Lespecial)

Episode Date: September 28, 2021

Andy and co-host Nick Gerlach finally conclude who the hot guy in the band is (spoiler alert: it's our boy, Beau). Plus: inspiring words of wisdom and (helpful) discouragement from Nick. And just because we love each and every one of you, we're giving y'all a double dose of Interview Hour with podcast veteran, master wordsmith & singer-songwriter Ryan Montbleau; followed by prog-rock aficionado, bassist and new friend: Luke Bemand from Lespecial! There's more to tour life than blown tires. This is EP 142. 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 song, "DANCIN' AROUND MY GRAVE" on iTunes, Spotify  follow our good buddy ryanmontbleau.com Dial R for RAD music @ http://lespecial.net/ Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: John Bongiorno Brian Schwartz Nick Gerlach Arno Bakker

Andy, it's your agent, JBG. I'm trying to get this Bonnaroo offer for you for next year from the year before to the year future. It hasn't come yet. I'm sorry. I'm thinking maybe put his phone number so you can call him directly. Anyway, give me a call back hey schwarz listen i thought we were past this phase um but i don't and i'm kind of bummed that i have to remind you of this and you can put this on your podcast for all i care you cannot ask the crowd for mushrooms take them at the show from anyone who hands them to you while you're on stage

and do them in front of the crowd. You know, it's a bummer for me when one of our partners that we work with that works his butt off for you tells me, hey, you know what happened on our company call? Someone said, I went to see Andy Frasco last night. Does he always do mushrooms? Are mushrooms on his rider? And you know what? That's unacceptable. No, mushrooms are not on the rider. They're illegal. And I need you to not do that so that we could go to other countries and so that I don't have to bail you out of jail. And you know what? It's also not attractive. It's fucking weird. So please stop doing it. Yeah, you work too hard at this every day, all day,

to ruin it because you want to eat mushrooms on stage in front of your fans. Eat something else. Eat some tofu in front of them. And we're live. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. Here we are again. Here we are, Nick. I'm Andy Frasco. I'm with my co- again here we are nick i'm andy frasco i'm

with my co-host what's your name nick urlach nick urlach we are in seattle washington you almost forgot i did i don't blame you i'm not making fun of you you are my boss so i wouldn't do that let's go thank you i told him before the podcast pretend like i'm your boss i recorded something real quick while you were in the bathroom. Oh, Jesus. How y'all doing? It's a disclaimer for the crowd. How's our heads?

How's our minds? Are we staying out of trouble? Are we staying out of the dark crevices that lets our mind say, you know what? You're going to have a bad day today, but not today, right? Do I have to pump you up? We're not going to have a bad day today. But if you need to go to have to pump you up? Wow We're not gonna have a bad day today But if you need to go to a dark crevice sometime

That's okay No, Nick Optimism Don't ruin it We're not gonna have a bad week We're gonna have a great fucking week And that's how we're gonna do this Every week we're gonna have a great week

Even when we're fucking struggling Fuck everybody What's up, Nick? I'm doing good But if you need to go to a dark crevice And check out for a minute That's sometimes good for you Yeah, you always tell me that's a Well, every time I'm doing good. But if you need to go to Dark Gravis and check out for a minute, that's sometimes good for you. Yeah, you always tell me that.

Well, every time I'm sad, you're like, what do you have to be sad about? Well, I mean, you know, perspective is important. Yeah. You know? Yeah, it's true. We've had a great tour. We've been on the tour for five weeks now. And tonight is the last show in Seattle.

Three weeks for me. Three weeks for Nick. It's still a long time. Have you ever been on a long tour like this? Yeah, you always talk to me like I've never been a musician before the day I met you. It's so condescending. Yes.

Yes, I've done everything you can do, except for be successful. The tour's going great. Portland fucking kicked ass last night. That was a fun crowd. I really like that city. I hadn't really been there. Oregon's cool.

You know, like, what's... I liked it more than San Francisco. Really? Yeah. San Francisco's pretty wild. Oh, it was definitely wild. I don't dislike San Francisco. What did you like more about the Portland show?

The people are a little more down to earth. They're a little... Like, you know, they have a better sense of humor about themselves. Oh, why? Because no one was laughing at your jokes in San Francisco? No people laugh there It's just I don't know just in general I think Don't be talking shit about

My alma mater No I'm just saying one's like an 8 and one's like a 9 They're both good We didn't have too much van trouble this week It's not binary No just one blown tire on a trailer What the fuck You were driving so it's technically your

fault we were listening to bule bule bule bule was it yeah we were we were going i was fucking jacked up i'm feeling good you know i took mushrooms last couple days of the shows and the hangovers are better for me than you were definitely tripping last night after the show oh my god that was very that's the most probably the highest i've seen you you're like your eyes were like you open your eyes all the way yeah penis envies now i get that there's that drawing the cartoony drawing guy does of you where your eyes aren't open now i get where that comes from yeah it's uh you don't know how long when you're on adrenaline mushrooms don't really hit me that much but if they're really strong they start hitting and i took it halfway through the set so the the first song. Legal, by the way. I checked with the crowd before.

Shout out to Oregon. Legalizing mushrooms, baby. I asked the crowd. I said, what's legal here? Andy needs to know before he gets on stage. That's for Brian. Yeah, we did good. Shout out to Brian.

Sold out, actually, last night. We sold out last night. And I think we sold a lot of tickets. I don't think Eugene was sold out. Nevada City was sold out. Yeah, we had two out of four so last night, and I think we sold a lot of tickets. I don't think Eugene was sold out. Nevada City was sold out. Yeah, we had two out of four so far. Tonight, I think we're close, right? We're close.

I don't think we'll sell it out. It's kind of a bigger room. Tractor Tavern, this is like a real famous... It's really healthy ticket sales, so... But it's really healthy, and it's going to be a barn burner. Pacific Northwest, tough markets. It's been a fun tour, right? I'm having the time of my life.

You're my sleeping partner. We share a bedroom. I snored last night. You kept me up until about 6 in the morning. Really? Yeah. I'm not really a snorer. I know.

You don't usually. I think it's because maybe you were just worn out. I hung out with Lyle Davinsky until about 5 a.m. playing ping pong. Shout out to Lyle Davinsky. Moving to Portland. I wanted to go. I just didn't have any social gas left in them. playing ping pong. Shout out to Lyle Davinsky. Moving to Portland. I wanted to go. I just didn't have any social gas fucking to tank.

I felt bad. You know like when you overstay your welcome? Like Lyle's like falling asleep while I'm just like telling him this like real deep conversation about how he should market his band. At five in the fucking morning. Here's how you should market the band.

Single every month. Fucking videos. He's like, uh-huh. You're like, yeah, that's what everyone has told me ever. You mean what everybody's doing Okay cool Okay Good night Andy

Yeah Even the guys I even You know the other partiers In our band I even out partied them Last night Shout out to me

Yeah you did You're not usually Last man standing No I'm not anymore I used to be I like to go to the hotel And lay in bed For like an hour and a half

And look at my phone After the show That's my idea I can't lay in a hotel room when I'm high on fucking mushrooms. Well, that's a thing. I'm just like staring at a wall. But I have been sleeping good. Maybe it's because...

You go right to fucking sleep, man. I don't know how you do. I'm jealous of that. Dude. It takes me forever to fall asleep. And then I wake up all the time. I'm not a good sleeper. Why not?

I think it runs on my family. Like one person on my mom's side of the family has it, my aunt has it, and then my grandpa had it, where we have this thing where we wake up like four hours into sleeping and we're awake for a couple hours. Yeah, that's why I have to put my phone not next to me. It sucks. It's not a fun thing to have in your life.

It comes and goes. You've been dealing with, you finally got the band, when we have a band house and, you know. Oh, my God. Look, poor Nick. Look, I love Sean and Andy. Next topic. No, they were just, you know, I mean, you know, I'm in their space.

They were raging, but everybody else slept right through it. I think they all have, like, noise cancelling. We're used to it. We're used to them staying up until 6. Also, they're prepared to have these noise cancelling headphones. I've just been sleeping in my apartment for two years. I'm like, what? I showed up.

It was in Nevada City the first night. I think I showed up. No, I was asleep, and I went to take a piss, and I just saw your eyes just still up at 530. Oh, yeah, because he has to walk by my bed to get to the bathroom from where he was sleeping. Yeah, and I knew what was going down because I heard a couple chords of the acoustic guitar, and I knew these guys had a bender. I'm like, oh, poor Nick.

And Nick's eyes, you look fucking terrified. I did. I believe you. Just like, what is my life? You're just like, I'm going to get a hotel tomorrow. I did. I believe you. Just like, what is my life? You're just like, I'm going to get a hotel tomorrow. I did. I booked it at four in the morning while I was laying there. Beep, boop, boop, boop, boop.

I like having the band house because it's like... It's fun. Everybody's in one place. Everyone's in one place. Also, it's right above the bar. So like the bar music comes through until about two or three in the morning, depending on how drunk the bartenders are. Yeah.

And just fucking loud. Just... Just like... Just loud-ass techno. in the morning, depending on how drunk the bartenders are. Yeah, and just fucking loud, just... Just like... Loud-ass techno. I felt like a boomer. Thank God I'm deaf, or I would have been... Yeah, you have the advantage of being deaf. Yeah. Are you deaf? I'm a little deaf in my left ear. From what?

From the monitor. I always put the monitor on my left ear. You ever wear earplugs? No. Oh, that's dumb. And I'm loud. My band's loud as fuck. Your band is loud as fuck. Yeah, we are loud. You guys need to work on my left ear. You ever wear earplugs? No. Oh, that's dumb. And I'm loud. My band's loud as fuck. Your band is loud as fuck. Yeah, we are loud. You guys need to work on your stage volume. No, I'm just kidding. It's actually better than it was in the beginning of the tour. Well, because our sound

man, Jason, is like, know it? No. It's good to have a regular guy. That's one thing. Man, shout out to Jason. Jason's been crushing this. Shout out to Jason and Bo. You're doing my set too for no reason. Yeah, because no, because we love you. It's fun. I get to talk to him. I'll do something nice and Bo. You're doing my set too for no reason. Yeah, because,

no, because we love you. It's fun. I get to talk to them. I'll do something nice for them. You're going to go on to another tour and you're not going to get all these like royalties

we're giving you and you're going to be fucking pissed. I don't really get pissed though. You know that about me. I know. What's the maddest

you've ever seen me? I don't hold it in. I just... In the morning, I've seen you be kind of like grumpy. I like to make fun of shit in the morning. Some days when I'm happy, I'm like, good morning, buddy.

Oh, like this morning when you snored till seven in the morning, then you woke up and called me a bitch right when I woke up after getting two and a half hours of sleep because you were snoring. I wonder why I was frustrated. I'm not actually mad. It's just part of life. This touring life. Sometimes when I'm on the sauce and on the mushrooms and

i'm just so exhausted my brain just says you have to go to bed and i go to bed it's amazing you just lay down and then you're asleep it's fucking and so impressive even when we're like having conversations no one time you felt like doing pillow talks yeah you were talking really like i shared with beats one time. And he was like, he started, he like continued his conversation into falling asleep too. But it wasn't words. It was like random syllables. That guy's just like a ball of energy at all times.

I know. This band is just, we were born to be with each other. I like everyone in the band. We're kicking ass. You know what is also a good time? Shows. Yeah. You know where you can get shows? I knew that was coming. Rep're kicking ass. You know what is also a good time? Shows. You know where you can get shows?

I knew that was coming. Repsy.com. I love it. The people, they just, they're the best. And I know a lot of bands who have signed up. Shout out to all the bands who signed up. Hell yeah. Bands who have signed up. It's a win-win. You get your shows on there.

I love a win-win. You get a band on the profiles. And hey, Beats, get up here. Come over. We got Andy Beats walking up. We're in the venue. Andy Beats. Andy Beats in the building today. Very hot guy.

How you doing, Beats? Oh, you know, just loading in. I'm on the phone. Andy has to do a podcast during loading. I'm on the podcast right now, babe. Are you talking to your lady? I'm talking to my girlfriend, yes. That's weird. I'm talking to my girlfriend, yes. I'm talking to my girlfriend, yes. I'm talking to my girlfriend, yes. I'm talking to my girlfriend, yes. I'm talking to my girlfriend, yes. I'm just wondering what you guys are doing over here. We're doing this podcast. Yeah, babe. Are you talking to your lady? I'm talking to my girlfriend, yes. That's weird.

Just wondering what you guys are doing over here. We're doing this podcast. Yeah, you guys are literally staring across from each other, looking at each other's eyes. He's my boss. He's my boss. I have to say that three times a podcast now. We're talking about the best part of tour.

Yeah, we need your highlight of tour so far. What is the highlight of tour? Nothing negative. Highlight of tour. I love these candid appearances. It tour so far. Nothing negative. Highlight of tour. I love these candid appearances. It's either between the flat tire or... No, get out of here, bitch. We're doing positive.

We already did negative last time. You know, last night was actually pretty dope to have it sell out, especially after the flat tire. I think it might be the only memory I can think of right now because it was yesterday. I was just talking

about that too. I don't remember anything anymore. I don't remember. Summer camp feels like four years ago. I know, it does. It feels like it was

the beginning of the tour. That was the first day of the tour. Summer camp was pre-9-11, right? Yeah. What are you going to do when you go home

for your four days? Oh, shit. Well. Four days? Yeah. Oh, yeah, you guys have four days? Oh, shit. Well. Four days? Yeah. Oh, yeah. You guys have a festival. I keep forgetting you guys have a festival.

