Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 184: Celisse

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

Andy and the boys are in Nantucket working on their new album; all whilst sweating the sin out of their pores. HOT. Gerlach shares his opinions. CLASSIC. And on the Interview Hour we got multi-instrumentalist, phenom singer, and all-around artful human: Celisse! She leads Andy on an insane trip around her life story. Take a risk on something new. Join us, won't you? 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, "Puff Break (Believe That)" on iTunes, Spotify  catch her at www.celisse.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Brian Schwartz Arno Bakker

Hey, it's Schwartz. I'm sitting here in catering in Japan at Fuji Rock, and someone from my office just came and showed me a picture of your latest post. It's asking people for mushrooms, and it drives me fucking crazy. What is wrong with you? Like, literally, doing mushrooms is fine mushrooms fine i mean maybe not so fine every day but whatever you got to do you got to do but asking for them online you're going to fuck it up for all of us so get your shit together please you can't ask for drugs on stage online in public or anything you're not allowed to ask for drugs. You will go to jail. You will certainly never come to Japan if you get arrested for drugs.

You will not go to Canada without spending exorbitant amounts of money to get through. You work too hard to fuck it up. You don't need mushrooms that bad, all right? Have a fucking beer. Ay-yi-yi. There we go.

And we're back. Andy Frasco's World's Favorite Podcast I'm Andy Frasco A See Here Now Music Festival installation I got my co-host Nick Gerlach What's up Nick? Hey, when is that festival? September

Asbury Park, New Jersey Get out there, Green Day's playing We're playing, Dogs in a Pile. Our next interview today or this week. Yep, she's on it. Solis. Badass. I just watched Green Day on Lollapalooza on Hulu.

They still got it. They still got it. And they played the Metro like a lower venue. Also, Billy Joe Armstrong, very likable, relatable. He was more chill than I realized, I guess. Kind of down to earth for how cool and rich he is. Yeah, and Asbury Park. The festival is on the beach.

Oh, right. Really? And there's surfers who are surfing. I want to... Are you going to get in the water? Hell yeah. In New Jersey? I don't know, Asbury...

I don't know if I trust the water in Asbury Park. No disrespect to Asbury Park, but I don't know. Most of the water in america feels like coney island to me it's toxic at this point just most of the water in this but the vibe's cool i we used to play at this place called wonderland wonderland bar wonder bar i haven't done jersey that much honestly it's badass the whole that whole city's fucking cool and you know the boss i mean jersey gets a bum rap. My mom got me tickets. Me, my mom's flying in to Denver.

And we're going to go see Bruce Springsteen at the ball arena. Let's go. When is that? Oh, fuck. I don't know. I think in December. Or, no, October. I got first week of, I don't know.

Nowhere in Europe. This is a total New Jersey episode. Why is your mom doing well mom's my mom's obsessed with bruce yeah she's right in that wheelhouse she's right there he's like just a blue collar boy yeah he's talking to blue collar women who are now 70 years old yes yeah he's so blue collar bruce springsteen i love it just a blue car go to work every day rock out the crowds every night you want to be blue collar so bad. I do want to be blue collar.

But you refuse to get a real job. You just want to larp as like a blue collar guy. Blue collar guys don't wear shorts. I think blue collar guys are the coolest. I know. I'm wearing white shorts. I love blue collar people. They drive this country.

I love them too. That's why I love the midwest and the south we got factories there and shit yeah they just and they drink better and they're more fun to hang out with yeah they're better people yeah rich i'm back we're recording a record in nantucket next week oh by the way we're on august tour i gotta promote it because uh i've played a lot of these um areas about four fucking times this year i I know. You're getting around. Hey. East Coast. East Coast.

We're playing. We're playing three nights in Nantucket. We'll be there for a week. We're recording our record. So if anyone in the Massachusetts Nantucket area. The Charleston of. The Charleston of the Northeast. I can't believe they booked me so much for how much I talk shit about Boston. Is it more like a ski town?

Or is it more like a... Yeah, I've never been to Nantucket. Nantucket is an island where all the rich kids... Does it have a vibe of a ski town where it's sort of a resort vibe? It's like a vacation spot. It's vacation, seasonal. Because Charleston people live there. It's like a city on its own, too.

Yeah, I love Nantucket. It's so cool. I didn't know it was an island, actually. Oh, it's so cool. Yeah. And it's great food. And the people who work there hard working blue collar people yeah i love it everyone who works at the bars i love it we'll be there for a week we'll be seeing every one of your fucking bars let's go where do you go stay that sounds like a fun does brock doing that

actually we're finally out of the the fucking shitty green room that of the chicken box is that where you usually stay yeah we're in this like fucking badass mansion house that's connected to the um studio oh okay that's part of the deal or what yeah floyd's producing these next five songs oh that's cool he's a good producer i think yeah he's not making the fucking tour because his back hurts or whatever oh good whatever and then i saw him rocking out at some bullshit little fucking dive bar show maybe he's sick of you i think so i think that's what it is i think he's sick of our band making fun of him so much probably or i also don't want to burn him out because we have a three-month tour ahead of us we got to go to europe in

september floyd in europe floyd goes. Oh my God. The whole band's going to Europe. It's going to make national lampoons. Any of my European people as well. September, we're on tour. We're going to Europe for the first time. All my Bomberg people, I know a lot of people from Bavaria, Germany listen to this podcast. Guys, we're playing the live club again. Let's sell

it out. I'm kind of nervous to go back to Europe. You still have that COVID card. I've been telling you. I know. Save it, baby. Save the COVID to go back to europe you still have that covet card i've been telling you i know save it baby save the covet card i'll give you covet i thought i got covet um that bachelor party i went to six people got covet i saw you i can't believe no i'm not making fun of these guys it's just like i like those you can make fun of them no i mean you know they are what they are but like it's just not i can't believe those are your friends from high school. Dude, since middle school, some of those guys were my first friends in sixth grade.

Right, right, because that's the earlier you become friends with someone, the more likely you are to, like, they're to splinter off. I think that's why I'm wearing white khaki pants right now. Like, I'm not. Like, golfing is tight. Like, going golfing on a bachelor party, very tight. It's just not like anything I could see you wanting to do.

We stayed at coco crisp's house oh yeah the former baseball player yeah yeah yeah and why because that you could rent it oh okay i thought i was like kind of pissed because like i was only there for two days and the rental i they like venmo me for 780 bucks what i'm like what this better be for food and shit too i don't understand bachelor parties fyi and bachelor Ambassador parties. Like we're like, we are supposed to like pay for the bride to go to Aruba or the, the, the,

what do they call the husband groom? Yeah. The groom to go to Aruba. Like what the fuck? Well, you didn't go to Aruba. I know. But Palm Springs is just expensive.

I didn't know Palm Springs was expensive like that. I thought it was like the cheap place people go. Yeah, there was only three like kind of like broke people in that group. But like I walked in. How do you know they're broke? Because there's three Priuses and then 11 Teslas. Oh, it's like that. Okay.

There was 11 Teslas charging in the parking lot. Why are they all at the Tesla? They all have the same car? LA, dude. It's like the LA trust fund thing. It's like people just getting this thing out there. Whenever there's one personality, it's social media kind of does that to people

too. There's like one way to be. You get the Tesla. I don't know. It's whatever. It was funny though, but it was a lot of fun. I had a great time. My buddy Aaron, he's a good kid. Was Dola there? Is that like any of that true? I don't know. It's like the other sides, all the athletes. Oh, it's like the cool guys. You the athletes. So all the guys who went to do like.