I was just talking to her about getting a hotel room for a week somewhere far away from where I live. Hell, yeah. Just so it still feels like I'm on tour. Nothing like going home and getting a hotel room. You guys going to make love? You guys going to make love? Don't ask people about their sex life. Of course we are.

There's no way she listens to this fucking podcast. She does not. Yeah. She's got way she listens to this fucking podcast. She does not. She's got way better shit to do. Well, thank you, Beats. I hope you had a great time. Drink your coffee. I'll be there to load in pretty soon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, right. He still hasn't loaded in from fucking Dallas. They're still waiting on you in Dallas to get up there. Shout out to Repsy.com. Oh, yeah. Repsy, baby. If you want to get some gigs, I love Beats.

He's straightforward every time. He's a funny guy, too. But, guys, I got interrupted because I saw Beats. He's a good musician, by the way. Beats is one of the best. He's a sneaky, really good musician. You don't know it. Then you watch a couple shows, and you're like, holy shit.

This guy sings his ass off. He's playing drums really well. And he can kind of shred guitar a little. Yeah, he's the best. My band is like we're sleepers. Musicians are sleepers. Sean, every night I'm like, God, this guy's like a fucking machine programmed to play rock and roll music

on guitar. You know what I mean? It's like if we're doing our NBA fantasy. By the way, that's coming up soon. NBA fantasy. Yeah. Our jam band. Who won last year? Nick Gerlach won.

I'll give you a clap. I'll give you a clap. You won. You picked Westbrook when everyone else didn't. And then who made fun of me? Jack Brown was like, fuck that.

What a dumb pick. I'm Jack Brown. What a dumb pick. I know everything. I know everything about basketball. I passed it in from Damien Lillard, champion. I am the champion on his everything about basketball. I passed it in from Damian Lillard. Champion.

I am the champion. On his back. Suck it from the back, Jack Brown. So sign up for Repsy.com. So sign up for Repsy.com. And get your band on there and get some gigs because if you have an agent, they don't take a cut. That's amazing to me.

It's cool. They're good guys. They're good Southern boys. I feel like they're... Where's the rub, you know? No, they're take a cut. That's amazing to me. It's cool. They're good guys. They're good Southern boys. I feel like they're, where's the rub, you know? No, they're building a network. They're building a network. That's all they're doing.

And eventually you'll leave your agent for them because they're the ones getting you all the gigs. Yeah, let's go, Repsy. Oh, shit. But yeah, it's been great. What are you going to do for two weeks? I'm going to see you, I'll see you Tuesday.

Two weeks. We got to work on the shit show Tuesday I'm going to go home tomorrow And then I'm going to hang out I'm sorry about your dog dying My dog died so that's going to suck I have two dogs, one of them died He was 15, Charlie, shout out

That dog was old as fuck though He was old but he was a great dog It makes me miss him more when they're old too It's weird, they become ingrained in your life He was good during dog. It makes me miss him more when they're old, too. It's weird. They become ingrained in your life, you know? Yeah. He was good during the pandemic to have around. So that's going to suck because he's not going to be there.

But I have another dog, and I'm going to see. Like, this week I have, like, a dentist appointment. I'm going to, like, make some music. You got to do some real-life shit. Yeah, I got to, like, make some. I'm going to work on the show a little, make some new things. I have a wedding gig next weekend, which is really fun. Really?

I think we talked about this, but, like, it's fucking weird have a wedding gig next weekend, which is really fun. Really? I think we talked about this, but it's fucking weird playing a wedding gig after being on the road. He's taking videos of us. He's like, I'm so much stronger than all of you. I'm going to Memphil Fest, and then we start our Midwest and Southern tour. Yep. So grab your tickets at

saltlakescity.com. In Denver. Salt Lake City, Denver, Memphis, and then we hit New Orleans, and then we'd hit New Orleans and then we hit another month. I join you. I don't do New Orleans. I'm joining you in Little Rock, Arkansas,

capital, and... You guys all enjoy your little trip while I have to work. I'm going to LA to do Burt Kreischer's podcast. That sounds amazing. Let's go. I'm excited. Yeah, that's not work.

I'm excited. Shut the fuck up. People are going to a coal mine at seven in the morning. Oh, God, I got to go fucking talk about the Lakers with the fucking famous people. All right, we got it. We got a long episode, so we got to make this opening. Who's the guest? We got two interviews.

Ryan Montbleu. Oh, I met him at summer camp. The best. I like him. I love him. Funnier. Funny guy, actually. Funny, funny guy actually funny funny guy what

do you guys talk about you already did it yeah the new wreck his new uh ep that's coming out and we talk a little you know me and ryan we get deep we talk about depression is he a deep guy he's a very deep guy yeah he's like a dad right no yeah okay and also it's a two for one today two for then we got luke from the special oh he's a he's a trip you like that band yeah they're fun they're like just like fucking first of, they play really well, which is a prerequisite for not everyone in the jam team, but me personally. I like people that can play their fucking instruments.

Be nice. I'm not naming any names. Be fucking nice. No, I don't want to be nice today. I feel like being mean. No, there's a lot of good bands. They're just good. They're like fun.

They don't take themselves too seriously. They can do a lot of different shit. They're like the up-and-coming band I'm really into right now. They're nice guys. They're not douchebags. Yeah, they're just good. They're fun. They don't take themselves too seriously. They can do a lot of different shit. They're like the up-and-coming band I'm really into right now. They're nice guys. They're not douchebags. They're cool guys. That was a great interview, too. They're doing a camp. They're doing a special camp. They're always doing cool shit like that.

He has a horror movie podcast. I want to go on that and talk about Michael Myers. He loves Primus. I think he's been on the Primus podcast a lot. They remind me of Primus. Not the music so much, but the aesthetic. They have a sense of humor, but it's a lot. They remind me of Prime. There's like a certain, not the music so much, but like the aesthetic. They have a sense of humor, but it's also rocks. I asked him if Les Claypool said, hey, can I have a threesome with you and your girlfriend? What would you say?

He's like, totally. Really? Yeah. I'd be like, fuck you, no. No, I don't think I did, but I should have now that I think about it. I would never let Les Claypool anywhere near my girlfriend. I was talking about that. Would you let me have a never let Les Cable anywhere near my girlfriend. I was talking about that.

Would you let me have a threesome with you and Julie? No. Why not? Like Russell Brand? First of all, you comparing yourself to Russell Brand sexually.

You'd be crying. I need a couple days off. I'm going to stay in Seattle for a day. I don't think anyone got in a fight. I'm going to Denver. No one got in a real argument this whole time. I know. I was expecting, like, you know, usually someone.

Yeah. Everybody gets along. No, we're good. We're fine. We're on it together. Well, they'd know. We could read each other when people are crabby. That took me a minute.

You guys are all so... We all get emotional at the same time when we do then it's really bad but oh my god well luckily i said like i said the shows are going well that always makes it easier to yeah you know they're selling a shit ton of merch thank you guys so much thanks to bo yeah shout out to bo hottest merch guy in the game bow and loads oh god around the country don't he's a little he's a little pimp women like a little pimp hey bo get over here. When we were in Vegas. Bo, come over here. Remember those models

in Vegas? Ladies and gentlemen, get over here for our tour manager, Bo. Let me add this before he talks. How you doing, buddy? You preface this with how hot Bo is. First of all, we're talking about how you're hot. We were in Vegas. Part of the thing in Vegas was there was a fashion show and there were models.

One of the models was giving him her Instagram. It wasn't a model. It was a fashion show and there were models. And one of the models was like giving her Instagram. It wasn't a model. It was a porn star. No, no. It was one of the models. Where are you getting this? I follow her now

and she's just showing puss pics. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not her. I'm following her too, obviously. No, I ain't seeing any puss pics. It was one of the models. There's two different models and porn stars.

Oh, I followed the porn star. Oh, weird. Andy followed the porn star. Oh, weird. Andy followed the porn star, not the wholesome, nice model. I like porn stars. Bo, how you doing? Bo has been fucking working his ass off on this tour. It's been a hard one. And this is your first long tour.

Are you okay? I'm gravy, baby. I feel a little dead inside. Hell yeah. But I'm good. I'm good. Bo basically got us our new... He's been working

with all the rental vans. He's been... We had a blowout tire. I mean, he is like... He's always like this. I wish you could see, man. He just always looks like there's a storm coming. He looks like he's an old man standing on his front porch and there's a tornado about half a mile away.

Yeah, I don't... We just want to tell you, you're away. Yeah, I don't know. We just want to tell you, you're doing a good job and don't quit on us. Hottest guy on the tour, probably. Shout out to that. Maybe you. It's either you or Bo. You're more famous. But you're more famous and that's what's more important

when it comes to hot. Not yet. Now, what if Bo gets more famous than us? He might. He might be the hot tour manager. We should get Bo on Raya and see who does better on Raya. Oh, let's get you on Raya. It's this celebrity dating site. I don't want to be on a celebrity dating site.

I'm from Rochester. I don't do that. I'm Bo. Bo, I just want to say we love you, and please don't quit on us after this tour. It's only going to get better from here. That's the thing. As long as the fucking van doesn't break down again.

No, we're fine. Everything is fine. All right, buddy from here. That's the thing. As long as the fucking van doesn't break down again. We're fine. Everything is fine. All right, buddy. Get back to doing your thing. It's only going to get better from here. Go make that money on that merch, baby. Go make that money. Make that money, baby.

Make that money. I love you guys. Thanks for coming out to the West Coast tour. I'm going to take two days off. I'm going to go to LA. Yeah, I'm going to LA for a day. That's all I'm going. I'm flying in to go see Burt and Segura.

Or I think I'm just seeing Burt. Grischer, I hardly knew her. Yeah, that was great. Shout out to everyone who watched the Burt podcast. That was dope. Listen. I'm on his podcast Thursday, so catch me on that. And then we're back on tour.

Another 60 shows, bud. You ready? 60? I think 45. That's total for the whole tour. I thought. Yeah. So another 30 or another 15 right now.

October's one more big month. And then we do like a couple two week things. Yep. November and December. Um, I got to say this because I think we might take next week off unless you want to do it when I'm in town. I'm down.

You know, um, Ogden. Come on. Denver, Colorado. This is home. This is my new home new home first of all have you never been to the ogden it's fucking beautiful let me i play there way more times than you let me talk to ogden i don't know that if you play there no quick that's cool i play there many many times uh it's like one of the best venues indoor in the country it's such a vibe it's very homey in there fly in fly in if you want. Fly in. Flights are very cheap to Denver right now.

I got my flight from Seattle to Denver. $79, people. Let's go. All right, guys. I love you. Enjoy the podcast this week. But don't wait to get your tickets. Don't wait.

Just get them pre-sale so I feel good about it. I don't want to have 1,000 people walk up and I'm stressing the whole time. Tickets are going. Let's not sound too desperate here because we're not desperate. We just want you to have a good time. It's just a 1600 cap room. They say that, but if you have 1200 in there, it's packed. Get your tickets now. It's amazing.

Like I said, I've played there many times, so I know. I love you. Enjoy Ryan, and I'll catch you on the table. All right. Next up on the interview hour, my boy, Ryan Mom Blue. Chris, play a little Ryan while I pimp him out a little bit. He's been on the show. He's an ongoing guest on the show. About three interviews now.

I just love talking to him. He's one of my favorite people from Boston. He's the only guy I could stab some Boston jokes at, and he won't take it too personally. He's just the best songwriter. He lives in Burlington now. We talk about his new love life, and we talk about depression and that stuff as well,

because I feel like he understands that stuff well. So ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy Ryan Maupin. I have my boy just fucking tormenting me with a Boston Celtics t-shirt on. Ryan Montblew, how you doing, buddy? Good, my man. How you doing? What's up? Good to see your face. Good to see you. I mean, I see you every week with the live streams, but I feel it's not, we haven't had a time to talk like this. How you doing? No, it's nice to get real like this with a live stream.

It's like the same thing. Yeah, so I feel closer to you. I'm good, man. I'm weird. I don't know. Everything's weird. When have things not been weird? I know, it's true.

Especially, you know, last time we did this, we were doing the Gary Goldman thing in Boston. Yep, that was awesome. That was a blast. How are you doing? Are you holding up through this whole thing or what? Yeah, I'm good, man. I was really lucky through the whole lockdown and the pandemic and stuff and the live streams and whatever little shows were going on were good for a solo acoustic guy.

I was gigging last summer. Yeah, you were killing it. Little outdoor things or whatever. And it's been a little weirder. Once the floodgates opened up and everyone was touring, it wasn't like, yes, I get to tour. It was kind of like, oh, shit, I hope I'm ready for this. Because I'm still just me and a guitar. It's cool, man, doing a bunch of shows this summer

that I would probably normally do with a band and stuff. But I'm just me and my guitar. Here we go. Make that money, Ryan. Let's go, Big Daddy. No one's sharing the money this time. It's going one way. It's got to be like two ways of thinking of it.

It's like a little more pressure, but also you have a show where it's so good solo because you have great stories and you have great stuff. What's the difference between now you know being solo in your room talking to your you know thousands of live streamers versus going to a room now like what have you learned from the process of live streams that you've taken on these on these summer shows i think the whole thing opened me up a little bit you know how like when uh like right when the

pandemic hit i almost like the only thing i can compare it to is like right after 9-11 when everything was kind of open everybody was like hey what's going on like people were reaching out and like nice to each other and like everything was open and like the pandemic hit and i was like this guy was like i'm giving piano lessons i was like i'll take piano lessons and i just started doing it was like and the live streams were like that, where I would just get an idea and be like, I'll just do that. Where I have a tendency normally to just overthink everything, which I still do, but less so.