Oh, it's like the cool guys. Because you had to be friends with the cool guys too. Yeah. I understand that balance. I did learn a lot about AAA baseball. Dude, I'm fascinated. My only baseball. Me too.

I love pro sports. I love like the economy of it. You had a friend that played AAA. Yeah. So he must have been fucking really good then. I had three guys in that group that played AAA. I mean, that's like, you know, you're a real professional baseball player.

Well, like, I didn't realize that you had to move up, like, single A. Yeah. That's how they should do the music scene. But a lot of times people will jump from double A to the MLB, I've noticed. And the triple A are like these long-time guys that sort of bounce back and forth.

That's why we have Repsy.com. They should categorize just single A, double A, triple A. What do you think you are, Lou? I think I'm triple A. Triple A, but like low triple A. Low triple A. I'm like double A. Yeah.

But you're like on the verge. Well, you're like a hot prospect, double A, maybe. Yeah, hot prospect. No, that's a thing. There's like some prospect. So is triple A like Humphreys? They're triple A, for sure,ys they're triple a for sure because they're like gonna they're right there are they are they are they in the majors no majors is like

post malone yeah that's it that okay i'm probably single a no no no you're more than single a because you sell tickets and you have like a presence uh-huh you're like kind of a i'd say you're like a rising double a yeah that's might go to triple a yeah but sometimes people go from double a right to the pros in baseball and that happens in music too triple i feel like it's like you just you're here and you're sticking here i think fish is actually the probably out of all of our scenes they're the majors and the widespread panic you could argue i think billy's in the majors he's in the majors now and he went right from double a he wouldn't do the triple no he didn't fuck around you'll see a lot of 35-year-olds in AAA.

You will. No, I'm not trying to joke. It's like, that's the thing. It's like a career thing. You're more likely to go from AA straight to the majors. I hope Stasek listens every week. I wonder if Stasek, if he'd be pissed if we called Humphreys McGee AAA.

No, that's a very nice professional baseball career where they make money. What about pigeons playing ping pong? AAA guys make money. I think pigeons are in AAA. I don't know. I could see that though. Do you think Twiddle's in AA?

I don't know. I feel like you and Twiddle are about the same level right now. They might have a little more consistency. I just saw them in double A. I feel like you and Twiddle are about the same level right now. We're at the same level. They might have a little more consistency. I just saw them pack out. Yeah, shout out to the boys. Twiddle just packed out this fucking huge place in the Northeast. Yeah, they have like some... I think their highs are higher than your highs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think that you're going to sell, no offense, like 2,500 tickets anywhere, but they can do that, I think. Yeah, yeah, they could do... They can probably do 1,600. I just went on tour with them. That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. went on tour with them that's a lot yeah yeah that's hard so that's double if you're selling over a thousand anywhere i feel like

you're at least in double a yeah maybe triple a i think getting close to triple it's like it's i like uh it's like that vet who's been in double a forever and he's about to move up someone got no that's triple a triple a is where the vets are i'm telling you baseball that's what i'm saying that's why umphrey's is like a triple. That's where the vets and they bounce back and forth when people get hurt and so the double A's were like your best prospect in the in the team plays anyway. Sign up for your double A dot com and they will get you single A tours. There's also rookie double A tours, triple A tours and rookie ball and rookie ball. Those are the those are the private parties that get you

at the frat houses those pay actually really good yeah so sign up for arepsy.com if you're in a band if you're

a wedding planner if you're a private venue all those things are important for that website so sign up for sign up for arepsy.com

we got a few sponsors baseball baby we got Salisa on the show so we might as well do the Fandium are they still a sponsor Sign up for Repsy.com. We got a few sponsors. Baseball, baby. We got Salisa on the show, so we might as well do the Fandium sponsor. Are they still a sponsor? Fandium? All right. Check that website out.

Let's go. Fandium. It's like you can e-mail. It's an auction, right? It's an auction. No. You buy shares. Oh, it's a fundraiser.

Okay. So you could donate what you want between $10 to $100, and you could be in an auction to win that prize. I love that idea. And it's dope. And the prize they're doing this... Dope memorabilia. Yeah.

So go to Fandium.com. And the price, what they're giving out this year is the Fish Dicks contest where you're getting VIP treatment bracelet. So hurry up because that's in like two weeks. It ends 8-16. So it ends after this episode. So sign up for Fandium.

If you're a big Fish fan, I mean, Selesa's on the show. She was in Fish's... No, she's in Trey's, one of his side projects. Yeah, Trey's Ghost in the Forest with Jenny Hartswick. That's Jenny from the block. I love her. Selesa's dope. She just put an album out. Yeah, and it's killing her. I don't know. A single at least. I don't know. That's Jenny from the block. I love her. Yep. She's dope. She just put an album out.

Yeah, and it's killing her. I don't know. A single at least. I don't know. She's putting out a record. She's got a record deal. Yeah, I know that. I just didn't know

if the whole album's out yet. I know one song is and she did a cool video. But the Fandium thing is dope. So go to Fandium.com and then when you, after you do your auction, you type in Frasco 100,

I think. Right? Frasco 100? Yeah think. Right? Frasco 100? That's my question. So if you donate like 100, that's the max. I like that because it kind of makes it a little more... It makes it interesting. Yeah, what do they win? Give it to me. Well, my

question is, do you get more chances if you donate more? Damn, look at this. You get two tickets per night to all four fish shows at Dick's Sporting Goods, which is, of course, it sells out every year. Fish at Dick's is, you know, that's like a cult welcoming. So that's like 800 bucks

right there, probably. Yeah, for sure. Then you get early entry to the venue for each night so you could watch fucking, you know. Also, you don't have to like... What's the drummer's name?

John Fishman. John Fishman, you know, tune up his vacuum. Also, you don't have to deal with the throngs of people. I would give that another $400 value right there. Then you get a round-trip travel to Denver, Colorado, plus five-night hotel stay for two.

Five nights. And by the way, hotels here are insane right now. I know. They're expensive. I want it because my house has been air-bend beat all fucking summer, and I've been sleeping at everyone's fucking house. You're like a homeless person. I feel like a homeless person.

You're like a vagrant. And I just can't afford the hotel. He's been stealing bikes. Yeah, Grand... Grand... I can't talk. The hotel thing, that's another 5,000 bucks.

Five nights. You're going to be five nights in Denver because you're tripping your dick off. I doubt they're going to put you up in the Motel 6. It's probably going to be a pretty solid hotel. So we're already in the $2,000 range here.

Yeah. And then you get grand transportation to and from the show each night. So that's like you're saving $7,000 on a DUI right off the top

right there. There you go. Now you can trip your dick off and not have to worry about anything. Ubers are insane right now during that. That's another $800 probably.

And then you get Dick's merch pack. Oh, like the actual event. Oh, maybe like the fish merch. Then you get one signed poster from the band itself. Damn. I mean, you could sell that on eBay the next day for $500. It ends August

16th. So go get it. Get your money back on the donation. Shout out to Fandom for being a sponsor. Let's go. That's a crazy platform. Yeah. It's cool. I like the idea. I love auctions. We should do something with them. Here. You could come be a guest on the podcast. I know, I'm just joking.

They're only a sponsor for a couple. They're going to love us. They said, we're going to give you a test run. See if we work it. People do that with us. I get it. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we don't. Remember that we used to sponsor? I think that was before me.

They were like nope we're done because because why uh they thought i was just phoning it in you probably i didn't really like i don't like it i don't i don't know i just didn't really i don't like a vibe for me yeah you have to promote things you actually like yeah that's why we have repc and dialed in gummies we might as well just do ited in Gummies too so we can get back to our thing. Dialed in Gummies. Rosin Gummies. Rosin, baby.

You know Rosin? I was just at. Have you met him? He's cool. Who? Rosin. Josh Rosin? The quarterback?

No. It's Rosen, actually. Yeah. Get yourself some Dialed in Gummies if you're in the Colorado area. They're the best. They took care of us. And what did you say? You said something about solventless.

What's that? It means there's no solvents. What's the salt? It's just water, basically. Okay. There's no other chemical compounds in it. We're about to have a world saving podcast collab with them. I've heard.

Dialed in gummies. Yeah. So by, I think the fall when our tour hits then we'll start doing that's amazing it'll be fun we should make up we should make like our own thing my friend owns a kush club he said they are flying there i love it i help them get up the list so colorado go uh get them while i don't i wonder if you know what we should ask uh keith to do we should they should say hey the reorders in in all the stores on Mondays or something. So they could all go there that day and go get them.

Storm it. Because they sell out so much. And we'll go shake hands. Welcome to Dialed In. So shout out to Dialed In gummies. And they taste amazing. Yeah, bomb. I really wish they made them without THC in them.

Oh, man. So I could just enjoy them. Yeah. All right, we got to get out of here. It's 25 minutes. Holy shit, that went fast. You good? You happy?

Yeah, I've been good. Your eyes look good. Your skin looks good. I've been going to the gym. You have? Three, four times a week. What do you do? Just like solo cardio,

some of the weight machines. I go like every other day. I would love to watch you work out. Why? I just want to see what you do and how your tone is on your face and what you do in the gym. I get it.

I see exactly why. When I'm in the treadmill, it looks like Mike Myers. We don't hang out as much anymore. Well, yeah. I feel like you were in town the last three days and you just...

Oh, no. You were in like... My house has been rented. Yeah. You officiated a wedding. I officiated a wedding. That's cool. Yeah.

Two 70-year-old women. Or not, one woman, one man. One women? One woman and one man. God, I can't talk. That's all right. I'm brain dead, dude. How was it? Is that the first time you've done that?

I've done it once. I was nervous because that's a really serious deal for people. And they wanted me to be me. So I was kind of doing some jokes. And then I was being serious and I think I did a good job. I'm, you know,

I got ordained now. So if anyone wants me to ordain their wedding, guys, let's like get a real thing, do a real wedding. You're going to think it's, you're going to think it's cool

in the moment. And then 20 years later, you're going to look back at your wedding pictures and it's Andy Frasco. Barefoot. And you're like, whatever happened to that guy like shut the whatever happened to

that guy oh whatever happened to that guy and you don't you don't know how to say i don't want to do yes i do no you don't yes i do i compliment you all the time when are you talking about when was the last time you complimented me all the time i compliment you i'll be like hello how you doing but i i comment you as well i just said your skin look good your skin looks good too what do you i don't know what to comment you on people suck your dick all day oh shut up dude you're the best person you don't need another guy telling you how great you are all right fuck you okay i'm right um all right guys have a great week Solis is on the show she's so dope if you don't know Solis I'm gonna do the intro

for Solis now so I don't have to make it later Solis is amazing she's a guitar player a piano player she was I didn't know this about her she starred in Wicked and she starred in Godspell.

Yeah, I know. Dope. And then John Baptiste. A bunch of people. Melissa Etheridge. She rips guitar. Yeah, and she rips. And she said...

She played with Lizzo on Saturday Night Live. The reason why she started playing... Yeah, the reason why she started playing guitar is because Melissa Etheridge saw a video of her shredding. And Melissa was like, why don't you play guitar more and then she hired she hired oh she wasn't like she was more of a singer before that oh so she's a singer first yeah you're gonna love this interview she's super nice oh she was super nice and confident like she made me i did this interview and i wasn't feeling too good now she

pumped me up because she's so confident yeah and like to be like a woman guitar player in the scene you have to be i'm like i'm thankful guitar scene's pretty lame yes i used to sell pretty white heavy too yeah and then it's dude heavy as fuck yeah that's dude heavy even more dude heavy i feel like and salise is a badass yeah so you're gonna love this there's a lot of corny corny stuff going on in the guitar world right now if you guys are interested in that. All right, guys. Have a great day. Be safe.

Oh, yeah. Don't take no shit from nobody. This is the end of the summer, okay? Don't make any more remakes. Go have a little more fun. Don't be a remake. We're all broke, but still come to my August tour. We love you. I'll give you a rebate.

Can we do that at show? That'd be awesome. If you come to the show, we give you a rebate. On what? I don't know. Yeah, I got to figure that out. What do you come to the show we give you a rebate on what I don't know yeah I gotta figure that out what do you mean just giving their money a rebate means

you get your money back oh maybe we'll give them something if they come now then we sound desperate come to our show we'll give you merch give them a good show

we are giving them a good show yeah that's the thing they pay for the show but that's not that's not happening I mean I thought you said your fault

or it was selling well this is August oh this isn't selling as good no take the L man i'm gonna take the l with you at least you're playing sacred rose the best festival on earth that'll be good and then we're doing hot august night in baltimore i mean we got a couple big festivals that are like helping us streamline it but our club shows they're not doing that great so it's summer no one goes to clubs in the summer i know well it's also this recession dude no one's buying dude we're about to be in a war with china we're about to be in a war we're not going to be in a war with china oh listen they just want us to be destabilized not in a war okay

okay all right are you a communist no are you what is a communist what do they want my god and that's it for this week all right guys have a, guys. Have a great day. We're out of here. I got to go. And to be continued. Nick, I love you. Okay. Just saying. Yeah.

All right. Bye. Wow. Solis, this is great. How you doing? I feel like I should have a microphone too. We can pretend. Just hold it up.

How are you doing? I'm great. I'm in LA. You're in LA? Do you live there right now or what's going on? Great question. I don't like admitting that I do because I've been in New York for 15 years. I still have a place in New York, but I guess I live in LA.

Don't tell anybody though. Just edit this out. We'll bleep it out I guess I live in LA. Don't tell anybody though. Just edit this out. I will bleep it out. I grew up in LA. What part are you staying in? I'm in like Koreatown, Larchmont. I'm Beverly and North Fulton. Yeah. What's the difference? What's the different parallels between being a person and being the person who loves New York versus having to live in LA? You know, it's like, have you ever lived in New York? Yeah, I lived in Williamsburg.

Okay. How long were you there? About three and a half years. Okay. So you're kind of, you're in that period of time where I'm not sure if that's enough time to sort of identify with what I'm right about to say, but there's a sense of pride that you get when you move to New York. I moved to New York so young, 19, 20, something like this. And it's a hard city. Like, you know, living in Williamsburg, like it takes, it kicks the shit out of you every day, but also in the best way, it's kind of like, in some ways, the abusive partner, you can't leave,

but you go back to like the good times, but you know, when he's good to me, it's so good. I mean, it's, it's, there's so many aspects of New York that are so hard, but also, you know, something is always going on at every hour in New York. There's good food at 4.00 AM someplace. There's a bar somewhere that will make you feel like you've met 20 of your best friends. Like New York, just there's an, there's an energy in particular for artists, but anybody, an energy in particular for artists but anybody it's like anybody who lives in New York for a period for any period of time I think has some connection to to creativity in some way because it's such a it's like the focal point of that town and I don't know LA is in so many ways, it's nicer to be here. It's easier to be here. It's an, it's a softer place to land between shows and, and tour legs.