So it's like, I'm just a little more open to kind of say whatever, play whatever, play a little, just like improv, a little intro or something something or go right into a different song whereas i used to worry more you know i i still work most of what i worry about on stage is what song to play next because it's like i have all these like ballads i want to i have all these like heartfelt things i pour myself into the music but then it's like you know the show i just did in maine i ended with a medley of like, um, jump in the line by Harry Belafonte and to jump around by house of pain. And for like one of my own songs, you know, it's cool. But then like,

and then like, they just put the house music up and I was like, Oh shit. I thought I was going to do an encore of all these like kind of heartfelt songs, but okay. Like it just, so the difference between that and like when we would play with the band, it's like, I wanted to play, like I was just leaving or something that I wrote that really came from the heart.

And then it was like, I don't know. We'd see this crowd of people out there. And then the band would just, we would, we did crazy train or something. It's like the difference between playing crazy train and playing one of my heartfelt songs is like vast.

So that's what I'm worried about. You know what I mean? But now it's like, I don't know. I worry about a little less anyway you know because life's too short it's like exactly how do you get out of your head like are you like now like putting jump around the middle of the set not closing with it so you could like get the songs that you want to play yeah i mean usually at least like i throw like these shows this past weekend have been it's it's funny the the you know the solo thing like i can throw a dance party for a little while solo acoustic really you know like

yeah like i can do it but it's like i only have so many beats and stuff you know like i can't do it all night you wouldn't want to listen to me do it all night i'm not like solo like you know some guys who loop or like or bands can just you know throw like so it's there's a range of stuff so i try to get when it's perfect it's like i do a little bit of that and get everybody going and or bands can just, you know, so there's a range of stuff. So I try to get, when it's perfect, it's like I do a little bit of that and get everybody going. And if the crowd is great, they'll also come down with me and listen,

just lock in. And that's a huge part of the solo thing. Yeah, it's also like trusting yourself that like after a dance part, after a dance song, like your lyrics and your song is good enough for people to shut the fuck up i was always insecure about that too and i've been trying to wave out my sets too where it's like i'll play a really heavy you know crowd surfing all of a sudden i'll do a song about depression

next yeah it takes a lot of balls to do it it's taken me years to have the balls to like just be like no this is the song i want to play because i because so many years i would end up with that feeling of like oh man we we entertain the crowd but i feel like i didn't really say much compared to what i had from my material like i had all this stuff to say on the good nights i feel like i said it and we entertained them and stuff but but i mean it's got to be hard for you where you guys are like at 11 and throwing the biggest party ever it's like that's you know i guess if you come down to like an eight or something yeah you know you don't have to come all the way down yeah totally like what it's like what are you writing about what's you you're putting on new ep i hear yeah i mean i've been working on these tracks for like two years

though we did yeah we laid down basic tracks for 15 songs in August of 2019. And then, you know, like sometimes you go in, you bang out a record in four days. Sometimes, which I'm going through right now, it's like you're slaving over tunes for like two years. What are you overthinking? What am I overthinking in general? No, we'll talk about that too later in the show. But like, what are you overthinking for the record wise? Why is it taking you this long? I don't know what it is. It's like

this project for me, nothing has come easy from day one, but the end product is coming out like it's sounding like I want it to sound, but it's taken that long to get it there. I think honestly, for me personally, I think I just needed... I've put my 10,000 hours into touring and performing and I've put out a lot of records, but I haven't put that time home was like yeah i got it this is it it was just like nothing felt like that but i was like there's all of these songs are worth putting out i felt and i just had to like we'd like rip out the drums put a put a drum machine in we'd rip out my vocal put it back in like some of the songs like completely regenerated themselves we do like a different bass part i'd go in and do a synth thing we got i got like i got john medesky to track on like seven tunes yeah we just like kept doing all this stuff and to get this final product of like the songs feeling like the way i want them to feel are you still feeling good about living in burlington yeah i love it yeah living in

burlington especially creative wise there's so many people out there that are just like that could probably just help you become a better songwriter. Or is that kind of, but I don't really have that. Like, I don't know. I feel like it's like sparsely populated enough around here that I just kind of hunkered down.

And like, I felt more like when I was in New York, I would just kind of bump into people. And then it was like more synergy here. Like I know a lot of great musicians here, but we don't like i don't know i don't fucking hang out with anyone yeah we need to talk about this so what are you still with that girl that lives like um she's like a mom she's a mom right and she lives like

an hour away from you or no they lived like way out in in in upstate new york and they moved to burlington here with me so are you they've been living here with me for like over a year damn you're like a dad dude yeah she wouldn't say that but yeah she got a 10 year old and she's amazing that's so are you like because I remember when we first talked and you were just like hey man I'm single I'm kind of lonely

oh my god that was like years just like isolation like yeah I mean and now I got a girl and a beautiful, her daughter's here and all this stuff. And now I'm like, no, I don't know, man. No, no, no. I just like, you know, it's so funny.

It's like when we say like, I just need this to be happy and I need this to be happy. And then once you get there, you still have that dampness. That damp, yeah, sure. I'm like that too, man. I'm i'm like oh once i do this big ass show once i do red rocks or once i do you know yeah get that big interview i'll be happy and then you do the big interview or you do the the record you always want to do and you're like i'm still a little damn totally man i mean everybody i think goes through that and like in it all and

then it's so so everything points to now yeah it's like all right here we are talking to you andy here we are this is the greatest moment of our lives yeah i still haven't played red rocks but i'll ask you about it i remember i remember she's like frasco played for 200 people fuck let me book a red rock show i was like i'm i'm positive i can sell that thing out. It's so funny though. Like, so how do you get, how do you get out of that dark? Like you say, by living in the moment gets you out of those dark crevices. Well, it just points to now. I mean, living in the moment is such a thing.

It's like, that's what we have to do, but fuck, how do we do that? I don't know, man. You know, it's, uh, I just think, I do think as you get older, it really, I get more of a perspective of at least a sense of like, oh, wait, now this is it. You're missing it or something. You know what I mean? Where it's like, I still have ambitions. Like I still want to play Red Rocks.

I still, there's so much I want to do. I still feel like I'm not living my potential so much or something like that. I still have, you know, but then, but then it's like, I don't know, the, the, the more you go on, the more you see life is short. And then, you know, like I have my buddy, my buddy Mark lost both of his parents to COVID and they sat there around a driveway last Easter, having no idea that it was the last time they were all going to be together and fortune. And they were like taking it very seriously.

So they were like distanced and like sitting in lawn chairs around the driveway and talking to each other and it's like thank god they did that because both his parents were sitting there with COVID and they didn't even know it and but anyway it's like they don't even they had no idea that that was going to be the last time they were all together and like I don't there's so many things like that the more you go on the older you get I think just the more you realize stuff like that I haven't had a lot of loss in my life but the more you realize like oh man I mean everybody knows we're gonna die you know but but the more you go on the more you I think you just have a sense of that and it just keeps pointing to now yeah now now and are you

are you a better communicator with like, let's say your lover or her kid? Well, yeah. I mean, I hope so. What's funny is like you said, it's not like, I mean, for so long, I was just so lonely and isolated. And now I got a partner and there's a beautiful girl in the house and I got a house and it's really great but now it's like okay now i'm on that adventure with those struggles and just learning to like it's being open to being changed which is really hard yeah you just want to double down you get into a fight and you're like fuck you i'm over it we're done yeah not really oh no yeah like oh wait what am i doing and you have to just be open to like being

changed in a way and it's just you know the adventure continues yeah and it's like and it's like open to we're always going to be sad sometimes and that's okay it's how you yeah how you adapt to it yeah you develop a different relationship with sadness where you realize like it's a cloud that's passing over maybe hopefully you know i mean it's hard when you're in the cloud to think of it as this thing that's going to pass but when you're in depression that you just think that this is it you know yeah this is it this is the way it's always going to be all you see is just a just a bleak future and just a worthless past and that's it and this is just the way it's going to be you know whereas if you just could hold on like the these the storms do

pass yeah no it's true i don't know the world's so fucking crazy right now it's like to be, you know, whereas if you just could hold on, like the, these, the storms do pass. Yeah, no, it's true. I don't know. The world's so fucking crazy right now. It's like, when's this storm going to pass? When's it like, I'm like, Oh, these are, these are strange days we're in. It's like, and I was like, well, I can't remember the last time I didn't say that. Yeah. I can't remember a time I was like, yeah, these are normal times. Yeah. You know, it's, it's like a, it's us, how we, how we adapt to strange times. I want to go, you said something that was very fascinating to me. You talked about this loneliness and this cloud that you were when you're a single man. And then sometimes when you're in a relationship now, what are the struggles in that that get you

bummed out? Like I said, the openness to being changed. Like somebody said that early on when that, that really resonated with me. It's like, it's not like, all right, I got my girl and everything's perfect now and whatever. And I'm just, I'm just going to stay the same and everything's fine. And she's going to just serve me or whatever.

It's like, yeah, right. Like you got to change on some shit. Yeah. Or it's like not going to work. And you also have to know your boundaries where it's like, I don't,

you, there's certain things you don't want to change or you don't have to change fundamentally as a person, but you got to just make to work. And you also have to know your boundaries where it's like, I don't, there's certain things you don't want to change or you don't have to change fundamentally as a person, but you got to just make that work. And I don't know, like, yeah, it's living, she's been through a lot in her life. And like, so it's, so her struggles become my struggles in a way. Like I help her with that and my struggles become hers. And it's just like, all right, now we're in the sort of the melting pot, you know? And it's like, I don't know. I think the, I do think the, um, having lived this life on the road for so long, part of what perpetuated the loneliness and all that was like, um, I mean, I used to be super shy.

I couldn't talk to girls through college. And then before I knew it, a few years later, I was a singer and I was getting all this attention. And then like 15 years later, it was it was like yeah i'm still getting the attention and i could kind of like get a lot of girls or whatever and but it was like they would just perpetuated this loneliness it just led to all these like kind of arm's length relationships yeah and then i think the so the the weird part about that is if i let that linger like if i get into a fight with my girlfriend,

that ego part of me is just like, well, I could just go and get whatever girl I want. You know what I mean? And that'll fuck you up. Because I don't want that. Like I don't want, I don't, I sort of don't want to go down that road again. I got a great one here.

It's like the idea of too many options will kill a man. Or if you think like the idea that you have too many options, you know? Yeah. When really it's like the idea that you have too many options you know yeah when really it's like i go through that too and it's like ah i get i'm like right when something bad happens i bail like quick you know you gotta teach me how to be patient are you patient i don't know i'm more patient than i used to be i remember having a moment waiting in line for like a flight that was canceled years ago and being like, this is a lesson in patience. It was a long time ago.

I had a moment where I was like, this is it. This sucks, but this is patience. And then I did those meditation courses, like the Vipassana courses, where it's like 10 days of silence and you just sit and meditate for 10 hours a day and you don't look anyone in the eye, nothing. And it's like, that shit will teach you patience man you come out a different man what when you're going i i know we talked about this a little bit but when you're going through those 10 days of not talking to anyone and what was like the things that would pop up in your head the most through those 10 days i mean random shit would pop like I had like I remember for like a day and a half I had a

fucking Sugar Ray song like cranking in my head for like some office like you never know man but I would I mean it's really your own shit the big lesson like at the I mean I would also have like

you know I would i'd be like talking shit in my head about like because you're just kind of marching back and forth from your room to the meditation hall to the cafeteria with these other dudes they split the men and the women up and you know you're going through your own shit so much that i didn't realize till the end i'm just like talking shit about the people around me. I was like, look at this pompous motherfucker. And it's like, you really, and then at the end of the week, I talked to that guy and he's the nicest dude ever. And I like literally want to be friends with him. Like, yo, can I have your number, man? Like, and, and it's, you realize it's all just your own shit. You literally, these people are literally giving me nothing to go on

to know anything about them. And I'm like, look at this fucking guy, you know, it's all your own shit coming up. So it's like, and then you'd be, I'd be in there struggling. And like,

you think like, I'm not doing it. I can't do this. Like, I'm not doing it right. The meditation is like, no, that's it.

You're just observing your own suffering. And it's like, it's tough. And you think like you're doing it wrong, but it's like, no, you're doing it by just sitting over and over and over and just like observing and also you're like you're portraying you're suffering through other people like yeah you're like i don't know this guy but

fuck this guy this guy looks pompous this guy looks like an asshole i had little names for people and i was like oh here comes fucking stank foot or whatever like i just had like i made up names for everybody, which is so... You really shouldn't do that. So by day eight, did you still have names? Or you're just like, oh yeah, this is just my own fucking internal sadness.

Not until the whole thing was over. And then on the 10th day, it's like this... They lift noble silence or whatever. You do the one last group meditation and then you kind of come out into the hall and then it's like everyone's just kind of like can we talk like it's like this very short thing and then within 10 minutes that hall is like like everyone's just like laughing and talking and like and then when

that happened then you realize like oh actually everybody's a really good dude, pretty much. Yeah, they were just all in our heads. Yeah. And then I did meet, and I did, the one guy that was in there, like, I don't even know. I did talk to like a kind of an asshole dude. Yeah, what happened? It's not like everybody was just a saint. This one guy was like super pompous.