But there's something about how calm it is that I'm like, nobody's fighting in front of my window right now. This feels weird. You know? So stimulation is important to you. I mean, apparently this is what I'm discovering right now in this podcast. No, it's true. I mean, you grew up in Oakland, right? I grew up in the Bay Area. That's right. You grew up in the Bay Area. And especially growing up in the Bay Area, there's like this LA

Bay Area beef that no one wants. Yes, it's so dumb. But it's true. It's so stupid. It is stupid. And also I stand by it. So that's, I'm like, you know,

I don't know. Like I, I, in all seriousness, I LA suits me now for the time I'm in, in my life. And I'm, I'm pretty actively bi-coastal I'm still in New

York plenty um but the things that I you know you move someplace and you get a car and Target's easy to get to all of a sudden you're like well why would I not just do this I know you know I want to talk before we talk about your life in New York I want to talk about Oakland or the Bay Area and, you know, your parents both being teachers and stuff. Like, as being a musician, was it, were they like, like, was it hard to be a musician with two professional musicians who are just always just on your ass about it? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. I bet.

You know, my parents are both, they're interesting because they both are like highly learned cultured musicians and teachers. And, you know, I've said this a million times, but my dad has a double undergrad in piano performance vocal performance master's in choral conducting my mom has a double undergrad violin performance vocal performance master's in choral conducting right so both already people that know like way too much and but my mom always grew up teaching um you know in sort of grade school level she had

a lot of years in middle school, then she taught high school choir for years and years. And then, you know, she actually just retired a couple of months ago, but ended up her last few years in elementary school. My dad was always at the collegiate level, right? So, you know, the vibe with my mom was kind of no matter what, everything was always good. Cause that's kind of how you are when you like teach high schoolers, you know what I mean? Or my dad always had just a critical year and had, and you know,

it's like, it was nice to have the balance between the two because there was always someone who was like, it was great. And then there was a person who was like, you know, the bridge could have been. I feel that. I mean, like, did you have like a complex of not being good enough when you were a kid? Never. Never?

You're always confident? For better or worse. I am so obnoxious. I was like, I'm better than my family. They don't understand. They don't understand me. Because, you know, my parents were, I mean, certainly more at that time when i was growing up were super religious right so you know i grew up not being allowed to listen to secular music for those of you that don't know what that is any music that's not about like god

or jesus christ um with the exception of ella fitzger and Barbra Streisand really randomly because I like found I don't know vinyl or something at um a local thrift store or something and they were kind of like well that music is of a certain caliber so they kind of let that slide um but it wasn't until I don't know maybe middle school or something i had they put like their kind of old tape deck like you know they had the record player and then the radio and then the the cassette tapes you know the thing i'm talking about in our in my uh sisters and i bedroom and my friend joel malta showed me how to press play and record and so like record things from the radio right so I started recording like you know I Nirvana and Oasis and Mariah Carey

and like all this like really great stuff and hiding and listening to it on a Walkman and they'd ask what I was listening to and I'd be like, Mahalia Jackson. But yeah, Mahalia Jackson. So no, I did. I really, for better or worse, I never thought I'm not good enough because I always I knew from my earliest ages that I was meant to do this professionally, where with my parents and both of my sisters who are all incredibly talented, it was always in the educational or the kind of religious sector in church but none of them they weren't like out really gigging you know what i mean were you well

i started i mean i started really professionally really young when i was 17 18 but before then not really i just was i did a lot music, but I wasn't like out there, like nobody was paying me 50 bucks to sit in to, you know, in a situation at all. Just in choirs and marching band and show choir. I wasn't so involved in like all the like high school age stuff. You know, in retrospect, now that you're, we're older now and we look back at our childhood,

you know, thinking about like, why do you think your parents only let you listen to that type of music and not let you listen to other stuff? Well, you know, my highly sort of therapized answer would be, um, my parents had my sisters and I when they were really young I mean like I mean maybe not young in context now but I think they were like 22 and 23 like yeah still young like back to back yeah that's young as hell and they kind of they were raised really religiously and they were just kind of fucking making it up you know as they were going and so it seemed like well we're christian and we're trying to do like christian things so uh listen to christian music because that's also the music that they knew you know and um i i i think they didn't want us to hear things that would influence us in a direction that they deemed not appropriate. Luckily enough for me, I, of my three sisters, am the middle and just was sort of born with a ferocious spirit that could not be tamed.

I'm going to clap to that. Let's go. It's always the middle one who's the rebel. It really is. What is the deal with that? I don't know. My therapist says

the middle kids are the best. Or maybe she just says that to me because I'm the middle kid. I don't know. Because you're paying her. Because I'm paying her. Yeah, that's how it works you're a queen you're a queen no but yeah it's so funny so like okay so like did were you close with your sisters did you have this like animosity towards them like what what was going on that made you feel like you had this

rebel attitude oh well not necessarily not against my sisters at all. I mean, it was my, my family upbringing was very strict and very insular and very, um, I don't know. There were kind of a lot of rules and I just, you know, I knew I was aware of other music. I was aware of other instruments. I was aware of all of what was going on in the world because I had friends at do and more about feeling such a strong really like spiritual pull to just more than what was sort of happening inside my household and you know for all intents and purposes I think that things were exactly the way that they were meant to be because truth be told, you know, my parents,

my dad in particular, his sort of insistence on, you know, each of us picking violin or piano and having to stick to that. Like I took classical piano lessons from four through 18. Like that theoretical knowledge is stuff I use every day, every day in my life, in my life. Right. And had I been doing the choosing,

I would not have stuck with playing Debussy and Rachmaninoff and all that stuff. But I'm glad that I did, you know? Yeah. What parallels do you see in from classical music with how you approach life now? Man, life?

I feel like music and life are very parallel with how we live life and how we listen and play. Well, certainly 1 million percent the discipline I learned in that music. You want to learn how to play three against two, right? Fucking Chopin preludes. There's no way around it other than having to sit down every single day for

your 30 minutes or your 45 minutes or your hour and working it out. It just is what it is. And I will say in, in my career, moving through all facets of this business, I've never necessarily thought I'm the most talented person in the room, but I can always guarantee you I'm the most hardworking, without question and that really came from from my earliest of ages starting and starting in classical music starting in classical piano and having parents that were sort of like there's no real excuses about whether or not you've practiced or not it's like you're going to practice period end of end of story that's how it goes and you're going to practice because if you want to sound like this it takes this and i am often shocked about how many really incredibly talented musicians actors artists who never developed that skill set so yeah there are plenty of people that

never quite get to the level they honestly should or deserve to be at because they don't have those, they don't have that sort of like the discipline, quite honestly, to get there. So I probably be the biggest thing for me. Who taught you work ethic? Your parents? My parents, my parents work their butts off and, you know. What was, what was your light your social life like was you were you a poor family or was it what was it like you know it's funny i look back now we certainly started off with not very much at all because my parents were early 20 something public school teachers you know what i mean my dad was teaching adjunct or something so um I remember definitely when we were young young like if you you go back and you look at um photo albums of Christmas it

was like it's a pretty you know meager but I also then I kind of remember um probably like middle school like seventh eighth grade there was kind of this jump uh to probably like lower middle class to sort of just like middle maybe middle middle class or even edging towards upper middle i don't know um but also you're not really at least for me at that age you're not looking around thinking about I wasn't looking around thinking about how much other money we had versus other people. It was just really came down to like, if I want to be on the swim team, can I do that? Can you pay for that? You know, if I want to be in, you know, but yeah, I don't know if that answers your question. No, it does. And it's, it. And it's fascinating because that's what makes,