And he wasn't even, I wasn't even talking shit on him while I was in there and i was probably like that guy at first you didn't i need more meditation so do you think that saved your life those 10 days of meditation i don't know it definitely altered the course of my life i think you know in a way of like you know turning it a few degrees this way and then just the course of it you know like i just i do think yeah i got when i got really like down and and had this like really kind of transformational time where you know like i just i do think yeah i got when i got really like down and and had this like really kind of transformational time where i was like i got out of relationship lost my management lost my band like that i started meditating and yeah almost like out of desperation you know so yeah i don't i don't know where i'd be without it although i

mean that being said like i'm not sitting now like I don't know. I haven't been practicing, so I got to get back to it. You're trying new things that you never thought you'd try. You're doing new stories. Yeah. Right now, I'm reading Leonard Cohen's biography, and it's fucking amazing just seeing the life that he lived. And I was thinking about things like that. When you read about other people, read somebody's story story and you'll see like how long life is. You know what I mean?

And in my mind, I was like, well, even if this didn't work out, I want this to work out and it is working out. But it's like, even if it didn't, it'll be like, all right, well, this is the period of time we got to live together and we shared a house and we did this thing. And then like, you know, and like life is long if you just can look at it like that but we're in the trenches all the time we don't realize it yeah but like read somebody's story you'll see it's like oh they they did this people who like you know they get married like seven times this year i don't want to be one of those people but it's like life is long there's a lot of space for a lot of stuff to happen so i was like instead of sing staying in a room alone again for another year yeah and i try this you know and here we are tell me about what's this new life you on the road it's been fun to work like so i

just brought them out i'd had a couple gigs in utah and then one in idaho and then we had like a week in the middle and my buddy lives out in utah we stayed with him i brought the girls out we made that like a trip like a combo like vacay and I'm doing some gigs and yeah, it was cool. And then, yeah, like this week we came back, I had like one day at home and I was like, I got to hit the road and do like four days around the Northeast, just driving around by myself. So it's cool to like, kind of look at it and figure out, you know, which ones we can kind of make a little trip of, which ones it makes sense for, and which ones I just go. Most of the time, I'm still going by myself and stuff just to go work.

But it's been fun, man. It's such a difference to have somebody else to bounce stuff off of. Because left to my own devices, I'm just like, that's a gig. I'm getting offered a gig. Yes, I take take it that's what i do you know what i mean i have another person i can talk to and she's not like she's she never wants to get in the way she wants me to do you know the gigs i want to do but she'll be like yeah i don't know because i'll ask her you know i was like what do you think of this she's like

man i don't know i think you're gonna be kind of tired there in this man it's like that blows my mind to have like someone else reflecting a little bit bit And it's still cheaper than having a band Let's go big dog Think it's smarter You think it with your heart When you're playing solo like that It's a lot like a comedian Where you're by yourself

And you're just in there And if you're feeling sad You're basically marinating your own shit So it's like to have someone to bounce your ideas off or go on vacations with on a solo trip and not rely on your band. You're like, all right, do the show, but I'm still feels like a vacation. It's got to make you feel happy. It's good, man. It's definitely a different trip than before. It's nice. It does feel like finally something a little more than myself. Even than myself, even going out and make it a living and stuff like that.

It's not just for me to come home and pay my rent and buy some gear or something. It's like, I got to feed people. I don't know. They're fine. They're very resilient. They'd be fine on their own, but it's also like, you know, I got a little greater purpose here. Yeah. It's in your head. Like, you know, it's like with me, like I'm fine making some dough and I'm like, well, I could buy that Lamar Odom Jersey that I've always wanted. Which is also awesome, dude. I knew all those years of being single too. It's like, I knew how much freedom I had. It was a scary amount of freedom where it was like the other

end of like, you know, guys who I still have, I'm like like i'm like a family life on training wheels it's like i don't i have a i have an eight-year-old dog that we adopted i have a 10-year-old girl that's that's not my own that's like it's like i sort of feel like i stepped into the family role and i'm still just like it's like i'm a substitute teacher or something like that i'm getting i'm like kind of doing it but what's it like being a stepdad i mean it's she wouldn't call me that you know she still won't hug me but she'll punch the shit out of me she's funny man but she won't hug me now because it's like a thing that's now she hasn't hugged me this long that it's like a big deal now like but she that's cool has she ever accidentally call you dad or anything no not even

close she'll just punch the shit out of me if i even say that but i don't know but she's no she's awesome man no it's cool i think just like it's it's you realize like how much time it takes it's not like i'm just gonna come in and then you know a couple months later she's like oh dad and she's like nine when she came in she's like a pretty fully formed human in a lot of ways yeah she's amazing so what do you teach a 10 year old she's teaching me man what is she teaching you like she's just always creating dude she's like she's just constantly like just making she invents languages and like is just you know kids can just be like they'll just but i'm making a song about this like they just there's no there's no fear there's no like worry

about what the song's gonna be or whatever they just fucking make songs and so i'm i mean part of it is like just encouraging her i don't think she had because she it was just her and her mom for so long that her mom would like you know loves her to death and is a great mom but she'd just be like god shut up where i come in and i'm like do do that more, keep doing that. You know, has that helped you with creativity? I think so. I mean, I, I can't say I've been writing a lot, but it's like, yeah, it, it, it, you know, it gives these other reflection points. Like when I'm in that, when I was just alone, there's nothing to bounce things off of when I know that there's like a little

girl in the house who like is watching things or whatever. It's like good for me to, it's even better for me to go in the room who like is watching things or whatever it's like good for me to it's even better for me to go in the room and practice for an hour or whatever it is because i know it's not it's for me but you know what i mean unless someone else is like kind of getting affected by that does she ever say that song's trash because kids are honest dude i know no but she'll i I don't know. Last night I was like, all right, what do we want for dinner music? I was like, Frank Sinatra.

She was like, all right, I don't know who that is, but yes, let's go for it. I was like, oh, kid. So there's definitely some things getting taught. But she's like, nah, she's pretty nice to me about my songs and stuff. I don't know. They don't say much. It's funny. It's like I get all this attention in my little bubble for my songs and stuff like that.

And here it's like they respect that stuff. And my girlfriend was a fan of the music before we really met and stuff like that. But she's not. They don't, in a really good way, like they don't give a shit. They don't give a shit about the music. Like my whole kind of like wanting acceptance and appreciation from that it's more just like us being human when i'm feeling bummed i listen to you ryan like i love your music i'm a big fan of you and i think you're like one of the best wordsmiths out there and you just keep

getting better and i can't wait to hear this new record um but i want to know like what do you what do you write what like what are the what's like the theme a lot of these tunes on this new ep so i'm putting out four eps this year i already put out two of them and i got two more to go so it was they're all they're called wood fire water and air they're all based on the elements and then you're gonna do a whole like a vinyl of the whole thing or yeah i'll do a vinyl of all four of them together and a cd i'll put them all on cd but now they're just digital but water's coming So like I did... Wood was kind of like more singer-songwriter, wood of the guitar, wood of the earth, kind of grounded, more grounded in stuff I had done. Fire was like in my little world, like my bangers kind of, they're just like more high energy.

I feel really good about the whole thing, but it's taken forever to get out. And so water is kind of like, I put out fire and it's sort of like, lest you think I'm going to keep going with that and end up making a dance record or something. It's like, no, we're pouring a bucket of water on the whole thing. I love that. It starts with a song I wrote for my friend's wedding, which was like, just literally wrote it for my friend Audubon and her husband when they got married and specific to them. And I was like, thought it was a good enough song. And I was like, I want to put this on a record.

So it was kind of liberating. It allowed me to do, I wasn't writing it for a record. I was writing it for a wedding. So I think it allowed me to take the sort of critic voice of like, nah, that's cheesy. Don't use that line or whatever. You know, like just kind of just put the love into it it and then so water's more like there's some depth there's like kind of medicine songs there's a song i wrote by the river in peru there's like there's john badesky's on like a bunch of it like that i like he he did seven tunes on the record and just so

happens that there's a few of these highlighted in here that he's that he's that he's on and um you know there's a depth i don't know there's a song about not wanting to go like having to like uh walking around basically martha's vineyard years ago on mushrooms and realizing like i was about to go on tour again and was like what is this strange feeling it's like oh i don't want to go yeah for the first time forever and so there's a song about that and i don't know there's just a depth to it there's a song called forgiveness there's like just i just i don't know i'm proud of the tunes that are on there when you're saying like when you're like i'm about to make a new record you just go song by song you don't go like i'm gonna make a whole record with a couple songs like this couple songs like

this you just go out there and put your dick out there and see what's up pretty much you wave your dick in the wind yeah i mean i didn't know what i did not know for the longest time what this project was i literally didn't i didn't i was like because i didn't want to just do we had 15 songs and i was like i don't want to just do one mega 15 song record but i don't know how to split it up i was like maybe i'll do three eps or two shorter records or like you know and i was driving back from this uh i played a wedding i played a couple like little covid weddings like last summer that was you know like yeah people being safe and just kind of like having a little wedding and i played this one beautiful one in

connecticut with these kind of like it was a lot of like medicine people there there were people who like made beautiful plant tinctures and the whole bar was like this was like heart opening elixir and shit like that was also a beautiful wedding it wasn't pretentious kind of hippie shit it was like it was beautiful yeah and i was coming home from that and i like smoked a joint which i think really you know and i was like driving home from that and listening to my tracks again that i was working on forever and just like what the fuck is this and then it all just like just like everything lined up and i was like no this is this and then it all just like just like everything lined up and i was like no this is wood fire water and air this is it this is the way the tracks go and i had tried i had like it was like my millionth attempt to try to do that and just all like nope

this is what it is what do you think that is do you think that's like a vessel thing like i was talking to otiel burbridge about this like people talk to you inside your soul whatever do you think like or is it like now that you've just spent as much time on it it finally all clicks or do you think someone's talking to you and say no this is how you should do it right i don't know that's a really good question man i didn't get it like a direct voice but i don't know like i i think from i mean i don't know i think i just spent so long beating my head against the wall and it's like the it's the whole it's like the real quote of like learn to live into the questions that you don't know the answers to yet yeah um there's a beautiful quote you know like

and yeah you just got to keep like have faith i wasn't like so stressing like what the fuck is this fucking thing like you know but i would sit there over and over and be like what is this and just keep listening to the tracks and keep listening and keep trying and keep working on them and then it's like that's the beauty of getting older it's like if you just keep walking just keep taking steps that eventually you come to like these understandings you know well thank god you're here with us thank god i'm your friend thank god you're here andy frasco you're a fucking force dude you're an inspirational dude we're all in this shit together and to just to know that i have a dude like you on my side and how i'll even take off the celtic shirt for you buddy no no you keep that shit on because when i come to burlington i'll be there i'm coming to

burlington in september you're probably on the road. Maybe not. September's kind of late. When are you coming? Sorry, my fault. December. I'm there in December. One of the embers.

One of the embers. December 9th. I was probably running out of time. But I wanted to look at... The one thing I thought about doing today was looking at your tour schedule and looking at my tour schedule and talking about the differences therein between an artist of my stature and an artist of your stature it was really funny because yours are like it's like philly dc like like all these like major like like you're just like hitting like major venues and major markets and i'm like i'm in roseberry idaho and then i go to pembroke massachusetts and then groton connecticut and it's like i love groton connecticut

it was amazing. If you look at it, it's like, wow, there's big differences there. I just say yes to everything, Ryan. You have a life. Yeah, but you're doing numbers, dude. You're doing like, you know, I don't know. It's kind of a weird conversation.

People like when I, I don't know, cities, you know, the towns that go work hard, play hard like me because, like me because I'm taking drugs on stage and fucking getting them out of their element for a second. I've seen your show. It's amazing, dude. I get it. I totally get it.

You want to write a song together? Huh? You want to write a song together? I'd love to write a song. Let's do it. I'm very intimidated to write a song with you because you're way smarter than I am. Fuck that, dude. Fuck that.

Fuck that, dude. Fuck that. Come on, let's do it, man. I was thinking about this, too, going back to that question. I think about Newport Folk Festival. Have you ever done that? I snuck in through a side door a few years ago,

but I've never been actually booked there. That festival fascinates the fuck out of me because Newport wrote, what is that, Rhode Island or something? I snuck in through a side door a few years ago, but I've never been actually booked there. That, that vessel fascinates the fuck out of me. Cause Newport wrote, what is that? Rhode Island or something? Or what is that? Newport?

Where's that? Newport, Rhode Island. It's an amazing spot. It's in that fort. Right. But that's a, that's,

Oh my God. Yeah. It just happened this past weekend. That's always one where I feel like I haven't been asked out to the dance kind of thing. I just, they'll never invite me. They'll invite you,

bro. Nah, fuck that. They will. I had, I years ago, I got an offer, I think,

and my manager and his infinite wisdom at the time, like burn that bridge. And I was like, well, Ryan's going to do gathering the vibes. Cause it's much more important for him right now, which was, I love gathering the vibes.

Like I'm so like, I miss vibes, but I had this manager that did it in such a way that kind of pissed off the Newport people to the point where I don't think they were really pissed off. They were just like, fuck that guy, and they never booked me ever again. We're both outsiders looking at it. We're not trying to talk shit about Newport.

This isn't an opening. We're just going to make this a whole episode. You got time? I'm down, dude. Okay, this is a full episode. Okay. You know what I think about Newport? It's like a bring it on.