with that upbringing is where we find our work ethic, I think. Totally. Yeah, my parents, I grew up watching two people who worked, I mean, quite honestly, probably too much, but because they kind of are both these kind of unicorns in this sense where so often a lot of teachers. Very often are musicians that never got to a point that they wanted to, and then they teach where both of my parents are these interesting people who really always wanted to be teachers there wasn't this there weren't these big dreams of sort of stardom as individual artists they both really had like big desires for teaching choirs that was sort of their their thing always so it was interesting to watch

them growing up and they're both in their sort of respective fields my mom and sort of high school choir and competitive show choirs and chamber choirs or whatever and my dad on the collegiate side with chamber music and and and gossip music and whatever um sort of throw all that they had into building up those programs and and and investing in their students. And, you know, I was sitting in God knows how many choir rehearsals, how many times a week for the entirety of my childhood, but I really learned, I learned how to run a rehearsal. I learned, um, how to structure a rehearsal. I learned again, I saw this sort of discipline they were trying to instill in me. I saw it actualized every day in their work as well.

So very, very, really helpful. You know, I should probably tell them this. Yo, text them later. Yo,

thank you, mom and dad. You know, and you know, as I think about this, like when did you start realizing Segregation in music Well

I read an article About you talking shit about NAMM which I fucking love by the way Hell yes Talking shit about NAMM I think I was probably talking factual information about NAMM Well exactly I'm thinking the same thing.

And like for you as a guitar player, it must be extremely hard. A woman guitar player out there trying to get a deal with these NAMM fucking, I'm going to say fucking assholes. Yeah. You know, it's like, when did you start realizing there was segregation in music? Because that's like, it seemed like music was your sanctuary. Yeah. Well, I've known, I've been aware of the segregation of music since i've been aware of music really because i've as my dear friend solomon dorsey says

always i've been black my whole life so um you know having two classically trained black parents who also did music in our very black church, you know, it would be Wednesday night choir rehearsal and Sunday mornings, gospel music in this, in this, in this very black environment. And then, you know, I'd go sit in, in a rehearsal with my dad at UC Berkeley or Los Padanos college, where he's, um, runs the music department there now. And in certain genres of music, it was all white. And when I would meet his colleagues, they were all white. And, you know, it was just a constant, was a constant discussion and and uh and awareness in my household of watching my parents navigate their own professions because yeah especially if it's when you when you talk about classical music right

you're usually the the landscape of the people that you're looking at are usually white and so to connect that all the way to NAM. I suppose what I would say, I don't, I mean, who knows what the hell article that was that you read, but I'm, I'm very honest when anybody asks me anything. So I'm sure I said all kinds of things, but, but. You know, my vibe in general for better or worse, Andy has never been to sell myself to anybody.

So my the the experience I had at NAMM for the first time, I rather liked it was a it was a positive situation. I I wasn't there truly for better or worse trying to convince anybody of anything. I'm kind of like, I'm pretty fantastic. And if you don't think that I'm fantastic, that's really, I mean, literally, especially in an environment like that, it's your loss beyond the words, the words that I could ever communicate, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm in this room. I'm in this huge convention center. And as I look around, I'm like, where are the black people? Where are the brown people? Where are the queer people?

Where are the trans people? It is like all cis, het, white men. I know. It's insane. I can't believe it. It's dumb. And it's crazy. And you talk about like, you're not to be sold, but like, how do you navigate that in the music industry when it's all about just like buying us? Well, it's not, I want to clarify. It's not, I'm not to be sold. I mean, I guess I'm not, but I would pose it in a different way. It's more, I'm not a person who...

I'm not a person who... So when I was coming up working as an actress in theater, something I learned really early on is that if you go into the room for an audition with this energy of like, I need it, oh my God, I need it so bad. Please, I need it, I need it. It doesn't actually matter how incredible you are. There's something about that energy that people just don't respond

to. It's like being on your first date. If you kind of feel like that person needs it too much, you're like, you know what I mean? Like desperate. Right. That's right. As opposed to coming into the situation from the vantage point of like, I have something to offer you. I have something to offer you for this five minutes that I'm going to be here with you. And from that space, it's more of a position of power. industry, look, I'm a woman, I'm Black, I'm fat, I'm queer, I exist in all of these margins, right? And quite frankly, my being in conversation with you today has been how many experiences do you think I've been in where I've been discounted to even get to here, right? To even sort of be. And so I've had to develop as many women, as many queer people, as many people of color have to develop a kind of inner fortitude that sort of says, I know what I know to be true about myself, regardless of whether other people's perceptions are.

And I have to believe it enough to know at some point people will sort of catch up to the truth. Does that make sense? No, totally. And like, that's what I was kind of going at. Like how hard is it to suppress things when you have to, when you were younger? Like it seems like you're such a big open voice that suppression was, it seemed like it shouldn't have been any existence in your life. And I felt like with segregation,

it feels like you have to be suppressed these feelings sometimes. Cause you don't want to, you know, I'm so fascinated with that. Yeah. I mean, I think, times because you don't want to you know yeah i'm so fascinated with that yeah i mean i think for better or worse it's like i think black people in particular have to learn um i don't say have to but certainly in my experience and plenty of black friends and colleagues that I know who have been successful over a period of time, you learn, um, you learn how to show up in situations with a certain amount of grace where people don't even know grace is being extended. You know what I mean right um and also i kind of i'm like i'm definitely a big picture long game

type person and i certainly am never in a situation in which i feel directly disrespected that i'm not i won't vocalize that to be what my experience is but yeah being in situations where you look around and you go i've been asked to be on this panel for whatever said thing. And I'm like the one black person, or I've been asked to come speak in this situation. And then the, all the questions that are directed to me are only the questions about race or, you know, there's, I have the option in these situations of cussing somebody out and being like, I've never, you know, and it's not even necessarily to say that that would be the wrong thing. I just, I'm also like, if my desire is really to be heard and to potentially enact change, then I have to dig down into that side of myself that goes, hey, can I suggest

something to you to think about for the next time you do this. I want to share with you what my experience was here. And everybody doesn't have the ability to receive that, but more people have the ability to, to hear something through that, that sort of through a compassionate lens, then do the lens of anger, even though both are completely valid, you know?

Yeah. I would choose the motherfuckers out. I'm sure that you would. I'm sure that you would. And also you've lived an existence where that's a reality that you can have. Exactly. That's why I want to talk. That's why I was talking about suppression.

Cause you're such a, I mean like I've, you're new. I'm new to you. Yeah. Um, I met you at peach fest with the whole, um, when, uh, Trey passed the torch to you and it was awesome and like I loved it because like I've not knowing and then learning

deep down how we are basically the same because I've wanted to be in musical theater my whole life oh really yeah I'm obsessed I'm obsessed and hearing that you're on Wicked and stuff and like how you transitioned from being a Broadway from now that I'm learning that I'm obsessed. And hearing that you're on Wicked and stuff and like how you transitioned from being a Broadway, from now that I'm learning that you're a classical piano player, I didn't even know you played piano and it's fucking awesome. And then you're doing Broadway musicals and now you're playing and you play guitar like a badass. I mean, it's unbelievable.