Have you ever watched that movie with the dance crews? And everyone's got their... I mean, I know of it. Yeah. It seems like it's really clicky. Is it clicky? Yeah. I don't know.

It's... Oh, man. You don't need to talk shit. But... No, I mean... I just want to know the insider from the song. I would go to Newport every year just to check it out because it's it's fucking amazing it's amazing but it also became like really fucking cool and

when you do that it gets a little bit quicker i mean i was yeah like i was there watch i had a moment i've seen so many amazing things there and i dream about playing there so it's weird to talk about it yeah but i definitely had a moment i was there a few years ago and it was Mavis's like 75th birthday I think so Mavis Staples like sat in with everybody and she's like just a blinding force of light she's so amazing but it was like she's like I think Pete Seeger used to do like the sing-along at the end or something and they would uh sing like we shall overcome and it was like Mavis was on stage singing we shall overcome but it's her and like I don't know it was like Mavis was on stage singing we shall overcome but it's her and like I don't know it was like all these other bands some of which were amazing

Lucius was there it was like all awesome but it was like these other kind of like tattooed hipsters on stage and I'm just looking at like I was just thinking like what is it that the hipsters actually have to overcome here like what are you know I mean? It just felt a little bit like, yeah, I don't know. Maybe that like sort of underbelly element of the thing is kind of gone, but I don't know when you go there, it's like,

there's so much amazing music. Do you get bummed out that you're not invited to the barbecue? You know, I get bummed out about that shit when I don't get invited by it to festivals that I'm, that I really want to go to or oh dude i still have never played peach fest and stuff like that but like i i sort of i get it no like it's kind of like the one i like really want that's the one right that is

that like the mecca for songwriters for america i think i mean it's become this kind of different thing but the thing it's become is also really fucking amazing they still get like so many amazing people and i mean that i feel like new orleans jazz fest is like a mecca of music of like you know just to be involved in that is something amazing yeah i don't know but i do feel like that yeah i get like yeah don't get don't get asked to dance yeah you know i want to go i want to do it but i get it it's like i sort of i always think about the um it was like bill parcells was like they asked him about you like do you think you're better than your nine and six record or whatever it would have been yeah like you know and he's like no you are what you are yeah you are what you are like there's i like that thing of like

i am where i am it's like if i'm not getting an offer it's not like because i don't feel like snubbed by the Academy or something. It's like, if I don't work out for somebody's festival, then I don't know. Nah, fuck that. You are snubbed.

Okay. I'm going to put the music on and pump up my boy Ryan, because this is bullshit. Ryan Montbleu needs more goddamn love. Songwriters of Newport. I'm sorry. He doesn't wear a straw hat and a flannel, but fucking A. I'll wear it. No, I'll get there eventually. It's kind of like, dude,. I'm sorry he doesn't wear a straw hat and a flannel, but fucking A.

I'll wear it. No, I'll get there eventually. It's kind of like, dude, when I'm like 75, and everyone's going to be celebrating me, maybe. I had an old manager that was like, dude, you're on the John Lee Hooker plan. When you're in your 70s, everyone's going to love you. And I was like, I hope so,

but that's a weird thing to hear from a manager. I see you as like on the John Prine. Oh, God, no. I mean, yeah. I mean, honestly, you're the goat, dude. And I think you're one of the best lyricists and the best melody dudes in the game. And I'm not just trying to suck a dick right now. I'm seriously saying that.

Is this like your weird porn that you can do? It's actually just footage of you backstage circling. That's the porn I watch. Just you circling and putting on your incense, whatever that thing you're doing at the fucking Boston show. I started some weird stuff. Do you still do that stuff? Yeah.

It's good. I want to try. Tell me more about that. What is it? Hapé. Hapé. What is it? It's from the medicine world. try. Tell me more about that. What is it? Happe. Happe. What is it? It's like,

it's a, it's on the medicine world. I mean, it's comes from like usually Brazil and Peru. It's like, it's, I mean, it's chemically,

it's essentially like snuff tobacco or something like that, but it's for prayer. And so I always pray with it. And it's like, yeah, you just kind of, you don't, you don't,

you don't do it like blow, you know, but it's like, that's what I was doing. And like, you're supposed to do it with each other. There's like a pipe. So you can do it. You blow it up. Someone else like blow, you know, but it's like, that's what I was doing. And like, you're supposed to do it with each other. There's like a pipe so you can do it. You blow it up someone else's nose, you know?

And then it's really like, like you just kind of get focused and, or whatever. And for me, I pray with it. And it, does it keep you clear and present? I think so, you know, but there's also like, like anything else, like there is an addictive quality to it. You know what I mean? It is like, I'm like blowing, you know, like tobacco up my nose is an addictive quality to it. You know what I mean? It is like I'm blowing tobacco up my nose every day or something.

So there's something like, oh, I do want it. But yeah, no, it does make me. I pray with it 100% of the time when I do it. So I never am just like, yo, let me just take a little bit and go do whatever. I have to take a moment. And for me, I usually take out my little altar and crystals and stuff I'm into, the hippie shit i'm into i love it and uh no it's nice though it does it makes it i mean you do this stuff it's like

it's it gives you like a certain clarity i think it gets you grounded yeah tobaccos they say like you know tobacco is like a manifester what do you mean you know so if you're it's like you think about what you want and what you want to go for and would you it'll help you like manifest so that's why it's like if people are smoking and they're like ah these fucking things are killing me it's like you're helping to manifest that i really think so oh yeah that makes total sense you know yeah people smoke cigarettes when they want to think that makes total sense i do that i'll smoke i don't like smoking cigarettes with people i like smoking cigarettes by myself yeah i know what you mean i don't really want to talk i love smoking cigarettes i know you don't do it though i

can love it i can't do i can't buy them because i'll just smoke them but i'll bum one or something once in a while i'll get like some organic tobacco or something and roll a little blend but then it's dangerous then i get this pouch of tobacco and I will smoke it. So I got to like kind of stay away. How's that duo tour do or how's that duo you're doing with that? I can't, I forgot her name. Haley. Haley.

Yeah. Haley Jane. Haley Jane. Yeah. We haven't done much. She, she moved out West for a while. I think she's coming back now to do some shows, but we, she was kind of like out there doing her thing and we haven't done much in a while,

but we have a video that we're sitting on, which is the best video I've ever done in my life. Send it to me. I won't tell anyone. Actually, I'm the last person you should send it to. It's ridiculous. We got to put it out there. I'm the last person you should send it to. When it releases, I'll be like, oh my god,

mom blues in a video. What is it? A theme? I'll be like, oh my God, Mom blues in a video. Yeah, maybe I won't send you that one. What is it? What is it? A theme? I mean, I really love that show. That show really is a cool side thing for you, Ryan, because it's old school. It's funny.

It's a cool vibe. We turned it into a full-on theater show that we put on here in Vermont. We did it. We pulled it off one time before covid and it was like we did it we had these full sets somebody made us like the this like we have a the front end of an old car it's like an old blimmin somebody found and cut off the front end and chromed it and put yes darling in the grill and made it like put it on like kind of hydraulics so we look like we're driving and we'd have like the footage behind we did this whole thing

and we'll do it again yeah what's like that's got to be fun and creative that's like kind of my shit show you know like that's like my way of turning my brain like left and like still being creative but doing something that's that's you know uses a different part of your artistic brain yeah it's totally different because it's it's a little more scripted like we had like beats we had to hit or like i had whatever you call them marks like when i get to go to a part of the state i don't know shit about did you have a full band yeah we had like mostly like my band we had got them all band stands and everyone was all dressed up like all the old-fashioned band stands that say yes darling on and we had this this whole like show put together we'll do

it again yeah but it was definitely like yeah this different thing because it we had this whole show put together. We'll do it again. But it was definitely like, yeah, this different thing because it gets into this whole theatrical thing. But we fuck with that too. We're improvising in that and we're kind of always trying to bust down the fourth wall. I'm proud of the record that we did. I still feel like

more people should listen to it. I think it's like we put a lot into that record. Well, you heard it first. Listen to the fucking record, podcast fans. Yes, darling. Yes, darling. Man, I'm having trouble breathing.

I think these mushrooms are kicking in. Hell yeah, thank God. You're doing good. While the mushrooms are kicked in, tell me about your family. Oh, I never learned to read. Oh, man.

Well, Ryan, thanks so much for being part of the show, man. It's already been an hour. See, that happens so quickly. That's just when buddies are just talking. Thanks so much for having me, man.

Bro, I fucking love you. I'm a huge fan of you. I don't care. We will do this every time you want. Anytime you want to be on the show, you hit me up. Don't let your manager hit me up. You just text me, dog, okay?

You got it. I got your number, baby. Hell yeah. So go listen to Water. Either comes out this week or next week. We don't know. Yeah, we're trying to figure it out. The perks of being an independent musician.

I'm the same way. Like, I'm like, I have a distribution deal, but I'm the label. Yeah, so all your deadlines are your own. Yeah, and that kind of fucks me up. Mom Blue, I love you. I love you, man. Talk to you soon. There we go. Alright, next up on the interview

hour, two for one, baby. Because we love you over here at the World's Hittin' Podcast. We got my boy Luke from La Special. Let's go. Chris, play a little La Special. You guys are badass. I found these guys online, actually. And, you know, I'm like into like the ADD metal and rock.

Like, I love Omfrees. And I saw these guys always playing like with Omfrees or on the same type of bills, festivals. I'm like, let's check these guys out. And I got to catch them on an interview. These guys are great. And he's a great dude. He's just a sweet man and incredible, talented musician and a hardworking businessman. So I wanted to give him some podcast love. So ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy Luke from Le Special.

I fucking love your band. What's up, Luke? Yo, what's up, Frasco? Thanks for having me on, bro. How's it going out there? It's going good, man. It's going good. We're about to get back on the road. I see you guys are doing the same. Summer tour is heating up, so no complaints here, man. How hard was the quarantine for a band that was like, because you were really getting steam? You know what? it's wild because

like 2019 was crazy for us on the road it was a we were coming off a big tour we had just toured across the country we were in colorado when the country started to shut down yeah so when we got back honestly man we live pretty close to each other in connecticut and millerton new york era area i guess it's an era too yeah it's an but, um, you know, we kind of like, we took a few weeks to just chill, do our own thing, but we all kind of bunker down in our home studios, put an emphasis on lessons, on teaching, on doing some other podcast stuff. And the time off for us was pretty beneficial, honestly. Like we finished recording an album, which we wouldn't have been able to do. We did some, like, film score work with Vice that we wouldn't have had time to do.

Fucking go. Yeah, man. So we just kind of took advantage of that. Like, we didn't have time to just bunker down in our studio and write and record and work when you're on the road. You know how it is, man. It's hard to do that when you're constantly in transit. So I was really proud of my bandmates and our whole team and our management and everyone. And we kind of just used this time to like bunker down

and get as much done as we possibly could. And it kind of happened at a great time because now it feels like the band is really firing on all cylinders as shows pick up. So, I mean, in a lot of ways, we were kind of grateful for the downtime. Yeah, you know, it's like, you know, I talk to so many musicians about this.

Like, we don't realize how burnt out we are until we finally took a break and like, Oh God, this is how regular people act. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, that's so cool that you stayed productive. I mean, that was, that was the point of this. So, you know, it's like some people just like marinated in their shit and other people said, all right, this is my chance to get done projects that we needed to get done. Tell me about this vice project. What, what, this is my chance to get done projects that we needed to get done. Tell me about this vice project. What, what, this is fucking tight. Yeah, man. You know, so we basically, we, we have a friend, um, Alex Megaro who works for vice. We did some film score work for him a while ago. He and I went to school together in long Island. I went to LIU for a couple of years.

And so we did some film score work with him and he is now in a producer role at vice. And he was like, Hey, I need music for this project. Would you guys be interested in doing it? And we were some film score work with him and he is now in a producer role at vice and he was like hey i need music for this project would you guys be interested in doing it and we were like um fuck yeah we would so so basically we scored an episode that vice did um it's there it's this series called um it's called i i should remember what the uh what the series is called source material and um and so every episode was kind of made based on found footage. Like my friend Alex would comb through social media,

like TikTok, like Twitter, online blogs, and every episode had a theme. So they approached us about this episode called Bushfires, and it was about the bushfires in Australia a couple years ago. And, you know, it was pretty dark and apocalyptic, and I guess they thought the specials vibe

would work for that. Fuck yeah. That's not it. Which we were all about, you know what I mean? Like, we weren't going to, you know what I mean? We couldn't score. I mean, like, a lot of Vice shit is pretty dark, you know what I mean?

But that worked, and so, yeah, it was a really cool process, man. We went back and forth. We, like, set up a monitor in our studio, and we were watching this footage of like people evacuating their homes to intense swirling fire and wind and would just like play to it and we would come up with different cues and different themes and we would send it to vice and they'd be like this is way too fucking much they'd be like it's too metal it's too dark like i love it yeah it was cool it was a very cool um like first

you know foray into that experience in that process and so we ended up like sending them stems and they collaborated with some other um composers they had there but the final product came out really cool you can check it out on vice's youtube uh page i believe like they called the episode something different. My Escape from Wildfires is what I think it's called. But we basically had a whole EP of music out of it we called Bushfires that we still hope to release. So yeah, it was a really cool experience. What did you learn from when you first,

because I scored the Judd Apatow film, and I just said yes without knowing what the fuck. Wait, what Judd Apatow film? I did The Great Depression. It's like a story of Gary you scored that yeah I scored it and that's incredible yeah well like I was like they want just wanted my song

because Gary was a fan and then I just you know said yes to the thing not I've never fucking scored anything like you guys have ever have you guys ever scored anything before like on a very small scale like you know like for this for our friend alex like you know in college but never like a full-on yeah like score no so what'd you learn from it when you're like damn this is tight we're going metal on this fucking thing and they're like yo yo yo chill chill chill

you know what it's a good question i think the biggest thing was not that we're too heavy because we've always known that right we're too heavy for the jam scene, dude. But that's what we love. We need to tour together. Fuck yeah, we do. I'm about it. I'm about it. But what I think the biggest thing that we learned was, you know, don't make the music about you. It needs to be secondary to the visuals and to the story. You need to support what's happening on screen. You need to kind of guide the viewer's emotions. You know what I mean? So if it's too intense

and there's too many notes, which we were doing, you're not serving the project. So, you know, yeah. And less diminished shit too. I think we had too much diminished shit in there. I mean, like, it's so, I mean, it's heavy. It's a heavy topic to talk about. So like, maybe like, yeah, like maybe like the approach is like, wow, now it's really dark.

from like um Hans Zimmer's score with the Dark Knight where you know they have that sound when the Joker is about to appear is going to it's like that grating high-pitched sound and I've read interviews of Hans Zimmer how he would go through all these different just like unsettling disturbing sounds and then they landed on like the Joker sound and so we kind of like came up with almost it's like kind of siren sound that John was using this like kind of fire alarm but like it's about to burst kind of thing. So things like that, it was just really cool. And we took that with us. We did another project. It wasn't technically a film score, but we did a live score to the cabinet of Dr. Caligari at a drive-in show in October. You guys are fucking insane. Okay. So hold on.

Is it, are you like, who's thinking of all these concepts you i mean like we're all movie guys but i'm totally a horror movie buff for sure what do you like about horror i mean i kind of just grew up enjoying horror man i grew up at a camp i lived at camps my whole life so friday 13th is my jam you know what i mean um and i love horror movie music man i love john carpenter you know what i mean like i i love danny elfman um and i've always wanted to get the special more into that world and even like on our new album ancient homies we got to be a bit more like cinematic it was less about writing a bunch of dope songs and more like capturing a vibe capturing an energy and and just these soundscapes and that cinematic nature.

So it's something I really want to keep doing, keep developing. Do you think that the art of making a record is dying? Because with the whole single industry? No, I don't, man, because it was our first ever vinyl pressing, and we sold out of vinyls. We sold 500 vinyl copies. That's what we're fucking talking about. Let's fucking go, Luke.

Yeah, dude. Oh, that's tight as shit dude okay so yeah well we're in the jam scene where that they don't care so like right it's like yeah you make you make your concept or your your fucking piece i'm more thinking about like you know how we can like grow this thing and not just be you know pigeon, pigeonholed into just, because you guys are more than just that. You're fucking metal. You're fucking songwriters. I mean, you have your, your scores, like you never want to be pigeonholed into anything. And for you to just like put your dick out there, yo, I'm putting out this cinematic record, like shout out to you. I mean, is that,

is that the hardest thing is to get out of your head when you're, when you're making art? I think that's a great question, man. I mean, you know, I think like back to the jam scene, the jam scene is so cool because it's such an open-minded fan base. You know what I mean? Like you go to a music festival, you see the fucking weirdest, most disparate shit. You're right. I mean, like we all, as a band, we all went to Bonnaroo in 2006 and it was like a really formative experience for us. I mean, it was Radiohead, Oysterhead,

all these bands we loved at the time, like Les Claypool was there, Medesky Martin and Woods, So Live, Reggie Watts, all this shit. And it was so across the spectrum and it was like, shit, like fuck a genre. We can do anything we want as long as we put on a show and as long as it's an energy.

I mean, that's what you guys do, man. You guys have an energy. You have a connection with people. It's like once you establish that, nobody's out there like, hey, these two songs are different genres. I don't know if that was deliberate. You guys have an energy. You have a connection with people. It's like once you establish that, nobody's out there like, hey, these two songs are different genres. I don't know if that was deliberate. You know what I mean?

Totally. That's why I'm so thankful that we're in this scene because they're accepting and they're accommodating. You grew up in the East Coast, right? Yeah, we grew up in the woods in Connecticut. So you had all the jam bands are from the East Coast. Twiddle, Goose, you had, you had all, all the jam bands are from the East coast, twirl, goose, you guys, uh, pigeons. I mean, yeah, there's gotta be some breed of, I mean, where did it all start from? Did you like listen to fish? Like what were you listening to?

Like, were you listening to radio head? Like what were you listening to growing up as a kid? I was like big into Primus. Um, me and Rory were huge into Primus. Just kind of like, I mean, that's what we would do after school. We would just, I'd go to Rory's house and we'd try and figure out Primus songs. And then from there we would just write music that kind of sounded like a shittier Primus, but then, you know, started to develop our own voice. You know what I mean? And then when we linked up with Johnny in high school, he was really into Radiohead. He got us into the Mars Volta, which was really big for us, man. Bands like that, and Medesky Martin and Wood, and just, like, powerful shit. I was never

huge into Phish until later, but now, when I go see Phish, it's incredible. But it wasn't really, like, a part of my DNA, you know? I mean, and before that, I mean, me and Rory were, like, listening to Slipknot and Korn and blasting new metal shit. So that, we kind of try to bring that energy into our band, because I

think people like that shit, but they just kind of forgot. Bro, that's how dudes like Umphreys and dudes like Aqueous, I bet you guys play a lot with Aqueous. Yeah, man. Yo, Aqueous are good friends of ours. We did a whole tour with them in 2019

and had a blast. Love those guys. You know, it's, thank God. Thank God metal is still around in this scene because you need to get heavy. Yeah. You just need to be emotive, man. You can't have optimism and happiness and all this shit without the other side of it, without the darkness.

And that happiness and joy comes from overcoming sadness or sorrow or anger. It's like, don't suppress that shit embrace it you know did you any time in your life when you were suppressing sadness you know what i mean sure i think everybody has that you know what i mean but i think it like the older you get you really start to learn to like reach in and just grab that shit a band that's huge for me in that sense is Tool. It's funny you bring it up because I was just thinking about this. It was three or four years ago this week that I saw Tool at Governor's Ball in New York.

It was their first time in New York. This was before the new album came out. This was their first time in New York in a decade. It was heavy, man, heavy. I was with a friend that's no longer on the planet with us, which was special, that too. We ate a little bit of acid in a porta potty, went out there, and it was like full moon,

tool, New York City, like thousands of people screaming, we are eternal, pain is an illusion. I had goosebumps the whole time. And I think they're a band that there's darkness and heaviness, but there's light and power that comes from that. So that's a big band and a big concept for me when it comes to performing. What about, you know, spiritually, like going through, like, did you ever, ever, you know, so that death with your friend, was that a close friend of yours? Yeah, he was. He was a really good friend of ours. And he was somebody that was,

sure. Yeah, absolutely, man. I mean, he was somebody I grew up with and he moved to Thailand and we, and he, he, this dude was just a brilliant, a brilliant kid. He moved to Thailand with, had never been there. Didn't speak a word of Thai. And he started out at a restaurant and then became the general manager of one of the most popular restaurants in Bangkok. So me and my friends got to go out there and chill with him and hang out in fucking Thailand for a week. It was insanity. It was during Songkran Festival. Are you familiar with Songkran Festival? Oh, God.

Is that what all the American jam bands get on in Bangkok? No, no, no. It's not music at all. It's literally like it's a nationwide festival celebrating water and life and it's just everyone in Thailand shoots each other with super soakers and dumps water on each other.

I heard about this. You were there for that? Yeah. I got a bad ear infection. Oh my god, yeah, probably. I drank the water and I was shitting for 11 days your prior ear was fucked bro the first night i got there somebody dumped water on me and i projectile vomited like just i i got used to it after a few days but yeah it was brutal and intense and insane

but like beautiful and amazing and i'm so glad i got to share that with my friend before he left and um you know he said we call our new album ancient homies and it has a lot of layers to it beautiful and amazing. I'm so glad I got to share that with my friend before he left. We call our new album Ancient Homies. It has a lot of layers to it and it can be anything to anybody. He was somebody that was kind of in the forefront of our mind too when we called the album that. It's got some tribute to my man Green on there as well.

Shout out to Green, dude. Let's go. My man. My dog. Rest in power, big dog. Appreciate that, bro. What's your take on death it's a good question um you know i mean we like johnny g our guitarist he studied with a really heavy professor professor milford graves and the way he always referred yeah oh this guy is deep yo frasco you would love this guy i love i got yeah we gotta get this guy on the podcast. Well, unfortunately, he also passed away.

Oh, fuck. But, you know, I'd encourage anybody to check him out. He's a really, really deep dude. I mean, he's like an avant-garde jazz drummer. He developed machinery that kind of denotes a heartbeat and how you would transcribe that rhythmically. I'm not explaining as well as Johnny would, but I mean, he's just a very deep, spiritual, like celestial dude. And we would go to his like little tea house in Queens whenever we played in New York and we would just hang out in his basement, his laboratory, essentially. I

mean, there's fucking brains in jars and, um, the way he's a deep dude, but the way he would always describe it as they're off planet, they the planet um and i always thought that was really cool you know i i i like to think of like you know a celestial planes and i like to believe that you know um in a spiritual plane and spirits i'm not i'm not a religious person i joke with everyone that i'm i'm a devout agnostic hell yeah but um but i i believe that there's fucking serious energy and spirit spirituality in this universe and that you leave a profound impact on this world and that doesn't leave you know what i mean so i guess that's where i come from i i agree 100 man it's like the same thing when you perform you know there's this energy that's collected and it and it moves

for a long time people People remember those shows. Like, look at how the dead built their fans by remembering that amazing moment they had and they'll remember the same exact date, like December 9th, 1993, bro. I was there on that fucking street and some guy gave me some stuff or whatever or I fucking had to hitchhike. there on that fucking street and some guy gave me some stuff or whatever or some

I fucking had to hitchhike and you build your experiences and that's the energy I agree that there's energy but it's like it's such a universal energy like I'm thinking about death lately a lot more I'm like not that I'm going to die or anything but just like just have to be okay

with knowing that this isn't it and if it is whatever it's fine hey enjoy it while you can man it's that acceptance is important and even just going back to like that tool lyric that just seeing tool their song parabola in this lyric we are eternal pain is an illusion and the power in thousands of people under this full moon maybe it was microdose a little bit too, but just like belting that out. I mean, that was powerful. You know, it still gives me goosebumps to think about.

And that's real shit. You know what I mean? That's about as real as shit gets as far as I'm concerned. You married, got kids, any of that? No, I'm on. Single man? I'm a single man. I'm a single man just doing my thing down here in the basement studio.

I'm just focusing on the music right now. Thank God. We get distracted and that's okay to get distracted every now and then, but as long as you stay on the path that you choose, that's the most important thing. Did you accidentally hook up with any ladyboys in Thailand? The world wants to know, Luke.

Everybody asked me that. I'll just say it was not accidental no I'm just kidding let's go big dog be honest on the show we got you dog all are welcomed on the world saving podcast

no but it's so funny dude you know what I'm thinking you think about moments that really change your life maybe in your band do you have any moments like that yeah I mean that's a great question even some of the shit that we've already been talking about really change your life? Maybe in your band. Do you have any moments like that? Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. Even some of the shit that we've already been talking about. That Thailand trip, that Tool

show, you know. What about On A Roo? Like that show that you played on stage where you knew something is fucking, there's something special here. You know what? Yeah, I mean, like a couple shows in the fall, man, you know, because when everything was going down and there was no shows and it was like, winter's about to start and what the fuck are we going to do? Um, we got,

we did that film scoring show. We did that score of Dr. Caligari. And that was pretty incredible for me to just see how people responded to it and be like, you can come up with a crazy concept and it can work and it can resonate with people. And people, the fact that our fans are open-minded enough to, to not only like see it and pay money to see it but some of the comments and the feedback we got on it was really fucking cool um and then also i got a shout out this event that we just coincidentally or is it we announced today um it's called the getaway and it's like a destination event that we have in our hometown of kent connecticut um it's at a camp called club getaway that i lived at as a kid oh my god yeah and i mean And I mean, that's the Friday the 13th show, but we did it for the

first time last October and it was like a socially distanced thing. And it was, you know, can we do this? Can we pull this off? And we pulled it off and it was incredible. And I remember just like, I mean, I was standing on stage looking up at this mountain that I used to hike as a kid at a place where like my parents met there. It was a very like stars aligning moment. Um, so that was really special and I'm really, really excited that we can do that again this October. When is it? It's October, this October. You always do it in fall? Yeah. It's just the second time we've done it. It's October 16th. It's the same weekend we did last year, but now we can do like full capacity and we're going to have activities all day. I'm going to host my ping pong tournament again and then music all night. It's going to be great. So what is your

dream adult summer camp? What does it entail? Man, I got a shout out club getaway. It was definitely very a formative experience for me growing up there and working there. And now you're older and get to throw your own fucking summer camp, dude. That's it, man. That's, you know, man, I would love to do that. Like I love the, I love Victor Wooten's camp. I never went to it as a kid, but I was a summer camp kid. You know, I love Friday 13th. I love Jason stalking teenagers fucking in the woods and chopping them up and shit. I don't want to do that, but you know, I still, I vibe to the aesthetic, but yeah, I think

there's something really special about just being out in nature and out where it's quiet and the connection you form with people and jumping in the water and getting bit by fish and shit. There's just, you know, camp just resonates. It's a special thing. I mean, we see it in music festivals. We see that same kind of connection, but people can have it when they're older. They don't need to get like dropped off on the bus.