And it is the power of the brain, right? It's the power of saying, I do this right it is it is i'm so glad you said this because like you know not to discredit me in any way but i'm like going back to what we were just talking about previously in terms of discipline i have been able to do these things because i'm like i didn't wake up one day and say i'm i'm gonna be amazing at guitar i bought a guitar and i sucked but i was like well i'm gonna practice i mean honestly i'm like it's the hours put in people talk about how you know unbelievably life-changing hendrix playing was and it fucking is and also the thing that's not brought up is in every single picture you see of jimmy he has a guitar in his hands if he's in the

kitchen he has a guitar in his hands he's on the couch he's a guitar in his hands he's always playing he's always working something out and so i think people have this idea that like some people are just touched with magic right and you know granted this is excluding derrick trucks that's the thing that i don't i don't i don't yeah i don't know how many hours one gets into to communicate on that level but if we exclude him you know i'm like it's it's it's the it's that mixture of having musicality and sensibility and taste, quite frankly, mixed with hours, time, discipline, putting in the time to develop skills and techniques. That's why I respect Trey Anastasio. Oh, my God.

He puts the hours in. Non-stop. Right? Non-stop. And quite frankly, I feel particularly hard working and every time i'm with him i'm like i'm not practicing enough i am not practicing enough because he is he's backstage he's backstage being like i'm working on this modal concept you know i've been trying to do this like i'm trying to do our pet our pet geos but only on single strings like he just he just he doesn't

he actually does not stop and and what's so exciting about that especially now have got having gotten a chance to to play with him to play guitar with him right you know um two different um both last year and this year's peach fest is like he he has such immediate access to so much language to so many like it's really inspiring and then also it's like i leave and i go damn like i there's so much more to learn which is exciting to me right it's like it never stops but there's a lot of musicians that do just kind of go oh okay i'm phoning it in now yeah but that's mad i i love the ones where you're like you can continue to hear the progression of playing over time right i think mayor i mean they're two very different players but um i think john mayor is similar or i i when you listen to his records you listen to his live playing it's like uh

i i think sometimes there's this um at least the the kind of guitarist kind of musician forget guitar musician i'm trying to sort of aspire to are these players these people who have all this facility have all this musicality have all this knowledge have all this language but in sort of their years of using all these things you get to a place where there's a certain level of patience choices there's a certain there's a certain musical restraint you know trey is a freaking savant at that oh my god he is a genius at knowing how to go okay i am gonna solo for 10 minutes for 10 no but literally for 10 minutes but i'm gonna solo in this way and you use space in this way to where i am going to make it to like at that final moment where you feel like you cannot take it then i give you you know

the route all the way up you know what i mean and the hype is that like it's it blows my every time i've seen them play i'm like yeah and then i leave and I leave and I go, okay, I think I can do it. And I'm, I maybe make it like three minutes. Then I'm like, I gotta get out of here. I can't, I can't, I can't sustain it. But man, it's so inspiring. Is this just a podcast about Trey? Cause that's fine.

I could do that. That's fine. It's more about why, you know, why is knowledge so intimidating? Why is knowledge so intimidating? Why is knowledge so intimidating? To who? To learn. To keep learning. Like you said, people just give up.

You know what I'm saying? Yes. I think it's intimidating. I know it's intimidating, at least what my perception is. when nobody when nobody knows who you are when there's no states like literally you can show up fucking however and anybody's like

jealousy like who the fuck cares right you're so right you know then this thing starts to happen where it's like quite frankly I at just the stage I'm at in my career, it's like, I already feel that. Like, you know, I think partially coming from the background that I came from, for so many reasons, I am really good at and feel really at home in nobody knows who I am. Let's go.

Yeah, totally. But the thing of like showing up to a festival now and people are like so ways I can't wait to see it's gonna be amazing I'm like shit you know what I mean because now there's there are these expectations right and I think I think sometimes people a lot of times people get caught in this they start believing their own hype or the perception that people sort of put on them about who they are or how brilliant they are or whatever and i guess for me the the thing that i hold to be the most precious about my relationship with the guitar is that i'm like i barely call myself a guitarist i'm like people y'all have assigned this word to me. That's fine.

I'm an artist that found a new tool that I legitimately fell head over heels with. And I'm like, I am just at the beginning stages still, still of a lifetime relationship. And if I, if I hold that space, then there's all this room for me not to be perfect for me to make mistakes, for me to try new things, for me to say, I've got a couple weeks off. Let me see if I can find somebody to take a lesson with. Like that leaves room. If I start going and being like, I'm incredible and I'm amazing and I'm carrying the torch, who the fuck wants to carry all that? Like it's too much. It's too much.

So it's basically, so it's not that knowledge is intimidating. It's ego that distracts us from knowledge. Yes. That's what I think. Certainly. I agree with that a hundred percent. Why?

Man, because we need ego, right? We need that motivation a little bit. Yeah. Delicate balance, right? It's like,

yeah, it's a, it's like that tightrope a little bit. It is. You have to believe a hair more than everybody else does. You must. Right. Then also, very quickly, in the same breath, be in the full knowledge that there's so much use

that you still don't know that's at least what i'm where i'm always trying to exist and i'm like i know what i bring to the table i even more than that i know that i am destined to be exactly where i am i i believe that wholeheartedly and i know know it. I know it in terms of when I can look at where I've invested my time and my energy for my entirety of my life. And I also know it in that spirit and soul way. And also I am so unbelievably excited about all the things I don't know anything about. It's amazing. I'm like, wow, I can think of how much more I can develop and cultivate. It's exciting. Do you think that's the secret of life is enjoying the mystery of it?

I think the secret of life is the good therapist. I'll clap to that. Let's go. I think the secret of life is the good therapist. Yeah. I'll clap to that. Let's go. Let's fucking go. I mean, especially in the art. So many people are,

it's such a hard business. It's a beautiful disaster as Kelly Clarkson once said. And I feel like there's so many, there's a reason why there's so much struggle with addiction and mental health and all this. So in my mind, I'm like the secret to life. I think it's really about wellness really. And trying to sort of, how do we take care of ourselves ourselves especially in such an arduous with arduous schedule and you know totally how do we take care of that mind body and spirit

you know that's what i think has there ever been a time in your um musical career that you felt like you were burnt down and couldn't deal with it anymore well i certainly have never felt like i couldn't deal with it anymore but burnt out is such an it's so interesting because you don't really when you're sort of dreaming of all the things of like i'm playing i'm gonna play arenas i'm gonna like you know what i mean like i have these little things like there's no accounting for like how will my body feel when I arrive to the arena that's what I'm dealing with right now so in that sense I feel like I'm at a particularly interesting like blessed like

abundance filled time that is also so unbelievably exhausting and I'm learning in real time like all right what what actually does it look like to take care of myself holistically inside of a schedule like this and inside of like I feel like I had plenty of years where I was just playing shows. I'm playing shows in clubs. I'm playing at a festival. I'm sitting on someone's set. I'm doing these things.

And then there's maybe, maybe a couple things in the year that are like, oh, these are going to be like really big moments. Where now it feels like really big moments, like daily. Yeah. Which is like so amazing. And also it's, it's not a thing I certainly have ever heard anybody talk about. Like there's a whole other side that comes to like managing your sort of mental and emotional states in these in processes like this. And also like, how do you you how do you do all the like dumb adult stuff like how do i force myself after an amazing exciting incredible life-changing performance to go to bed and to not scroll fucking instagram and yeah you know what i mean

like this i don't know if someone has learned how to do this please tell me because i have not figured it out yet you tried meditation yes this is the thing i love to meditate in the morning it's great and then i'm a i'm a great person for at least like two or three hours into the day and then but by the time it's night time and i've played a show and i've had a glass of wine i've done whatever I've done. We've, we've driven in the Sprinter to the hotel. Yeah.