But just that feeling of togetherness and being in some like remote, isolated place. I would love to have a summer camp when i'm older i'll put it that way or just doing it i mean yeah you have a fucking summer camp that's the dream dog i mean it's just one day it's one night maybe two nights but yeah like the idea of expanding that is is exciting to me oh like legit like start a legit i love summer camp too dude were you a camp kid? Oh man I got I got my first hand job At a At a summer camp

Hey me too buddy It was the shit And like It really felt like touring In a sense Like you're away from home Even though you could be like an hour away Whatever

You're not thinking about that Cause you're fucking Horseback riding And fucking Or just like playing hide and go seek Or trying to make out in the woods. Like it was just so fun. And I still think about my moments

because those were some of the happiest moments I had in my life. So for you to like relive them in the way that you want to relive them is fucking dope. I think that's a great idea, man. Congrats, man. Tell me about your childhood.

I was thinking about having this be an opening, but let's make this a, man. Congrats, man. Tell me about your childhood. I was thinking about having this be an opening, but let's make this a full episode. Yeah, man. Tell me about your childhood. How far away is the woods from New York City? So, I mean, you know, I was born in New York City. I was born in the village, but I didn't live there for too long until...

My family, actually, my dad is English. My mom is from New Jersey, and they met at Club Getaway at this place that we're having this event. It's wild. It's some full circle shit. But so we lived in England and Scotland a bit as a kid. My little brother was born in England.

And then eventually we bounced back to America and ended up living at Club Getaway, this camp where they met. My mom worked there. And so we grew up in Kent. That's the same town. I grew up there with Rory. I met Rory in grade school. We had a lot, like crazy amount of talented kids in our school. They really were like, I went to a small high school. My graduating class, like three of us went, ended up going to Berkeley. So there's a lot of like, just natural talent for a tiny ass little area. Berkeley in California, Berkeley in Massachusetts. Berkeley in Boston. So music

school. Yeah. So you always knew you wanted to be a musician. Yeah. A hundred percent. Um, I mean, I knew I wanted to do something in performance. I like to act a lot as a kid, but at this camp growing up at club getaway, like they would, it was every Friday night was karaoke and I would like dress up in a costume and get up on stage and sing like Michael Jackson thriller. Like since I was like seven years old holy so i was always about it you know what i mean hell yeah um yeah yeah yeah i did some acting i did some acting as a kid um yep i would do like some some some shake hands with shakespeare some shakespearean uh summer camp shit yeah um and yeah in high school, me and Rory were in Greece. Shout out. What were you?

I was sunny. Me too. No way. I swear to fucking God, dude. You were sunny? I was sunny. That was my, I had a, fuck. I knew we'd be homies.

Shout out to Sunny. Yo, that's amazing. Shout out to Sunny. What was the homies? You look like more of a Sunny than me. You got the curly hair. Oh, dude, and I was chubby as fuck when uh when i was a kid dude that shit was i was sunny dog oh my god that's incredible bro yeah what did your buddy play

in greece rory was roger oh damn yeah yeah i know i know you're right rory got the rory got the big role rory's good man he's a good actor we everyone in the band johnny too like we all fuck with acting um we like we shoot a lot i mean that's why we all like love your your skits and your Rory's good man he's a good actor Everyone in the band Johnny too We all fuck with acting That's why we all love your skits And your podcasts It's always so fucking funny man I had a lot of fun just watching you do your thing On the world saving podcast

On the shit show All of that in quarantine It was very entertaining for me I grew up in LA You grew up in New York It's kind of engraved in the streets. Right. Entertaining.

I don't know how much it is in New York, but like you're living in the village, dude. You've seen all this shit as a kid. Like when did you leave the village? I mean, I was really young, only like a couple of years in the village. You know what I mean? And then you guys went to Connecticut? Yeah. And then I was in Connecticut.

But like, you know, I mean, I went to New York a lot as a kid. I mean, I grew up like seeing Knicks games and shit with my dad, you know what I mean? How, how, how, how old, I mean, how long is the drive back or the train or whatever? Like, like an hour and a half, two hours. We always lived like two. So it was, it was right outside the city. You know what I mean? It could have just been New York. And, and I always liked that about Connecticut. Like, you know, it's close proximity to the city, to New York. It's close proximity to Boston where I live for a lot of years. And, but I, it's close proximity to the city, to New York. It's close proximity to Boston where I live for a lot of years. And, but I, you can just get to the woods and, and go in

nature and fuck off and climb mountains too. So like it works, it works for, it works for us for our vibe as a band, I think. Do you have a good relationship with your parents? I do. Yep. Yeah. Me and my parents are tight, man. I'm yeah. They met at Club Getaway. They've been together for 30 plus years and they've always been really supportive of my music and the band. So I'm grateful for them, for sure. I mean, hell yeah. I mean, fucking Berkeley ain't cheap.

Yeah, I know. And shout out to my family for that too. Yeah, shout out to your family. Fuck yeah, shout out to the parents. Let the boy follow his dream. Let's go. Yeah, man. You know, I mean, they were always really supportive.

And like I said, in high school, there was a lot of, it was a good music program. And I really wanted to go to Berkeley. And I didn't, I auditioned and didn't get in at first. I was like 17 years old and I wasn't ready to go there. So I went to Long Island University and that's where I met my friend Alex. And I hung out with film majors and started to get more into film and stuff like that. And then Rory went to Berkeley and I was like, all right, I'm going to audition again. And then I got in and then I went.

I lived there with Rory, my boy Green that we talked about. So, I mean, you know, I kind of went there at the right time. Like Berkeley is intense and it's intimidating. And if you're not ready when you get there, you're just going to be like, fuck this, I'm out. I was like to the age, at least when I was 21, I could take the constant like play fucking better or you suck or not being

the worst musician in the room. All that shit motivated me, whereas if I was younger, it might have just been difficult. You know what I mean? What flipped the switch? Were you insecure when you were a kid? And then what flipped the switch? I just got better at bass. Oh, sick. So just fucking just doing it. Just fucking doing it.

Just working on music. And I had great teachers in Long Island. I just, I had to focus. I had to lock in and and then you know even through berkeley it's like you know there's a lot that you can say about it good and bad and it's all experience that i'm grateful for but you know like in berkeley you're a little fish in in a big fucking pond you know what i mean um that's why a lot of people bail huh yeah a lot of people bail but a lot of people go there because they want they go to get a gig. I knew La Special was what I wanted my career to be already. I just wanted to go and become better and get a degree in music.

You know what I mean? So the band was a thing in high school. Yeah, we've been playing like 15 years. It's fucked up. Hold on. Were you drawing crowds in high school? Were you guys the popular kids um like not really not at first people actually hated us at first like we would um johnny and

i played in like another jam band that was really cool called the noise boys my friends yeah well my friends nick and merrick noise shout out uh they're great musicians they still play um and so we joined and it was really fun and we would like, like, it was, like, a big hippie school, man. Everyone was wearing fish shirts at my school. Hell yeah. Oh, yeah. So anyway, we loved it, man. So on weekends, we would just play parties and stuff like that.

But then when Rory got to school, like, I was like, yo, Johnny, I got this dude, Rory. Like, he's pretty dope. And we started getting into more, like, heavy and experimental music. So when we started doing that, everyone was like, ew, we can't dance to this. You guys are just screaming into microphones, delay pedals. But I think ever since we were kids, we liked going against

the grain and either annoying people or having them love it. Some shit just doesn't change. Isn't that rock and roll though? Isn't that the core of rock and roll? It was there for, to not do what everyone else was fucking doing. That's it.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I think going against the grain is always like inspiring to us and, and just kind of like having that chip on your shoulder and like, Oh, you guys want to hear this? Like,

well, I'm going to do this, you know, and just fucking reach into their hearts. That's the beautiful thing about the jam scene too. When you, they love when you do something that they don't expect you something out. That's the beautiful thing about the jam scene too. They love when you do something that they don't expect you to do.

That's a good point. Yeah, and I love that too. I mean, I would go see Umphreys a lot as a kid and their live show was amazing to me. I mean, seeing them like cover King Crimson and just the dark heaviness. Yeah. I love it.

I mean, I still love Umphreys, but like as a kid, it was super super important to see some of those shows and how intense those set lists would be and like you said those left turns that they would take was inspiring I'm like I could do that shit like we can go from a reggae song to like

a halftime metal breakdown like fuck yeah I mean yeah Bayless and Stace I mean I'm not too close with the other dudes but Bayless and Stace I got close with't I'm not too close With the other dudes But Bayless and Stace I got close with And you know I never really

Knew their music Until fucking Three years ago Or like None of these jam I was like LA kid They didn't have jam music

It was like What did you grow up Listening to like in LA Like fucking Tupac And Dashboard Confession Oh okay No I was

I was working pop punk Like I Okay cool I was like Working for bands Like brand new And, cool. I was working for bands like Brand New and fucking... You were working for them? Doing what? I worked for Drive Thru Records. Oh, sick.

Doing what? I booked half their lineup. So all the new bands that they signed. So at that time, the new bands that signed on the East Coast was like early November. Do you remember when that was going? Yeah, I know the name hello goodbye and then i booked some of like the uh bands and then i moved to new york and worked for fuel by ramen and did like paramore and like

so i was i was always a pop punk kid so like i loved ska i loved energy all these energy bands and like i loved the warp tour so i saw all these bands like fucking like taking back sunday you know like choking themselves with a mic and beating off and like i'm like oh my god yes this is fucking tight you know that's where the frasco dna is now this is all making sense to me yeah man but i never was i never knew this even this scene existed i knew like kind of the grateful dead but my dad really was more into Steely Dan and all that and Jackson Brown, that West Coast stuff. So I was like, you guys grew up

on the East Coast where all this shit is just like it's okay to be different. LA was not like that. It's like, you got to be the fucking same. If you want to get famous, you got to be exactly the fucking same person. How do you make this be different but also keep growing? the fucking same person. How do you make this

be different but also keep growing? Do you get what I'm saying there? I don't know if I'm saying it correctly. No, it's a good point. One of our favorite bands... For me, it's interesting even talking about the West Coast, Primus is really big

for me. I know they're Bay Area more than LA. But that's a band that's just so influential because they just did their own thing. They never conformed to record labels. They got on Interscope Records and then made a whole album, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, that's literally about navigating commercial music and using your own voice and not listening to that shit.

And that was always inspiring to me as a band and as a musician and less Claypool and a band that like, it's amazing to me that they keep doing that. I like, we kind of, we've always loved Primus, but we like fell in love with Primus even more this year. We've gotten really into this podcast called Primus tracks that we've all

guessed it on. They have musicians break down different songs. I've guessed it four times now and just played the bass line, talked about it. They do it track by track. Every episode is a different track and they just move on chronologically throughout the discography.

We got really tight with those guys. We played Primus' Frizzle Fry album as a stream this, this winter. And, um, the host of Primus tracks,

Josh, he introduced us. Um, so we'd become tight with them, but I, it's, it's just been really cool to like really zone in and listen and learn more about Primus's history and how much they had to go through playing with

bands and being expected to fit in a certain mold and always going so hard against the grain, but still achieving like massive commercial success. You know, that's really inspiring to me. Yeah. I mean, it's like, yeah,

I think that's why I was like, my next question was like, how important is less Claypool to you? I mean, paramount. Like if it weren't for less, I don't know if I would play bass, you know?

Um, like I was the classic, like guitarist turned bassist when our bassist left you know what i mean but like i i loved the bass so i was like happy i i was always playing my buddy's bass and like always into it um but then yeah rory showed me primus when i was like 14 15 and like the live album suck on this and i heard tommy the cat and i was like what fucking instrument is that and he's like that's les claypool i was like what and you know it took me like 20 years but now i can play tommy the cat the right way oh my god so have you met him yet um i i met him once like after a show um in new york city like 10 years ago he played with Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains. Insane lineup.

It's Les, Buckethead on guitar, Bernie Worrell on keys and Brain on drums. I met all of them. They're all like crazy motherfuckers. It was wild but they were really cool and really humble and they all signed my ticket stub. I was like this nervous 16 year old

kid. That's as much interaction as i've really had with him but rory went on the primus tracks podcast with lex claypool and got to do a whole podcast with him what yeah dude you're like yo suck a dick why am i not on this one i'd be pissed no you know what frasco like i'm glad it wasn't me because like i'm just another bassist. Les loves drummers, man. Les has had bassists trying to imitate him his whole life.

What am I going to be like, hey, Les, listen, I can play all your songs. He doesn't fucking care. With Rory, Les is a drummer, too. So he was asking Rory, play 7-7-7-9-11. Play these songs. Play that. Just throwing shit at Rory. And Rory's just at the kit, throwing it back.

And Les is like, oh, damn, this guy's gunning for Herb's gig. So we were just rooting on Rory on the bench. Dude, I'm so proud of y'all. I love this so fucking much, dude. You guys are on your way. You guys are on your way. Thanks. It's cool.

That was a really cool moment for us, for sure, for sure. So to start to brush elbows with your heroes a little bit, yeah, it's exciting. It's common, man. What's the hardest part about growing pains? About growing pains? I think communication, man. I think learning to communicate with each other and allow each other to have creative say,

not being too much of a control freak. It's like a balance, man. It's difficult. We're constantly working on it. But I think me and my bandmates all work hard on it individually. Like even in the past where it's like, you know, you get emotional about shit.

You care about, if you care about the music, you know how it is, man. You lived in a van. You care about shit and you're passionate about it. And if you, you know what I mean? So you get in these heated things, but it's like allowing each other to be emotional. Like I get that we don't,

we're not seeing eye to eye right now, hashing that out. That can be difficult. But it's like for us, man, when you play together, you know, when you're like 14, 15, 16, and then now you're in like your early 30s, it's like we've been through that shit, man.

We've been through the hardest parts. You know what I mean? It's like now we can kind of, now it's like, okay, things are feeling good. Like now our band's starting to get a little bit of attention. Now things are happening. And like, so let's move past the petty bullshit

and just be the best versions of ourselves that we can be. And this year was about that too. Let's talk about that a little bit because like, you know, these are your brothers. It's not like just hired dudes or just dudes you met later in your life. These are like legit brothers. Like what would be the petty stuff you would fight about just like

set list you know i mean like i used to be kind of anal about like writing set lists i still probably am if the guys are listening to this they're gonna be like you fucking seller but like but learning though accepting is learning yeah exactly exactly man but just being way more collaborative, you know what I mean? Like now we just got this big Google doc and it's like, we all like contribute to it. We all add thoughts and ideas. And if somebody doesn't have an idea, we'll still discuss it. And it's like, look, your idea isn't getting rejected. It's just like, we're not all on the same page.

And it's giving and take, you know what I mean? It's like, okay, two of us don't want to do this song. Do you want to play it? We'll play it because you want to play it. You got to give up a bit of that ego. And like in a trio, that's the thing for us, man, where there's no front man in the special. It is the three of us and we share the spotlight and we take turns on who is in the spotlight. You know what I mean?

So it's that kind of like three equal parts being, you know, bigger as a whole. And it's taken time and we're not perfect but you know we work at it and we give a shit about it we want everyone to feel good and that's when our band is at its best you know what i mean have y'all ever gotten a fist fight i mean yeah we've gotten into like physical shit before man yeah like all but like you're almost quit anyone almost quit i mean i think we've had times where sure we've gone through shit and we've kind of been like feeling like we're at the end of our rope um but i think we always come back together stronger and just be honest with each other you know what i

mean it's like and emotions can run high man i mean like when we lost our friend green we were on tour down south and it was a grueling tour our van broke down in fucking georgia we had to rent a short bus called the cuddle shuttle god that's creepy but awesome yeah so it took courage to like sit on the little futon in the back of that thing it was disgusting oh there's probably just cum and oh i didn't want to think i didn't want to think i don't want to think it's a pass he made exactly but you know emotions were high man and like yeah like me and johnny almost just fucking got in a fight outside the van one day but then you know at the show that night we were just like yo i love you and gave each other a big fucking sweaty florida hug and went and played the bullshit bar gig we had to

play that time that night you know what i mean like totally well fight through that shit yeah you know it's like when you're on tour I got in a fist fight with my drummer once really my old drummer and who won oh he's way stronger than me

he was like in the crips like he was legit from south you know like he always holds cause I you know

we I like I just was I loved Busy he was my first drummer and we got in a fist fight and we were just choking each other and fucking in the back of the van and we're just fucking and everyone just left.

And we didn't know where we were sleeping. We were sleeping at someone's house. So like, we both like, fuck you, Busy. Fuck you, Frasco. We go this way, different ways. We realized we have nowhere to go. So we ended up having to go back to the van. Oh my God.

And just basically, you know, I'm sorry. And you know, it's like, cause it's bigger than that. What are you going to, you're going to fight over petty shit. You're going to fight over, you know, you know, lack of sleep, or you're going to fight over something that's way littler than the bigger purpose of you brothers fucking getting out there on the road and fucking finishing what you fucking started. You know, that's it, man. And, you know, it's, it's, you gotta have your, your, you know that's it man you know it's it's you gotta have your your

you know eyes on the on the big picture and just accept that like take your fucking stupid ego out of the situation if you get in a fight you're contributing to that exactly just be be the bigger person just like trying on trying to have perspective and i say that now sounding like i'm like philosophical and shit like i'm not you know i mean like i could be as petty as the next person like i've got some fucking Yoda dude. I get fucking irritated. I fucking love you, Luke. You're a good dude.

Accepting's half the battle. I accepted I was becoming a drug addict. Now we can talk about it. Sometimes I fuck up. I did coke a couple weeks ago. Let's keep riding. You know, let's keep learning about ourselves

and figuring out how we can just like, just maintain. Because like, you don't want to fucking break off this dream over petty ass, a per diem or like, you know, or just a lack of good nutrients in your body, you know? Yeah, exactly, man. That's on you. Just take that on you and deal with it. And it's like the way I've said to somebody lately,

it's like, damn, you guys have been at it a long time. You're thinking about fucking throwing it in? I'm like, man, we don't have a choice at this point. We put our entire lives, our entire childhoods, what are we just going to say? Eh, never mind. I'm going to go fucking work at Disneyland. We don't have a choice, man.

This is our life. When you can sense your goals and see that kind of a little bit on the horizon, it's like, man, what other choice do we have than to keep moving forward? You know what I mean? Fuck, Luke. God damn it.

We're going to be homies. I have a feeling we're going to be homies. I just got a gut feeling that we're going to be dogs. I agree. I love it. So give me, what's going on? What's Le Special doing in the next couple months? So we are this week, let's see where we are.

Okay, so this week we are, we're about to like get on the road, man. We're about to come into your neck of the woods. We're going to be in Colorado next week. Are you guys popular out there or what? So we're going, this weekend we're in Stowe, Vermont, two nights, Friday, Saturday. Really stoked for that. Then we got Portland, Maine Sunday And then we head out to Colorado Wednesday Two nights in Denver at New Conscious

One night at the Mishawaka Amphitheater A few days off and then Beanstalk Festival Who are you playing at the Misha with? Our buddy's Disco But we're headlining it We just added those guys as support actually You should open for us at the Ogden in October. Let's go.

Do you guys have anything going on in October yet? I don't think we have plans for Colorado and I fucking love the Ogden. We played there with Pigeons in 2019. That theater is incredible.

I'm texting, I'm texting my agent right now. Let's go. Hit him up. I'm a holler at Klaue. I would love to play with you guys, man. I think our energy

would be a match. Yeah, we should do it. I'm texting. I'm sorry. We're doing a live podcast. I'm texting the agents. So don't forget the special should be... This is the real shit right here, though, Presco. This is the connection right here, man. Dude, I was in when fucking when Hutch, our photographer,

the guy who did my last, he did my last record. He's homies with y'all. Yeah, I love Hutch. And he was just talking such sweet things about you. You just heard the text message go by. It's sent out, baby. It's out there. It's out in the world. But he was talking such great things.

And then I dove in and started listening to your music and started just getting deeper into it. And I'm like, dude, it's good. It's really good. And I'm just proud. Appreciate that, man. Thank you. So you got tour dates.

You guys making a new record? Are you guys always writing new stuff? Is that your brain? You're like always fucking writing shit? Yeah, we kind of are, man. Like, you know, once we finished Ancient Homies, you know, and that was like a real cool record for us, man. Like I said, it was our first vinyl.

Our whole management team, I got a shout out to CB and Klaw. And like they really busted ass. Our management, Jamflow management, Royal Artist Group, we signed with this year. We love Royal Artist Group. They work with some bands that are heroes of ours, like Snarky Puppy and Mark Lettiri and Ghost Note and Mono Neon and these heavy hitter musicians. And the whole team, we were just proud of it, man. This record was like a milestone for us.

And then once it was out, it was like was like cool let's start writing some more music and the beginning of quarantine we were going ham writing shit and like the way we write though it's like we have all these legos and riffs i have like 5 000 new song voice memos on my phone you're a psychopath you know you know how it But, like, we got kind of consumed with other projects over the year, like the film scoring project, you know, the Vice thing, the Primus Frizzle Fry set. So, like, we got into a lot of other shit, and, like, and then shows came back, and now we're playing these, like, two-set shows. So we've been dusting off material and trying to, like, bring songs back,

and fans are like, stop playing fucking covers, play your original shit. And we're like, fair enough. But now now so we practice this week and we finally get to dig into the new shit that we like put on the shelf a little bit so i'm hoping we can like uh play some of it live in colorado and vermont um but yeah it's dude it's not it's the most exciting thing is to write new music luke this is i could talk to you forever dude this has been great this has been a blast bro it's been awesome oh man so we got a special um we got do you do you said you had a podcast are you just working on you're working on um well so i did the primus tracks podcast this is a guest but yeah like i've had a couple podcasts that i that i've done that i'm not as active with now i did we started a podcast called back to basics me and ben carry Ben Carey from Pigeons. Oh, sick.

It was awesome and it was really fun. It was definitely like a quarantine project and taking advantage of musicians being home. But it's something that we've talked about continuing and picking up again. People can check it out. It's called Back to Basics. Luke, what do you want to be remembered by?

Oof. What do I want to be remembered by? Let's say fucking big horror movie vibes in a big festival party atmosphere. Well, I think you're on your way, Big Daddy. You're basically living the dream, bro. Luke, thanks for being on the show. And I'll Instagram you after this.

Give you my number. And let's just stay in touch and be friends, bud. I would love it. It's an honor, man. Thank you so much for asking. It's been a blast, bro. Cheers, bro. Thanks for being on the show, Luke.

Anytime, man. Anytime. Later, bro. Oh, man. What a great fucking podcast. Dudes, I love when bands are starting to pop. They're getting on the rise and they're getting all excited about all this shit, and it's like, fuck, yeah, this is why we're out here.

So shout out to La Special. Popping. They're getting popping, baby. I love it. All right, we'll catch you on the tail end. Hey, this is Nick. We're going to start the pod here in a minute. I just want you guys to know that Andy is my boss.

He doesn't know I'm doing this real quick before he gets back he is my boss and i am going to treat him as such during this podcast so if i ever make fun of him just know that's a joke because he is my boss okay he's in charge of me and there we have it yeah Yeah. Great episode, right, buddy? Yeah. I like those guys. They're good. And who are you texting? Oh, don't worry about it. Who are you texting? Just random people back about different stuff.

Just taking it seriously, boss. We're going to have a great show. We're going to have a great time off from each other. You're going to miss me. I'm going to miss you. I don't think I'm going to miss you, actually. It's only going to be two fucking weeks, bro. Well, I miss people. I don't like miss me. I'm going to miss you. I don't think I'm going to miss you, actually. It's only going to be two fucking weeks, bro. Well, I miss people.

You're going to text me every day. I don't like saying goodbye. I'll text you every day because we have shit to do for the shit show. Yeah, we have a lot going on. We're busy. We're important. And we find out very important news. Don't say anything, though.

Oh, shit. You know what? We find very important. Friday. On Friday. So, well, we can't. We don't even jinx it. Well, we probably can't even talk about it.

We can't even talk about it unless it comes to fruition. But holy shit, am I going to be rich? All right. We got to go. Just kidding. If I ever say I'm rich, just I'm not going to be rich. Okay, guys. Have a great day.

Bye. Follow your dreams. Follow your dreams. Even how weird they are. I got to go load in so the band doesn't get pissed at me. Don't overthink it. Don't take yourself too seriously. Yes.

Amen. Nick, you have a great week. I will try feel bad for your dog that's fine he's i feel bad for your girlfriend because she probably cares more about that dog than you do yeah it's her dog it's her special baby she's yep anyway shout out charlie rest in peace all right i love you bye i'm not going to say bye yet I don't like saying goodbye okay well I did I do bye I run

I run the recording machine here so I don't have to say I'll sit here for the rest of my fucking life dude alright goodbye I love you guys see

maybe maybe you'll get an episode next week I might take the week off I got some killer interviews I got Tom Green coming on the show I got Melissa Etheridge coming on the show

I got Ike Barinholtz coming on the show. I got a lot of... Me, co-hosting. You, co-hosting. Really good stuff. And I got LP. Have you heard of her?

She's badass. LP. I got Eli from Dopeapod. It'll be fun. Oh, yeah. I got a bunch of... I got to do the interviews, but they're all scheduled,

so we're fine. Everything is fine. Everything is going great. Just another thing. Everything is fine. Just another thing. Everything is good. I love podcasting on tour. It's so fun. Well, it's weird because it's like you have more to talk about, but it also is harder to do.

Because it's like, yeah. But I love it, and I love you, and I love this band. Good job, guys. All right, goodbye. You tuned in to the World's Saved Podcast with Andy Fresco

now in it's fourth season thank you for listening to this episode produced by Andy Fresco Joe Angelo

and Chris Lawrence we need you to help us save the world and spread the word please subscribe rate the show give us those

crazy stars iTunes Spotify wherever you're picking this shit up follow us on Instagram at World Saving Podcast for more info and updates. Fresco's blogs and tour dates

you'll find at andyfresco.com and check our socials to see what's up next. Might be a video dance party, a showcase concert, that crazy shit show or whatever springs to Andy's wicked brain. And after a year of keeping clean and playing safe,

the band is back on tour. We thank our brand new talent booker, Mara Davis. We thank this week's guest, our co-host, and all the fringy frenzies that help make this show great. Thank you all. And thank you for listening. Be your best, be safe, and we will be back next week. No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast

as far as we know. Any similarities, interactions, or knowledge, facts, or fakes is purely coincidental.