I don't go back to the hotel and say, I want to connect with myself. Well, it's adrenaline, right? That's right. I want to watch, you know,

drag race. I want to watch some shitty fucking television. I know. I know. Fucking scroll, tick tock. I know. But you know what it might be is you just want to just turn off your brain from thinking too much.

That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Because it takes so much fucking brain power to do what we do. Yes, it does. One million percent. And I'm sure you relate to this too. It's such a tricky thing because also it's like, it's not boo-hoo. Oh my God, my dreams are coming true. Oh no. No. You know, it's like, it's like it's not boohoo oh my god my dreams are coming true oh no no you know it's

like it's it's all incredible it's i just want what i want are books from from trey anastasio type folks i should call him and say exactly this i'm like i want the book about how now today sober, you know, and centered how you manage all of this, what happens after, I mean, honestly, I've seen it, you know, I, I see it to a certain extent having toured with him, how structured and regimented is life isn't quite frankly, as I'm saying this, I guess that's, that is what happens for most of the people who, who are pretty, are like healthy, balanced people that I've worked with or collaborated with. Brandy Carlisle is another one.

It's like their lives are very like, I go to bed at this time, I go to bed at this time. I've got, I've got all the support in all these places so that I'm, I have what I need because we're like athletes, you know, it's that kind of thing. Right. So, yeah. And I always think I'll come like my biggest inspiration is Kobe Bryant. I'm an LA kid. So like, but the work ethic, it's about, I think music musicians are just like athletes and where you have to have this rigid focus that only a few percent of people can actually handle on a day-to-day basis. Yes, that is correct. That is correct. Man, I want to hug you right now. I'm virtually hugging you right now. I love you so much.

Oh my God, it's so nice to meet you, Andy. Yeah, likewise. I've always been wanting to meet you. And you got a couple more minutes for me? Yeah, of course. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. So, I mean, you've played with everybody. for me? Yeah, of course. Yeah, it's fine. Okay. So, I mean, you've been with, you've played with everybody. Brandon Kyle,

Melissa Etheridge, Ryan Carey, Graham Natch, which is awesome. What do you like better? Being the side man or being the front person? Well, I would argue

I've never been a side man. Let's fucking go. That's what I'm talking about. Okay. All the scenarios that you named are they're really specific right so like people saw me with lizzo yep that was sick snl snl thing so grateful to do and now since then i've been attributed to being her guitarist for many years

the truth is i did one appearance with this woman one time. I worked for a week with Lizzo. That's it. But everyone's like, oh, Lizzo's guitarist, right? You know, Graham Nash. It was an amazing experience that came along. And that opportunity was to go on the road with him. I think the entirety of that experience was three weeks, maybe a month.

He was... Oh, so you've never been in a band with these guys. You just do these. What about the. Melissa afterwards, I guess would be the closest, but you know, she's actually a great example of really how all this started. Right. So I have been doing theater for all these years and then would do like on the side, I did like tons of session work as a, as a singer,

background in doing arrangements and stuff in New York.ork and once i left theater like officially was like i'm i'm gonna put this down for for some time and solely focus on my music this was back in like 2012 2013 or something i had a couple years being new york i mean playing everything playing open mics and on the sidewalk, I mean, anything I could do. And at the time I was, you know, doing this trio thing with, and the drummer was this guy named Brian Delaney, amazing drummer in New York. And I ran into him in 2016. He was on a break. He had been out subbing for drums with Melissa and was soon to go full time and he said oh you know i know she's gonna release this record called memphis rock and soul and she's looking for some backgrounds to take out he's like maybe i'll throw your name in because he knew that i did kind of the session work thing and i you know like i've done like so many of us has done for so many years

it's like there's a gig on the table at the time. I'm like, I'm just trying to pay the bill. So if there's something that I can do quickly, I'm like, oh yeah, I love that. Backgrounds are for, I love backgrounds. You know what I mean? Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's make that money.

And so he ends up recommending me. I ended up getting the job. And for her at that time, that leg was i don't know maybe two months or something i was sort of like the central background i did all these arrangements whatever charts and then every city we picked up two locals and i would rehearse them there and then we'd do the gig and maybe a couple weeks into into that run one day melissa came into soundcheck and was like hey you know my wife and i stayed up last night and watched all these videos of you playing guitar i had no idea that you played and

i was like yeah i got you know i got my own thing or whatever and she was like oh you should like you should play like you should play like one of these days or whatever and she said it very nonchalantly and then a couple like a couple breaks later, um, her manager called and was like, yeah, so Melissa wants you to sit to, to play guitar. And, and, and at that time I had never, like, I don't know how to stress. Like I, I had nary a guitar lesson. I wasn't sitting in sessions. Like that was not the kind of player I was. I played in my band. I wrote songs and then did a thing, right?

So with Melissa being like, oh, just like play. I'm like, there's an assumption happening right now that I'm a thing that I'm not. But because I have the work ethic that I have, I'm going to take this music and I'm going to shed as much as I can. I have really great, like really great guitarist friend, this guy, Tad DeBrock that I went over and I was like, okay,

what's this chain? Like, can you help me with this? Like you helped me sort of fill in the blanks. And I showed up to soundcheck and I think she expected me to just kind of like ching, ching, ching, ching, ching, like kind of strum along. And I came out sort of guns blazing and I learned all the parts. And she was like, whoa. And sort of from that time, the remaining dates I did with her, I would come out and play guitar. And so people saw me do that. And then I started getting called to play guitar. But many times I'd be asked to do a gig or asked to go out with an artist? And I would say no, mostly because at the,

it was never truly my desire to, to do the side person thing. It was always like in the right circumstance or the right money for the, for a short amount of time. Yeah. But yeah, of course enough opportunities have come in as these little short stints of, you know,

I did, I, I, my work with John Baptiste is all encapsulated within probably eight weeks of time, maybe 12. Holy shit. A desk. I did a late night. But people see the name and they go, oh, she was in John Baptiste's band. Lizzo's band.

Graham Nashville's like, no, y'all. I just kind of come in and I make my little appearance when I I'm like, well, isn't that like ADD culture too? Like everyone just judges books. Everyone judges a book by its cover. Like, oh yeah, oh, I saw her one thing. Oh, she must've been with him for years. Yeah, but you know what is brilliant about this, which I did not expect,

but like, because I had had and have this whole career in theater, right? it's rare, if ever, quite honestly, it's possible to make this transition from theater into music because unfortunately, which I think is dumb, the music industry kind of frowns upon like musical theater. They have sort of this idea, right, which is so dumb, but it's very much a thing. like musical theater they have sort of this idea right which is so dumb but it's very much a thing and so the weird thing that doing this kind of work did is it there are all of these people that have filled in these blanks in their own way who believe that i'm a thing right right and then when they find out oh i was in wicked i was in god so i did all this work they're like you were in the band i'm like no it was an actress the lead many years you know so it's i it's so funny how people judge it fun it's a fun thing people can write whatever narrative

they want as long as they are interested in engaging it's like you can tell yourself whatever you want you get or you could ask me what it is are you ever intimidated intimidated it doesn't have to be about music but anything in life what intimidates you love anything that's such a well what do you think the definition of intimidation is because i guess i guess you're like basically something like every every story you've told me which is by the way this is fucking awesome salise you're the shit fyi um every situation you told me and you've convinced your brain that yeah i could do this shit oh sure sure what or am i am i wrong about that no have you ever

felt like you weren't ever like you're intimidated by a job offering i'm always intimidated so really yes here's the thing though the feeling doesn't have to doesn't have to be the action so all of the situations i just told you about melissa lizzo if you had any idea how i felt at snl being like these motherfuckers think they have hired i'm i'm for real right i know fucking and you know john baptiste of anybody, I would say working with John is the most intimidating because my saving grace in all these situations is like, OK, because I come at this having learned on my own by ear or whatever. It takes me a little longer on guitar to to to get certain things together. But if you just give me a second, I can chat at home and then i'm like i got you john is the kind of person where either it's no rehearsal at all or it's like we rehearse 12 songs and then we get to the gig and we play none of them it's just like calling

and so and so in these situations you know i i went with him early on when I was first asked. I was like, I want to be really clear in saying like, you know, I'm fine at guitar. I'm very good at music. Right. But the I'm not like a session player like that's not my vibe. Right. There are certain things that will be called that will be exactly up my alley and other things it'll take me a second and john you were like no you know it's cool i just love your five like whatever you bring and whatever and then i've done gigs with him where he'll he'll call some like deep jazz thing and then i'm sweating bullets i'm like oh my god i've got to get my way out of it right but

then you just i have to ultimately always come back to well what is it that i have right now in this moment that i could bring i i you know i'm not isaiah sharky oh my god an unbelievable unbelievable person with like the amount of vocabulary and facility is unreal. Right. Also Isaiah doesn't have my experience, my perspective, my view of musicality. It might not be flashy in the same way,

but it's true. And it's authentic to me. Right. So I feel like I've developed the muscle and the skillset to feel terrified, but to go beyond that fear. Yeah. I am so thankful you exist while I'm living on this planet. Andy, that's sweet. You're very inspiring, Solis. And I know a lot of my fans that listen to this thing are going to be inspired too. Thank you so much for this. Thank you.

You're awesome. Thank you. You're awesome. I'm playing See Here Now too, so I'll see you on that same day. What time are you up? I'm up at 4 o'clock. What time are you on? Are we on the same stage? Why am I asking this? Because I surely will. I have no idea.

You know who my close friend is? It's Jen Hartswick. Fucking love. Speaking about an amazing soul i know and a badass musician like unbelievable and singer and human yeah human that's one thing like you know this with this industry and how we're all so busy you know who the real friends are when they're calling you yes without even like thinking yeah otherwise you know no the real friends are when they're calling you without even like thinking otherwise, you know, we need to cherish those friendships. So shout out to Jen Hartwick.

Let's go. Let's go. All right. I'll let you go, Sleaze. I know you're busy. You're a rock star. And I'm just so thankful that I got to spend this time with you. And, um, I got one last question. I'll let you go. Um, when it's all's all said and done, what do you want to be remembered by? My heart. My real genuine interest in people's experience of me

and my music and my art being about hopefully exposing exposing them more to themselves the trueness of themselves the the truth of themselves and hopefully more the more love and acceptance of themselves as well yeah yeah i hear you i it's hard for me to love myself sometimes. It's hard for everybody. It's hard for everybody, but we work on it every day. Every day. Thank you.

Don't hate LA too much, but hate it enough. Have a great one, Solis. Thanks for being on the show. See you in a couple weeks. See you now. Later. Bye. All right. That you now. Later.

Alright, that was awesome. Solis, wow. I'm going to clap it up. Way to go, Solis. Authentic. Authenticity, that's what we need in this world. Authenticity and not be scared of the task ahead. Alright, I'll catch you on the tail end. Fuck, what else is going on?

I'm mad at the new, they announced a Roadhouse remake. I'm mad about that. Why try to fix a movie that was that brilliant? It's a moment in time. It's brilliant. First of all, I'm sick of, why are they doing so many remakes?

I know this is kind of cliche. I'm a dirt on the ground. I'm done with the remakes. There's plenty of people writing good shit out there I promise I promise it just seems like these movie companies streaming companies just don't think that their audience is very smart at all

it's the same thing as the music industry bro they don't want to take the risk they saw that something was good and they want to sell exactly the same fucking shit they've sold for fucking years. You think your audience is stupid? Here's my other problem with it.

If you're going to do a remake in today's whatever, that's fine. At least do the woke thing where you like get a black guy this time to be the main character. Why can't, you know what I mean? Or like an Asian or something. No, it's just Jake Gyllenhaal. Like the most boring white guy in the history of Hollywood. I did watch that. I like him a lot. Is man no that was uh ryan gosling he's hot he's hot also kind of gyllenhaal's kind of robotic yeah but he's in some amazing movies and i guess he's a good actor i just don't find him very compelling he could do the indie thing he

could do the i mean zodiac was like one of the best movies of the decade i thought and he's hot and he takes off his shirt but it's like is he patrick swayze hot no he's not gonna have that so you gotta you gotta go back and without being biased because i know you like the 80s shit but like i like every shit he had his shirt off in the gray man and i'm like no no i'm not talking about the hotness i'm just saying like if you're gonna do a remake at least do the woke thing don't just it's just gonna be bad no this is the problem this is the problem with our fucking society no one wants to take a risk on something new it's fucking bullshit especially that i can't even get a fucking record deal right now why do you need i don't understand why you want to have a record deal because i'm done paying

for records oh you want like a real record deal that doesn't exist anymore. Like where they pay for stuff. Speaking of love in the eighties, what do you think you are? Motley crew. I don't need that. I just want someone to pay for my record in the marketing fund because I know I need to put up music too.

It's kind of hard. It's like, it's so hard. I have all these songs are like 85% done. I don't want to take the risk on it. It's kind of hard. It's like cost money. It's so hard, dude. I have all these songs that are like 85% done. I don't want to take the risk on it. You should be a manager. That's some good business thought

right there. Have someone else pay for it. I would be a great fucking manager. Yeah, would you? Yeah. You learn from the best. I learn from the best. All right, we're not going there.

I know. I came up organically. I don't know, but... You're getting ready for fall tour. I leave for tour tomorrow. I leave for one festival in two weeks. I'm on tour for two months. I'm telling you, not having six people in your band with you helps you make a lot more money.

I know, but I need them. I know you do. Secret Dreams. Everyone should come to that festival. Yeah, go to Secret Dreams. And then we're playing Sacred Rose. That'll be fun. That's not the same weekend, though. They can go to to that festival. Yeah, go to Secret Dreams. And then we're playing Sacred Rose. That'll be fun. That's not the same weekend, though.

They can go to both. Yeah. Yeah. We need to figure out the technology because I'm gone for two months. I know. Well, I'm going to be in the Europe part, so that's good.

You'll be... Oh, fuck. Never mind. We're good. The Europe part. And then I feel like... I'm going to Europe. I'm going to Europe before that, too.

Well, it's going to be easy. I'll just get on my... What? I got Virgin Voyages hired me to... That happened? Yeah, they got me a cruise. They were giving me and six of my friends to Barcelona. Yeah, you didn't want to go.

I have a ton of stuff going on that week. Fucking rad trip. They're taking me to Barcelona. I have all these gigs that week. Yeah. My best friend's going to come too. Eight day cruise. Shout out to Virgin.

Thank you. Oh yeah. I'm coming to town. Cool. You tuned in to the World's Health Podcast with Andy Fresco. 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, Spotifyify wherever you're picking this shit up follow us on instagram at world saving podcast for more info and updates presco'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, 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.

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